I'm Guilty

The chapter titled, “Developing Writing Assignments” really inspired me to look at the kinds of writing assignments I ask students to complete.  In the past and up until this moment, I have been guilty on a few occasions of assigning faulty topics that have weakened students’ chances at responding successfully.  The one that stands out occurred during my 1^st semester as an instructor.  I asked the students to describe what love looks and feels like to them.  As a Non-Credit instructor, I am tasked with teaching a G.E.D. writing prep for students for the most part left school in the 8^th and 9^th grades, and had been assessed as having language skills in the 6^th grade range, and many had not been to school in 10+ years.  The assignment followed our unit on writing descriptive paragraphs.  I was hoping to evoke sensory-imaging writing, but most students missed the mark.  Now, I tailor this assignment and others like it with a specific audience, form, aim, and mode in mind.  That assignments failure changed an aspect of my teaching philosophy in terms of how I structure essay prompts.  I no longer teach using model paragraphs or that paragraphs can be written as some sort of canned recipe or formula.  I now teach them and develop questions that address the rhetorical modes that will hopefully strengthen student responses.