Where are you coming from?

As the Writing Realized staff finishes up a second round of consultations with a group of nursing students, I'm reminded of a very important consideration when it comes to our students.  It is easy to come to the table with big expectations for our students and there is nothing wrong with demanding excellence.  In fact, we owe our students at least that much.  It can be easy to forget, however, that each student may be coming from a very different place.

I reviewed a paper for an online student, today, who was kind enough to send me a note to say how much she appreciated both my comments and my approach.  She felt less assaulted by the criticism because of the spirit and tone in which it was presented.  Part of the process involves a Jing presentation, so the student actually heard my voice giving her guidance as she watched the computer screen scroll through her paper.  It was very gratifying to hear that she was encouraged by my feedback rather than discouraged or overwhelmed. 

I forwarded the exchange to her professor who then informed me that this student is a stay-at-home mom, homeschooling her kids while she finishes a graduate degree in nursing.  Wow!  She has a lot on her plate!

Learning and writing come together in a very personal journey.  All week long, I have been working with students in the lab who really are confused by how to write scholarly papers.  Some of them are traditional students and others haven't been in the classroom for years.  It would be easy to make the jaded assumption that the traditional students have just been lazy and never bothered to learn certain things or that a non-traditional student might not be cut out for college or graduate work.  The truth is, we don't always know where they are coming from or what goes on in the background of their lives.

The students who have really chosen to be here, to participate in their learning, will come with open arms and at least partially open minds.  If they are in the lab, whether it is because the professor requires it or not, they are here for a reason. They have come looking for guidance in their journey. They willingly open themselves up to our criticism so that they may meet another milestone, conquer another challenge. 

It is a pretty powerful thing to see a mind open up and see what is possible. It is even more powerful to have been invited to the show.

Proposals — A Road Map for Learning

Several undergraduate students have come through the Writing Realized labs this week asking the big question, "How do I write a research proposal?"  Professors in the social and applied sciences will be well-versed in the basic components of a research proposal because they spent several years in graduate school learning how and practicing that skill.  Undergraduates, on the other hand, are just getting their feet wet, even at the senior level.  These students are just learning how to dissect journal articles for things like independent and dependent variables, methodologies, and statistical significance.

Now you give them a topic, or allow them to choose one, and tell them, "Write a proposal."  That's it.  that's all the direction they have.  Holy cow!  What do they do now?  If they look up information on writing a proposal or use the examples they have explored for your class, they see the list of basic components and choke.  "Do I need a section on methodologies?  Am I supposed to do an experiment?  Do I need to have null hypothesis or an operational alternative? (psst...what are those?)" 

It is easy to forget how overwhelming such a task can be for beginners, especially if they don't know if they are writing a "concept" proposal or an applied research proposal. 

It all comes back to the instructor writing the assignment well.  If you do not give your students specific information, they cannot give you what you want.  They all have the basic idea of a literature review by now.  But what separates a proposal from a literature review?  Many of your students cannot answer that.  When you tell them to "write a proposal," what exactly are you expecting of them?

The Writing Specialists don't have those kinds of answers. And the professor cannot assume that the "ideal structure of a proposal" has been taught to undergraduates even if they are in your senior seminar.  When it comes to a concept proposal, some of the specifics are particular to the professor or to the department.

A proposal is an amazing opportunity for students to learn not only about the content, but about how they think.  Give them the tools to guide that thinking to a productive end.  This is where the students learn about research, about ideas, about the impact of exploration and writing to learn as well as finally formulating an interesting perspective on an issue.  That is the goal, right?

So I will offer a few suggestions:

• If your department expects students to write specific types of proposals, put together some guidelines and examples and post them on a department website or wiki.  This would give students a location for important information as well as lend some consistency to departmental expectations.
• Give your students a hand-out that explains what is expected for the assignment.  You might list necessary headings, length, required components, etc.
• Forward your assignment to the Writing Specialists in the Writing Realized labs so they can better assist your students.

Remember that your students are here to learn.  They have a destination in mind, but it is up to the professionals to help them chart their course and collect what they need to arrive there safely. Give them a road map.  They still have to fill the tank with gas, follow directions, and take in all the sights on the way there.  Sure, they may have to fix a flat tire somewhere along the way, but at least they will know where they are supposed to go.

Writing Prompts

As teachers, we ask our students to write for all aspects of learning (at least we should)—processing information, exploring research and its implications, applying new concepts, and of course, evaluation. With all the constructs and content in our own heads, sometimes it can be difficult to step outside of ourselves and see the assignment from the students' point of view. Here are few things to consider as you compose a writing assignment, big or small.

