Category: Teaching Writing

  • Motivating Student Writers

    After reading a reminder about great teachers behind great students, I started thinking about the great teachers who inspired my learning. At one point in my own early education, I was so bored and disenchanted with education (despite some cheerful and well-meaning teachers) that I actively avoided school; if I stayed home “sick,” I could…

  • A Reminder about Rubrics

    Chris M. Anson, Deanna P. Dannels, Pamela Flash, and Amy L. Housley Gaffney offer a great reminder about rubrics in their new article: Anson, C. M., Dannels, D. P., Flash, P., & Housley Gaffney, A. L. (2012). Big rubrics and weird genres: The futility of using generic assessment tools across diverse instructional contexts. The Journal…

  • The Merits of Rubrics

    This time of year, I see lots of facebook posts about piles and piles of grading. As grade submission deadlines near, some faculty find themselves questioning why they assigned an end-of-semester paper that they now have to grade. Rather than question the assignment (although there’s merit to reflecting on all aspects of our course design!),…