Significant class time should be devoted to writing instruction, including sessions on thesis statements, body paragraphs, introductions/conclusions, use of evidence, and academic integrity/citations. While the Writing Center Director would recommend 50% of class time, even devoting 40% of class time to writing practices would improve writing-related outcomes.
Major writing assignments should include scaffolding, which is the process of using smaller assignments to develop writing skills.
Collaboration with Dunn Library would include in-class instruction and/or library visits.
Collaboration with the Writing Center would include in-class instruction and/or Writing Center appointments (these visits can be incentivized through extra credit or required).
A faculty seminar in May and/or August would discuss including writing practices in course syllabi (preferably meeting before faculty development day so that a brief follow-up meeting would be possible). Individual appointments for syllabus development with the Writing Center Director would be available to all WR faculty.
Weekly faculty development meetings would discuss assessments, assignments, and the evaluation of writing. Modeled on the Foundations 2 faculty development meetings, these meetings would function as support and training for faculty teaching WR courses.
The Writing Center Director would provide fully developed lesson plans for writing tasks such as: annotated bibliographies, evidence-based body paragraphs, in-text citations, introductions/conclusions, thesis statements, and works cited/reference pages. Resources would include assignments, handouts, peer workshops, and PowerPoint presentations. These lesson plans would be developed prior to initiating Writing Reinforcement classes.
Writing Reinforcement faculty should perform assessments on individual essays and within the course. Sample papers will be saved and reviewed during weekly meetings. Building a repository of these assignments and syllabi would be an important resource for Simpson. Assessment results would allow further development of Writing Reinforcement and provide a better understanding of writing instruction outcomes.