Here's a random change I'm going to make to my class next semester:
This semester, I used a reflective cover sheet for each major essay. Students were to answer the questions (Why did you choose this topic? What was the hardest part about writing the essay? The easiest? etc.), and hand in the completed cover sheet along with the essay. I was hoping that would give them some ammo for their cover letters and get them used to self reflection. Some of my students were very thorough...you know one or two! Most of the time, I think they hammered out the cover sheet two seconds before they turned it in, and the purpose was kinda lost.
Next semester, I'm going to have them answer the same questions about their essays, but I'm going to give them the first 10 minutes of class time on the days major essays are due. I;m hoping that using class time will allow for more time spent on those cover sheets. What does everyone else think? How did you all handle self reflection?
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
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4 comments:
I love this idea, Amanda. I find that students take their cue about what's important from us--from the ways in which we allocate class time. If students get in-class time for this reflection (or postwrite, a term I've adopted from Nedra Reynolds), they're not, then, trying to cram it in between last-minute panic printing and sprinting to class. I've also learned that good self-reflection, like good peer response, requires some training. If we give our students time in class to to perform this important task, we can also support them in learning this important practice.
I really like the questions you ask: they provide good intellectual fodder to the student writer, they help writers to recognize the many decisions inherent in writing, and they help the teacher to shape her response. Brava! Are you comfortable sharing all your questions? How do we feel about all of us sharing our questions? Tracy
Hi. Me, again. Sorry. It's just that I stumbled upon another Doug Hesse gem that deals, in part, with postwrites. May I share it?
http://www.du.edu/writing/documents/ResponsetoStudentWriting13WaysofLookingatIt.pdf
Trying Hard to Lurk Duckart
I think it would be really helpful to see everyone's self-reflective postwrite questions. I'll create a forum just for that!
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