Pat Kuzyk, Adjunct Professor, Department of Economics
Thursday, November 6, 2003
1-2pm in CUE 512
"Evolution of a Writing Assignment"
Each
semester I give my Honors students at least one writing assignment. I used
to pick a classic reading - a telling section of the "Communist Manifesto", a
quaint sample from "The Wealth of Nations", or an acceptance speech of a Nobel
Laureate - and ask leading questions about it as a prompt for students' writing.
I'd also provide a handout containing an overwhelming amount of advice and
admonition about writing, including anonymous samples of very good and very bad
writing. Semester after semester, the results were dismal. I'd choose
different readings, provide a
choice of
classics from which to choose, include more detail on the "How Not to Write"
handout - all to no avail. A few years ago, advice from a colleague whose
wife was an elementary school teacher changed my whole approach to one that
brings consistently better results. I'll talk about
this
approach, and the way in which I created a set of critical thinking rubrics to
match.
