Post date: Nov 30, 2016 2:32:11 PM
What Works: Nine Strategies for Writing Teachers
I recently retired, after teaching at the College level since 1987; I subbed in K-12, taught as an adjunct for several Community Colleges and Buena Vista College, and worked as a T. A. at Iowa State University, before being hired full time in the Communications Department at Hawkeye Community College in August 1996. I quickly learned that my path would be that of technology pioneer, integrating technology into the classroom in a variety of ways, and developing strategies to teach writing, literature, and an Educational Technology course.
I was hired because I had been one of a handful of teachers to teach on the ICN, the two-way audio and video telecommunications system created by the state of Iowa in 1993. I got a phone call from my Dean in the summer of 1994: “how would you like to be a TV star?” I was an adjunct and had been in the ministry for a decade, so I was intrigued by the challenge and not afraid to speak to a crowd. Later, I discovered that all of the full-time teachers had turned down the assignment.
Originating at our campus, with students in the classroom, we were able to connect with classrooms around the area and generally had three sites joining us. The ICN was an exciting classroom because it included several cameras and was connected to a network of classrooms around the state. So, I used the document camera to show students a cartoon, editorial or other visual and they saw it on the two big TV screens at either side of the teaching station. Connecting to the computer on the teaching station, I could show a Powerpoint presentation, or I could switch cameras to show my on-campus students or myself.
Later, I was one of a small group of Composition teachers who pioneered teaching writing in a computer classroom, using 25 hand-me-down computers from John Deere in 1998. We patterned the room after the ICN classroom, with a teaching station, two big TVs, and an overhead projector and computer. We did not have the Internet for the first two years: then, they brought in 5 PCs and hooked us up to the campus network. By the time I retired, in August of 2016, we had a number of computer classrooms for teaching our writing classes, and all Comp. 1 and Comp. 2 courses were taught in computer classrooms.
In 2000, I returned to the University of Northern Iowa and got a Master’s in Educational Technology in 2003, so I got the unique opportunity to take classes online and teach online around the same time. I was one of the first teachers in my Department to teach online: we began with WebCT in 2002/2003 and then used BlackBoard, Angel, and Canvas. I began using tools like the Purdue OWL and early citation tools like the citation machine as well as search engines and early databases; later, we used our library databases and many more web tools. Composition students sent their essays to an online tutoring service called Smarthinking. I also used the plagiarism detecting service TurnitIn at an earlier time.
So, what have I learned about what strategies are effective for helping students learn to be better writers, whether face to face, hybrid or online? Here is my advice for new writing teachers.
Beef up the Syllabus: include a week by week calendar, a list of due dates, and an Overview of the assignments, with a few details. I decided that I had to include more information for online students in my syllabus, and it soon doubled in length, as I added a section for a week by week agenda of what needed to be done, a list of due dates, and a list of web resources.
Use discussion forums to help students bond and feel part of the course. Since these tools are built-in to every Course Management System, I used them with all of my courses, face to face and online alike. Some students do not speak up in class, for a variety of reasons, but will post to the forum. Forums get students interacting with each other, discussing concepts and readings, and are also a wonderful way to get students comfortable with writing about course-related material. While I had used more traditional journals earlier, I switched to using the discussion forums, since they encouraged students to participate. They also prepared them for essay test questions.
Develop a course pack—a bundle of the essential handouts, along with the syllabus and sell it in the bookstore. A number of my online students would never have printed off the syllabus and these handouts on their own, as I discovered when they asked me questions and seemed to not know basic information. While I had all of these documents posted online, having it in black and white in front of them was helpful to online and face to face students alike. It saved me the hassle of ordering materials weekly and then trying to remember which handout Susie needed if she missed the last class. It took a lot of pressure off of me during the semester and helped students who wanted to look ahead or needed to catch up.
Develop a theme for your course and tailor your writing assignments to it: this was most helpful to me because it made it possible to tailor assignments and develop specific checklists that made it easier to do peer review, submit essays to a tutoring service, and then for me to assess them and suggest changes and corrections for revision.
