Writing-to-Learn Activities

Prepared by Sara Schupack & Sarah Nielsen

Inspired by John Bean’s Engaging Ideas

Why write?

• Writing is a power tool for learning.
• Writing can help students explore what they already know about a topic/issue/question/problem.
• Writing encourages deeper processing of new information.
• Informal, low-stakes writing assignments are easy to assess and can support course learning outcomes.
• Writing can support the reading of difficult texts.
• Multiple short writing assignments can be used to scaffold larger, formal written assignments.

Types of Activities

• Quick Writes and Journals
• Writing for Different Audiences
• Writing to Explore Ideas and Interests
• Writing to Deepen Understanding of Reading
• Writing to Tap Creativity
• Writing to Scaffold Larger Assignments

Quick Writes �and �Journals�

• Low-stress way to include more meaningful writing activities in courses
• Usually informal and quick to assess
• Flexible in purpose
• Pre-reading or pre-discussion activation of existing knowledge
• Post-reading or post-discussion processing of learning
• Idea generation/exploration connected to other assignments, challenging concepts, etc.

Quick Writes

How

• Simple prompt
• 5-10 minutes
• Connect to larger course goal/assignment
• Example: Write for 10 minutes on one or two issues in the reading that stood out to you and why the issue(s) stood out.

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Why

• Regular, meaningful, low-stakes invitation to think in and through writing
• Individual student engagement
• Informal assessment opportunities
• Input for shaping subsequent instruction

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Writing �for �Different Audiences�

• Can be short, interesting, fun
• translate the lyrics of the song Royals by Lorde for an academic audience (in-class, small-group activity in a first-year composition class)
• explain the sensitive period hypothesis to language teachers, language learners, and college administrators (short homework assignment for graduate TESOL class)

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• Encourages use and exploration of students’ existing knowledge of discourse communities they belong to
• Raises awareness about needs and expectations of different audiences
• Opportunities to make sense of difficult course concepts through multiple “translations”

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Writing to �Explore Ideas �and �Interests�

• Writing as a discovery process
• Writing as sustained engagement with ideas
• Low-stakes assignments
• Thinking pieces
• Discussion boards
• Blogs
• Journals
• Formative assessment
• quick to review
• can collect anonymously
• can be used for general feedback to the class

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Writing �to Deepen Understanding �of Reading�

• Writing as reading strategy (before, during, after reading)
• Uncovering common patterns in academic texts (says/does analysis)
• Making sense of others’ texts (summaries, translations, visualizations, storyboards, communicating about texts for different audiences)
• Engaging in active dialog with texts (double entry notebook, SQ3R, annotation)

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Writing to Scaffold Larger Assignments�

• A series of low-stakes assignments and feedback opportunities in support of a larger assignment can increase learning and decrease faculty and student stress.
• The “thesis-driven research paper” becomes multiple short papers with one chosen to develop into a more developed and formal piece.
• The “literature review” becomes a multi-stage process of small assignments (quick write on interests, database exploration report, research question development, exploratory essay or annotated bibliography, formal literature review)