These brief writings can serve the instructor in a number of ways: as early evidence of a student’s writing abilities, as a baseline for purposes of observing writing and thinking growth over the semester, as a diagnostic tool through which to determine the need for encouraging some or all students to use additional resources, like the Writing Center.
Instructors rarely grade these types of writings except in a holistic way or to issue some modest credit simply for engaging in the exercise. A check or plus accompanied by a 1-sentence reader-response comment or question is a reasonable response to these brief writings. One way or another, it’s important to let students know you read what they wrote.
For students, such exercises can be a painless introduction to using writing as a way to learn course material. Without the pressure of a grade and without the stress of trying to produce a larger piece of text, students can focus on the question or issue at hand.
Students often get hung up on the end product of a larger high-stakes project before they’ve engaged in a process of developing ideas for it. Low-stakes writing opportunities early in the semester can situate writing for them as a means to the end.
Instructors who use informal writings in response to readings typically craft open-ended questions that invite a host of legitimate responses which can then serve as springboards for class discussions. Students who have written even briefly about something usually feel more confident about speaking up in class. Having students write before they speak reinforces the idea of thoughtful reflection, which can lead to deeper exploration, especially in the case of a controversial issue or difficult topic.
Peter Elbow, a composition theorist whose early work greatly influenced writing pedagogy, describes the goal of low-stakes writing in or out of class as "not so much to produce excellent pieces of writing as to get students to think, learn, and understand more of the course material." He asserts that the piece of writing itself is not what's of value because what the brain actually retains are the new neural pathways generated by the act of writing.
Low-stakes writings, if used with any frequency, can norm students to instructor expectations in regard to critical thinking and can increase student comfort with writing on demand, making them better poised to tackle a larger semester project.
Do you use any small-scale writing assignments in your classes? What has worked for you? What kinds of questions do you pose? Do you grade these or give credit?
For more information on the benefits of low-stakes writings, see Peter Elbow's piece, "High Stakes and Low Stakes in Assigning and Responding to Writing," in Writing to Learn: Srategies for Assigning and Responding to Writing Across the Disciplines, Sorcinelli and Elbow, eds., Jossey-Bass, 1997.
For a sampling of low-stakes writing assignments (25 different kinds) and a template of the bio-poem and how it can be used to prepare students to write about historical figures, see John Bean's book, Engaging Idea:The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom, Jossey-Bass, 1996.
Both of these books are available at MCC-Longview Library. Additional copies of Bean's book are abundant in every division--see your WAC Cadre rep or me for a copy!
