Ringing in the New Year - pedagogically

I have often reflected at the end of the semester, in true Profhacker fashion, by giving a 3x3 course evaluation. This means sharing what worked, what didn’t, and what I plan to change.  This was easy to do when I was essentially teaching the same class in multiple sections. However, now that I am teaching composition and professional writing it is hard to make such comparisons so this evaluation and reflection will likely not fall into such neat categories.

Overall, I feel pretty good about how my professional writing class turned out. I taught this class for the first time in the Spring and that was OK but as I had barely a week to plan the class (for the first time) and I inherited a book it was a bit rough. This time around I had the benefit of experience and time to plan so it was much more thought out and I do not plan to make any major changes for the new Spring Semester. Students report that they learned a lot and had fun. I feel the same way so what’s not to like?

My Writing II class continues to be a work in progress and I plan to revamp it yet again for the Spring Semester. I have high hopes for the new version as it is an idea that excites me (see The Walking Dead in my writing classroom) and I had an additional brainstorm about how to marry my new idea to my old practice of focusing more on writing in the disciplines so it will be a course about walking/writing dead in the disciplines.  I have spent a lot of my gym time thinking about this class and can’t wait to see what comes of it!

What worked

I borrowed/adapted a Group Learning assignment from Cathy Davidson for my professional writing class and this turned out to be a great assignment. Students really did an amazing job with it and we all learned something from the process as well as the results. For this assignment students had to teach the class about some technology/tool that could be used to produce their final projects. Throughout the rest of the semester students referred back to these tips/tools and used them for their PW project as well as work in other classes and their professional lives.

Another success for the Fall Semester was the use of Google Chat to support virtual office hours. While overall my use of Google was a bit hit-and-miss (see Google vs. Blackboard) in terms of success, I can unequivocally say that Google Chat gave my students quick and easy access to my help and advice. Although it was not always convenient for me (having to interrupt my work or break a chain of thought), it definitely helped create a connection with my online students that is always difficult to forge in an online class.

Finally, the use of interactive journals was something that worked well and I will continue to use. Side discussions, support, and practical advice were all a part of the peer comments on student journals and I think contributed to a sense of class community. I was pleased with this activity/assignment and will definitely use it again. 

What didn’t work

My attempt at a peer leader assignment, during which students would take turns leading discussions and track participation, was a dismal failure. They were supposed to work in teams and that was always a problem as most of the teams did not work well together at all. The evaluation part of the assignment was also problematic even though it was really a matter of noting who had participated and who had not. I wonder if this type of assignment is simply more problematic in an online class as I’ve done similar things with traditional classes. I’m not going to use this assignment until I’ve thought it through again so probably not for the Spring Semester as I’m at a loss right now.

Similarly, my class reporter assignment was terrible. I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of students creating a wiki, blog, or some other record of the lessons they learned in a class. However, the actual execution in both classes fell far short of my hope. I think the idea is still a good one but it may not work for a writing class as well as it does for a content-driven class and it may also be a problem for an online vs. traditional class. Either way, it is going back on the shelf for now while I mull it over.

My last failure is the scaffolding I prepared for my Writing II students as they worked on their final papers. I thought it would help them to chunk the paper but most were resistant to the idea and the final papers of those who did participate were often too chunky. I have some ideas for working the scaffolding into our discussion and reflection assignments that will make the support more subtle and allow students more room to grow. I read a blog post a few weeks ago (Intrusive Scaffolding) about how too much scaffolding is actually a disservice for students and I think this process assignment is a good example.

What will change

While I will still have students create Google accounts at the beginning of the semester, our early use of Google will be for interaction (Google chat) and social media (Google+). As I already noted (see Google vs. Blackboard), I used Google for journals, discussion, and writing workshop in the Fall Semester but this met with mixed results and I think sometimes the technology got in the way of the pedagogy which is never a good thing. I plan to use Blackboard’s blog tool for interactive journals and discussion but am reserving the option for using Google for writing workshop at the end of the semester.

As noted above (and in The Walking Dead in my writing classroom), we will discuss the big ideas found in our literary readings with those found in popular culture (specifically comic books and their related media). We will then explore (in discussion and in writing) the ways that those big ideas play out in the disciplines. Stay tuned for more on this idea!

This semester I am going to try out a journal assignment focused on self-assessment and self-regulation. One of the reasons I tried the peer leader assignment is that keeping track of all the posting/discussion activities is a logistical nightmare for me. It is a constant battle to find the right balance (not to mention the time) between teaching and evaluating. My hope is that by making a place/time for students to record (weekly) what they did to further their learning and meet the course goals will make them more aware of their own responsibility for their growth and grades. Plus, this will give me a private place to comment on their activities as a student separate from their writing and thinking. I hope that separating these enforcer activities from the writing coach/mentor activities (made in comments on class reflection and discussion) will allow me to focus my efforts as well.  Or maybe I have just devised another way to make my head spin. We’ll see!

