Posts Tagged ‘improving student writing skills’
September 21 - Writing Comments That Lead to Learning
By: Susan M. Taylor in Effective Teaching Strategies
Instructors who require papers spend a good deal of time emphasizing the importance of audience and purpose in writing. Writers who remember their readers and their writing objectives are much more likely to use good judgment about the decisions that go into creating an effective piece of writing. This is equally true of the comments instructors write on students’ papers. I’d like to share some suggestions, some of which I learned the hard way.
August 26 - Encouraging Substantive Discussion of Course Content by Getting Personal
By: Maryellen Weimer, PhD in Effective Teaching Strategies
“Why are teachers afraid of sentences that begin with ‘I feel’ or that draw on personal experience?” Margaret Mott asks, repeating a question she read in an essay early in her career.
August 3 - The “Systematicity” of Student Writing Errors
By: Matt Birkenhauer in Teaching and Learning
One of the more interesting things I’ve noticed over my years of teaching is the “systematicity” of developmental writers’ errors.
June 24 - Good Job! The Importance of Writing More Meaningful Comments on Student Papers
By: Maryellen Weimer, PhD in Teaching and Learning
When graded papers get a quick glance before being shoved into a backpack or deposited into the trash can on the way out of class, it’s often hard for teachers to summon the motivation to write lots of comments on papers. That’s why I was pleased to find evidence in two studies that students do value written comments on their work.
January 25 - Meta-Collaboration: Writing with Students to Engage Learning
By: Dan Kulmala, Ph.D. in Effective Teaching Strategies
In one of my favorite A Midsummer Night’s Dream passages by William Shakespeare, Theseus comments on the creation of poetry. Informing us that the “poet’s eye” in a “fine frenzy rolling” glances from “heaven to earth, from earth to heaven,” we learn about the process of making sense of the world and composing something about it.
January 11 - Five Questions that Improve Student Writing
By: Christopher Baker, PhD. in Effective Teaching Strategies
Before embarking on a writing assignment, I challenge my students to imagine a skeptical reader who expects them to answer five important questions. Answering these questions demands critical writing and thinking, and helps the students develop thoughtful content, efficient structure, and clear sentences.
December 9 - Six Tips for Effective Writing Groups
By: Kathryn Linder, M.A. in Effective Teaching Strategies
By offering students a supportive group for writing assignments and research projects, students can form strong learning communities and feel less isolated when they see others around them struggling to generate ideas, craft thesis statements, or write creative transitions. Allowing students to develop friendships around writing is one way to help them to see writing—often
November 2 - How to Give Effective Feedback on Student Writing Assignments
By: Mary Bart in Effective Teaching Strategies
How often does this happen to you? You pore over students’ writing assignments, adding what you feel are insightful and encouraging comments throughout each paper. Comments you hope your students will take to heart and use to improve their writing next time around. Then you return the papers and the students quickly look at the grade and stuff the paper into their backpacks … perhaps mumbling something under their breath as they do.
September 17 - Providing Feedback in a Technology-Mediated Environment
By: Mary Bart in Online Seminars
This seminar will give you valuable insights and techniques for using technology to communicate concise feedback to students about their writing, encourage them to take responsibility for their growth as writers, and strengthen teacher-student rapport to better support and facilitate learning.
