Teacher Resources: Classroom Practices & Things That Work

Every instructor has to find a rhythm of classroom activity that works well with his or her own students. The goal of the activities discussed below is to encourage students to practice interpretive strategies, to produce their own readings, and to learn to critique and revise their own work.  Remember that, since our classes meet for 80 minutes, several activities might be undertaken during any particular period.

Each of the six essays you assign can be thought of as a process with several stages: initial in-class work on a new reading, the rough draft, peer revision, and the final draft.  With six essays for students to write during the semester, you will take them through this process six times.  Accordingly, your stage in the process of a given essay will determine your classroom practice on any given day.  The sections below offer general guidelines for each of these stages. "Things That Work" offers many more particular practices that have worked for Rutgers writing teachers, and you should consult it frequently and adapt its ideas to your class's needs freely.

Classroom Practice One:	Initial In-Class Work on a New Reading
Classroom Practice Two:	Rough Drafts and Revision
Classroom Practice Three:	Final Drafts and Grading
Classroom Practice Four:	Public Speaking

Things That Work

You can print a copy of the 2003 Edition of "Things That Work" (available in Word and PDF format), which includes all of the articles submitted by teachers. Below you can find a selection of articles that have been posted in HTML format.

CONTENTS:

• Working with Key Passages, by Bob Roecklein
• Close Reading and the Uses of Quotation, by Barclay Barrios
• Formula for Making Connections, by Barclay Barrios
• The Introductory Paragraph, by Pat Cesarini
• Three Exercises for Improving Reading Comprehension: Filling out the Conversation, Diagraming Arguments, Identifying Difficulties, by Richard E. Miller
• Working on Patterns of Error, by Richard E. Miller
• Rewrites, by Bob Roecklein
• Rewrites, by Pat Cesarini
• Small Group Discussion, by Carol Bork
• Informal In-Class Writing, by Carol Bork
• Getting Students Actively Involved, by Carol Bork
• Clarifying Goals, by Ann Dean
• Meeting in Your Office, by Ann Dean
• Knowing Your Students / Using Office Hours, by Debra Roy
• Reading Difficult Texts by Christie Cox, Brian Roberts and Bob Coleman
• Pre-Writing by Brian Roberts and Martin Springer
• Framing by Carol Bork and Christine Cerrato
• Working with Quotations by Anonymous and Barclay Barrios
• Presenting New Assignments by Brian Roberts
• Small Group Work Strategies by Michelle Brazier, Katherine Lynes and Annette Saddik
• Final Draft Day by Karen Zivi
• Writing Effective Assignments by Matthew Kaiser and Jason Geiger
• Making Peer Review Work by David Toise, Piper Kendrix, Katie Henry, Michelle Brazier and John Abbott.
• Student Self-Evaluations by Priti Joshi
• Using Student Papers in Class by Priti Joshi
• Writing Comments by Barclay Barrios and Darrell Hamlin
• Presenting Grades by Katherine Lynes
• Working with Patterns of Error by Ann Dean and Michelle Brazier