How many times have you been frustrated with the writing your students produce? You ask your students to respond to a question, and all you get are sentence fragments or an informal, sometimes a passive retort stating the obvious.
Have you ever been disappointed by the writing students submitted for an essay test? You were hoping for something more in depth, but only after seeing a dozen or a hundred responses did you realize what a “good” answer or a “good” paper looked like, and it occurs to you that your instructions may have been the problem.
Of course, it is possible that your students were not prepared. Their fragments and “IDK’s” implied such doubt or reservation; however, their lack of cohesion may have been due to the small space you left on the test for them to respond. Their informal voice full of “wells” and “so’s” may have been their way of showing off their “voice” so celebrated in elementary school.
I see my own English students’ writing for other classes, and, time after time, I also see errors in usage and sentence structure that I know they know. I have seen page-long paragraphs on a history slideshow and “essays” for science with no framing of purpose or concluding thoughts. I have seen works cited pages with a list of hyperlinks as opposed to the MLA or APA format I know they can do.
In faculty-lounge chat, I have heard non-English teachers complain of students’ fragments, mis-spellings, informal voice, and, of course, lack of capitalization. Don’t they know rules of capitalization? Yes, they do.
Why is it that some students do not transfer writing conventions and text structure to other disciplines? Let us take a look at some of the writing students may be asked to do in non-English classes:
History: What is the Compromise of 1877? This is going to get a one or two-word answer. It that all you need from the student, or do you want to know the problem that prompted this unwritten deal and what the result was? Or do you want the student-historian to present just the sequence of events leading up to it? The thinking and writing approach will vary.
Art: What is abstract art? Again, the response may be a phrase. If you are looking for a short definition, then this may work, but if this is an assignment requiring description, examples, and some commentary on its impact on humanity or the art, then the student-artist needs more direction. What form of writing should the student craft to demonstrate learning?
Science: Describe how our lives would be different if the light bulb had never been invented.This answer to this could be very short. It would demonstrate knowledge, but it would not reveal the thinking nor show the student-scientist’s ability to write and think like a scientist. If the intention was for the student to write an essay, would one paragraph do or does the teacher want an essay with an introduction-body-conclusion? What sort of language should be here? Are citations required?
What do you want to know?
In some cases, you (the teacher) may simply want to know if a student knows information; however, you may want into their thinking and logic. You may want to know if the student can synthesize information and ideas explored throughout the unit. Writing can be in service of learning in that we learn as we write. The process is educative, and the product is evidence. The design of the assignment, then, can help the student not only learn the material but see/notice/uncover how writing can serve them, the idea, and anyone who will read the product. (As a side note, if a student knows that a human being other than the teacher will read the writing, this bit of information will also impact the writing process and product.)
Tips for Designing Writing Tasks
As you design future assignments, consider these six aspects of assignment design to help you and your students use writing in the service of learning and, if you share the writing, in the service of teaching others. I am fairly certain you will see great changes not only the writing but the learning and thinking of your students.
1. Audience
Most of the writing students do is for the teacher. You likely want an academic, rather formal piece of writing whether it is a short written response or something longer. Tell your students that.
However, if you want students to think of their audience and write from a specific point of view for a specific situation, design a situation for writing. For example, imagine you are an allie of the Republican Party candidate Rutherford B. Hayes, and you are meeting in secret with moderate southern Democrats to negotiate acceptance of Hayes’ election. Write a play (drama form) that begins with the problem and ends with the solution of the so-called Compromise of 1877.
2. Text Structure
Depending on what you have taught students about the content, the text structure you assign will demonstrate it as such. Whether you are asking for a short paragraph or an essay, the student-writer will approach the task as such. And then, the student-writer will want to, need to know the format you expect, which should be in the language of your prompt or assignment. If you expect an essay, the student will need to craft an introduction, body, and conclusion. The body, however, will look different depending on the thinking you want the student to do:
- problem-solution
- description
- sequence
- comparison
- cause and effect
- sides of an argument
- text structures chart
3. Content Language
You, the teacher, have spent weeks uncovering concepts and language within a unit of instructions. You have likely directly taught vocabulary and explored it in context through multiple primary sources, so students know the denotation and have read it in context. Writing is an opportunity to use the content language with the concept to demonstrate their learning and also make sense of the unit (or to synthesize the information.
Be clear in your assignment which words and ideas you want students to include, use, explore, and even define in their writing if needed.
Again, the audience and text structure you assign will lend itself to integration of content language, but support your students in their synthesis with use of notes or resources as appropriate.
4. Syntax
You are the expert in your content area. You know what it means to write like a scientist, historian, artist, psychologist. What writerly moves do you use? Lots of quotations, citations? Parentheses? Cause and effect language? Sequence terms?
- Complex sentences show a relationship between ideas: Because this happened, this happened. If this were to happen, then this would happen. While you do this, you should do that. After this happened, this happened.
- Conjunctive adverbs can show sequence: However, this was not expected. Therefore, this is what happened. Consequently, this happened. Similarly, this happened.
- Phrases can be used to introduce a quote: According to the article ” ______,” _________________” (p. 32).
- Appositives rename nouns and can be used with commas, em dash, and parentheses: Cell membrane, around the cytoplasm of a cell, has an important function. Organelles (small structures) are in the cytoplasm. The nucleus — containing DNA and RNA — is responsible for growth and reproduction.
5. Time
Keep your expectations for quality realistic. If you are giving students 30 minutes in class to write an essay, you will see errors and format issues. In English class, most students do process writing, so they are used to discussing a topic, drafting, revising, drafting some more, and then copy editing for grammar or correctness last. Be realistic about how much time it will take to do what you assigned, which is why (below) I suggest you do the writing task before teaching students how to do it.
6. Word Count
Every scientist needs to know the word count for a journal article. Every historian needs to know the word count for a chapter contribution. Give the student some parameters for the length of the writing.
If the writing is done digitally, words can be easily counted. This is much more helpful than stating a page length — student handwriting varies; font size and line spacing varies. Just be clear about your expectations before students begin writing. This will help them pace the ideas within the text structure.
For example, if you want 500 words, then 50 for the introduction, 200 for the problem, 200 for the solution, and 50 for the closing (or something like that).
Concluding Thoughts: Be the Student and Practice the Writing Task Yourself
Before you assign the writing, do a run-through yourself. What resources do you need to complete the assignment? What is your process? How much time does it take you? How many words? Which words? What syntax did you draw on? How did you organize your ideas? How do your conventions look on your first draft?
Did you discover that there might be more than one way to approach the writing? Should you revise the assignment and/or expectations? Perhaps.
Sarah, I’m in the fan club of writing the assignment first as a teacher and writing for an audience beyond the teacher.