In-Class Writing

Jacqueline Grutsch-McKinney
English Department

In-class writing is one of the most effective tools that teachers can use to help students improve their writing. As we all know, writing is improved by practice, not by just listening to others talk about writing or reading about what makes writing good. Thus, class time is not "wasted" by doing in-class writings, especially when one of the goals of the class is to produce better writers.

There are many different types of in-class writing you can do in your writing-intensive classroom; outlined below are a few you may want to try. One important quality of in-class writing is that (for the most part) it is not graded; it is not a quiz. In-class writing is to help students stay actively involved in the class, practice new writing skills, share thoughts and ideas with the class, and form habits of writing regularly.

In addition, as a teacher, you may consider writing along with your students. When the teacher does so, it sends the message that writing is an important tool for all of us—that in-class writing is not just "busy work." More than just sending a message, this will also help you see your class from your students’ perspectives.

Lastly, in-class writing can be revised into more formal writing somewhere down the road. For example, it may immediately aid in class discussion, but three weeks later, a student may find himself rethinking those same ideas into an essay.
 
 

Many teachers begin each writing class with freewriting. It requires that you allow yourself a set amount of nonstop writing time (ten minutes is usually good). You can start with a certain topic, but you don’t have to. Just follow where your writing takes you. If you blank out and cannot think of anything else to write, you just write, "I don’t know what to write" or any other phrase until you think of something to write about. You must keep moving forward with freewriting. You are not allowed to pause to consider grammar or spelling choices; crossing out is not allowed in freewriting. The purpose is to get writing down on a page, not to produce an edited final draft.

As a teacher, you don’t have to collect student freewriting. It reminds your students that not all writing is a "polished" draft for teachers; some writing is just for themselves. If you do want to collect their freewriting or you’d like them to share it with the class or a small group, tell them before they begin writing.

Another form of in-class writing is group writing. As the name suggests, group writing is simply writing done in groups. When using small groups in the writing-intensive classroom, ask students to complete a writing task as a group. This gives the students a task and purpose for the group work, and it gives them practice at collaboration as they decide word by word, sentence by sentence how to complete the task.

Again, group writing does not necessarily have to be collected by the teacher or graded. You can ask each group to pick a member to read their writing to the rest of the class instead. The student texts then become fodder for discussion.

This type of in-class writing is similar to freewriting, yet it is a bit more focused and not timed. You may use this to start a discussion about, perhaps, a delicate or heated topic. Ask your students to write down their thoughts or questions about the topic. In turn, students will have smart things to say because they were asked to think about it first. And, you can call on anyone in the class to answer because they have something to say right in front of them.

You may ask your students from time to time to write directly to you about their concerns about the class or groups, but as a rule, this type of writing is for the student and to aid discussion.

Maybe you’re talking to your students about particular elements of style important in your discipline. It would be beneficial to have students practice these elements after you’ve shown them your expectations. You can have them check each other’s writing, or you can personally check on each student. For shorter practice writing, students can write their practice writing on the board after they’ve worked it out on paper. This lets the whole class see what everyone did in a short amount of time, and you can comment specifically on writing that accomplishes well the task you’re practicing. This kind of in-class writing asks the students to reflect on a process: the writing process, the revision process, the reading process, research, conferences, or group work. It gives the students space to think about their roles in the process. If the group didn’t go well, the student can speculate about why and what will work better next time. If the student is really excited about her paper, she can think about the process she used and how she’d be able to replicate the process in the future.