Developing Writing Assignments
“If
we want students to produce meaningful writing, we must design meaningful assignments,
tasks that encourage students to use writing to act” (Lindemann 219).
It is up to us as composition instructors to provide creative,
assignments that students will be interested in writing. Unfortunately, what
students get are the same tired prompts that have been passed down for what
seems like generations. Lindemann encourages us to ask ourselves, “What do I want
the students to do?” This seems an easy enough task for the teacher; however,
looking at the follow-up questions, it becomes a more daunting task that we must
set for ourselves. Especially true is her question, “Does it appeal to the interest
and experiences of my students?” It is up to us to generate that interest and
make our assignments something they are interested in completing, so that they
are not completing the assignment the night before it is due, but are willing
to actually put in the work to improve their writing.
Blog 8: Response to Lindemann
ReplyDeleteRegarding emails between students and professors, Lindemann states that instructors should make every effort to "Pave the way for productive exchanges" (293). Earlier this month, I had two instances of students engaging in arguments with their professor over minor disagreements either via chat posts or email. One student, took deep offense to a comment the professor made regarding a legal-criminal issue. She went on to complain that his comment made it seem like she was not a law-abiding citizen, and went (quite angry and confrontational) to meet him at his office hours. What ensued is still a mystery, but hopefully I find out soon. Although, I do not think this particular professor meant to insult her. In my opinion, Lindemann has a point with this statement. The professor in the story I just noted could have avoided a confrontation with his student if he had simply asked her to speak to him later in class. Then, he could have expanded on his comment without making her feel offended.
Blog 9: Response to Lindemann
ReplyDelete"As you and your students conduct research online take every opportunity to emphasize the need for critical judgement" (300).
Occasionally, I run out of time to expand on a subject with the students I tutor. What I do instead is give them a list of resources they can explore on their own free time. The more popular ones are always: Owl.Purdue, JSTOR, Citation Machine, etc. Essentially, I give them resources that will help them with their writing long-term. Yet, with all these resources, the use of critical judgement (particularly with style and grammar issues) is extremely important. I've come to terms that English has rules that are not really rules, so not everything in these resources will work every time. But, I struggle to describe/define the use of critical judgement to students who are still learning the basics of 'analysis' - and the two kind of go hand in hand.