The first day of a writing course is especially important for establishing a positive workshop environment.  What is a successful activity that you use on the first day of a writing class?

As soon as it seems the entire class has arrived, I engage students in the following activity (or some variation thereof):

1. Think for a few minutes about a favorite teacher (including classroom teachers, sports coaches, music instructors, and so forth) from before college.
2. Write about that person.  Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, and usage for now.  Write until I prompt you to stop.  A couple of your classmates will hear what you have written, so you may want to keep that in mind as you write.
3. After ten minutes, I say, “Look for a place to put a period, question mark, or exclamation point.  If you are really in the middle of things, put marks of ellipsis.”
4. Get into groups of three students.  Each group member will read his/her writing aloud twice.  After each reading, listeners should tell the reader two things:  what they liked best about what they heard; what they would like to know more about if the reader wished to continue the writing. 

At this point, I conclude the activity by telling students that this sort of activity involving writing, reading, and responding will be (in various permutations) a frequent occurrence in class.  I also stress that I will set up writing situations that require such writing and sharing, but that will be supportive and non-threatening (I hope) in nature.

One BEST PRACTICE that I used for my first-ever semester of teaching a writing course was to ask the students to share their fears/strengths/weaknesses/likes/dislikes/etc. about writing.  I asked the students to arrange their desks into a circle around the classroom, (I included myself in the sharing exercise), and we each took our turn as we went around the circle. 
 
This exercise opened the door to the students' (sometimes reluctant) acceptance of other 'peer review' exercises such as small group discussions and pair-work. I was surprised to find that a few students mentioned this first 'sharing experience' in their final 'Self-Evaluation on Writing' essays required for the ENG 090 students.  It seemed that the exercise prompted honest responses from the students that they later considered when assessing how their writing or their feelings toward writing changed during the semester.

On the first day of Honors Freshman Composition, I ask the seminar participants to spend ten minutes writing their opinions in response to a prompt.  One of the most successful topics I have chosen is what a college education means or should mean.  Because students in an honors setting take their education seriously, they have strong points of view about the significance of post-secondary learning.  When participants have completed their drafts, I call upon volunteers to read theirs aloud.  Inevitably, a discussion on the topic ensues, and we have the opportunity to hear from everyone.  

Since my first five weeks deal with issues in education, I ask my students to write about a time (from kindergarten to the present) when they were embarrassed in a school setting.  I tell them not to write about anything painful.  After they write, I assign them partners and they share their experiences.  The peer group determines which paper will be read aloud to the entire class.  This is a humorous beginning for [the course].  When I take up the papers and read them all, I write comments and return them on the next class period.  No grade, just a check.

To drive home the challenge of the two Technical Writing goals of accuracy and conciseness (often conflicting goals), I have pairs of students give and take telephone messages.  I have somewhat funny scripts.

For all classes, going around the room and introducing oneself is a great ice-breaker.  Ask students to tell something unique about themselves that they figure is true of no other person in the room.

Idea 1: A former TA of mine from Xavier gave me this idea.  She is writing a thesis on basic learners, and asked one of my adult classes to describe their worst writing experience either in school or in business.  I have used this since and find it works really well with older students (even sophomores and juniors like it.).  The best entries go wild describing abusive teachers or business situations.
 
Idea 2: From a paperback entitled Old Faithful, edited by Christopher Edgar and Ron Padgett comes an idea written up by Meredith Sue Willis.  She reads students Zora Neale Hurston's paragraph describing Death in Their Eyes were Watching God.  The main character pictures Death as lodging in a huge wall-less building, a platform without sides.  He has "huge square toes" and watches and waits to be called.  The main character fears he's coming for her.  Willis asks her students to think of other personified abstractions such as Love, Happiness, Depression, Life, Democracy, War, Hatred, etc. and to write a short paragraph describing this abstraction, giving it physical characteristics, clothing, a house, and typical gestures.  Kids love it.  It fits in well with the first assignment I usually give for English 101, which is to write a character sketch about a real person, using physical details and typical gestures and clothing.

When I was teaching freshman composition, one of the things I always did was a free write.  This helped relieve their stress; I collected it and got a better feel for where my students were before I dove into the course.

In my advanced writing class, I ask students to write a page or so in class on something I think will engage them and give them enough immediate access to their own experience that they can easily write.  For example: the most interesting/memorable person they've seen or met in the past 6 months, the worst boss they've ever had.

My goal on the first day is to help students become comfortable writing in class and sharing what they write. 
 
I use an activity that I learned from Toby Fulwiller in a teaching workshop.  I ask the students to free write a list of answers to this question: “What makes writing difficult for you?”  I then ask them to pick one item from their lists that they would be willing to share with the class.  We go around the room with each student saying his/her name and contributing one idea from his/her list.  A student-volunteer records all of the responses on the board or transparency (getting someone to volunteer always takes a lot of encouragement from me).  Then we do the same activity in response to this question: “What makes writing get easier for you?”
 
The first question gives students permission to air their frustrations about writing.  The second question invites students to share whatever strategies work for them: drafting with pen/paper rather than a computer, writing while listening to music, going to the Writing Center, etc. This activity invariably fosters discussion and a friendly atmosphere.

For more information, contact:

Dr. Jonathan S. Cullick
Director, Writing Instruction Program
Department of Literature and Language
Northern Kentucky University
Highland Heights, KY 41099

Email: cullickj@nku.edu

Site maintained by: J. Cullick
Updated: 27-Jun-2005