by Edgar Alarcón Tinajero

As a teaching assistant at UGA, I’ve primarily worked in larger introductory-level courses. I came into the WIP course with a couple assumptions about teaching and writing based on my experience as an undergraduate student. I assumed that instructors:

I’m not entirely sure why I carried some of these assumptions for years. I may have based this on hearsay from other students or from infrequent exposure to elements of the writing process like peer review or short assignments that assist in developing thought for a larger project. Being an instructional assistant in the WIP program gave me the opportunity to support student writing from start to finish. I was an instructional assistant for a Biological Anthropology course this semester. The professor’s course design and the elements facilitated by WIP allowed me to evaluate student work early in the semester and offer feedback that facilitates idea development and self-evaluation.

Assumptions, Reevaluated

Assumption 1: Instructors don’t read the whole assignment.

As an undergraduate I assumed professors couldn’t possibly read every line of every student paper. As a TA grading short response and essay portions of tests,  I realized it can be done and is necessary in order to provide fair assessment. Student conferencing is baked into the WIP model and was an opportunity to provide feedback to students where writing could be improved. I realized students often demonstrated mastery of research topics in early drafts of term papers. The logical flow between ideas, however, sometimes needed reinforcing and was only evident by reading papers line by line.

Assumption 2: Instructors are looking for a particular answer in response to a prompt like a term paper.

Coming into graduate school, I assumed professors intended for a single or ideal answer to a prompt on larger assignments. The instructor and I worked with students on annotated bibliographies and asked students to write about the writing process early in the semester as they selected research topics. On low-stakes assignments, students seemed to be comfortable expressing their doubts about the course project while demonstrating their knowledge of relevant literature. I saw improvement between student’s first written assignment (a one-page explanation of the term paper topic they chose) and final drafts. It seems much easier to evaluate a final product by its fidelity to the thesis statement using WIP principles and exercises than in a course where the instructors had not directly worked with students on the thesis statement.

Assumption 3: Instructors expect a polished product to be developed naturally by a student.

In my undergraduate experience, I often notified the instructor of the topic of a term paper by email or short response. I worked directly with an instructor or TA in only a few courses. I was, unfortunately, the type of student to avoid office hours and ask few questions out of concern that I might be asking something that I should already know. I built an assumption over years that each student should produce a written product independent of anyone’s support. In this semester’s WIP course, the instructor and I had at least 4 formal opportunities to provide written feedback. We also provided guidance during class-time and facilitated peer-review. The WIP model where feedback is offered at various points in the writing stage demonstrates the influence of timely advice on clarity and efficacy of written work.

Closing Thoughts

My experiences as a WIP teaching assistant required me to reevaluate the assumptions I built over several years regarding the writing process and use of instructors’ support. Witnessing student’s improvement from earlier to later assignments in the semester encourages me to apply the WIP methods whereby the instructor checks in and facilitates writing and concept development at various points in the semester. I appreciated the exposure to high-stakes and low-stakes assignments which seem to build student confidence in the writing process and mastery of content. I plan to employ these methods in future course design.