This presentation was designed for the Southern Nevada Writing Project and its purpose is to provide an exploration of a dialogical model of engaging students in the revision process through teacher response on written text.

1. RESPONDING TO
STUDENT WRITING:
REVISITING MOTIVATION
FOR REVISION
Nayelee Villanueva
Southern Nevada Writing Project
2011

2. Introduction
At some point in the writing cycle, teachers will engage with
student writing through response often as a means for
assessment.
Whether the assessment is informal or formal, questions
regarding perception, motivation, and authorship come in to
play both for the teacher and student.
Typically, the main objective for providing response as a
means of assessment is to foster revision in order to increase
student writing levels. Therefore, the role that revision plays
within this process is critical.

3. What this often looks like…

4. Modern day…
How does this affect student revision?

5. Confused and angry, he stared at the red marks on his paper. He had awked
again. And he had fragged. He always awked and fragged. On every theme, a
couple of awks and a frag or two. And the inevitable puncs and sp's. The cw's
didn't bother him anymore. He knew the teacher preferred words like courage
and contemptible person to guts and fink. The teacher had dismissed guts
and fink as slang, telling students never to use slang in their themes. But he
liked to write guts and fink; they meant something to him. Besides, they were
in the dictionary. So why couldn't he use them when they helped him say what
he wanted to say? He rarely got to say what he wanted to say in an English
class, and when he did, he always regretted it. But even that didn't bother him
much. He really didn't care anymore....
Edward B. Jenkinson and Donald Seybold, "Prologue," Writing as a Process of Discovery, p. 3

6. Origin of a Dilemma
• Responding to student writing to promote the revision
process is often a difficult task.
• No “one size fits all” approach to responding to student
writing.
• Best efforts to provide effective feedback for students in
order to promote revision often fall flat.
• Students are quick to feel the sense of hopelessness about
writing, and their motivation for writing wanes with each
writing assignment.
• Students often lose the sense of authorship and inevitably
adopt what they perceive to be my agenda as the teacher.

7. Dilemma Questions
• When responding to student writing, how can I ensure
students do not lose the sense of
authorship?
• How can I get students to truly think about their
writing and apply it to their revision process more
authentically after I have provided written feedback?
• How can I involve the students more in the response
process?

8. Reflecting on Response Practices
Reflection Elementary Middle School High School College
Questions
What forms (written,
oral, individualized,
general, etc.) does your
response typically take?
What aspects of written
work do you typically
comment on? Why?
At what stages in the
'life-cycle' of a writing
assignment do you
typically respond, e.g.,
drafts, final papers?
How (and when and
why) might you involve
students in response?
How do you assess
whether the response
was helpful for student
revision?

9. Teacher Assumptions Student Assumptions
Students understand linear marks Perceive teacher comments as the only
areas needing improvement
Students know how to make Writing for the teacher/professor
suggested changes when revising
Students understand the writing Perceive writing as “right” and “wrong”
assignment
Perceive low level writer’s errors as Believe they have no “say” in possible
“careless” revisions based on feedback
(authorship)
There is a “common language” in Perceive writing as a “final product”
responding to writing and students when given grade/written response with
will “get it” no opportunity for revision
Teacher response should focus on Revision is all about “fixing” grammar
grammar, mechanics, and structure and mechanics errors.
Students will review responses and Perceive teacher comments as negative
therefore will improve student writing
skills
Teacher response should focus Perceive the teacher as the judge of
solely on problem areas their writing ability

10. What the Research Says
A study conducted by Sommers’ (1982) that examined
teacher comments, illustrated that “teachers’ comments
can take students’ attention away from their own purposes
in writing a particular text and focus that attention on the
teacher’s purpose in commenting” (p. 149).
Lindemann (1995) argues that written response should
provide a teaching opportunity. The whole purpose for
responding to student writing is to get students to see their
own strengths and weaknesses in a paper and make
conscious, authentic decisions about revision.

11. Research
Knoblauch and Brannon (1982) argue:
…this correcting also tends to show students that the
teacher's agenda is more important than their own, that
what they wanted to say is less relevant than the teacher's
impression of what they should have said...Once students
perceive this shift of agenda, their motives for writing also
shift: the task is now to match the writing to expectations
that lie beyond their own sense of their intention and
method. Therefore, far from controlling the responses of an
intended reader, they are forced to concede the reader's
authority and to make guesses about what they can and
cannot say.

12. How to respond to student writing while maintaining student
authorship and motivation?
•Dialogue
•Addressing students motives for writing
•Involving students in the response process
This leads us to our activity…

13. Activity
1. Fortune Cookie/ Writing Prompt
2. Template and something to write with!
3. Directions Sheet
4. Choose a partner
5. Writing Time
6. Response Time
7. Debrief Time

14. Discussion Questions
How can this activity be adapted for all grade levels?
How can this activity be used in various ways within the
writing process?
How can this activity be used across the different content
areas?
How can teachers use this activity in contexts with time
constraints?
Other questions to consider…