Reflection
THE 2380 Storytelling and Script Analysis will be WI as the requirement for a minimum of 15 pages of writing in various forms is now being met. The requirement is distributed over several different kinds of assignments: in-class low stakes assignments, a creative “additional scene” assignment (that also demonstrates students’ understanding of genre, adaptation, character, motivation, scenic and play structure), and a scaffolded Final Paper and Presentation. This course uses many WI concepts (writing to learn, scaffolding, writing as a means to generate class discussion, peer-critique, and self-grading) as a means to develop General Education SLOs in Knowledge, Skills, and Values. At present, a non-WI section of this course has a total of 9-10 pages of writing, not the full 15. For the non-WI section, the final paper is 5 pages instead of 10.
I love the idea of scaffolding assignments. I start out with prompts in the in-class, low-stakes writing that will show up again in high-stakes assignments. For example, I give an in-class, low-stakes assignment to generate an idea for a new “Production Concept” for a play we have studied in class. This gets students over the fear-factor of feeling that they cannot engage with the idea of a “Production Concept” and to see that they can, very successfully, do this given an hour or so of in-class time. Students can be amazingly creative if given a defined structure! Later in the semester when they have to give a “Production Concept” on a new play (each student will choose one play from a list), and present it to the class, they have a good success to draw from and a basis with which to engage the assignment.
I really appreciated the module on grading student writing. I loved the simplicity and clarity of the rubrics shown, and I returned to Bean for even more inspiration. I look forward to showing the rubric to my students tomorrow as they are all beginning to write (5 page) papers for the non-WI section of this course. I know they will appreciate the clear guidance of what to focus on as they develop their work.
I appreciated the succinct 3-session WI accreditation and have learned an enormous amount from the sessions and also from working with my excellent fellow, Dohyun Shin!
–Dr. Sarah Ann Standing