Have a Sense of humor and don’t be afraid to show your human side. I included pictures of my two grandkids in my Educational videos, on the title page of my Course Pack and sometimes as an attachment to my weekly email. Students liked getting to know me better and it gave them something to talk about if they emailed me, stopped by my office or called me.
When appropriate, find a good book for a reader. I used a book called Lol…..OMG! What Every Student Needs to Know about Online Reputation Management, Digital Citizenship and Cyberbullying.Written by Matt Ivester, it was published by Serra Knight Publishing, 2011. (Paperback version, ISBN 978-1466242074) It is also available as an e-book and there is now a High School version. This was a great book for two of my classes because it dealt with social media, the tendency of young people to post inappropriate material and then suffer consequences. I used it with my Comp.2 classes as well as my Educational Technology class. It fit our theme of exploring problems with technology, was very applicable to their lives and featured short readable chapters. I incorporated it into the discussion board and created a short study guide for them to fill out. The study guide ensured that they looked for the key ideas that I identified in each chapter and they turned it in at midterm and then again at Finals.
While I embraced technology, I was old school in terms of using the writing process, which strongly encouraged revision. Furthermore, I did not give letter grades on individual essays. Instead, I used assignment specific checklists to assign points, making it clear what they needed to add or correct. No outline? Lost 5 points. No Works Cited List? Lost 10 points. I found early on that a student would accept a C on an essay, but if given 77 and told he or she could get more points, they were more likely to revise to get more points.
Create Videos to engage students and explain assignments. Once I got an iPad and discovered some of the wonderful apps like Educreations, I began to create a series of short videos. Educreations is a whiteboard app that lets you import photos, web links, and draw or type: then, you record your voice to narrate it. Students went to the Educreations website, set up an account, and could watch the videos there. They were ideal for visual learners because viewers could watch the video more than once if needed. It also added a personal touch as I posted pictures of my two adorable grandsons, used humor, and made an effort to put some personality into my voice.
Send a weekly email message to remind students of what to work on: this was often a copy and paste from the syllabus. Many students commented on how handy this was throughout the semester: I always included a list of due dates along with the descriptions of the assignments, and then used the calendar feature of the Course Management System to present those dates more visually. The weekly email took on a conversational tone and was meant to not only remind students of what they needed to be working on, but also touch base, and sometimes I added a funny story about my grandchildren or a picture. I think it made me more approachable; students would respond to that message with questions and sometimes comment on the pictures or stories.
The final strategy that made a difference with my online writing classes was doing a phone or face to face conference over the major paper: it was a big investment of time since I generally taught two sections online, so I did the majority of online students would do a phone conference. However, it made a big difference for students, who often pointed out its value at the end of the semester in their reflective essays. For my face to face classes, I did a mini-conference when I returned their essays for revision.
For many years, students turned in their assignments printed out; however, about a decade ago I began to use email and then drop boxes to have students submit work electronically. I would then open their assignments in word and insert comments and my checklist, filling it out based on how well they met the criteria. Most recently, when we moved to Canvas, I had another option: grading online. Speed Grader worked well and was faster: the marked-up essay could be downloaded if desired. In addition, students liked it; it saved them time since they could see my comments and their problems without having to open a file in Word. However, I still spent many hours online. We switched to Canvas in the fall of 2015 and I averaged 60 hours a week, rebuilding five class websites, grading tests and worksheets, commenting on essays, corresponding with students, and reading discussion boards.
I had many wonderful online students, including a number of High School students taking the course as Dual Enrollment and students from around the country; however, some never logged on or gave up and did not drop. More is needed to prepare students for online learning and assess their readiness.
While I set off to be a High School English teacher, I look back on my career in the Community College and have no regrets. I had the opportunity to do a lot of exciting things using technology: I worked with some wonderful teachers and administrators and met some wonderful students as well. I am now friends with many of those students I named on Facebook, and follow their careers and successes with great pride. I’ve seen the transformation of the classroom from chalkboards and overhead transparencies to computers, iPads, class websites and YouTube: teachers now have many more tools to engage students. I am happy that my journey led me to Hawkeye Community College, and the opportunity to teach writing with so many wonderful students.
Last updated November 30, 2016