Teaching Writing in a Discipline Writing Enriched and Writing in the Discipline Courses UNC-Pembroke February 23-24, 2010 Mike Carter NC State University

Teaching Writing in a Discipline

Writing Enriched and Writing in the Discipline Courses

UNC-Pembroke

February 23-24, 2010

Mike Carter

NC State University

Teaching Writing in a Discipline

Writing Enriched and Writing in the Discipline Courses

UNC-Pembroke

February 23-24, 2010

Mike Carter

NC State University

How Do We Understand Disciplines?

Disciplines = Domains of knowledgeDeclarative or conceptual knowledge

How Do We Understand Disciplines?

Disciplines = Domains of knowledgeDeclarative or conceptual knowledge

Disciplines = Ways of knowingProcedural or process knowledge

What is the place of writing in the disciplines?

Disciplines = Domains of knowledgeWriting is general across disciplines and

is therefore outside each discipline

What is the place of writing in the disciplines?

Disciplines = Domains of knowledgeWriting is general across disciplines and

is therefore outside each discipline

Disciplines = Ways of knowingWriting is specific to disciplines and is

therefore fully integrated in every discipline

How do we connect ways of knowing and ways of writing?

Ways ofknowing

Ways ofwriting


Ways ofknowing

Ways ofwriting

Ways ofdoing


Way of knowing: science

Writing alab report

Doing alab


Way of knowing: literature

Writing acritical analysis

Readinga poem


Way of knowing: marketing

Writing amarketing plan

Gathering and analyzingmarket data

Implications for understanding the disciplines

In addition to being domains of knowledge, disciplines are characterized by particular ways of knowing, doing, and writing.

Implications for teaching

If we conceive of disciplines as ways of knowing as well as domains of knowledge, then an important goal of teaching at any level is to engage students in the ways of knowing that define a discipline.

Structure of Workshop

Part 1: Identifying Ways of Knowing and Writing in a Discipline

Part 2: Teaching Ways of Knowing and Writing in a Discipline

IDENTIFYING WAYS OF KNOWING AND WRITING IN A DISCIPLINE

Part 1:

Learning Outcomes for Part 1

Participants will be able to:

1. describe ways of knowing that define their disciplines

2. identify ways of writing that embody the ways of knowing in their disciplines

3. create learning outcomes, what students should be able to do to demonstrate mastery of the ways of knowing and writing in a discipline






Describing disciplinary ways of knowing

Ways ofknowing

Ways ofwriting

Ways ofdoing

Example 1: A disciplinary way of knowing

a. identify important research questions

b. identify an existing theory appropriate to the investigation

c. create hypotheses

d. test hypotheses using rigorous empiricism

e. apply appropriate methodologies to collected data

f. explain acquired information in the context of existing knowledge in the field


a. Define a problem : establish a problem or need, identify customer and project requirements, perform market and technical analyses

b. Generate concepts: convert customer and project requirements to product specifications, generate multiple product options

c. Select a concept: compare product options to product specifications, select optimal product option(s)

d. Refine a concept: create and test prototypes or models; analyze technical, economic, and environmental viability of design based on prototype or model; sell the product


a. pose an interesting research question about the discipline.

b. locate relevant primary and secondary sources for investigating a research question.

c. critically evaluate primary and secondary sources in terms of credibility, authenticity, interpretive stance, audience, potential biases, and value for answering the research question.

d. marshall the evidence to support a disciplinary argument for an answer to a research question.

Exercise 1

1. Identify a key way of knowing that defines your discipline. One way of thinking about this is to identify what scholars or, in the case of applied disciplines, professionals in the field do in their primary forms of writing.

2. Frame your way of knowing as a set of steps, each one beginning with a verb. If there are other participants in your field present, you can work with them.






Identifying disciplinary ways of writing

Ways ofknowing

Ways ofwriting

Ways ofdoing

Example: Textiles Engineering





Ways of writing: Technical reports, technical memoranda, project proposals, interim project reports, feasibility studies

Apprenticeship vs. Common Genres

Apprenticeship genres embody a way of knowing that characterizes a discipline

Common genres are common across disciplines, e.g., literature review, annotated bibliography, journal entry

Though common genres may be useful in certain circumstances, apprenticeship genres are foundational to writing in the disciplines

Exercise 2

1. Identify possible ways of writing (you can also include other modes, oral and visual) you could ask students to do to give them the experience of learning your disciplinary way of knowing.