How did your Fall Semester turn out? What are your plans for the Spring Semester? I always love to study (steal/copy/adapt/adopt) the assignments and class activities of other teachers.

Writers as Reflective Practitioners

This week our Faculty Learning Community focused on the Morehead Writing Project met and we talked about our top priority for our writing classrooms and because many of us are also engaged in mentoring instructors and tutors we also talked about our primary goal for those writing instructors and tutors. It was a lively and interesting conversation, but what really struck me is that ultimately all our answers could be boiled down to one simple response: reflective practice.

The concept of reflective practice is to engage in continuous learning. Engaging in reflective practice requires an inherent belief that we are never done learning and growing. Reflective practice requires that we learn from experience rather than teaching or knowledge transfer.

The teacher as reflective practitioner is an important part of our work with the National Writing Project. We encourage the teachers we work with to continually reflect on what is happening in their classrooms to think about what is working and what is not as well as why. It is that reflection upon the why that is key to this practice of growth and development.

In recent years I have incorporated reflective practice into my work with writers as well as teachers. Writers learn and grow by writing but also by reflecting on their past experience, both challenges and successes. What were their goals? What did they do to achieve those goals? What worked? What did not? Understanding the answers to these questions can help writers adapt their practice to future situations and better position them to make better choices.

My goal is always to make my students into writers, but more important, to make them into self-regulating writers. Reflective practice is essential to this transformation into self-regulating writer. With reflection, with a recognition and practice of continually reflecting on the lessons offered by each experience, writers can continue to learn and grow long after they leave the writing classroom and hopefully throughout the rest of their lives. That is my goal for my students and I am continually refining my pedagogical strategies to achieve this goal.

This blog is my own struggle to be a reflective practitioner. I hope that others benefit from my posts, but ultimately I know I am the primary beneficiary as I record my achievements, defeats, struggles, and progress. Do you engage in reflective practice? Do your students?

My First Venture Into Contract Grading

First, I must give credit to both Cathy Davidson and Dave Cormier who were kind enough to openly share their grading contracts to support other educators attempting this for the first time. I definitely borrowed heavily from their example.

The class with which I am conducting my first foray into contract grading is an online version of a National Writing Project Summer Institute. The class is organized as an asynchronous graduate class with the option to take the class for six hours rather than three. The focus of the class, as of all NWP work, is to improve the teaching of writing. We will write, on personal and professional topics, and we will discuss and share our ideas about the teaching of writing. My colleague Lee Skallerup will join us as she wants to learn more about NWP work.

I remain intrigued by the idea of using contract grading for my more traditional classes, as I want all my classes to be a learning community rather than a traditional class. However, the very nature of an NWP SI is to be a learning community and years of experience participating in more traditional SI’s has prepared me to make this class my first foray into contract grading. As my students are teachers (or soon to be teachers) then I hope they will enter into our experiment with the proper spirit. I know this is going to be a great learning experience for me and hopefully for them.

I am interested by the increased opportunity for student success offered by contract grading and I am even more interested about the ways I can use contract grading and peer evaluation to foster self-regulation and self-directed learning in the way that Cathy Davidson argues for flipping or rather cartwheeling our classrooms. I will write more about this experiment/experience in the coming weeks but for now I will simply share my first grading contract and await feedback:

Contract Grading + Peer Evaluation:  Explanation and Contract

This class is an experiment in collective thinking, leadership, and project management.  The intent is to create a workshop (as opposed to classroom) experience where we explore, learn, and grow together while providing a safe place to experiment with our writing, thinking, and teaching as each student takes responsibility for individual and collective work. I want this to be a student-centered experience where you choose what your learning experience will be like, and make it fit your context and priorities.

Contract Grading is designed to change the power dynamic of the classroom. The instructor is still the ‘content expert’, but you are the one who knows how much time you have to devote to this course, and what you’d ideally like to get out of it. The contract lays out what ‘acceptable success’ looks like and then you get to make choices about whether you are willing to do the work to earn a grade deemed ‘excellent’. The contract focuses on your effort rather than on attempting to measure or quantify your learning. The peer evaluation provides support for your efforts in this class as well as helping you develop the necessary self-regulation to continue your growth and development after the class ends. This course aims for encouraging self-valued, lifelong learning.

This is my first time engaging in contract learning as an instructor, so there is a learning curve for me as well as well as for you, but if we work together I believe this can be a positive experience for us all.

Evaluation Method:
You determine your grade for this course by fulfilling a contract that spells out in advance the requirements for fulfilling the terms of your contract.   Peer evaluation comes in when students charged with leading for the week assess (Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory) how well their classmates fulfill their obligations to the class through reflection, discussion, and feedback. Peer leaders will work with the other students in the class, giving feedback to each student and working to achieve an S grade.   If the student fails to submit an assignment or does not submit a satisfactory revision after being given careful feedback, the peer leader will record a U grade for that assignment.   (The same method will work on assignments graded by the professor.) Every student will be in a position of peer-grader (working with two or three students at a time) one week during this class and will report these evaluations using a document viewable by the entire class.  Learning together and giving and receiving feedback is a subject we will discuss and practice.

