Responding to Student Writing: Low Stakes Homework and Partial Drafts Presentation Notes

Abstract

Last semester, I discovered two techniques that are revolutionizing my teaching. The first technique is that of requiring students to write informal, one-page responses to all readings in a given unit. Each unit is comprised of six to ten texts read over a period of several weeks. By reading and responding to these low-stakes pieces of homework--a total of five to six pages for each unit-- I can spot student challenges, such as reading comprehension problems or grammar needs, and can start helping students address them as soon as Week 1. In addition, this low-stakes writing functions as a kind of “warm-up” for students. Somehow, their writing seems to improve on its own over the first few weeks before any formal essays are due! Instead of having students submit an entire essay, I break essays into parts, and ask students to submit one part at a time as homework. I then respond to each part as described above. This allows me another opportunity to address student challenges before high-stakes essays are due, and also allows me to tailor class content to class needs, using examples from their own homework. Although these methods may seem time-consuming, I can respond to homework and partial drafts fairly quickly on an easy-to-use platform like Google classroom, and by the time I get those final essays on Turnitin, my work is largely done.