1. What do you actually want the student to do with this writing?  Is this something that will help him in learning or assimilating the information or applying concepts?  Or is it for your benefit, so you can learn something about the student and/or his process?  Or, are you going to evaluate the writing for specific, critical objectives?  Your goal should be clear to the student for several reasons.  Not only will it set the tone for the student's writing, but it will also help you and the student achieve the outcome you are looking for. 
2. What are the stakes? Does the student have a clear idea of why he is writing?  He should have opportunities for exploration and writing to learn with no significant risk to his grade.  If a student has a clear sense of purpose, he will have less anxiety about the process whether it is a formal essay for a grade or exploratory notes for his own learning.  But make sure he has ample opportunity to use writing as a tool not just a performance and be clear about what is at stake.
3. What are you asking the student to tell you?  When you are writing a prompt for your students, it is easy to fall into the teacher-brain spasm mode.  You know exactly what you are looking for in the response, but you may not have actually indicated that to the student.  If your prompt is formulated too generally, sometimes your students can't decide what you want. Students can sometimes be overwhelmed and paralyzed by a prompt that is too general or vague.  On the other hand, if you truly just want the students to offer anything they can support, be clear about that as well.  Let them know that there is no "right" answer.  Is there an implied "master text" that you will hold their responses to or are you really looking for anything they have to offer?  Keep in mind where your students are coming from in terms of their knowledge and experience and be sure that your questions give them enough direction to satisfy your goal for the assignment.
4. Have you set a clear context for the writing?  Do your students have a point of reference from which they can launch their writing?  You may have to set up a sample scenario or a little background information to put them in that place and give them a sense of audience and purpose.  You can reference a common experience or something specific from class.  While the actual topic may not be familiar to them, the point of origin should be.  Be clear about what is "prompting" this writing.  Perhaps they are sharing notes that other students should be able to read and follow logically.  Maybe they are writing a brief personal essay just to give you a sense of their skills and experience. Or maybe they are exploring a new concept and trying to apply it.

I have heard many teachers complain that their students did not give them what they asked for.  It is possible that nobody was paying attention, but more than likely the prompt simply was not clear enough to the students.  The more they understand about what is expected, the more comfortable they will be with tackling the problem and the more willing they may be to take risks and go beyond the basics and break new ground. 

Writing should not be punishment, but that is how a lot of students feel.  Most of the writing they have done is for assessment, which usually spells out where they have failed more than where they have succeeded (no matter how many positive notes you wrote on their paper).  Let students look at writing as a tool, as a means to an end rather than the end itself, as a way to express themselves honestly and confidently.  The next time you sit down to create an assignment or a writing prompt, think like a student who wants to do good work.  Give them what they need to succeed.  And remember the basics:

• Audience
• Purpose
• Expectations
• Stakes

Writing with Purpose

In our workshop this week, we discussed the use of rubrics.  Some teachers hate them because we tend to be harder on our students when we use them and they lack a proper nuance that accounts for aspects of writing that are less quantifiable.  However, a rubric can also help the teacher formulate their assignment more clearly for the students.  If we pay close attention to the purpose of the assignment and communicate that clearly to our students, we may get more readable results.

Putting aside grammar issues, students come to us with a broad variety of educational and life experiences.  Some colleges attract the most academically prepared students while others serve a population that has had far less rigorous preparation.  Let's face it, just because they are in college doesn't mean that they understand how to learn...but they want to.  The QEP mission is to enhance learning through writing and technology, and part of that mission involves helping our participating faculty design clear and meaningful assignments to enhance learning.  To do that effectively, we may have to set aside our preconceived understanding of what our students have brought to the table.

Those with a strong academic background have internalized the unwritten/unspoken expectations that usually come with a college writing assignment.  There may be no specific audience mentioned and only general guidelines as to what should be included, but these students understand how the assignment works because their brains have been through this exercise before.  Think of it as muscle memory.  They've done it before, and now they can stretch it to the college level.

Students who come from a "looser" academic tradition (for lack of a better phrase) may have the ideas, but they have no real concept of how to express them or even what aspects of the issue are appropriate for the assignment.  They have no understanding of structure because they have never been asked to work that way.  Though we hate to admit it, some have managed a "seat of your pants" education prompted by the pressures of NCLB and its manic "teach to the test" mentality or simply by poorly run or ill-equipped schools.  They may have learned how to take the test, but have they learned? The reality is, these are our students too.

If the assignment asks a student to "discuss" a topic, does the student really understand how to do that? In some cases, no.  They might have a basic sense of what "compare and contrast" means or know what it is to summarize, but the more subtle modes of exploring a topic may not be in their toolkit.  As higher level educators we may take this for granted at times.  So while our assignment parameters are perfectly clear to us, our students might need a little more explanation to help them succeed.   

Practice, structure, and conversation.  We can set our expectations high and we absolutely should or we are doing a disservice to our students. Those with less rigorous academic experience need to learn the structures, practice them, and talk about all of it with peers and professionals.  It is a process, not a punctuation mark.  By giving these students more opportunities to develop their learning skills as well as their writing skills, we prepare them not only for academia, but  for the world after college.