faculty handbookwhat you can expect from your Fellows |
assigning papers
In order to successfully facilitate Fellows' work with student papers, you'll need to meet with Fellows, of course, but you'll also need to support the Fellows in class through your communication with students.
Meet with your Fellows. You'll need at least three meetings:
| 1) Discuss the assignment. Fellows will want to hear about your goals and expectations for the assignment-and for their comments-before they begin reading drafts. At this meeting, identify your priorities for the writing assignment, and share those priorities with your Fellows. (Don't forget to share them with your students as well!) What things do you most want Fellows to concentrate on when they write comments on drafts and meet with students to discuss their work? What sorts of problems do you expect students to have? Fellows will probably have questions for you about possible interpretations of the assignment; keep in mind that if something isn't clear to the Fellows, it may not be clear to students either. 2) Check in with Fellows as they comment. After the Writing Fellows have had a chance to comment on a few drafts, meet with them to consult about their written comments, offer guidance, and clear up any misconceptions or confusion before they finish commenting and begin holding conferences with students. This meeting is especially important during the first round of papers, when the Fellows are still learning about your expectations and priorities. The Fellows will ask you to review their written comments on one or two drafts, so you can examine and guide their responses. Taking time to consult with the Fellows at this stage of the process will make them more effective readers of your students' work. 3) Give feedback after grading. Once you've had a chance to read the revised papers, meet once more to let your Fellows know what they did well, identify trends you saw in the papers, and suggest areas for improvement in the next round of comments. |
| For Fellows to remain neutral peers, the responsibility for requiring drafts and enforcing policies must rest with you, the professor. |
Plan writing assignments with Fellows in mind. Please do not ask Fellows to comment on ungraded or informal papers, which usually are not revised and thus are ill-suited for the drafting process that constitutes the core of the Writing Fellows Program. Please write out all assignments. Let Fellows know your expectations, issues that may arise, your grading procedure, and organizational strategies. Craft assignments with clear goals and well-defined parameters; Fellows (as well as your students) often find it difficult to interpret open-ended expectations. You should also include "Fellow Due Date" or "First Draft Due Date" and "Final Due Date" on your syllabus and assignment sheet.
Explain expectations and procedures to students. Make clear to your students that submitting drafts, attending a conference with the Writing Fellow, and revising the draft are mandatory. Remind students that working with Fellows can improve the papers of students who are already strong writers as well as those who are struggling. Emphasize to students that the Writing Fellows should receive complete drafts of papers, not outlines or first drafts or rough drafts. Before passing drafts along to the Fellows, some faculty skim through the first page or two of each draft they receive to ensure that the students have taken the draft assignment seriously and to identify students who may need extra help. The allows the professor, rather than the Fellow (who has far less authority), to enforce the requirement. Remind students that only you, not their Fellow, can grant an extension on a paper due date.
Coordinate draft collection. Reserve 5-10 minutes of class time for Fellows to hand out cover sheets and to pass around conference sign-up sheets. Cover sheets, which are collected along with the drafts, ask students to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their work and to identify specific writing concerns they would like the Writing Fellow to address. Fellows can either come to class to pick up drafts, or, if you choose to check over the drafts before passing them on, you can collect the drafts yourself and arrange for Fellows to pick them up from you later that day. Depending on your course schedule and the arrangements you make, Fellows may also need another 5-10 minutes of class time to return the drafts a week later, so students have an opportunity to read the Fellows' comments before their individual conferences.
Require submission of the draft with the final version. When your students turn in their papers for a grade, require them to turn in the original draft (with the Fellows' written comments) along with the revised draft. This requirement reinforces to students the importance of the draft, and it allows you to see how Fellows' comments affected students' revisions.
Consider requiring a cover letter. Many faculty ask students to submit, along with the revised version of the paper, a cover page outlining what changes they've made and explaining how they have responded to the Fellows' comments. Students may not follow the advice of Writing Fellows without some prodding from you. (We've provided a sample cover sheet that you're welcome to adapt for your own use.)
Follow up on Fellows' comments. When appropriate, reinforce what Fellows have written on drafts and encourage students to attend to what Fellows are suggesting. You might do this by reminding your students before papers are due that you expect their drafts to be revised, by spending a few minutes speaking to your entire class about the value of the Fellows' comments on the day you return the graded papers, by pointing out in your own comments those places where you agree with a Fellow's suggestion and wish the student had revised accordingly, or by highlighting places where following a Fellow's advice has resulted in substantial improvement.
Ask students for their feedback. Check in with your students after they get back their first set of Fellowed papers. What was most helpful about working with a Writing Fellow? What might they change about it for next time? If you ask your students to complete a midterm course evaluation, consider asking them a question about the Writing Fellows. Sharing what you learn with your Fellows will give them a chance to respond to your students' concerns during the next round of papers.