Mark Shea Assignments & Activities Archive Activity Description We often associate metalinguistic terminology with an adherence to normative language standards in students’ writing. Basing metalinguistic practice on students’ own writing can also evoke demotivating and damaging episodes in prior educational contexts. A more productive way to incorporate a focus on metalinguistic language into writing courses […]
Beautiful Sentences Read More »
Mustafa Masihuddin Siddiqui Assignments & Activities Archive Activity Description During my first two terms teaching first-year composition classes at the University of Toronto, I faced multiple problems—my classes were not engaging enough; many of the students’ essays did not showcase deep understanding of the key course readings; some students did not apply the evidence into
“Read, Feed, and Seed”: Fostering Research Writing in Classroom Spaces Read More »
Kanika Verma Assignments & Activities Archive Activity Description Teaching writing concepts in an undergraduate university writing course can be challenging. Several threshold concepts in writing studies are new for undergraduates majoring in any discipline. The comprehension of many concepts is dependent on other sub-concepts or meta-concepts. For instance, students need various examples to understand what
Wei Xu and Hongni Gou Assignments & Activities Archive Activity Description This activity is designed as part of the major project “Annotated Bibliography” in a first-year writing course. At the time the activity is implemented, students should have learned the purpose, context, and audience of an annotated bibliography and that both summaries and evaluations are
Kevin E. DePew Assignments & Activities Archive Activity Description As instructors across the disciplines know, most incoming college students struggle to read academic texts. While there is an array of reasons that students might not be reading their assigned texts—from limited time to neurodivergent challenges to failure to see the assigned reading’s relevance—this series of
Hannah T. Davis Assignments & Activities Archive Activity Description The beginning of a research paper assignment might involve a discussion of the goals of the assignment and a short brainstorming activity to help students think about possible topics. When students are asked to quickly choose a topic in this manner, without first conducting preliminary research,
Source Speed Dating: Where Do Research Topics Come From? Read More »
Madeline Crozier Assignments & Activities Archive Activity Description This activity helps students develop writing and listening skills through an exploration of how identity, language, and writing are connected. By including one or more podcast episodes as supplemental course content and then inviting students to reflect on and discuss the episodes, the activity brings multiple languages,
Reflective Writing About Podcasts for Critical Language Awareness Read More »
Tong Zhang Assignments & Activities Archive Activity Description Rubrics, often perceived as scoring devices, are pivotal in assessing students’ writing proficiency. Effectively utilizing rubrics can improve grading efficiency and consistency, guiding students in reflecting on their learning and comprehending the teacher’s feedback. Although rubrics are commonly used in writing classrooms, students may find them unclear
Meredith McKinnie and Tabitha McBride Assignments & Activities Archive Activity Description In the first-year writing classroom, often populated by a growing number of first-generation college students, the student’s expectation is to respond to assignment prompts as knee-jerk reactions to instructor-curated assignments. While these assignments foster development of the writing process, students can engage these assignments
Reflective Agency: Journaling to Locate a Writing Identity Read More »
Chris Mayer Assignments & Activities Archive Activity Description This lesson develops students’ awareness of the synergistic and disruptive potential of Large Language Models (LLMs) in storytelling. Designed for a first-year writing class, the lesson explores the interplay between creativity and AI by examining LLMs’ storytelling capabilities. Students will collaboratively create a chain story, then use
