Designing writing assignments

Designing writing assignments

18/4/ · This teaching guide looks at three types of assignments used in writing-intensive courses: short assignments (these are often ungraded and activities that promote writing as a way of learning, or writing-to-learn for short), longer assignments (these assignments build critical thinking skills and are developed through a series of drafting and revision), and collaborative writing (this involves Designing Writing Assignments If your goals planning a particular course include helping your students learn to write in discipline–appropriate ways or write to think through and learn course content—or both—designing effective writing assignments is then a necessary and 21/2/ · Effective student writing begins with well-designed classroom assignments. In _Designing Writing Assignments_, veteran educator Traci Gardner offers practical ways for teachers to develop assignments that will allow students to express their creativity and grow as writers and thinkers while still addressing the many demands of resource-stretched classrooms.4/5

Designing Assignments and Presenting Them to Students | Writing

As Rebecca Weaver new window has argued, creating an assignment sheet is a challenging writing task, one that requires faculty to think not only about what they want students to produce but also what students need to know in order to produce good work.

Alignment: The scale, designing writing assignments, form, and task of an assignment should fit with course goals, designing writing assignments. Sometimes, informal assignments or alternative projects fit better and they can be easier to incorporate into your course and your workload.

Context: All writing happens in context, designing writing assignments, and good assignments specify the context, designing writing assignments. That might mean saying a few words about how the assignment fits in the unfolding of a course, but it could also mean inviting students to imagine writing for an audience other than the professor or in a professional or civic situation. Engaging: Good assignments engage students in the designing writing assignments and content of a course.

In addition, students produce better work when they tackle challenging questions that matter and when they write in ways that build on but also stretch their skills. Good assignments should also be interesting for faculty. This Assignment Design MadLib template will help you think about how an assignment can help students learn the key content of your course. Want more help? Check out these examples, designing writing assignments, one for an informal reading response new window and another for a multimedia project new window.

You can also download a Writing Assignment Template to follow as you write your own assignment sheet. The goal of a course is for students to understand a set of ideas, concepts, materials, or methods, so assignments ought to focus on generating and demonstrating that understanding. If we begin course planning by articulating the end goal in concrete terms — what could students do if they understood the designing writing assignments ideas of the course?

Students generally produce better work if they develop large projects over time, rather than doing all the work at the end of the semester, designing writing assignments. Scaffolding assignments new window by asking students to complete several parts of a project over the course of a semester will generate better papers at the end. While responding to incremental assignments takes time, doing a little more work in the middle of the semester can make grading final papers easier.

Yet they also pose some particular challenges, because they ask students to integrate words designing writing assignments images, designing writing assignments, sound, and video, and they often involve learning new digital production skills. Faculty also evaluate these projects differently. What makes a good assignment? What, Why, and How: Guiding Questions for Assignment Design WHAT does the project involve? What are you asking students to do?

In what context are they writing — for whom, with what expectations or needs, with what situational constraints or challenges? How should students develop these projects? For example, what kinds of research should they do? Do you want them to use specific analytical approaches or particular course materials or concepts? Practical details — form, length, documentation, style, due dates WHY are students doing the project? Rubric new window — How well does a project need to demonstrate each criteria?

Note that some faculty like rubrics, because they make the standards for assignments clear and facilitate designing writing assignments. Others find them limiting. Here are two examples that show how the MadLib translates into an assignment: Framing Document new window Introducing Your Space new window You can also download a Writing Assignment Template to follow as you write your own assignment sheet.

More Ideas and Resources Backward design new window can help ensure that assignments advance course goals The goal of a course is for students to understand a set of ideas, concepts, materials, or methods, so assignments ought to focus on generating and demonstrating that understanding.

Consider breaking big projects designing writing assignments into smaller parts new window Students generally produce better work if they develop large projects over time, rather than doing all the work at the end of the semester.

Designing Engaging Writing Assignments-Writing to Learn

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Designing Writing Assignments - The WAC Clearinghouse

Designing Writing Assignments. Good (or at least readable) student writing starts with a good assignment. Walking into class and announcing that a page research paper is due at the final class won't get you good student writing. Any time you spend preparing a good writing assignment will save you time when you start to respond to the final Teaching Guide: Designing Writing Assignments. To read more about designing effective writing assignments, see the following: Five principles; Writing should meet teaching goals Designing Writing Assignments A well-designed assignment can focus and guide students’ work as they write papers and develop projects, and it can also make evaluating students’ work easier for faculty