{"id":17838,"date":"2014-01-27t08:54:17","date_gmt":"2014-01-27t13:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/?p=17838"},"modified":"2014-01-24t16:55:11","modified_gmt":"2014-01-24t21:55:11","slug":"last-weeks-t-w-l-conversation-on-teaching-writing-low-stakes-written-reading-guides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/2014\/01\/last-weeks-t-w-l-conversation-on-teaching-writing-low-stakes-written-reading-guides\/","title":{"rendered":"last week’s ‘t.w.l.’ conversation on teaching writing: low-stakes, written reading guides"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>amanda benson<\/a> <\/strong>(biological sciences) talked about \u201cwriting as discovery: using low-stakes writing to help students learn”<\/strong> on january 21. this lunchtime gathering was the fifth gathering in the \u201cteaching. writing. learning.<\/a><\/strong>\u201d series of conversations on teaching writing.<\/p>\n to start the conversation, amanda acknowledged that writing can be intimidating to scientists–faculty and students alike. her pedagogical response to this fear? integrate plenty of low-stakes writing into her writing course.\u00a0 scientists ultimately must write persuasively–a common goal across academic writing (even if the written product looks different)–so she starts with models of persuasive writing from the field.\u00a0 students read fairly short science articles (e.g., this article from nature<\/em><\/a>), a fantastic learning experience for students of science. however, amanda takes it a step further: she adds a weekly written assignment to guide the students’ reading of scientific persuasive writing.\u00a0 these guides<\/a> help students identify and analyze the articles’ persuasive moves that the students will then practice in their own writing. for example, the guide asks students to articulate the article’s “main idea. (this is a thesis statement.)” and to identify specific pieces of evidence and how each supports the article’s main idea, moves the students will apply in their own papers across the curriculum.<\/p>\n