Learning, Teaching, & Innovative Technologies Center | Middle Tennessee State University

Teaching Resources

Writing Return to Teaching Resources

Tags/Keywords

classroom assessment techniques	information literacy

Overview

It is helpful to distinguish between two very different goals for writing. The normal and conventional goal is writing to demonstrate learning: for this goal the writing should be good--it should be clear and, well . . . right. It is high stakes writing.

But there is another important kind of writing that is less commonly used and valued, and so I want to stress it here: writing for learning. This is low stakes writing. The goal isn't so much good writing as coming to learn, understand, remember and figure out what you don't yet know. Even though low stakes writing-to-learn is not always good as writing, it is particularly effective at promoting learning and involvemeManynt in course material, and it is much easier on teachers--especially those who aren't writing teachers.( From Writing for Learning--Not Just for Demonstrating Learning, Peter Elbow, U of Mass, Amherst)

MTSU Resources

LTITC Resources

From our library--
McEachie/Svinicki. (2006). Teaching Tips, Chapter 15 "How to Enhance Learning by Using High-Stakes and Low-Stakes Writing," by Peter Elbow & Mary Dean Sorcinelli. Houghton Mifflin

McLeod-Porter, D. (2005). Bridging the gap: Learning to write effectively. Southlake, TX: Fountainhead Press.

Pharr, D., & Buscemi, S. (2004). Writing today: Contexts and options for the real world. New York: McGraw Hill.

Wilson, P., & Glazier, T.F. (2003). The least you should know about English writing skills. Boston, MA: Thomson/Wadsworth.

Teaching Tip Write-to-learn Activities

Online Resources: Tips and Strategies
Online Grammar self-scoring tutorial from Free-ed.net.
Writers' Web, maintained by Univ of Richmond--a fantastic collection of resources for the entire writing process.
Daily Grammar
AcademicInfo directory of English Grammar and Language sites
Powerpoints, workshops, presentations about writing from OWL-Purdue U.
Writing Assessments from AACU, including rubrics from many colleges & universities developed to foster and assess written communication outcomes. See the rubric collection at Opened Practices.
The Writing Teacher--Tips, Techniques, and Advice on Writing
Institute for Writing & Rhetoric, Dartmouth University--Citations and Sources: exhaustive collection of writing resources for the post-secondary writing teacher and student.
Helping Your Students Use the Writing Center Effectively, from Univ of Wisconsin, Stout.

Online Publications: Viewpoints, Articles, Books...
What is Inkshedding?
Writerisms & Other Sins--A Writer's Shortcut to Stronger Writing. Excellent handout.