Contract Grading:
The advantage of contract grading is that you, the student, decide how much work you wish to do; if you complete that work on time and satisfactorily, you will receive the grade for which you contracted.  This means planning ahead, thinking about all of your other obligations and responsibilities and also determining what grade you want or need in this course.   The advantage of contract grading to the professor is no whining, no special pleading, on the students’ part. If you complete the work you contracted for, you get the grade. Done. I respect the student who only needs a C, who has other obligations that preclude doing all of the requirements to earn an A in the course, and who contracts for the C and carries out the contract perfectly.   (This is a major life skill:  taking responsibility for your own workflow.)

Grade Calculating:
By June 5 (our second day of class), each student will email the instructor the contract (see below) for their chosen grade (or grades, contract for Eng 609 follows the contract for 608).  All requirements for each grade are spelled out below. 

There are only two grades for any assignment.  Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory.   Satisfactory is full credit.  Unsatisfactory (poor quality, late, or not submitted) is no credit.   At the end of the course, we tally.   If you fail to do a contracted assignment or your peers do not deem your work satisfactory, you will not receive credit for that assignment.  

Peer leaders (details below) who are in charge for a week will determine if the assignments posted during that week are satisfactory.  If not, they will give extensive and thoughtful feedback for improvement with the aim of collaborating toward Satisfactory work.   The goal is for everyone to produce satisfactory work, and the peer leaders will work with students to achieve that goal. 


REQUIREMENTS FOR A GRADE OF A in ENG 608:
(1) READING AND DISCUSSION, includes reading instructor lecture notes and required reading (book chapters, articles, etc.) as well as posting a substantive reflective response (by Thursday) which reflects your individual experience as well as the reading and making at least two responses to peer posts (by Sunday). Discussion will take place on a designated Google doc in the Reading and Discussion folder. Think of this as a collaborative research paper we are creating about the weekly topic. These can, and should, be inspired by and draw from your individual reflection journals but should not be simple repetition. They should engage your classmates and inspire discussion.

(2) WEEKLY REFLECTION JOURNAL POST, 500-1000 words about your views as a writer as well as a teacher in response to the class reading and discussion as well as writing group activities for the week.  Think of this as an evolving research paper.  It has the same importance and weight and seriousness.   You will create your journal as a Google doc in the Reflection Journal folder and share it with the instructor and class (simply adding a new post each week).   You will receive public feedback and responses from the instructor, any of the other students, and the two or three students leading and assessing that week.  Journal posts must be completed by Sunday night but the work should be ongoing throughout the week (with additions/changes after engaging in various class activities). All students are required to read their classmates journals and are encouraged to comment.   Journal posts may simply be reflections on yourself, your work, or your instructor’s or fellow learners’ ideas, but they should always be substantive, should use secondary sources where appropriate, and can use video, sound, images, animation as well as text.  They are intended to share your learning and make contributions to the field as well as give you the opportunity to wonder, question, challenge what you have learned and what you want to learn as a writer and teacher.

(3) LITERACY NARRATIVE, 500-1000 words (polished personal narrative) about your growth and development as a literate person including details that shaped the reader and writer you are today. Discuss specific events and people who had a powerful influence as well as your views about yourself as a literate person. You will create your literacy narrative as a Google doc in the appropriate Assignment folder and share it with the instructor and class.   You will receive public feedback from the instructor as well some of the other students.  All students are required to read their classmates literacy narratives and are encouraged to comment.   

(4) CREATIVE WRITING ACTIVITIES

1. Starts, share at least six early drafts with class via the appropriate Writing Workshop folder in Google docs. These should be the result of a simple free write response to a prompt or an idea of your own. These should not be the result of a great deal of time (probably less than an hour). The intent is for you to get in the habit of writing to build your writing muscles. As a part of this process you must also pay it forward by reading your classmates writing prompt responses. You are encouraged to comment but keep these comments positive and encouraging as this work is very preliminary (ie. I would love to see you continue with this piece, your writing made me laugh, cry, etc.). Do let people know if a particular image, phrase, etc. is intriguing or ask questions (but what happened to the baby bluebird?). 
2. Drafts, continue to work on at least two selected early drafts (using the same Google doc so we can track your progress, simply drag it to the appropriate Writing Workshop folder). These do not need to be final, polished drafts when you first share them but they should be complete (even if some sections might be a bit thin). The intent is for you to have something that can be used in writing workshop to start/continue a conversation about writing. On the designated Google doc indicate your particular worries, struggles, and/or concerns for your drafts. Ask for feedback but give your peers some guidelines so it is more meaningful and helpful. As a part of this process you must also pay it forward by reading your classmates drafts and responding to their requests. Your feedback should not focus on surface-level issues (grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc.) but deeper writing issues. What is your response to this piece (emotionally, intellectually)? Provide the feedback your peers request but also put some serious thought into the strengths and weaknesses of the piece – help the writer play to their strengths! Give them advice that will help them develop, improve, and finally polish this piece. Learning to evaluate writing is key to becoming a good writer. 
3. Polished, experienced writers will tell you that no piece of writing is ever “done” but your goal here is to bring at least one piece of writing to a polished, complete form that you can proudly share/publish. Repeat the draft process (using the same Google doc so we can track your progress, simply drag it to the appropriate Writing Workshop folder) with one selected piece as necessary to move it toward that polished final draft.

(5)  PROPOSAL, one-page description of an article you could submit to a professional journal relevant to your current/future teaching position. The proposed topic should have clear relevance and connection to teaching writing in your current/future teaching position. Select a journal which could publish such a piece and base your documentation style on that journal’s editorial guidelines. You will create your proposal as a Google doc in the appropriate Assignment folder and share it with the instructor and class.   You will receive public feedback from the instructor as well some of the other students.  All students are required to read their classmates proposals and are encouraged to comment.   

(6)  ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY, working document that includes at least six credible and focused peer-reviewed journal articles (including at least two from your target publication) on the subject of your article. You can include class-assigned reading on your list but these cannot count for any of your six. You will create your annotated bibliography as a Google doc in the appropriate Assignment folder and share it with the instructor and class.   You will receive public feedback from the instructor as well some of the other students.  All students are required to read their classmates annotated bibliographies and are encouraged to comment. In addition, you are encouraged to share sources. If your own research includes a source that might be of interest to a classmate share it!   

(7) ARTICLE, 10-12 page article (based on approved proposal) about the teaching of writing. You will share your article as a Google doc in the appropriate Assignment folder with the instructor and class.   You will receive public feedback from the instructor as well some of the other students.  All students are required to read their classmates articles and are encouraged to comment.   

(8) PHILOSOPHY OF TEACHING WRITING, 3-5 page paper (plus a reference page) in which you reflect on the critical issues (in your opinion) concerning the teaching of writing in your current/future teaching position. You will share your philosophy as a Google doc in the appropriate Assignment folder with the instructor and class.   You will receive public feedback from the instructor as well some of the other students.  All students are required to read their classmates philosophy statement and are encouraged to comment.   

(9) PEER LEADER, will act as peer leader with one or two additional students to monitor student engagement in required activities. You will be responsible for reading all contributions to the class discussion, weekly reflection journals, and writing workshop for that week and offering substantive feedback for each student then filing an S or U grade with the instructor using the Peer Leader Evaluation document. If a student receives a U in one or more of these areas then it is your responsibility to offer constructive feedback and an opportunity for the student to turn that into a Satisfactory piece of work.

CONTRACT:   By agreeing to this contract for an A in English 608, I agree to all of the terms above (satisfactory completion of #1-9).   
 

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CONTACT FOR A GRADE OF B IN ENGLISH 608
I wish to earn a grade of B in English 608.   To fulfill my contract for a grade of B, I will complete satisfactorily #1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 9 above.
  

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CONTACT FOR A GRADE OF C IN ENGLISH 608
I wish to earn a grade of C in English 608.   To fulfill my contract for a grade of C, I will complete satisfactorily #1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 9 above.  

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REQUIREMENTS FOR A GRADE OF A in ENG 609:
(1) READING AND DISCUSSION REPORT I, teams of two or more will prepare and share an overview and summary of the key points culled from our weekly reading and discussion as well as reflection journals. The intent is to create a public document (can be written as an article or blog post but could also use some sort of digital presentation tool such as Wiki, Squidoo, Prezi) that contributes to the knowledge of our field and then shared with a broader audience. What was the prevailing theme/central idea of our work for that week and what did we learn about it? These reports are intended to be an Open Educational Resource for the Morehead Writing Project and the National Writing Project and will be Tweeted using hashtags #ENG608 #MWPSI #NWP to connect with those audiences.

(2) READING AND DISCUSSION REPORT II, teams of two or more will prepare and share an overview and summary of the key points culled from our weekly reading and discussion as well as reflection journals. The intent is to create a public document (can be written as an article or blog post but could also use some sort of digital presentation tool such as Wiki, Squidoo, Prezi) that contributes to the knowledge of our field and then shared with a broader audience. What was the prevailing theme/central idea of our work for that week and what did we learn about it? These reports are intended to be an Open Educational Resource for the Morehead Writing Project and the National Writing Project and will be Tweeted using hashtags #ENG608 #MWPSI #NWP to connect with those audiences.

(3) CREATIVE WRITING ACTIVITIES

1. Starts, share at least six early drafts (in addition to those created for 608) with class via Google docs by attaching to designated page. These should be the result of a simple free write response to a prompt or an idea of your own. These should not be the result of a great deal of time (probably less than an hour). The intent is for you to get in the habit of writing to build your writing muscles. As a part of this process you must also pay it forward by reading your classmates writing prompt responses. You are encouraged to comment but keep these comments positive and encouraging as this work is very preliminary (ie. I would love to see you continue with this piece, your writing made me laugh, cry, etc.). Do let people know if a particular image, phrase, etc. is intriguing or ask questions (but what happened to the baby bluebird?).
2. Drafts, continue to work on at least two selected early drafts (in addition to those created for 608) (using the same Google doc so we can track your progress). These do not need to be final, polished drafts but they should be complete (even if some sections might be a bit thin). The intent is for you to have something that can be used in writing workshop to start/continue a conversation about writing. On the designated Google doc indicate your particular worries, struggles, and/or concerns for your drafts. Ask for feedback but give your peers some guidelines so it is more meaningful and helpful. As a part of this process you must also pay it forward by reading your classmates drafts and responding to their requests. Your feedback should not focus on surface-level issues (grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc.) but deeper writing issues. What is your response to this piece (emotionally, intellectually)? Provide the feedback your peers request but also put some serious thought into the strengths and weaknesses of the piece – help the writer play to their strengths! Give them advice that will help them develop, improve, and finally polish this piece.
3. Polished, experienced writers will tell you that no piece of writing is ever “done” but your goal here is to bring at least one piece of writing to a polished, complete form that you can proudly share/publish. Repeat the draft process (using the same Google doc so we can track your progress) with one selected piece (in addition to the one created for 608) as necessary to move it toward that polished final draft.     

(4)  ARTICLE, 20-24 page article (including page count for 608) about the teaching of writing. You will share your article in Google docs with the instructor and class.   You will receive public feedback from the instructor as well some of the other students.  All students are required to read their classmates articles and are encouraged to comment.   

CONTRACT:   By agreeing to this contract for an A in English 609, I agree to all of the terms above (satisfactory completion of #1-4).   
 

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CONTACT FOR A GRADE OF B IN ENGLISH 609
I wish to earn a grade of B in English 609.   To fulfill my contract for a grade of B, I will complete satisfactorily #1, 2, and 4 above.
  

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CONTACT FOR A GRADE OF C IN ENGLISH 609
I wish to earn a grade of C in English 609.   To fulfill my contract for a grade of C, I will complete satisfactorily #1 and 2 above.  
 

Writing Studio & Breaking Boundaries

I am creating a writing studio as part of the work of my National Writing Project site at Morehead State University and I am very excited about this work and its potential for impacting both the teaching and learning of writing at MSU on many levels.

Why a writing studio and not a writing center or writing lab? Studios have a long tradition as a place for artists or musicians to work. A studio is a place of creation and collaboration and synergy. I want to create a program that fosters the kind of discussion and energy and growth you might see in a studio.

A writing studio focuses on the writer and not the writing by providing a cognitive apprenticeship in a community of practice (see Lerner’s The Idea of a Writing Laboratory) where learning takes place through guided practice. The guidance takes the form of group discussion focused on cognitive and metacognitive issues rather than physical skills and process. The idea is that through observation, coaching, and independent practice, students develop as successful learners and acquire the reflective and self-regulating tools required to be a successful writer.

In Teaching/Writing in Thirdspaces, Grego and Thompson describe a writing studio as a reflective space where writers communicate about generating and developing ideas as well as refine approaches, processes, and attitudes about writing. Greg and Thompson point out this is generative learning that builds understanding through work and experience. Sessions are focused on the production of student work and the processes student engage in to produce it.

Too often the teaching of writing is a closed system that focuses on errors and students ignorance of rules and conventions, but a studio allows us to explore together the rhetorical situation. As Greg and Thompson note: studio presents a different way of “being” with student writers and this different way of being excited me as a teacher and as a teacher of teachers. While this type of cooperative inquiry is reminiscent of Elbow’s work and the way that I teach writing myself, it takes the writing workshop and peer review approaches used by many (including myself) to another level that I believe can plan in important role in the development of metarhetorical awareness. I am interested in the idea of focusing discussion not just on student writing but instead using it as the rhetorical context.

As I study and research in preparation for embarking on this project in August, I am excited by the potential for MSU and the Morehead Writing Project as well as how this work will impact me as a teacher of writing. However, I am still struggling with the implications of this work for me as a technical communicator and taking the writing studio model far beyond the basic writing and composition classrooms that are its traditional home. Grego and Thompson describe the writing studio as a place to explore and negotiate the institutional spaces/places that influence our lives and our writing and as a rhetorician this is something we should continue to address as communications professionals. I expect I will be writing a lot more about this in the weeks to come but I would really appreciate others’ thoughts on the implications of writing studio for technical communication students and professionals.

Can I use learning contracts to escape grading jail? Stay tuned!

I admit I have always been intrigued by the idea of a grading contract. Some of it is part of my ongoing desire to help my students become self-regulating and independent learners, but there is also that seductive notion of using grading contracts to avoid “grading jail” as Ryan Cordell suggests.

However, the time has never seemed right for a number of personal and professional reasons, but I now believe the time is right – the stars are in alignment – for me to venture into this pool. Fortunately for me, there are wealth of resources and advice and examples available for me to follow. I love teaching in this day and age.

Profhacker’s Billie Hara writes about Using Grading Contracts and raises some of my own concerns and questions about their use that I possess. I was then and remain skeptical about their use with a first-year writing class. How many of my students actually possess the self-discipline and self-knowledge that such a system requires?

However, I continually struggle with organizing and grading two specific assignments in my first-year writing classes – class reading and discussion and writing workshop. I value both assignments for what we learn and discover as a class about our class content as well as ourselves, but participation is always uneven no matter how I enforce or structure it and grading and keeping track of participation is always a huge time suck. Both are collaborative assignments, which is part of the problem, and for both assignments I want students to focus more on exploration and learning and process than on perfection, which is also a challenge. While I was mulling over possibilities for yet another assignment revision. Dave Cormier blogged about Avoiding Resistance to Grading Contracts and I began to consider the possibility that a grading contract might be the solution I was seeking. I am still wary of using a grading contract for the course, but I think using grading contracts for specific assignments, such as these collaborative endeavors, might shift the focus off the process and the burden and responsibility from me to the student. I’ve got some time to mull this before I dive into course planning for the fall but I am excited about the possibilities. Jeffrey McClurken writes about using Student Contracts for Digital Projects and that is an approach that I could certainly adapt for my Professional Writing class in which students develop a large project over the course of the semester.

Even as I dismissed the notion of using a grading contract for my first-year writing students, I realized that grading contracts might work very well for my upper level and graduate classes. This is especially true as my graduate students are all teachers as are the majority of my upper level students (OK, pre-service teachers for the latter). Once I realized that we could use the contracts not just to solve my problems but also as teachable moments within the class my imagination was caught. Cathy Davidson explains how she uses Contract Grading and Peer Review for her digital literacies class. Dave Cormier also shared his early version of his learning contract.

I am very excited about the opportunity to lessen my grading burden but also to shift my focus to learning rather than assessment which is where I want it to be. Under a more traditional model there always comes a point when you have to focus on assessment and it often seems to undermine the confidence and perceived success of some students. Of course, this is how I feel now, at the first-date stage, when anything seems possible. We’ll see how I feel after we’ve had our first disagreement and I run this plan by my students.

Setting my class agenda

Unicycling juggler

I am teaching two very different writing classes this semester and I am excited about my plans but a bit worried about juggling the two without dropping balls (combined with the flaming swords and sharp knives I am already juggling as part of my administrative duties for the National Writing Project). I am teaching first-year writing (aka Writing I or Eng 100 at my institution) and professional writing (which is a 300-level class).

I have two primary goals for my first-year writing students. I first and foremost want them to develop as reflective and self-regulating writers but I also hope to increase their understanding community and collaboration. I think focusing on those two aspects of writing development will set a strong foundation for their continued growth and development.

Our first week of classes (which officially begin tomorrow) will include elements of both. I will continue to use Twitter to help us develop classroom community which includes individual and class Twitter feeds, introducing ourselves via Twitter, and socializing via Twitter. In addition, I’m asking students to keep a journal to record their reflections on weekly topics, discuss those topics as a class, and Tweet about those topics as well.

Our first weekly reflection and discussion topic will focus on writers. I posted a prompt on the class blog that included the National Conversation on Writing’s video “Everyone’s a writer” and some interviews with students about how they define themselves as writers.

My goals for my professional writing students are more sophisticated versions of those for Eng 100 (at least I’m consistent). I also want my professional writing students to develop as reflective and self-regulating writers, but our focus in this class will be on discourse community, audience, and genre.

I am also using Twitter for this class and they have the same initial Twitter assignments and, in fact, will engage in similarly-structured reflective assignment that includes a cycle of reflective journal posts, class discussion, and Twitter posts.

Our first weekly reflection and discussion topic for professional writing will explore what we mean when use the term professional writing and what they hope to learn from the class. I share some definitions that others have given and then bring it back to the study of rhetoric sharing with them a personal blog of mine about rhetoric as well as the "In Defense of Rhetoric" video. I then conclude with a selection of Drucker’s “The Age of Social Transformation” about knowledge workers. Hopefully I haven’t set too ambitious of an agenda. I guess I’ll find out this week.

I can’t wait to begin our discussions. Do you think my students are excited, too?

Studying how writers become writers

My research studied how one group of Appalachian women became writers. I followed this group during their year-long experience with a National Writing Project Summer Institute in order to better understand this process of becoming a writer and the role of writing self-efficacy and writing apprehension in this development.

I pursued this project because I think we can do a better job of fostering writing development. I define myself as a rhetorician and like Wayne Booth, in The Rhetoric of Rhetoric, I consider myself a student of rhetoric. My favorite definition of rhetoric is borrowed from Andrea Lunsford who defines rhetoric as "the art, practice, and study of [all] human communication." I agree with Booth that the quality of our lives – indeed our survival – depends on the quality of our rhetoric. Rhetoric can, and does, change the world. However, decades of working with writers, both as a professional writer and as a teacher of writers, has taught me that many lack confidence in their ability to communicate effectively. This is what drives me to study the process of becoming a writer and the role that writing self-efficacy and writing apprehension play in this process. Cheryl Geisler defines rhetoric as a productive art and says that rhetorical inquiry should "make a difference in the world". She asks how we can create a better society through the pursuit of rhetoric.

