- Quantity: students must write a lot of words--ideally in frequent low stakes ways which don't feel onerous to them or you, which can be assessed quickly, if at all, and which add up to a significant portion of students grade (20-30 percent).
- Public: writing must be public and it's presence must be made visible in your course on a daily basis. Low stakes writing should be shared frequently and high stakes writing should be as well.
- Course management system: in order to accomplish 1 & 2, as frequently as possible and ideally all the time writing must be done in digitally, by using the CMS. (this means that laptops should be encouraged in class and frequent trips to writing labs should be taken.
- Class time: class time should be allocated to ACTIVITY--lecture is just one kind of activity and should not be the primary activity of class time. Activities which engage students in writing-related activities (individual writing, group/collaborative writing, peer-review, discusion of student texts--low stakes and high) should far outweigh the activity of lecture.
- peer review: all major or high stakes writing should be peer-reviewed multiple times/drafts before it is handed in for a grade.
Teaching writing effectively means adopting a student (as opposed to a content) centered orientation towards the classroom. You are there to teach students how to KNOW and to DO things. Knowing and doing are equally important. Effective student-centered instructors develop a repertoire of strategies and tools for structuring classroom activity to facilitate knowing and doing. They are constantly adapting their practice to expand the range of strategies and tools they deploy to accomplish their objectives. Communications technologies are key tools in student-centered teaching.
