Responding to Student Writing (and to Student Writers!) Tom Thompson Professor of English The Citadel

Why do STUDENTS write?

Reality check: Make a list of the kinds of writing you do outside the classroom. Note to kids Shopping list message Message about a phone call Reminder to self to do something Discussion on Facebook Notes for class Directions (how to get somewhere) Summary of a faculty committee meeting Article for an academic journal Share your list with a neighbor… DBQArtifact to be gradedProof that I know something

GIGO Garbage In Garbage Out Weak assignmentWeak product To elicit good writing, you need to start with a good assignment.

Text CONTEXT Writer Reader Subject The Rhetorical Situation

Writer Subject What does the writer know about the subject? Writing to learn. Writing to show learning. Writer seeks to discover, clarify, or make sense of new information or ideas. Writer is the primary audience. Usually low stakes. Writer seeks to demonstrate learning to someone else. Teacher is the primary audience. Usually moderate to high stakes.

Writer Subject What does the writer know about the subject? …without worrying about writing skills …without worrying about conventions …without worrying about grades Writing to learn lets the writer focus on the subject…

Once the writer knows the subject… What rules am I expected to follow? What should the final product look like? What’s the most effective way to present my ideas? (What genre? What format?) Reader Writer Text …the focus can shift to the text & the reader.

Step 1: Know WHY the student is writing. Learning content? Showing that they’ve learned content? Practicing a skill or a format? Showing their mastery of a skill or a format? Step 2: Know WHY you are responding. To force students to practice? To help students improve a skill? To let students know how they are doing so far? To assess a performance for a grade?

You don’t have to READ everything your students WRITE. You don’t have to GRADE everything you READ. Both FORMATIVE and SUMMATIVE responses can be useful.

Text CONTEXT WriterReader Subject (Teacher)(Student) (Student’s paper) (Teacher’s responses) (Classroom setting) Now let’s talk about your responses – what you write on the student’s paper

Quality of ideas Appropriateness of the material Accuracy of content presented Organization of ideas Depth/development of ideas Likely audience reactions Stylistic/format issues Grammar/mechanics issues Aspects on Which to Comment: (“focus”) From Straub & Lunsford, 12 Readers Reading

Ways to Respond: (“mode”) Make a correction ("there" "their“) Give a command ("Move this sentence to the opening paragraph") Make a judgment *Absolute ("Awkward transition"; “Good point”) *Subjective ("I find this subject trivial"; “I like this revision”) Offer a suggestion ("You might try combining these sentences") Request additional information ("Can you give an example of x?") Ask a question *Closed ("Did you really mean to put this in passive voice?") *Leading ("How can you tie this point to the preceding one?") *Open ("What are some counter-arguments you might address?") React subjectively ("I laughed out loud when I read this line!") Give a related assignment ("Review the punctuation chapter") Acknowledge effort ("I can tell you're trying to add depth here") Offer encouragement ("I see improvement since last time") From Straub & Lunsford, 12 Readers Reading

Practice Time! Read the sample student paper and respond to it as directed: 1 st group: focus mainly on ideas; write only descriptive & evaluative statements 2 nd group: focus mainly on ideas; write only questions 3 rd group: focus mainly on format/grammar/mechanics; write only descriptive & evaluative statements 4 th group: focus mainly on format/grammar/mechanics; write only questions TELL ASK

Practice Time! Now, swap papers with someone in a different group and compare comments. Compare focus: ideas vs form. Describe your reaction as if you were the student author. (Which comments were useful? Why? Which comments were not useful? Why?) Compare mode: statements vs questions.)Again, describe your reaction as if you were the student author. What are potential benefits of each focus and mode? What are potential drawbacks of each?

Remember: Not all aspects of an assignment are equal. If something MATTERS more, you should pay it more attention. Don’t worry as much about less important aspects of the work. Perhaps more importantly, not everything has to count – not every performance has to be graded. Practice is important. Grades might be required at the end of the process, but they can do more harm than good when they interfere with that process.

Continuum of Responses No response (They’re just practicing!) Minimal response (Done/not done; check/check-plus/check-minus) Short conference (A few key questions or comments) Rubric (Scored by teacher, or maybe by student) Critical response, diagnosis, or advice (You write a lot!)

If you remember only ONE THING… Use a response method that is appropriate to the assignment and the goals.

What makes a fire burn is space between the logs, a breathing space. Too much of a good thing, too many logs packed in too tight can douse the flames almost as surely as a pail of water would. So building fires requires attention to the spaces in between, as much as to the wood. When we are able to build open spaces in the same way we have learned to pile on the logs, then we can come to see how it is fuel, and absence of the fuel together, that make fire possible. We only need to lay a log lightly from time to time. A fire grows simply because the space is there, with openings in which the flame that knows just how it wants to burn can find its way. (Teaching with Fire, ed. by Sam M. Intrator and Megan Scribner) Fire by Judy Brown

Tom Thompson English Department The Citadel Contact Information: