Writing as a learning tool: Incorporating student-led response and feedback into the curriculum

1. Writing as a learning tool: Incorporating student-led response and feedback into the curriculum Miranda Sin I Ma Fall 2014, October 22 CTLE Workshop

2. Objectives • Exploring the possibility of incorporating writing as a learning tool in courses across the curriculum at UM • Looking into the different ways to design big and small writing tasks to help students learn • Re-conceptualizing the use of peer review

3. Learning to write

4. Writing to learn

5. Critical thinking

6. Writing to learning #1: Self-discovery Guided free-writing • What kinds of writing tasks/assignments do you give your students? What are the purposes of giving these tasks?

7. Why “writing-to-learn”? Or why not?

8. Discussion questions • Do you think writing is an effective tool for learning? • What are some challenges we encounter when promoting “writing-to-learn” in our classes at UM?

9. Solutions?

10. Make a mark on your 2nd continuum

11. Designing “writing-to-learn” tasks Writing to learn (2012). Capacity Building Series

12. How do I use writing as a learning tool? Smaller-scale Ask students to: • Free write • Keep a log (using Moodle database) /a journal • Admin/exit slips • Write about the learning process • Write about their peer’s work Bigger-scale Ask students to: • Write for projects • Engage in staged academic writing • Engage in contextualized writing assignments

13. Make a mark on your 3rd continuum

14. Having students assess each other Using peer review

15. Example of peer review guided questions (beginners) Liu, J., & Hansen, J. G. (2005). Peer response in second language writing classroom. : The University of Michigan Press. (Original work published 2002)

16. Example of peer review guided questions (advanced) Liu, J., & Hansen, J. G. (2005). Peer response in second language writing classroom. : The University of Michigan Press. (Original work published 2002)

17. Problematizing the use of a peer review question sheet • A pre-determined list of questions that is not generated by the students. • The peer review (analytic) activity is turned into a task (form-filling) activity where students are accessed not on their ability to engage with the text but their ability to find answers to given questions.

18. Focus on the process, not the product of the peer review activity Re-conceptualizing peer review • How do we train students to do peer review without the guide sheet?

19. Your contribution: plan and share! • Based on what has been discussed so far, draft a plan on how you will design a “writing-to-learn” task for a specific concept in one of your lessons.

20. Make a mark on your 4th continuum

21. Wrapping-up • Post-workshop free-writing • Action plan

22. References • Cavdar, G., & Doe, S. (2012). Learning through writing: Teaching critical thinking skills in writing assignments. The Teacher,45(2), 298-306. • Goodwin, B. (2014). Research says/Teach critical thinking to teach writing. Education Leadership,71(7), 78-80. • Liu, J., & Hansen, J. G. (2005). Peer response in second language writing classroom. : The University of Michigan Press. (Original work published 2002) • Quitadamo, I., & Kurtz, M. (2007). Learning to improve: Using writing to increase critical thinking performance in General Education Biology. Life Science Education,6(140-154). • Writing to learn. (2012). Capacity Building Series,25, 1-4. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/CBS_WritingtoLearn.pdf

23. Questions/comments? Thank you! Miranda Sin I Ma (mirandama@umac.mo) Senior Instructor, English Language Centre Coordinator, English Writing & Communication Centre Faculty Coordinator, Centre for Teaching & Learning Enhancement