assignments ENGL301 Writing & The Teaching of Writing: Assignment Design
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LEE TORDA 310 Tillinghast Hall Bridgewater State University 508.531.2436 ltorda@bridgew.edu www.leetorda.com |
Summer 2016 Office Hours:
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ASSIGNMENT DESIGN
My point all summer long: a really well designed assignment can light a classroom on fire. One of the last assignments of the summer allows you to design, beginning to end, a meaningful writing/reading experience for potential future students. I know that some of you will feel excited about this and some of you will be daunted. I hope, too, that some of you are even a little excited to take a stab at this. As you all know, I love assignment design, and I hope that you will come to love it too.
You should consider the entirety of the summer's thinking and writing and reading as you plan your assignment, in fact, should feel informed by all of it. I should be able to tell that you were paying attention when I read it. We will have time to talk about this project both in class and in a conference with me. I want you to feel as ready to write this as you can.
Other things: your assignment should be a substantial assignment--one that might take a week or more in a classroom, one that involves both low-stakes writing and high-stakes writing. It should also involve reading in some capacity as well. It should not be exclusively one or the other. It can involve literature appropriate to your grade level (see the frameworks/core curriculum for that), but it does not have to be about literature. Speaking of the frameworks/core, you should be able to point to the frameworks/core that you are trying to include in your assignments (more on that in a moment).
NOTE: There may be a number of chapters in Kittle's Write Beside Them that we won't have time to cover in their entirety. I would suggest that, whether we cover them or not in class, that you take a look at them as you plan your assignments. She covers writing in multiple genres as well as writing about literature.
A FEW WORDS ABOUT FORMAT: I know that many of you have taken education classes and are used to producing complex documents called unit plans. If you are comfortable with putting your assignment in that format, more power to you, but keep in mind that I don't speak that language and will not be able to help you with the format. There are two documents I need for you to turn in to me for this assignment. Whatever else you decide to do is up to you.
1. I need what would be the handout you would actually give to your students to explain the assignment. Even if you are working with young students, I want to see a handout.
2. I need a 3 to 4 page reflection letter for your assignment. In that letter, I want you to discuss the following:
My point all summer long: a really well designed assignment can light a classroom on fire. One of the last assignments of the summer allows you to design, beginning to end, a meaningful writing/reading experience for potential future students. I know that some of you will feel excited about this and some of you will be daunted. I hope, too, that some of you are even a little excited to take a stab at this. As you all know, I love assignment design, and I hope that you will come to love it too.
You should consider the entirety of the summer's thinking and writing and reading as you plan your assignment, in fact, should feel informed by all of it. I should be able to tell that you were paying attention when I read it. We will have time to talk about this project both in class and in a conference with me. I want you to feel as ready to write this as you can.
Other things: your assignment should be a substantial assignment--one that might take a week or more in a classroom, one that involves both low-stakes writing and high-stakes writing. It should also involve reading in some capacity as well. It should not be exclusively one or the other. It can involve literature appropriate to your grade level (see the frameworks/core curriculum for that), but it does not have to be about literature. Speaking of the frameworks/core, you should be able to point to the frameworks/core that you are trying to include in your assignments (more on that in a moment).
NOTE: There may be a number of chapters in Kittle's Write Beside Them that we won't have time to cover in their entirety. I would suggest that, whether we cover them or not in class, that you take a look at them as you plan your assignments. She covers writing in multiple genres as well as writing about literature.
A FEW WORDS ABOUT FORMAT: I know that many of you have taken education classes and are used to producing complex documents called unit plans. If you are comfortable with putting your assignment in that format, more power to you, but keep in mind that I don't speak that language and will not be able to help you with the format. There are two documents I need for you to turn in to me for this assignment. Whatever else you decide to do is up to you.
1. I need what would be the handout you would actually give to your students to explain the assignment. Even if you are working with young students, I want to see a handout.
2. I need a 3 to 4 page reflection letter for your assignment. In that letter, I want you to discuss the following:
- What are the literacy goals of this assignment. You can include framework/core standards along with whatever else you want to say in your own words about the goals of the assignment.
- Explain to me how the assignment you've designed here accomplishes the learning goals you've outlined in the first question.
- Your handout should explain all the parts of your assignment; in your reflection letter, explain to me how one step builds on the next, how each step works to achieve your learning goals for the assignments.
- Identify how you will assess students as they work through and finally complete the assignment.
- How will you get information about assessment to students? At what point or points in the project will you get them that information.
