The goal of free writing is to help students record their observations and make connections through their own writing. Free writing exercises can be setup at the beginning and/or end of class. Writing at the beginning of class helps students recollect information shared in the previous class, while writing at the end of class helps students remember the information discussed during class and ways they can restructure the information to put in in their own words (Foulk 6). To further enforce the students’ knowledge and gage student comprehension, a follow up class discussion can take place after the free writing exercises. Furthermore, this class discussion can be facilitated by statements that require deep thinking, from the instructor, such
…show more content…
These can include varying methods of completing one task, two different styles of writing, etc. (Foulk 11). An example of a statement that would help aid in a compare and contrast answer for a beginning of the class writing exercise could be: Explain the similarities and differences in purpose and tone between the two essays presented in the previous class.
Applied Problem-Solving This task requires students to compile information to address a real issue. These types of prompts may require the instructor to create a problem situation in which the student has to provide a thorough solution (Foulk 11). For example, an instructor could present the following scenario for an end of class writing exercise: In the essay we discussed today, the student failed to present a clear argument because of a vague thesis statement. How could this student restructure his or her thesis statement in order to present a more concise and clearer argument? Provide justification for your restructure of the thesis statement.
Formal …show more content…
An example prompt may be: Use a metaphor to describe your personal writing process, or draw a visualization of your writing process. The goal is to stir up as much creativity as possible within the students. In order to effectively facilitate these writing activities, they should last no longer than twenty minutes and should be alternated, so as to prevent students from becoming bored and uninspired with them. Also, it is helpful to cater questions towards ideas and concepts that will be covered on future exams and convey this to students early on, so as to motivate them to enthusiastically complete them; this will give them more of a purpose to complete them as well, because they will know it will prepare them for future graded materials (Foulk 12). Additionally, to help students focus simply on just writing, instructors should not grade the free writing exercises based on content; instead, they should be graded based on a “pass-fail basis” (Foulk 9). This can easily be done by asking the students to respond to all of the prompts in one notebook, which will be collected at the end of the semester. Students should be notified that they will receive a grade for simply completing the writings, not for the actual words and structure they utilize to complete the prompts. This type of grading allows students to freely write without fear of criticism.
These can include varying methods of completing one task, two different styles of writing, etc. (Foulk 11). An example of a statement that would help aid in a compare and contrast answer for a beginning of the class writing exercise could be: Explain the similarities and differences in purpose and tone between the two essays presented in the previous class.
Applied Problem-Solving This task requires students to compile information to address a real issue. These types of prompts may require the instructor to create a problem situation in which the student has to provide a thorough solution (Foulk 11). For example, an instructor could present the following scenario for an end of class writing exercise: In the essay we discussed today, the student failed to present a clear argument because of a vague thesis statement. How could this student restructure his or her thesis statement in order to present a more concise and clearer argument? Provide justification for your restructure of the thesis statement.
Formal …show more content…
An example prompt may be: Use a metaphor to describe your personal writing process, or draw a visualization of your writing process. The goal is to stir up as much creativity as possible within the students. In order to effectively facilitate these writing activities, they should last no longer than twenty minutes and should be alternated, so as to prevent students from becoming bored and uninspired with them. Also, it is helpful to cater questions towards ideas and concepts that will be covered on future exams and convey this to students early on, so as to motivate them to enthusiastically complete them; this will give them more of a purpose to complete them as well, because they will know it will prepare them for future graded materials (Foulk 12). Additionally, to help students focus simply on just writing, instructors should not grade the free writing exercises based on content; instead, they should be graded based on a “pass-fail basis” (Foulk 9). This can easily be done by asking the students to respond to all of the prompts in one notebook, which will be collected at the end of the semester. Students should be notified that they will receive a grade for simply completing the writings, not for the actual words and structure they utilize to complete the prompts. This type of grading allows students to freely write without fear of criticism.