Collaborative Essay Writing? Why Not!

During yesterday's professional development opportunity (which produced some GREAT discussion from those in attendance, so big thank you for that!) we discussed the idea of collaborative writing with students.  While we do group work as a frequent instructional strategy, the idea of students writing and collaborating on developing a written assignment can be a little daunting. However, it can also be full of potential. Consider this video, which shows the practice in action in an English classroom:


As you see, the process can work well, but, like any classroom venture, parameters have to be established. For example, it's important to determine first if the writing task you wish to have students do is appropriate for collaborative pairs/consensus writing. I would also stress to students that they should remember these important pieces: 1. They should work together to establish the thesis/answer the question for the writing prompt in question. 2. They should work together to build consensus on what key details they will use to support their answer/thesis 3. They should work together to decide and agree upon the best approach for addressing all aspects of the writing task. As you see, I'm probably overstating it, but the collaborative aspect is key, as is keeping this task to no more than pairs or trios of students working together. Ideally, this sort of activity works best when students can choose their partners, BUT if you want to have some tiered levels of students working together, that can be a good strategy as well. That raises another set of questions as well: how do I build in accountability for student work and success so that one person doesn't shoulder the burden. This can be addressed in a variety of ways, but one way is to have the students assess each other on their work during the process, especially if you have selected student pairs/trios for the assignment. A rubric is best for this, and you can even make it a factor in the grade for the project as a whole. This can set a tone from the beginning that cooperation and investment in the process is expected from all involved. Interested in setting up an assignment like this? Contact me! I would be happy to support you in trying this out! A bonus to collaborative writing is also fewer papers to grade but the quality of the work is still considered. Think about it!