STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE

WRITING INSTRUCTION
DURING FIRST YEAR
COMPOSITION

CHRYSTAL RICH

EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY

PROFESSOR BANKS

ENGLISH 7960 Methods of Teaching English in TYC

INTRODUCTION
 Perhaps one of the biggest challenges beginning
English instructors face in the two-year college (TYC)
context is the limited amount of experience and
training in teaching writing.
 This is one of those professions that requires hands-
on experience and develops over a period of time.
Writing teachers and potential writing teachers
cannot become prepared by reading on the topic
of teaching composition without practicing.
INTRODUCTION
 What Do the Experts say?
 In order for writing teachers to be able to effectively teach writing,
the lack of training in writing programs must be addressed.
Professor Dylan Dryer, author of "At a Mirror, Darkly" explains the
importance of the “teaching of writing” instruction in the following
quote:
 “Given that teaching assistants and so many of their peers are
effectively the sole representatives of academic writing expertise to
a sizable fraction of the first-year U.S. undergraduate population,
the practicum should better equip its novice teachers to negotiate
reflectively (and thereby to model in their own classrooms) a more
productive relationship with dominant academic writing practices”
(Dryer 421-22).
INTRODUCTION
 Wardle, in "Considering What it Means to Teach
'Composition' in the Twenty-First Century" quotes
Restaino’s distress with writing courses claiming that
“…they are often taught by graduate students (who
are frequently enrolled in programs other than
rhetoric and composition): largely untrained, unsure
of their responsibilities, and equipped with a
syllabus that they did not design and perhaps a list
of pedagogical procedures they do not
understand” (Wardle 668).
INTRODUCTION
 Micchiche and Carr, in their article, "Toward Graduate-
Level Writing Instruction" echo Dryer’s concern when
they write, “The marginalized location of student writing
reflects a systemic problem within English graduate
programs, namely the failure to acknowledge that
graduate education should prepare critical writers for
the profession” (Micciche and Carr 484).
 Clearly, the lack of “teaching of writing” instruction
seems to be a concern for many experts who are
already cultured in the field of education.
INTRODUCTION
 One of the most important things to keep in mind is, “Who
we are teaching?”
 TYC instructors are often teaching non-traditional students
which may include minority students, low-income students,
and adult students. Many students in TYCs are working
adults with a variety of other commitments such as careers
and families.
 They are going to take their education seriously, but will
need to do so efficiently. Limiting the amount of
expectations can help provide them with a better quality of
education while still challenging them intellectually. They will
not develop if they are rushing through every assignment.
 SOME MOTIVATION FROM A FORMER
FLUNKING STUDENT

Who are we teaching?

Denzel Washington recognized that someone believed in him, which moved him in his desire to
succeed. TYC instructors are given the unique opportunity to work with non-traditional students
(minority students, immigrant students, students coming from homes with lower income, first
generation college students, adult/ working students) who may or may not have a positive
support system. Keep this in mind when you are working with students at risk of failing in your
courses. They may not have anyone to believe in them. Maybe they can take some advice from
Mr. Washington: It’s okay to fail big. Failure is often part of the process of success.
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE
 Just like learning a new language, when learning to teach
writing or any new skill, immersion is the best tool. Dryer
developed a study that documented graduate students’
“sense of self” prior to and after they completed the
practicum portion of their program. Pre-practicum, students
described themselves as “A fraud” or “In over my head.” The
same students described themselves post-practicum as
“Qualified” and “More prepared.”
 Students are taught that they can learn to improve their own
writing through the process of peer review. In the same
process, instructors can become better practitioners and
teachers of writing by reviewing student writing and
teaching composition.
GOAL FOR THIS PRESENTATION