An important step toward this goal of a better society is fostering the growth and development of future rhetoricians. Many people do not consider themselves writers and do not believe they can become writers. Often writing instruction does little or nothing to change these beliefs as it focuses on the development of specific skills and writing in specific contexts – rather than attending to the growth and development of the writer.

We can, and should, do both. The process of learning and developing new skills can actually support the growth and development of a writer if we are mindful. My dissertation study is a good example. A National Writing Project Summer Institute is primarily a learning community. While participants are heavily engaged in the practice of writing they are also demonstrating and researching professional practices. While writing activities take place every day of the Summer Institute, they do not play a dominant role every day. Some days are focused on practical demonstrations and discussions while other days are focused on research and study of professional issues. However, at the end of three weeks of this activity, most of the 17 women involved in my study experienced a decrease in writing apprehension while underdoing the transformation to writer. Even more important was that they maintained that confidence level during the following year. This matters to me, and I hope to others as well, because my study confirms the research of others that as apprehension decreases evidence of self-regulating activity, such as goal setting and metawriting, increases as does agency and self-efficacy. Writing self-efficacy not only plays an important role in the development of a writer but self-efficacious writers continue to grow and develop because they are self-regulating.

Metareflection

My number one goal for the students in my writing classes is to help them grow into more reflective writers. While I recognize that I cannot teach them every lesson they will need in the coming years of writing in college and beyond, I hope that helping them become more reflective about their writing will in turn result in more self-regulation and greater self-confidence.

Achieving self-regulation and self-efficacy are my ultimate goals, but I have come to believe over 10-plus years of studying, theorizing and practicing the teaching of writing that reflection is the key to achieving the goals of self-regulation and self-efficacy in writers.

Albert Bandura defines self-efficacy beliefs as a person’s belief in their capability to produce the desired effect through deliberate action. Decades of research in diverse fields has shown that self-efficacy is a more consistent predictor of behavioral outcomes than other self-beliefs. In particular, research suggests that beliefs about writing processes and competence are instrumental to the writer’s ultimate success as a writer (Note: the work of Frank Pajares and his associates has greatly influenced mine). Self-efficacy beliefs are a self-fulfilling prophecy with positive self-efficacy beliefs leading to positive outcomes and negative self-efficacy beliefs leading to negative outcomes. This is not because of the power of positive (or negative) thinking, but simply that our thoughts and beliefs influence our behavior. Our self-efficacy beliefs influence our chosen course of action, perseverance and resiliency when experiencing difficulty, and reaction to stress and depression. If we possess low self-efficacy then we avoid the challenges that could help us develop new skills or hone existing skills and we give up much easier when facing difficulties. If we possess high self-efficacy then we accept (even seek out) new challenges and persevere through difficulty by seeking new skills and tools to solve problems.

Clearly (in my opinion) there is a link between self-efficacy and self-regulation, but how does reflection link to self-efficacy and self-regulation? First, regular written reflection provides two important sources of self-efficacy – mastery experience and vicarious experience. Experience writing is a key part of developing writing self-efficacy. Obviously reflection cannot be the only writing a student conducts but it is certainly valuable writing experience. However, the real value of reflection in terms of writing self-efficacy is reflection that involves vicarious experiences such as making observations about the practices and habits as well as successes and failures of other writers then learning to make similar observations about their own writing. If done well then reflection can serve not only as an important source of writing self-efficacy but also lead to greater self-regulation and better writing.

Another important way that reflection impacts self-efficacy and self-regulation is helping students begin to engage with their own writing on a deeper level and to take responsibility for their own growth and development as writers. Once you begin thinking about your writing not as a one-size-fits-all proposition but as influenced by the rhetorical context then you are truly on the path to become a writer. Reflective writers think about their own writing and the choices they have made and can make as well as the consequences of those choices. Once engaged in reflection then writers can continue their growth and development long after they leave my classroom.

My State of the Semester Address

That sounds much more grand as it is more of rumination or reflection than formal pronouncement but oh well it is Friday. I’m tired and I’m not operating at full brain capacity. It has been a busy busy week with lots of projects bubbling and percolating. But I vowed that I would blog today and this seemed like a topic I could handle at my current level of functioning.

Actually, I am very excited about the state of my semester and very happy with (most) of my students. I did not make any major changes to the overall plan for my Writing II class but I did change some procedures/methods/practices in hopes of improving usability and the overall user experience for me and my students. I thought this might be a good time (the end of the second week) to review some of those changes and what has happened so far for my own reference. I know from past experience that I don’t always remember these details when it comes time to plan for the next semester. By December I know that August will seem like only a hazy memory of sunshine and heat.

