Five Key WAC Best Practices for Instructors

across the DisciplinesPresented by Deborah Schlacks, WAC Coordinator

WAC Brown BagOctober 8, 2012

The Key to the Key: What the WAC Best Practices Are All About

• How we assign writing• How we provide coaching and scaffolding

along the way as students do the assignments

• How (and when) we respond to the writing

Best Practice #1 Providing detailed directions for writing

assignments. The directions include–Explanations of learning goals for the

assignment–Deadlines for various parts of the

assignment along the way–Detailed evaluation criteria for the

assignment

Best Practice #2

Providing opportunities for written or oral feedback on drafts of writing projects from fellow students in the class

Best Practice #3 Giving written or oral feedback on

DRAFTS of major writing projects–Use a revision-oriented commenting

strategy rather than an editing-oriented strategy–Hold students responsible for

correcting errors(Note: The examples on the next two slides are from Bean 83-84.)

Best Practice #4 Using informal or short (minimally

graded) writing assignments for one or more of these purposes:

Best Practice #4, continued

–To help students do the formal, revised writing assignments of the course (breaking them into parts with separate deadlines)–To help students learn course content–To help students reflect upon their

writing and/or thinking process

Best Practice #5

Encouraging students to seek assistance from the Writing Center!

Work Cited

Bean, John C. Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom. 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011.