 This presentation explores some of the pitfalls new

composition instructors can expect upon entering
their future classrooms, and offers some positive
strategies for teaching writing in their first year
composition course.
PITFALLS IN TEACHING WRITING
 1. Projection of Writing Anxiety
 2. Student Disconnectedness With Assignments
 3. Teaching Writing in Isolation from Reading
 4. Lacking Creative Space for Process Instruction
 5. Ineffective Feedback
Projection of Writing
Anxiety
Projection of Writing Anxiety
 Dylan Dryer, author of “At a Mirror, Darkly: The
Imagined Undergraduate Writers of Ten Novice
Composition Instructors” warns new college students
and graduate teaching assistants against projecting
their own writing anxiety on their students. He claims
that we can encourage a “…skittish teacher
identity” if we aren’t confident in our own
performance as writers. (424)
Projection of Writing Anxiety
 Ironically, new teachers who are not yet as
confident in their writing abilities as instructors who
have been teaching for several years, are more
likely to scrutinize student work in the same areas
they feel their own writing falls short. Dryer asserts,
“It was clear that graduate teaching assistants who
believed that they struggled with organization or
focus in their own academic writing attributed the
same problem to the imagined students” (Dryer
431).
Projection of Writing Anxiety
Things to become aware of:
 Perhaps building personal writing confidence could

reflect a positive and confident development in the

student writing.
 Try to maintain an objective stance when reviewing

student writing.
 Focus often on writing strengths rather than
weaknesses. Ask yourself, “What does this student
do particularly well?”
 Student
Disconnectedness
From Assignments
Student Disconnectedness From
Assignments
 Often times we hear the complaint, “This is boring.”
This could reflect student attitudes carried from
previous writing instruction, or perhaps students are
genuinely bored. How can instructors encourage
students to become more engaged with writing
instruction?
 Authors Sweeney and McBride offer some sound
advice in their essay, “Difficulty Paper (Dis)
Connections: Understanding the Threads Students
Weave Between Their Reading and Writing."
Student Disconnectedness From
Assignments
 Sweeney and McBride adopted the idea of having
students write a “difficulty paper” wherein they discuss
all of the difficulties they encounter when reading a
text and how the reading assignments seem to be
disjointed from writing assignments. They wanted to be
able to pinpoint the location of the disconnect.
 “By examining students’ difficulty papers in reference to
this article in particular, we found that the main
difficulty students faced was a mismatch between
expectations in their reading and writing classes”
(Sweeney and McBride 596).
Student Disconnectedness From
Assignments
 Things to consider…
 Why is it okay for the “experts” to make
grammatical, formatting, and organization “errors”
that instructors often criticize students for?
 The reasoning for assigning specific texts needs to
be explicit and should be practical.
 Why is this necessary?
 Are we creating writing assignments that are
relevant?
Teaching Writing in
Isolation from
Reading
Teaching Writing in Isolation from
Reading
 The previous pitfall dealt with the disconnect of
transfer from reading texts to composition.
 Have you ever heard the claim that good readers
make good writers?
 Bill Marsh, in “Reading-Writing Integration in
Developmental and First-Year Composition,”
discusses how reading and writing taught
separately rather than together is not beneficial for
the improvement of students’ writing development.
Teaching Writing in Isolation from
Reading
 Marsh describes how Conley’s recipe for successful
writing requires reading skills such as “…finding
evidence, incorporating source material, addressing
authorial bias, explaining terms, and determining
relationships between texts and larger themes and
structures—all of which require a strong understanding
of how reading and writing connect in the act of
composing” (Marsh 60).
 Reading is necessary in the cultivation of writing skills
because when students learn to read critically, they are
able to increase their knowledge about a topic through
research and integrate evidence to support their
positions.
Teaching Writing in Isolation from
Reading
 To get students writing…
 Have them read pieces that mimic the type of
writing you would expect them to compose.
 Have them identify elements of argument, thesis,
main points, evidence in reading assignments.
 Allow them to mimic some of the material they are
reading. (This is not to be confused with plagiarism.
They can mimic the style and formatting while
composing original ideas.)
Lacking Creative
Space for Process
Instruction
Lacking Creative Space for Process
Instruction
 As mentioned in the introduction, TYC instructors are often
teaching non-traditional students who have either not had a
prior disposition to education or are already managing
families and careers.
 It may be unreasonable to expect to fully cultivate their
writing skills when the expectations for non-traditional
students are the same as traditional students entering their
college career straight out of high school, absent of the
additional strains of balancing these other elements.
 In the TYC context, this might mean limiting assignments and
devoting class time to help teach students strategies needed
to become effective writers.
Lacking Creative Space for Process
Instruction
 Sweeney and McBride explain how they transform
their curriculum for this type of instruction when they
write, “We provide class time to find points of
connection as a classroom community rather than
explaining cultural contexts and expecting students
to make connections independently, without the
support of the classroom or their peers” (Sweeney
and McBride 610).
Lacking Creative Space for Process
Instruction
 To create space for process work…
 Limit the amount of assignments/ readings students
are given to enhance the quality of the assignments.
 Allow students to work in writing groups during
process work such as brainstorming and outlining so
they can bounce ideas off of one another.
 Model the process in front of your class. Show
students that initial process work is often messy and
disjointed.
Ineffective Feedback
Ineffective Feedback
 As mentioned in the introduction, the lack of hands-
on training in providing feedback on student writing
reflects a reluctance on the behalf of the new
composition instructor to execute feedback.
 This is often a scary dimension of TYC instruction
because giving feedback seems too subjective.
 Summer Smith, author of “The Genre of the End
Comment: Conventions in Teacher Responses to
Student Writing” proclaims that instructors “have the
power to motivate, educate, or chastise” (250).
Ineffective Feedback
 In reflecting on this power to educate, motivate, or
chastise…
 We want to educate students on what works in their
writing and what does not work.
 Chastising them will kill motivation.
 With that in mind, how can we provide feedback
that will result in improved writing?
 Through motivation!
Ineffective Feedback
How can we improve feedback?…
 Providing feedback as an informal way to help
guide students through their process, rather than as
a means to criticize their work.
 Make time for writing conferences so that you can
provide face to face feedback.
❖ This works really well when you are allowing space
during class for process work, as you can take a
few minutes to speak with each student while others
are working.
Ineffective Feedback
 When face to face is not possible, consider
providing verbal feedback via recorded messages.
 Hearing an instructor talk about their work may be
more effective than reading comments that may or
may not be understood accurately.
 Allow space for plenty of revision and drafts.
 Allow space for plenty of informal writing
assignments to build on writing skills.
Ineffective Feedback
 There is not a standard, generic process for providing
feedback.
 Feedback is subjective, so we want to avoid negative
feedback, and focus on what works in their writing.
 In areas that could use improvement, use a
conversational style of feedback. Point out instances
where, as a reviewer, you have the feeling of “being
lost” or “confused” in the student’s writing.
 Maybe you could suggest that you felt as if the student
left you hanging by not filling in some of the gaps in
their writing.
 SOLUTIONS TO
COUNTER PITFALLS
SOLUTIONS TO COUNTER PITFALLS