As I have blogged about before, I consider classroom community important and so was determined to work much harder on developing it this semester. There are a number of educational benefits but it also makes my experience so much better too. One of the disadvantages of teaching online (and there are many) is that you often don’t get to know your students well and, even worse, many of your interactions with individual students are negative (grading, nagging, reprimanding etc.). You also do not get to witness (many) light bulb moments (when students make a key discovery or significant revelation) which is one of the great rewards for all the negative aspects of teaching.

I decided to work on community in a couple of very deliberate ways this semester. First, I mandated a certain level of Twitter activity that was purely social in nature. It really helps me get to know my students and understand what they are all about. I think this type of interaction helps replace some of the chatter and banter that would take place before class begins or during breaks in a traditional classroom. I find that students are using Twitter to ask for help and clarification which I am happy to give but it is wonderful to see other students respond as well so the interaction doesn’t just become a version of online office hours.

Second, I created reading groups based on major and intended profession and interests (each student is in three reading groups). I hope that creating smaller groups within the larger community will make students feel less isolated and I hope that the bonds of the group will be greater due to their shared interests. This is a change in the way I handled the reading assignments last semester. Last semester that assignment was not a success and I’m hopeful that this semester will go better. Too soon to say with this but the assignment of readings was a bit smoother/easier although still time consuming. Still seeking a way to deal with the logistics.

Another frustration for me has been trying to get my students to become more reflective writers as I believe this is a crucial step to becoming self-regulating writers. In the past only a few writers reached any depth of introspection and so I knew I needed to do something different. This semester I tweaked my reflection/metawriting assignment so we begin with a literacy narrative which then becomes a work-in-progress to incorporate the reflections and metawriting that I previously required. However, in order to feed this reflection I have required journals posts (and now that Morehead State has upgraded BlackBoard we can do that right in our course shell), Twitter posts, and discussions about these issues. So far I have seen much more evidence of introspection and critical thinking and am pleased with this promising start to the semester. I have tried to provide more scaffolding for this than I have in the past and think those efforts are successful but then this is the beginning of the semester. Have to wait and see if it holds up. However, getting them to think about their writing is an important first step so I’m happy to see if happening.

A final change is more procedural than anything. I have always believed in full disclosure and thought it important to give students the complete assignment as we began work on it. I still think honesty and full disclosure are the best policy but I also know that students frequently feel overwhelmed and frightened by large, complex assignments (OK, they freak out about them, in my experience). So this semester I have delayed giving assignments and began with giving students simple tasks that can be done in very short amounts of time. After most of the tasks associated with an assignment have already been completed, then I will give students the actual assignment. I have only done this with one assignment so far (although I’m going to have to deliver a second assignment fairly soon) and students have told me (when I asked) that they much prefer the list of tasks that guide them through the assignment. Again, the upgraded version of BlackBoard has helped me out with this as I have been using the Task list function to keep us on track – even if it is a tad clunky.

And so I feel pretty good about the changes I’ve made for this semester. They have improved my experience and early reports seem to be that they have improved the student experience as well.

Fostering Agency and Writing Self-Efficacy: The Making of a Writer

Note: This is the most current version of my dissertation abstract. Dissertation successfully defended May 25.

Writing is an essential professional skill as well as important life skill. The goal of writing instruction is to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to successfully meet future writing challenges. However, despite years of writing instruction, many writers struggle to transfer skills and knowledge from one context to another. One reason for this struggle is that even after years of instruction most people are highly apprehensive about writing and do not consider themselves writers. In order to overcome the problem of transfer, we must improve our understanding about writing apprehension and the role it plays in the transformation to writer. Writing research and theory has brought us to the current understanding that writing is a set of complex skills that is contextually situated and socially influenced, and yet most writing instruction focuses on general, basic skills. As a result, instruction does little to lessen writing apprehension and foster the transformation to writer. This mixed methods study focused on the transformation into writers of 17 teachers attending a National Writing Project (NWP) Summer Institute and addressed the impact of immersion in this learning community on writing apprehension. This research spanned a year and studied the writing apprehension of the participants before, during, and after their transformation by focusing on the role that agency and self-efficacy played in the transformation to writer.

NWP’s mission is to improve the teaching of writing, and central to that goal is the belief that teachers who write are better writing teachers. This makes the transformation of teacher into writer the primary purpose of the NWP Summer Institute. The Summer Institute is organized as a learning community focused on professional development, research, and leadership as well as writing. Most of the 17 women involved in this learning community experienced a decrease in writing apprehension while undergoing the transformation to writer and maintained that confidence level during the following year. The writers’ reflection journals reveal that as apprehension decreases evidence of self-regulating activity, such as goal setting and metawriting, increases as does agency and self-efficacy. These findings contribute to our understanding of the transformation to writer and how this transformation connects with writing apprehension as well as how this transformation can be fostered in a learning community which attends to agency and writing self-efficacy.