Program Design Document 4: Writing Protocol

Students bring with them a writing assignment to work on.
Students sign in and list specific areas they would like to work on


Facilitators

• Asks students to reflect on the experience of working on their document thus far-identifying feelings, strategies, motives associated with creating the document (How do you feel about what you've written/brainstormed? Tell us about why you chose that particular topic/perspective? How did you go about getting started? etc.) This supports thE students in the use of academic discourse while helping them to reflect on their positions as active producers of knowledge and to reflect on their decision-making process.

• Ask students to state what they would like the group to "listen" out for. Encourage students to free themselves from focusing on surface elements, such as grammar, spelling. (Facilitators might have to model this using their own document/or a sample document in the first session or two. Faciliators may consider creating a list of writing traits with their group that the students can refer to when requesting input from others.)

• Encourage students to read their document aloud, even if it is a brainstorm list, a graphic organizer, a thesis statement, etc.

• When the reading is complete, wait for group members to offer feedback. If no one speaks, the faciliator could:

1. pose a specific question (concerning the reader's concern) to the group to encourage interaction.
2. pose a question (concering the reader's concern) to the reader/author of the document
3. pose a specific question to another individual group member. (Be mindful to "switch up" who you address questions to.)

• Encourage group members to cite specific examples from the reader's text to elucidate their observations.
• Encourage students to offer suggestions for ways of dealing with writing situations. Ask students to share their own personal ways of approaching writing. Encourage talk, such as: "This is how I went about creating my thesis" or "I wanted the reader to connect with me so I chose to start with a personal anecdote", etc
• Listen for connections/patterns between the observations students make. Listen for connections to issues raised in past sessions and how they were dealt with
• Encourage all students to actively take notes during their time in the studio.
• Encourage students to verbally express what they have "gotten from" the session
• Provide some time for writing during the session, if available
• Have writing resources available and encourage the use of the NetBook for searching for information and resources
• Maintain the attendance list