Thinking About Assignments Low-stakes and scaffolding

Thinking About Assignments

Low-stakes and scaffolding

Informal or Low-Stakes Writing

Is not graded at the level of formal writing

Is not evaluated for grammar or mechanics

Does not always require to be read or responded to by the instructor.


Helps students discover what they know, think and feel in relation to a topic or a segment of text.

Can be done at home or in class It’s brief, spontaneous and

generally (but not always) writer-centered.


Helps students discover, develop and clarify their own thinking

Encourages them to reflect on course material

Can be used as a precursor to a longer assignment


Can stimulate and focus class discussions

Provides insight into student learning

See Peter Elbow handout (green)


Better class discussion because they’ve had a chance to collect their thoughts on paper.

Thoughts-on-paper can also be a source of feedback for teachers to find out what needs to be clarified or reviewed

Examples of low-stakes assignments

Focused free writes (Free writing is the technique of writing, usually for

a fixed amount of time, without taking the pen from the page or repairing mistakes)

Can be used at the beginning of class to probe a subject

During a class to refocus a lagging discussion or cool off a heated one or to gauge understanding of a point or concept

At the end of class to sum up the key point of a lecture or a confusion.


Journals open-ended, semi-structured, double-

entry, exam prep, contemporary issues related to your subject; reading logs.

Creative writing imagined interviews with, or letters to,

authors or business people; taking another person's role or perspective; dialogues to explore opposing viewpoints.


E-writing on-line chats on a reading or topic;

discussion board entries; e-mail small-group discussions; e-mail to instructor.


Think pieces Exploratory (thought out and

worked over) but not yet an essay and not merely free writing.

Can be about the reading or the issues they should consider more carefully.

Think pieces Can make it a simple, matter-of-fact

requirement, but enforced by making substantial credit depend on doing them all.

Instructor can read quickly or carefully.

Can have students read aloud in pairs or small groups at the start of class.



Think pieces Examples

compare two concepts from the reading

compare a concept from the reading to some experience from their lives

work out a definition

More benefits of low-stakes assignments When students understand that they are

being asked for two very different kinds of writing in the course, two things happen:

Their essays get better because of their extensive practice with low stakes think pieces

Their low stakes writing gets more thoughtful when they experience it as practice for the high stakes essays (and relief from them too). – Peter Elbow

Scaffolding or sequencing writing assignments

Assignments that break reading, analysis and writing into component parts and give students practice developing mastery in each area, building gradually towards more complex, comprehensive writing tasks.

Example of scaffolding You first ask students to summarize, in

writing, the central argument of a reading and three pieces of evidence the author used to support it.

At a second stage, you might ask students to write a critique of the argument in light of that evidence and alternative evidence.

At a third stage, you might ask students to write an essay comparing two readings in terms of how compellingly the authors made their cases.

Benefits of scaffolding or sequencing

provides a sense of coherence for the course

helps students see progress and purpose in their work rather than seeing the writing assignments as separate exercises

encourages complexity through sustained attention, revision and consideration of multiple perspectives

mirrors professional work in many professions.

Benefits of scaffolding or sequencing

Helps students who are overwhelmed by the scope of an assignment or the number of elements they are asked to incorporate.

gives instructors a chance to define expectations and keep students on the right track by dividing a major project into multiple steps and drafts, perhaps including some low-stakes writing activities.

Examples of scaffolding or sequencing

Writing process. At its simplest, "sequencing an assignment" can

mean establishing an "official" check of the prewriting and drafting steps in the writing process.

This step guarantees that students will not write the whole paper in one sitting and also gives students more time to let their ideas develop.

Can be informal – having students work on their prewriting or draft for a few minutes at the end of class.

Can be formal – collecting the prewriting and giving a few suggestions and comments.


Establish small groups. Set up small writing groups of three-five

students from the class. Allow them to meet for a few minutes in class or have them arrange a meeting outside of class to comment constructively on each other's drafts.

Small writing groups

Forces them to complete a better-quality rough draft – peer pressure

Read out loud – they catch their own mistakes

Can stack the groups – have a combination of good/bad students

Model critiques for them See white handout (Anson)

Small writing groups

Students are most valuable to each other not as diagnosticians or advice givers but as audience – as readers who can reply with their reactions and thoughts about the topic. – Peter Elbow


Change audiences. In this approach, students create drafts for different audiences, moving from personal to public (e.g., from self-reflection to an audience of peers to an audience of specialists). Each change would require different tasks and more extensive knowledge.

Examples of scaffolding or sequencing “Staging” a long-range project. In a nearly semester-long English 101

project, a teacher had students choose a current-events issue and made the following assignments: Clip and summarize newspaper articles for

7-8 weeks Find two magazine pieces (hard copy or

from the Internet)


Make a list of the controversial aspects of the issue and devise a leading argumentative question about it.

Respond to the question Turn the question into the main idea of a

paper that drew evidence from the articles newspaper and magazine articles.

Along the way, she taught them how to use and document quotations and set up a Works Cited list.

See “Scaffolding” handout (blue) for other examples

Creating Effective Assignments

Research shows the more detailed a writing assignment is, the better the student papers are

Make explicit for students the process or steps necessary to complete the assignment because many tend to treat assignments as though they were step-by-step instructions.

Examine your goals for the assignment

1. How exactly does this assignment fit with the objectives of your course?

2. Should this assignment relate only to the class and the text or should it also relate to the "real" world?

3. What do you want the students to learn or experience from this writing assignment?

4. Should this assignment be an individual or a collaborative effort?

Examine your goals for the assignment

5. What do you want students to show you in this assignment? To demonstrate mastery of concepts or

texts? To demonstrate logical and critical thinking? To develop an original idea? To learn and demonstrate the procedures,

practices and tools of a field of study?

Additional insights

Millennial research -- Andrew J. Chernin, J.D., M.Ed., is a teacher and counselor/trainer to Net Generation employees and students. [email protected]

In designing assignments

Additional insights

In scaffolding or breaking down assignments

In solving real-life problems

Sources MIT Online Writing and Communication Center: http://web.mit.edu/writing/Faculty/

createeffective.html#creating How to design and teach a course, Carnegie

Mellon: http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/teach/

instructionalstrategies/writing/designassignments.html

Writing Intensive Courses and Writing Across the

Curriculum, Ferris University: http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/academics/wac/

sample.htm#top

Sources Writing Across the Curriculum, Borough of

Manhattan Community College, The City University of New York:

http://socrates.bmcc.cuny.edu/WAC/assignments.html#informal

“Writing for Learning--Not Just for Demonstrating Learning” – Peter Elbow: http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/writing.htm

“High Stakes and Low Stakes in Assigning and Responding to Writing” – Peter Elbow:

http://www.wsc.mass.edu/facultycenter/lowstakes-benefits.pdf

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Thinking About Assignments Low-stakes and scaffolding