 Building From a Foundation

 Multi-modal Teaching Strategies
 Developing Writer Identity
 Cultivating Intrinsic Motivation
Building From a
Foundation
Building From a Foundation
 Students enroll in a writing course to learn how to
effectively compose academic writing, but you have
to start with what they know. Meet students where
they are, at their current proficiency level and help
them build from there.
 Simply have students start writing!
 Don’t expect their early writing to be a polished
academic piece.
 Early writing needs to reflect the process of
“thinking on paper.”
Building From a Foundation
 Daily writing practices:
 Have students write a response to a question posed by
a peer.
 Provide a writing prompt that they can reflectively
respond to in a journal.
 Let them free-write whatever they are thinking for a
specified time, and then see what the outcome is.
 Writing is a skill that is developed over time, and
these drills will help students exercise that skill.
Building From a Foundation
 Adler and Wardle, in Naming What We Know:
Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies suggest
that writing is a process of creating knowledge.
They claim, “Individually or in a richly interactive
environment in the classroom or workplace or at
home, writers use writing to generate knowledge
that they didn’t have before” (Adler-Kassner &
Wardle 19).
Multi-modal Teaching
Strategies
Multi-modal Teaching Strategies
 In the 21st century, there are so many complex and
diverse methods of communication. Today’s
composition instructors have an important task of
integrating the ever-changing modes of discourse
into their courses. This might require us to as the
question, “What is considered composition?”

