Contact: Leah Barbour
Photo by: Beth Wynn
STARKVILLE, Miss.--When students articulate their classroom knowledge through writing, studies indicate they tend to understand concepts better.
Mississippi State University faculty members experienced the same results after they incorporated Maroon & Write, the university's quality enhancement plan, during the 2014 fall semester.
The program, developed with input from MSU students, teachers and administrators, is designed to improve student writing, especially at the undergraduate level. Improving retention of course concepts was the other main goal when Maroon & Write was launched in the fall of 2013.
To teach Maroon & Write courses, volunteers participate in a professional development workshop, the Maroon Institute for Writing Excellence, or MIWE. During the summer training program, participants learn how to revise course syllabi and incorporate writing-to-learn strategies in their classes.
Recently, two 2014 MIWE graduates who employed the strategies for the first time in the fall presented their experiences at a program in Mitchell Memorial Library. Their audience included representatives from all eight MSU colleges.
Assistant professor Peter Allen of wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture and associate professor Renee Clary of geosciences shared class outcomes in fish physiology and principles of paleobiology, respectively.
"MIWE is really about being an effective teacher. In the summer class, we'd actually practice the techniques, and I had a good idea of what wasn't going to work very well for me and what wasn't," Allen said. "I learned how to implement writing-to-learn strategies and what the realistic expectations are for the students, and a lot of my students stepped up this fall."
In addition to requiring them to answer short questions in journal assignments, Allen said he had students complete outlines and literature reviews, along with peer reviews, to lay the foundation for their major writing assignment, a formal paper due at semester's end.
Allen also had class members visit the MSU Writing Center to review terms of basic grammar and sentence structure.
Before turning in the final drafts, the students collected comments from Allen and their peers, as well as their original drafts and Writing Center work.
"They really improved, and the papers turned out really well," Allen said.
Likewise, Clary used writing assignments throughout the semester to build toward students' completing a formal paper at the end of the course.
"On day one, I had rocks in front of them, and I said, 'Go with the flow; draw it. Describe what you're seeing so that if I take the rock away, you can still envision it," she said. "By the end of the semester, I can say I saw a clear difference looking at the content. My students were much better at identifying fossils.
"I had comments on my evaluation saying, 'This is the best class I've ever taken.'"
Like Allen and Clary, other MIWE graduates attending the program agreed they plan to continue incorporating Maroon & Write, first begun in fall 2013, in their classes because their students are learning more.
Organizers announced that applications for the 2015 MIWE summer workshop are available at www.qep.msstate.edu/pdf/MIWEAPP.pdf. All interested full-time faculty members who will teach undergraduate courses during the 2015-16 academic year are invited to apply for the June 4-25 training.
MSU, Mississippi's flagship research university, is online at www.msstate.edu, facebook.com/msstate, instagram.com/msstate, pinterest.com/msstate and twitter.com/msstate.