100 Sticky Notes, or The Simple Way to Move from Observations to Composing
I have a new challenge for the next class of students I teach: Buy one package of sticky notes. Any brand will do, but be sure that they are about 3″ square. There should be about 100 notes in the pad....
View ArticleArgument Haiku
One of the teachers in our writing program stopped me in the hall to share his success using argument haiku in class. I have to admit that it’s one of my favorite activities. In the book I’ve paired...
View ArticleStudents as Resources
In my last post I wrote about what bibliographies are for and how they can serve the needs of writing teachers. Similarly, of course, textbooks, articles, Web sites, and an increasingly vast array of...
View ArticleOnline Peer Review
Like most writing instructors, I have tried peer review in almost every possible configuration, often within the same semester: same groups all semester, different groups every time, self-selected...
View ArticleTips for New Teachers #7: Effective Peer Groups
My first job after graduate school was at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, where they were still following the British model of year-long classes. Imagine the luxury of teaching a...
View Article“Would you mind reading this and telling me what you think?”
With my coauthor and consulting partner Greg Cuppan, I am now on the third round of revision on a research article to be published (pending revisions) in the Journal of Business and Technical...
View ArticleRevising Inside a Classroom Management System
It’s typical for writing teachers to use peer review to help students learn to revise. And as I pointed out in a recent Bits post, we can’t assume that even practicing scientists in companies that rely...
View ArticleTutoring: What’s in It for the Tutor?
During the second week of this term’s classes, I had my first tutoring appointment in Stanford’s Hume Writing Center. I don’t have to tutor—after all, I stepped down after 11 years of directing the...
View ArticleMaking use of review comments
A visit to the University of Georgia a few weeks ago highlighted the importance of follow through on peer review. When a suggestion is made by an instructor or peer reviewer, do students follow...
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Steven Pinker traces the source of bad writing
In September 25’s Wall Street Journal, Harvard cognitive scientist Steven Pinker (author of The Language Instinct, The Better Angels of Our Nature, and many other books) published an essay on “The...
View ArticleThe “Craft” of Peer Revision: Part I
Though we have diverse approaches to teaching writing, my experience suggests that one of the commonalities we all share is some sort of peer feedback. Whether we call it peer revision or peer editing...
View ArticleThe “Craft” of Peer Revision: Part II
In my last post, I suggested ways to use highlighters in peer revision. In this one, we’re moving into dangerous territory—dangerous because scissors are involved (no running!). Bring a few pairs of...
View ArticlePeer Groups in the Technology-Enabled Writing Classroom
I suspect we all use peer review in some form or other. If we can help students become effective peer reviewers, then we give them a skill that helps them improve their writing without a teacherly...
View ArticleThe “Craft” of Peer Revision: Part III
So far in this series, we’ve looked at coloring (essentially that’s what they’re doing with highlighters), cutting, and taping. In this part we’re going to move into drawing. “Drawing the Argument” is...
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Multimodal Mondays: Radical Revision ~ The Sequel ~ Student Multimodal Hacks
Today’s guest blogger is Kim Haimes-Korn. She continues her series on Radical Revision – and includes assignments and examples of student projects that you don’t want to miss! In my last post,...
View ArticleThe “Craft” of Peer Revision: Part IV
In this series we’ve looked at a few ways to make the craft of peer revision more “crafty.” All of these exercises tend to be a big hit in my classes and I usually end up with stronger papers to grade...
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