 This is a question that Wardle proposes in her essay,

"Considering what it Means to Teach 'Composition'
in the Twenty-First Century."
Multi-modal Teaching Strategies
 In order to be able to accurately define what skills are necessary to
teach composition, what counts as composition must be defined.
Wardle best answers this when she writes, “Whatever we need to
consider and communicate, and with whomever we need to
communicate our ideas, we should be able to do so with the widest
variety of rhetorically appropriate tools and media, drawing on an
array of rhetorical strategies” (Wardle).

 Different students are going to find that one strategy might be more
effective for them than another strategy. It is important that we
allow them the freedom to choose the strategies that work best for
them in addition to requiring them to utilize strategies outside their
comfort zone as they will be required to demonstrate different skill
types beyond their education.
Multi-modal Teaching Strategies
 Rather than resist multi-modal forms of discourse,
composition instructors can embrace this as an
integral part of their curriculum better preparing
students for an ever-changing, technologically
advanced society.
 Maintaining flexibility in teaching strategies allows
instructors to consistently increase knowledge/ skills
in different areas, and also promote personal
growth.
Developing Writer
Identity
Developing Writer Identity
 Often, students feel as if they are not entitled to their own
“writer’s identity.” They have been fed the notion that there
is a “right” way or a “wrong” way to compose writing.

 Gallagher, in "What Writers Do: Behaviors, Behaviorism,

and Writing Studies," discusses the importance of helping
students came to understand their own personal writing
style/ behavior.

 This can be accomplished by providing exposure to and the

comparing and contrasting of different styles of writing.
Developing Writer Identity
 Gallagher writes, “One of our most important humanist goals as
teachers is to help students expand their behavioral repertoires as
writers” (Gallagher 258).

 Also in reference to exposure of varying writing styles, Gallagher

suggests, “We want to create the conditions in which they will try
new practices and come to understand, through reflection, what
works for them as writers and what does not” (Gallagher 258).

 As mentioned earlier on, providing students with many informal

writing assignments can really help to cultivate their writing style,
and informal feedback can help them improve the quality of their
writing without the pressure involved with formal writing assignments.
Developing Writer Identity
 Many students feel intimidated by writing because they
feel as if it has to be stiff, free of errors, and formal. As
instructors, we can help them begin to see writing
differently, and become more comfortable with
developing their own writing behaviors.

 It is important that we educate students on the nuances

between informal and academic writing so they know
how to alter their style in order to meet course
requirements, but they need to know that writing, like
speaking, can be informal and formal depending on the
audience and purpose.
Cultivating Intrinsic
Motivation
Cultivating Intrinsic Motivation
 Why bother taking a writing course? Asking that
question will produce the following answer for many
students: Because it’s a requirement.

 What if students could actually become personally

vested in their writing development? What would
that even look like?
Cultivating Intrinsic Motivation
 Patrick Sullivan, in “A Lifelong Aversion to Writing:
What If Writing Courses Emphasized Motivation?”
explains his desire to restructure the English curriculum
to reflect assignments that generate motivation when he
writes, “We must attend carefully and systematically to
issues related to motivation because students who are
motivated typically do not underachieve” (Sullivan 19).

 Motivated students will not underachieve...

That is a strong statement!
Cultivating Intrinsic Motivation
 How are students motivated?
 Many of them are motivated enough to meet the
requirements so they can move to the next level. They
want to earn a decent grade so the course will count for
their degree and place them one step closer to
completion. These goals may be admirable, but they
are extrinsic or external.

 How can we cultivate intrinsic motivation in students?

 When we create assignments that encourage individual
motivation and contribute to personal growth.
Cultivating Intrinsic Motivation
 Projects should be based on student’s personal
interests.
 Some assignment requirements should be flexible.
Some students may want to choose a non-traditional
method of delivery.
 If this is what substantiates an intrinsic motivation,
we should allow them to explore another method.
 The TYC experience should provide a rich
opportunity for self-discovery and personal growth.
After all, we are not robots.
Cultivating Intrinsic Motivation
 Sullivan, in his essay “The UnEssay: Making Room for
Creativity in the Composition Classroom” begs the
question, “What does it mean to be human?”

