Sarah Swofford
Assignments & Activities Archive
Activity Description
The purpose of this assignment is three-fold: 1) it helps students execute prior knowledge about genre so they are able to effectively compose unfamiliar genres of writing; 2) shows students how their writing skills are useful in professional and not only academic contexts; and 3) teaches students how to write collaboratively as part of a team. When I teach this assignment, it is the second part in a 2-assignment sequence (the first part is “Genre Analysis of Project Proposals“, also found in the Writing Spaces’ Assignment and Activities Archive) in a first-year writing course. This assignment could also work effectively after another project where students develop an understanding about genre and rhetorical situations. This project could also be adapted to include elements of genre analysis, as a way of extending students’ prior genre knowledge. This proposal engages students by asking them to identify problems on our campus, research possible solutions and the specific local stakeholders who have the power to make these changes, and propose a solution to the problem they’ve identified. In doing so, they learn how writing works to make change, and they see first-hand how the genre conventions they’ve learned help writers compose more efficiently and effectively. They also learn and practice collaborative writing skills. This project includes a fair amount of in-class writing time for the groups to work. I do this purposefully, in part so that I can offer just-in-time support, and in part because most of my students must have employment, and giving them time to work together helps make group work more accessible for all of my students, regardless of their commitments outside of their classes.