teaching with writing
Responding
to Student Writing
Pamela
Flash, Associate Director, Center for Writing
Instructors
of writing-intensive courses will often list the work involved with commenting
on student drafts-in-progress among their chief concerns. First, they
point out, they are not trained as teachers of writing. Some have never
before assigned writing activities of any kind. Many have assigned writing
(and would continue to do so whether the course was designated Writing-Intensive
or not) but have never worked with drafts and have never taken class time
to instruct on writing concerns. Second, they tell us, commenting takes
endless acres of time and may not do any good. Commenting does
take time and can be tricky. Still, strategies exist for making commenting
time shorter, and the comments themselves more likely to lead to effective
revision. Here are some ideas:
Effective
(Time Saving) Response Strategies
- Spread
writing activity over numerous assignments. Responding to several three-page
papers really is less time-consuming than responding to a stack
of 15-page research papers. Working through a sequence of shorter assignments
(and sets of comments) also provides students with opportunities to
use your feedback to improve their writing.
- Provide
structured opportunities for peers to respond to drafts before revised
drafts are turned back to you. For more information, see Peer
Response Workshops.
- Ask students
to reflect on their own work. Save commenting time by getting students
to articulate revisions that they already know about. Ask them, for
example, to attach answers to the following questions directly to their
drafts: What is your purpose in this paper? What do you know you need
to revise? What would you like me to focus on?
- Respond
to content first. Comments about content affirm the communicative function
of writing. In fact, research has shown that comments are most effectively
acted upon when they refer to the ideas or content that the writer
is trying to convey. Asking a question about what a writer is saying
(“Are
you suggesting….?” “Do you mean….?” “I'd
need more substantial evidence to be convinced of this...”), in
other words, will be more useful than ten “Awk!” “No!” or “Huh?” comments.
- Limit
the number of comments you make. Referring to an assignment's objectives
and grading criteria may help you focus a commenting session. Keep in
mind also that when instructor comments are numerous and lengthy, students
might get the idea that the instructor has assumed primary authorship.
Also, students are frequently so overwhelmed by comment-coated drafts,
that they take advantage of your copyediting without learning a thing,
or they throw the draft out figuring that nothing is salvageable.
- If you
know something is wrong, but aren't sure what the error is called,
respond as a reader. Drawing a wavy line beneath garbled sentences
or making a margin comment of “I can't understand you here” will
put the responsibility on the writer to find a way to clarify.
- Remember
to praise. Comments like “I like the way you contrast only the
principal ideas of these two schools of thought,” or “Excellent
choice of quotes here!” will affirm specific writerly moves and
sustain student motivation.
- Resist
time-consuming copy-editing. If mechanical and grammatical errors are
substantial, consider marking up one page or one paragraph only. Point
out patterns of error rather than noting each specific glitch. So long
as you make clear to students that you aren't going to be noting every
single error, you need not worry that students will assume that all
unmarked writing is correct.
- When
lengthy comments really are in order, time may be more effectively
spent meeting with students to discuss their drafts in person.
- Direct
students to Student
Writing Support.
Resources
that Support Response
Schedule a one-on-one appointment with
Kirsten Jamsen (kjamsen@umn.edu)
to discuss writing assignments you are drafting or revising for
your course.
Or contact the Faculty
Writing Consultant in your department.
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