 Often, instructors create assignments and set

guidelines that do not offer much in the way of
creativity. But isn’t creativity and the ability to
develop new ideas an essential part of being
human?
Cultivating Intrinsic Motivation
 Sullivan has the following to say about Robinson’s book
dealing with the lack of creativity in current state of
education:
 As the title of his important book suggests—Out of Our
Minds: Learning to Be Creative—Robinson believes that
everyone has the capacity to be creative, and that creativity
is something that can be nurtured and learned. Again, this is
a claim that is now widely accepted among scholars and
researchers. Robinson has also gained notoriety for his
withering attacks on school systems across the industrialized
world and the often regimented, unimaginative, test-driven
academic practices that drive so many of them. (8)
IN CLOSING
 This presentation attempts to cover some of the possible pitfalls
teachers of writing are faced with and advises some strategies for
successful composition teaching practices. There are many more
pitfalls and solutions that may be encountered in the TYC context
and each instructor must strive to find the solutions that best counter
the pitfalls they, and the students they teach, are exposed to.
 Every instructor and every student are individual in the type of
intervention needed to improve the quality of instruction or
education. While one strategy may work well with one class, it may
fail with the next class. Teaching composition is an evolving process
and instructors may be required to consistently invent or restructure
pedagogy strategies to ensure the success of student writing. These
chosen strategies may not always benefit every student 100% of
the time, but it is important to become aware of the potential pitfalls
and solutions in effort to improve one’s practice.
IN CLOSING
 Get students involved.
 Ask them what kind of learning experience they
consider a quality learning experience.
 Let them lead some of the classes.

 Allow them to share their anxieties about writing, or

English courses in general. Sometimes opening up the
forum for these types of discussions helps to ease
student anxiety and allows them to build confidence.
 Remember, we are not robots…we are humans, with
human concerns and limitations.
IN CLOSING
Overall, our practice is about figuring out the best
way to help students find their voice, and effectively
articulate it.
WORKS CITED
 Adler-Kassner, Linda, and Elizabeth A. Wardle. Naming What We Know: Threshold
Concepts of Writing Studies. Utah State University Press, Logan, 2015.
 Dryer, Dylan B. "At a Mirror, Darkly: The Imagined Undergraduate Writers of Ten
Novice Composition Instructors." College Composition and Communication, vol. 63,
no. 3, 2012, pp. 420-452.
 Gallagher, Chris W. "What Writers Do: Behaviors, Behaviorism, and Writing
Studies." College Composition and Communication, vol. 68, no. 2, 2016, pp. 238.
 Keller, Dan. "A Framework for Rereading in First-Year Composition." Teaching
English in the Two Year College, vol. 41, no. 1, 2013, pp. 44.
 Marsh, Bill. "Reading-Writing Integration in Developmental and First-Year
Composition." Teaching English in the Two Year College, vol. 43, no. 1, 2015, pp. 58.
 Micciche, Laura R., and Allison D. Carr. "Toward Graduate-Level Writing Instruction."
College Composition and Communication, vol. 62, no. 3, 2011, pp. 477-501.
WORKS CITED CONTINUED
 Smith, Summer. "The Genre of the End Comment: Conventions in
Teacher Responses to Student Writing." College Composition and
Communication, vol. 48, no. 2, 1997, pp. 249-268.
 Sullivan, Patrick. “ ‘A Lifelong Aversion to Writing:’ What if Writing Courses
Emphasized Motivation?" Teaching English in the Two Year College, vol. 39,
no. 2, 2011, pp. 118.
 Sullivan, Patrick. "The UnEssay: Making Room for Creativity in the
Composition Classroom." College Composition and Communication, vol. 67,
no. 1, 2015, pp. 6.
 Sweeney, Meghan A., and Maureen McBride. "Difficulty Paper (Dis)
Connections: Understanding the Threads Students Weave Between Their
Reading and Writing." College Composition and Communication, vol. 66, no.
4, 2015, pp. 591.
 Wardle, Elizabeth. "Considering What it Means to Teach 'Composition' in
the Twenty-First Century." College Composition and Communication, vol. 65,
no. 4, 2014, pp. 659.
WORKS CITED CONTINUED
 http://www.lebow.drexel.edu/event/2016/04/19
/record-student-presentations-voicethread
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlY0PkWxCW8