Judith A. Langer’s “Speaking of Knowing” emphasizes that “writing (and the thinking that accompanies it) then becomes a primary and a necessary vehicle for practicing the ways of organizing and presenting ideas that are most appropriate to a particular subject area ” (71). This requires faculty to state explicitly the often tacitly held “rules of argument and evidence that represent the ways of thinking unique to each discipline” (83).
Guiding Questions for Assignment Design
- What are my learning goals in this course?
- How can I use writing assignments to achieve them?
- What are the kinds and forms of writing that are essential in my discipline?
Low vs. High Stakes Writing Assignments
Low stakes writing assignments aim “to get students to think, learn, and understand more of the course material” without penalizing them for making errors that would count in high stakes writing situations. These assignments are informal and assessed for completion/effort.
High stakes writing assignments give students the chance to present learning more formally and thus are evaluated more formally. These assignments are typically broken into stages to build in opportunities for drafting, feedback, conferencing, and revision.
Effective WIP assignments provide opportunities for student writers to discover, capture, record, or respond informally (low stakes) and to elaborate, revise, and refine work into a more formal product (high stakes).
Additional Considerations
- Utilize a mix of low and high stakes assignments.
- Teach discipline-specific models, formats, and conventions to teach students how to think, how to argue, and how to write in their fields of study.
- Avoid the tendency to attempt too much.