Exercises & Handouts
Framing a Conceptual Problem
This handout (inspired by the Little Red Schoolhouse approach) explains how to frame a conceptual problem in a paper’s introduction. Students may use this handout to consider the discrete rhetorical moves an introduction involves, especially when creating research problems of their own in WR 15x. Objective To help students reflect on the key elements of framing a […]
Reading for Research
This handout prepares students for the different purposes and ways that they’ll use reading as they research their topic. You might start with a general discussion about reading practices and strategies before turning to this handout. For a greater focus on reading and analysis of exhibit sources, see this close-reading exercise. Objective To familiarize students […]
Write the Title First
In this in-class exercise, students create genre-appropriate titles to generate potential topics and arguments for their alternative genre assignment. Writing the title first helps to narrow their focus and think in the way the genre necessitates. This exercise works best after analyzing a number of genre models and identifying the genre’s conventions. Objective To begin […]
Elevator Story
This assignment is especially effective if you assign it just after students write abstracts. Comparing the four parts of an abstract to the four parts of an elevator story (also known as an elevator speech or elevator pitch) helps students to identify the consistencies and differences between the genres and their audience’s expectations. Guide to […]
Developing Key Terms
All good arguments draw their strength from strong textual evidence and analysis. This exercise has two parts. In the first, which can be done for homework, students select passages from shared readings, closely analyze them, and then examone their responses for key terms. In the second, which is an in-class exercise, they use key terms […]
Class Participation Rubric
This activity is especially useful for those who grade their students’ class participation. Asking students to collaborate on participation criteria gives them a sense of agency and makes tangible a facet of their final grade which might otherwise seem subjective. Guide to Oral/Signed Communication in Writing Classrooms Objective To reflect on your participation in class […]
Close Reading Exercise
For this exercise, instructors should first select five key passages from their exhibit sources and type them up on a single sheet. Students will independently read and annotate the passages, and then, in small groups of 3-4 students, complete the exercise below. Assign each group one of the passages, and ask each group to introduce […]
Decoding a Public Genre
This exercise on public genre awareness has two parts. In the first part, “Decoding a public genre,” students begin to familiarize themselves with a new genre by comparing it to one with which they’re familiar: the academic essay. This can be done as homework. In the second part, “Preparing to write a public genre,” after […]
Use a Text as a Theory Source
The goal of this exercise is to teach students how to use theory sources to complicate and deepen their claims. Start by reviewing a sample paragraph that draws on a theory source in the service of making a claim about an exhibit source. Then, have students create their own paragraph in small groups. Because this […]
Clarity Races
For this activity, students first revise unclear sentences at home, then confer together as a team to decide on the strongest revisions, and finally compete against another team in class to win the most votes for clearest sentences. Objective To practice revising sentences with attention to what readers perceive as clear Key Terms clarity; revision; […]