Teaching Writing

I've been thinking a lot about pedagogy. This last weekend, I went to a retreat for English teachers and listened a bit to what they did in their classes. The most significant thing that they did differently is that they required more drafts. I require a peer review draft and then a copy for me to grade. After that, I give students the opportunity to revise as often as they wish (but I'll only regrade the essay once). My idea was that the first grade serves as a benchmark and then students have the opportunity to improve. Yet, for several versions, we need to remove the whole grade issue and just work on improving the essay.

Many teachers require multiple drafts that they view before the students turn in one to grade. The students are then graded on providing significant revisions when required. I just don't know if it does that much good for me to require students to revise if they don't want to. With my system, I provide the opportunity to students. The students who want to improve can take that opportunity. Yet, those who don't, don't waste my time. With the required revisions, I fear that I would spend too much of my time looking at work produced by students who don't care and who are just jumping through required hoops with as little effort possible. Perhaps I've just become jaded (already!??), but I want to work with those student who want to learn, but I don't feel that I need to take it personally when a student doesn't feel like learning.

Yet, perhaps I need to require more. Perhaps more structure would be good for them. It is awfully easy to get behind in my class by putting off the impending essays. I know that there were students last week who were just starting the research essay for English 102. I don't know what I can say to a student who is starting that late. I try to provide advice, but I'm thinking that there is very little chance that the student will be able to finish in time. Perhaps it's been too long since I've been a student. Perhaps I've forgotten how easy it is to pull off a weekend miracle. I just know that I couldn't start researching a 10 page essay the week before and hope to have it finished by the due date.

Actually, that's a lie. I could do it. But, I don't fear a 10 page essay. I've written 25 page essays, and, after them, 10 pages is nothing. So, perhaps I'm worried for nothing.

This brings me back to the idea of requiring more. Perhaps I should require a bit more. I could break up the annotated bibliography into a couple of parts and have them due at different times. This would get students researching sooner. Next, I could have students turn in a proposal that would serve as a reminder to get started earlier. Yet, I still think it's up to the student. He or she sometimes learn not to put things off by putting things off. It took me several all nighters before I started to learn--and I still occasionally do a late-nighter or, more likely, an early-morninger to accomplish a task within the deadline.

Well, this post has rambled a bit and really never got to where I wanted it to go. That's the reason why we shouldn't show people our rough drafts--sometimes, they really are just vomit on the screen.