Less is More:

1
Less is More

• Responding to Student Writing

2
Which metaphor best describes achieving better
student writing?

• The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
• Good student writing is the elusive goal towards
  which we must all strive.

The road less traveled. All students are on a
good writing path some are closer to the start
line others are further along.
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The trouble with a pot of gold

• Too elusive
• Its either not raining, or not sunny, or the
  student writer is not in Ireland, but the pot of
  gold is never attainable.
• Too far off in the future
• Students believe that writing success is always
  beyond their energies intelligence.
• Too undefined
• Students believe that profs ideas of good
  writing are idiosyncratic and personal.

4
Taking the road less traveledAdvantages to
faculty

• We stop seeing our writing enhancement task in
  life or death terms
• Okay, kids, this is your final chance to learn
  how to write the kinds of papers youll need to
  succeed in college.
• What thus happens to kids who never see the
  rainbow, never mind find the pot of gold?
• We realize that ours is 1 course among 32

5
Taking the road less traveledMore Advantages to
faculty

• We begin to see our writing enhancement task in
  terms of moving students along a path on which
  theyve been walking since grade school and on
  which they must stay to succeed.
• Okay, kids, lets contrast how much better these
  research findings, lab reports, summaries,
  response papers, etc. were than the first ones
  you wrote!
• Everyone moves a bit further along the road less
  traveled!
• We are responsible for helping students improve
  their writing, not for making it perfect!

6
Faculty Comments on Susie Students essay

• From the the pot of gold school
• All deviations from goldness must be noted for
  Susie Student to achieve the pot of gold
• From the the road less traveled school
• Comments are only designed to lead Susie Student
  further along the road less traveled on her
  journey toward becoming a better writer.

7
Why then do good profs cover student writing
with comments?

• We know so much more about good writing than they
  and want to share all of our knowledge at once!

8
Why else may good profs cover student writing
with comments?

• We believe that the harder we work on a students
  writing, the more he/she will learn.

9
Another reason for good profs to cover student
writing with comments.

• We must remedy the defects of 13 years of K-12
  instruction in 13 weeks of a TCNJ semester

10
What does our covering their work with comments
tell our students?

• Not that we know so much more and want to share
  that knowledge with them.
• Not that our hard work will necessarily result in
  increased learning for them.
• Not that their TCNJ faculty are hugely more
  competent than K-12 faculty.
• But that we hate their writing and that they may
  as well give up!

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Susie Student with her freshly graded essay

• The comment reads unfocused thesis
• Susie thinks I have no good ideas.
• The comment reads edit!
• Susie thinks I cant spell no one has taught
  me grammar since grade 6 and I never have known
  how to put page numbers in parentheses.
• The comment reads expand on this idea
• Susie thinks I dont know what Im taking about
  and he thinks I havent even read the text.
• At this point, Susie has stopped reading any
  comments at all!

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Will writing just a few comments shortchange my
students?

• No, it isnt how much you write thats important
• Its how many comments theyll read.
• Its how many comments theyll process and
  understand.
• Its how many comments theyll remember.
• Its how many comments they are able to act on in
  their next paper.

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So, what should a prof do?

• Start commenting with whatever is best about the
  papera positive!
• Students want to improve their writing more if
  they believe that their writing has at least some
  strengths
• Students put much more work into revising a paper
  they believe is partially good rather than
  mostly bad.
• Examples of positives
• You clearly understand the article we read.
• Youve chosen good symbols as crucial to the poem.

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So, what else should a prof do?

• Limit yourself to (at most) 2 areas of concern
  per paper. For example,
• In your revision, Id like you to focus on the
  order in which you present your evidence and on
  having one piece of evidence per body rather
  than detailing them all in one long
• Collect both the revision and that comment, and
  grade/respond to the revision in terms of that
  assigned task.
• Use a rubric and simply circle or mark the
  descriptors of the paper.

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Some techniques Ive admired

• Stack papers in piles according to most serious
  flaws and divide students into groups based on
  these flaws
• a group focusing on re-writing theses so that
  they are focused and specific enough for short
  papers
• a group focusing on writing a conclusion that
  explains why the thesis is important instead of
  merely repeating the papers evidence
• a group focusing on editing out sentence
  fragments
• a group focusing on incorporating evidence that
  is not personal but is instead evidence derived
  from research

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Another response that works to minimize profs
comments

• Realize that papers can be read with different
  eyes.
• After collecting essays, announce that this set
  of papers will be read, commented on, and graded
  in terms of one single element
• the strength of the main claim / thesis
• the evidence it chooses to cite
• mechanical errors in the 3rd
• its adherence to the norms of the field MLA,
  CBE, etc.
• The next essay will be read with different eyes

17
But what about grammar and mechanics?

• What happens when profs edit mechanical
  grammatical errors?
• Instead of revising and rethinking, students
  simply fix surface errors.
• But theyll think their writing is error-free!
• Just choose one and circle it's errors
• Never mark errors in an early draftstudents will
  simply fix the surface errors, turn in the
  rewritten paper, and confidently await an A

18
Expect resistance from students to abandoning the
pot of gold metaphor

• The pot of gold model puts responsibility on
  faculty to show students the process or map to
  the gold
• Students describe themselves as never having had
  a good English teacher or as never having been
  taught to write.
• To a student, all writing inadequacies are traced
  to a comment deficiency in which we never
  adequately explain what we want, and so we fail
  to teach them to write well.

19
The road less traveled metaphor puts
responsibility for writing onto students.

• Students are reminded that writing for our course
  is simply another step in their on-going
  development as writers.
• Giving students specific revision tasks (or tasks
  to be attempted in their next essay) puts the
  onus for learning on them.
• They are, after all, on their own road!

20
Some caveats what can go wrong when a prof
minimizes comments?

• Students who feel that they have successfully
  accomplished the single revision task you give
  them believe that they all deserve an A
• a detailed rubric can help prevent this
• Focusing a student on his main area of concern
  necessarily handicaps him in working on another
  shortcomings.
• a trade-off that I justify because I believe 1
  course cannot be a cure-all or magic writing
  potion

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More caveats

• Students feel that a relatively unmarked paper
  an A paper gallons of red ink D or F
• A paper not drowning in red ink that does not
  earn an A thus breaks this rule
• None of this is made easier by students who feel
  that A is the only good grade.
• Students may mistake minimal focused comments for
  the profs not really caring about the whole
  paper.

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But on the positive side . . . Minimal marking

• allows profs to assign more writing b/c they have
  time to read it.
• allows profs who do not feel mastery over every
  single aspect of the writing process to work with
  their students on those aspects most crucial to
  their discipline
• encourages students to see writing tasks as
  discrete and manageable.