2. When you have a list, join two other participants.

3. Each of you read your lists and then describe how one or two of the ways of writing embodies the way of knowing in your field.






Learning Outcomes

What you expect students to learn in a course, what they should be able to do

Typically included on the syllabus to inform students of your expectations for them

For courses that include expectations of disciplinary writing, outcomes detail disciplinary ways of knowing

Usually preceded by “Students should be able to”

Learning Outcomes: Political Science

Students should be able to:

a. identify important research questions

b. identify an existing theory appropriate to the investigation

c. create hypotheses

d. test hypotheses using rigorous empiricism

e. apply appropriate methodologies to collected data

f. explain acquired information in the context of existing knowledge in the field

Ways of writing: research reports, posters, proposals, proposal abstracts

Learning Outcomes: Textiles EngineeringStudents should be able to:





Ways of writing: Technical reports, technical memoranda, project proposals, interim project reports, feasibility studies

Exercise 3

1. Return to your list of ways of knowing in your discipline

2. Turn that list into learning outcomes for your class what students should be able to do, beginning with “Students should be able to….”

3. If necessary revise the language of the ways of knowing so that it is accessible to students as outcomes

TEACHING WAYS OF KNOWING AND WRITING IN A DISCIPLINE

Part 2:

Teaching Writing vs. Using Writing to Teach

What distinguishes a course that uses writing chiefly to help students learn a discipline from a course on writing in a discipline? In the former, writing is a tool to learn a subject; in the latter, writing is the subject. It focuses on writing and developing students as writers in the discipline.

Learning Goals for Part 2

Participants will become familiar with:

1. Assignment sheets as guidance for students to meet your expectations for ways of knowing and writing

2. Evaluation rubrics as tools for teaching writing

3. Writing instruction as a process that allows for development, feedback, and reflection

4. Principles of growth for structuring a course in disciplinary ways of writing and knowing







Creating assignments that link discipl. ways of doing and writing with knowing

Ways ofknowing

Ways ofwriting

Ways ofdoing

Creating a writing assignment

Target a disciplinary way of knowing Choose a disciplinary way of writing

appropriate to the level of the students Provide sufficient detail of your

expectations for the assignment Describe the written product in a way that

reflects the targeted disciplinary way of knowing

Example Outcomes: From Analyzing Style

Students should be able to: Analyze a text by breaking it into stylistic

elements appropriate to the genre and examining the text through each element

Come to a critical judgment of meaning based on the analysis

To make a persuasive argument for a claim of meaning supported by evidence from the analysis

Example Assignment Sheet: From Analyzing Style

Choose a prose passage and write a critical analysis of it. A critical analysis is a argument for a particular reading or meaning of the passage. The introduction should provide a background for understanding the passage, establish the question of meaning, and state a claim for a meaning. The body of the analysis should address all the pertinent analytical elements, discuss for each element its effect on the meaning, make explicit links between the effect and your claim, and provide enough evidence to be convincing. The conclusion should connect all the evidence to your claim and make a final case for supporting the claim.

Making an Assignment Sheet

1. For student outcomes (disciplinary way of knowing), choose a way of writing and doing as a basis for a writing assignment

2. Identify the expectations for student performance inherent in the outcome

3. Create the assignment sheet. Spell out clearly what you expect students to do and how they are to shape their writing to reflect the targeted way of knowing

Criteria for a Good Assignment

It clearly incorporates the targeted disciplinary way of knowing

It provides sufficiently detailed description of the particular genre (way of writing) so that students can apply it and thus engage effectively in the disciplinary way of knowing







Evaluation Rubric The evaluation rubric is an assessment guide

incorporating a teacher’s expectations for a way of knowing and way of writing as criteria

It allows the teacher to provide feedback specific to the way of knowing and writing in the assignment

It can be also be used to prepare students for writing: give it out ahead of time, let students use it to evaluate a sample assignment and then each other’s drafts

