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Improving Student Writing With Word Tools

Page history last edited by Ruth P. Wilson 13 years, 9 months ago

Although I normally teach AFAM 125(The Black Family) as a lecture course, this semester I placed greater emphasis on peer learning and using technology to improve student writing. Students were required to write weekly journal entries, weekly reading summaries, two 4-5 page inquiry-led essays, and one 7-10 page research paper on a special topic.

  

We began the class with an introductory assignment, "Who Am I?", the topic of their first 4-5 page writing assignment.  As a class we brainstormed and discussed content we might use in the introduction, the body, or the closing.  I outlined their suggestions on the SMART Board, and then introduced myself using their outline. Next, I introduced students to Word's Outline Tool and I asked them to outline their personal introductions in Word. Students shared their outlines with each other, revised them, and then introduced themselves to the class. Listening to each other's oral presentations provided another opportunity to share ideas that could be adapted as they prepared a written version of their essay. Next, students drafted a paragraph for each section of their outline and submitted their work to their folder on the class server by the end of class.  Most students left class with a first draft that they could access from home, then revise and resubmit before the next class meeting

 

Weekly Journal Entries

 

Students were expected to practice journal writing three times a week, focusing on their own reflective thoughts about family structure, function, and related issues.  Once students developed the practice of writing 100-200 words per day in their journal, their entries quickly morphed into longer, more detailed submissions. Over the course of the semester, most students created 10-20 pages of single spaced journal writings, more than they usually write in a semesterĂ•s course.

 

Peer Editing Using Track Changes and The Comment Tools

 In another session, students received and reviewed a digitized handout on peer editing, accessed and reviewed two "Who Am I?" essays of classmates, and used the Comment and Track Changes Tools to suggest ways to improve the clarity and organization of their classmates' essays. These tools allowed students to collaborate on writing projects, overcome their reluctance in sharing their work, and see the possibilities of how much improvement one can have with routine, constructive feedback.

 

 Students also learned about the lived family experiences of other classmates, and began to see, analyze and develop hypotheses about family patterns, structures and functioning.  Thus, they were prepared to discuss families in greater depth as they read each otherĂ•s essays and incorporated insights from their synopses of scholarly literature and class lectures in a second inquiry-led essay, titled "Who Are We?".

 

Spelling and Grammar Check, and Track Changes

II introduced Microsoft's Spelling and Grammar Tools to assist with a second weekly assignment, a synopsis (250-300 words) of each assigned scholarly article in preparation for in-class discussions and lectures. Students were expected to edit, peer edit, and revise these 15 assignments more closely than their journal entries.

  

Prior to the class most students had used a spelling checker of some type, but some had not. Students for whom Microsoft's Office Word's Spell Check Tool was new received additional help from class members sitting nearby. Word's Grammar Tool was another issue. 

  

Several students mentioned that they usually ignored Word's green squiggly lines, which indicate grammatical errors.  They learned that by right clicking on the mouse they could find suggestions for correcting their grammatical errors.  Immediately after the introduction of this tool, students were able to improve basic mistakes, such as failure to place end of sentence punctuation, capitalization of proper nouns, and so forth.

 

Word's Reference Tools

Introduction of the reference tools allowed students to build their footnotes, endnotes, and bibliography without making common errors.  Further, it allowed the flexibility of changing the citation format, depending on the requirements of the instructor.

  

Although the writing workload challenged the students, they enjoyed the class, developed friendships, and learned more about themselves and others as they worked collaboratively to improve their writing and develop strategies for strengthening their families.

 

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