Writing Intensive Pedagogies
At last week’s workshop, Megan communicated some of the standards of “writing intensive” courses that have emerged in national conversations among people who teach writing. Both in the workshop and in a subsequent email exchange, we’ve wrestled to understand just what “writing intensive” should mean for our JS courses. As Tom wrote in one email, perhaps the most salient question is pedagogical. I’ll reproduce his questions here, and join him in hoping to hear more about what others think: What are the pedagogies that make sense in other disciplines? How might we understand the commonalities among those pedagogies? How might we articulate them as part of an ongoing process that will make the Junior Seminar requirement a coherent–indeed absolutely central–part of our students’ academic experiences?
Anne Hallum says:
July 5, 2010 at 7:06 pm
I have been preparing syllabi last week and this, and have added the “Double-Entry Journal” idea for course readings…. To me this is a great suggestion (thanks for the articles, Karen), because it is a more creative and “friendly” way to check that students have done the reading, instead of a quiz or “book report.” I am eager to see how it works.
One question I have is about how to grade the writing in the journals…. That is, I was going to check that the journal entries were made, but not grade the writing since it is informal…. So, for these “writing intensive” seminars, is it understood that some writing is not for grading?
p.s. Has a date been set for an August workshop?
mboneill says:
July 12, 2010 at 10:29 am
Anne,
If I can address the question about the grading…it is definitely understood in writing intensive courses that not all writing is graded. In fact it often works to the students’ benefit to not be graded; it’s hard to learn and be judged at the same time. It’s important for a WI course to parcel out writing assignments in terms of low stakes, medium stakes, and high stakes, with no or only formative/responsive commentary on low stakes, informal writing. Your approach—read, and perhaps give response, without grading–is pedagogically very sound.
I would recommend some level of response, though, directed at their critical reading perhaps or pointing out questions they may not realize are excellent questions to ask. That kind of response (rather than assessing them) lets them follow a train of thought or expand their reading abilities without the worry about how their journal is weighted in the final course grade.
Megan