Making a Rubric

1. Use the assignment sheet as your guide; identify explicit and implicit criteria (items appropriate to ways of knowing and items appropriate to the genre)

2. Arrange criteria in the order in which you expect to find them in the final draft (for guiding students and ease of evaluating)

3. Add more criteria as needed: overall evaluations, grammar, style, etc.







A Guided Writing Process

For most students, the writing process is abbreviated: start at the beginning, write to the end, turn in with minimal if any revision

Writing benefits from time and attention; teaching writing should give students both

A guided process structures time for developing ideas and learning ways of knowing through feedback and reflection

It can also substantially reduces plagiarism

Feedback during the Process

Generally, there are 2 sources for feedback Other students: in pairs or groups (of 3-4,

no more), typically in class but they could trade work or meet outside class

Teacher: the most valuable feedback is during the process when students can make changes; feedback on final draft is less helpful unless students are asked to revise the drafts

Time for Development of Writing

The classic way of creating time for development is to ask students to do individual elements of the process and arrange for feedback on each element. There are two ways of dividing elements:1. By major parts of a paper, often aligned with

ways of knowing

2. By different genres related to the primary genre of the assignment

Division by Parts: Critical Analysis

M Bring prose piece to be analyzed and explanation of why it was chosen; feedback by group and teacher; in-class work on analysis

W In-class work on analysis, in groups

F Bring the full analysis; feedback by group and teacher; discussion of argument for meaning

Division by Parts: Critical Analysis

M Bring outline of argument for meaning, claim and supporting evidence; feedback by group and teacher

W In-class work on introduction and conclusion

F Bring draft; feedback from group and teacher

M In-class revisions

W Bring final draft

Division by Genres: Research Paper

Proposal abstract with research question Bibliography of possible sources Annotated bibliography: annotation +

relevance for answering research question Full proposal with claim, evidence, and an

overview of the structure of the paper Draft of research paper Final draft of research paper







Growth in Writing over a Semester

Learning ways of knowing and writing is a developmental, organic process

First, determine your goals, what way(s) of knowing and kinds of writing students should learn

Second, choose a principle of growth that is appropriate to your goals

Create a syllabus according to the principle of growth

Principle #1: Growth by Genre

Typically from less to more challenging genres that embody way of knowing1. Proposal abstract

2. Proposal

3. Article for popular audience

4. Oral presentation

5. Poster

6. Research article

Principle #2: Growth by Elements of a Way of Knowing (History)

Structure the course by the process implied by the way of knowing and use genres that emerge from them

1. Pose an interesting research question-proposal abst.

2. Locate relevant primary and secondary sources for investigating research question-bibliography;proposal

3. critically evaluate primary and secondary sources in terms of credibility, authenticity, interpretive stance, audience, potential biases, and value for answering research question-anno. bib; crit. analysis of sources

4. Marshall evidence to support a disciplinary argument for an answer to a research question-article; wr/oral

Principle #3: Growth by Elements of Major Genre

This approach may be used in fields with clearly delineated parts of genres

1. Introduction

2. Introduction, Methods

3. Introduction, Methods, Results

4. Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion

5. Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Abstract

Principle #4: Growth by Mode of Engagement with Text

This approach defines growth from analysis to translation to production of text1. Analysis: Students learn way of knowing by

analyzing articles in the field

2. Translation: Students learn ways of writing by using material from articles to write different genres: proposal abstract, proposals, posters, articles for general readers, etc.

3. Production: Students learn ways of knowing and writing by producing their own texts

A Course that Focuses on Writing

Incorporates assignment sheets that guide students in ways of knowing and writing

Uses rubrics as teaching tools to enhance students awareness of writing as writing

Structures the writing process of individual assignments to allow for development, feedback, reflections

Is organized to create growth in writing

Structure of Workshop

Part 1: Identifying Ways of Knowing and Writing in a Discipline

Part 2: Teaching Ways of Knowing and Writing in a Discipline

Disciplines as ways of knowing, doing, and writing

Ways ofknowing

Ways ofwriting

Ways ofdoing












Documents

Teaching Writing in a Discipline Writing Enriched and Writing in the Discipline Courses UNC-Pembroke February 23-24, 2010 Mike Carter NC State University