Designing a Writing Enhanced Course, 2006:
A Workshop For NIU Faculty

---

MAY 22, MONDAY
Location: FML 297

---

How does writing make an impact on our own critical thinking processes?Engaging Ideas, 30-31, Chapter 2

Activity #1: We’ll begin by describing our own process of writing. It would be especially useful to think of a writing project you’ve recently finished or one you’re currently working on. Once you’ve jotted down a description of your process, please finish this statement: “For me, writing is like…”

How can we use writing to promote critical thinking? Engaging Ideas, 1-12, Chapter 1

Activity #2: We’ll do an exercise that you might also use in your classes to help students build their reading/ writing skills. Each one of you will be assigned a section of Chapter 1. Please read your section. Summarize the most important idea(s) in 1-2 sentences. Comment on whether it gives you a new insight or confirms teaching practices you engage in. We’ll stitch together our answers to form a “class reading” of the chapter.

What should our pedagogy do to prevent “and-then writing,” “all-about writing,” and “data-dump writing”? Engaging Ideas, 27-29, Chapter 2

Activity #3: Please create a short prompt that either (1) creates cognitive dissonance, or (2) requires students to present knowledge as dialogical. We’ll be sharing our prompts with a partner, to whom we’ll explain which kind of prompt we chose to write. A few of us will “report out.”

Why would we consider designing alternative as well as formal writing assignments?Engaging Ideas, 42-44; 51-52, Chapter 3; 86, Chapter 5

Activity #4: Let’s look at an example of professional and personal writing assignments and discuss what kinds of critical thinking would come out of students doing each. We’ll use the assignment-critique questions on p. 86 to analyze both assignments.

After this, we’ll read--and react--to what professors in different academic disciplines have to say about assigning professional and personal writing.

What is helpful to know about assignment design? Engaging Ideas, 83-4; 87-95, Chapter 5

Activity #5: After we read over 83-4 on preparing an assignment handout, we’ll divide up the rest of the chapter in pairs. Each pair will read over their assigned section. They will write a two-three sentence summary of the section’s most important points and report back to the rest of the group.

• Pair 1: p. 87, “Proposition, Defend or Refute”
• Pair 2: pp. 88-89, “Problem or Question”
• Pair 3 p. 89-90, “Organizational Structure”
• Pair 4, p. 92, “Formal Exploratory Essays”
• Pair 5, p. 93, “Reflection Papers”


Then we’ll each draft a short formal or alternative writing prompt for our own course. This time, when we’re finished, we’ll get in groups of three (new group of colleagues) and share our prompts. Groups will report out one prompt they found particularly valuable and explain why.

What are the main teaching goals in our courses? Engaging Ideas, Chapters 6 &12, excerpt from Chapter 10

Activity #6: We’ll go over an assignment for this evening. You’ll receive hard copy, but you can also click on the link for the electronic version.

---

MAY 23: TUESDAY
AM Location: FML 202
PM Location: FML 297 PM

How does a peer workshop on a writing task affect critical thinking?Engaging Ideas, 151-54, Chapter 9

Activity #1: We’ll get into groups of three. Each member of the group will talk through her/his inventory. Other members should take responsibility for asking for clarification, making observations, and responding to any questions or concerns you raise, so that your talk-through becomes a conversation. Then we’ll each reflect on what was useful about writing our inventories in terms of how we:
• Identified our course objectives
• Considered how we could meet some of those objectives through informal, ungraded writing tasks
• Posited ways we could clarify the process of research for your students (and integrate time-saving strategies)
• Embedded concerns and questions to stimulate discussion with our colleagues
• Used organization techniques (e.g., charts, lists) in the format that make it more readily readable

What are some commonly adaptable critical thinking tasks? Engaging Ideas, 122-31, Chapter 7
Activity #2: After we read how common strategies are adaptable in different ways, we’ll each read an assigned section that describes a strategy. Please summarize the strategy in a sentence or two, and then explain how you have already tried it or could possibly adapt it in one way or another. The person who is assigned the conclusion will chose two strategies that s/he thinks are most adaptable to her/his own course.

What reading difficulties do our students encounter, and how can we help them? Engaging Ideas, 147-148, Chapter 8

Activity #3: We’ll look through the list of student problems in writing. Then, in groups, we’ll identify which 3-4 problems are most common in the courses we teach and look through the corresponding helping strategies that are suggested. Based on the strategies you discuss, what kind of early-semester means might you use to diagnose the strengths and weakness of your students’ reading abilities? Elect a recorder to share what your group recommends.

Why use rubrics? Engaging Ideas, 258, 259-64, Chapter 15

Activity #4: We’ll examine the difference between primary trait and analytical rubrics. Then we’ll look at several examples, plus a system for assigning letter grades that makes grading a lot easier.

What do we need to know about grammar? Engaging Ideas, 59-67, Chapter 4

Activity #5: Browse through 59-67. Jot down what catches your eye. What do you find useful and surprising? Why? We will look at a check sheet for grammatical items and go over broiler plate for making comments.

What are the most effective ways to respond to student writing?Engaging Ideas, 237-38, Chapter 13; 251-253, Chapter 14.

Activity #6: We’ll first read through the “Review of Timesaving Strategies” on 237-38, and then we’ll look through the main principles of commentary on 251-53. Next we’ll examine two methods of commenting:

1. Response to a paper that’s part of a “serial assignment”
2. Response to a paper where drafting and revision are required

Finally, we’ll practice responding to a student paper in one or two of the following disciplinary areas:
• Art
• Political Science
• Engineering technology
• Rhetoric and composition
Some resources:
1. Purdue Online Writing Lab  http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
2. WAC Clearing House  http://wac.colostate.edu/
3. NIU Writing Center  http://www.engl.niu.edu/writing_center/
4. ESL Dozen http://www.engl.niu.edu/writing_center/WCStaff/ESLDozen.html
5. Ann Raimes ESL Site http://college.hmco.com/english/raimes/keys_writers/2e/students/eslcentr/eslintr.html
6. WPA Statement on Plagiarism  http://www.ilstu.edu/~ddhesse/wpa/positions/WPAplagiarism.pdf
Wrapping up: an evaluation of the workshop