Mentoring through Feedback

One reading for this week included Sommers and Satz's article "Novice to expert: writing the freshman year." This included a detailed look at how students evolve in their writing over their four years at university, and what characteristics students who greatly improved their writing share with each other. These students who really grew as writers accepted their statuses as novices in their fields (at least initially), and also saw their writing as having a bigger purpose than just fulling requirements for an assignment. The authors discussed the importance of students seeing themselves as novices-- as beginning apprentices with a lot to learn about the discipline and its discourse. They also must see their papers as having a larger purpose in the course of their lives and their education. Grasping these concepts gives them the opportunity to really engage and look for ways to grow as they learn more in their classes over the years. Professors play an important role in helping student achieve these things. By developing interesting assignments and really treating students as newly arrived apprentices needing to learn the ropes, they create a dynamic of respect and foster learning. They give students an introductory sense of academic belonging that will lead and motivate them throughout college and beyond.
   
One way teachers can begin to treat students as emerging mentors is by creating meaningful feedback that helps students understand the "get and give" aspect of writing, rather than just seeing it as something they must do to get a grade. Feedback creates a dialog and helps students see that they have a valued voice in the field (or at least the beginnings of one) and that there is someone who is interested in reading what they have to say. This concept is also emphasized throughout the other readings we have read from Sommers' book. In most all of her chapters, including the ones we read for today, she stresses the importance of minimal feedback that really addresses the writer as a person, not the writing as a problem to fix. She recommends focusing on one lesson we want our students to learn overall, rather than creating a whole bunch of small corrections that they may or may not understand. This idea of treating the student more as a peer or an apprentice that you are guiding, and helping them to view themselves as such, will help them enormously in the grand scheme of their writing careers.