Writing Process Self-Assessment for Creative Writers
Gregory Crosby, Lehman College
Bio
Gregory Crosby is a song and dance man.
Course Setting
Gregory teaches ENW 210, Introduction to Creative Writing, in the College Now program (high school students taking college courses on campus after school) at Lehman College.
Problem of Practice
How do you get writing students to think and read *as writers,* and not simply as students completing assignments? How do you get them to see themselves as creative beings beyond the context of a classroom?
Strategy
I created a questionnaire that asked students to reflect upon their process and experience of writing either a poem or a short story. The first questionnaire asked about their experience with some received poetic forms (ghazals, villanelles, pantoums); the second about a particular poetic genre (the ode, personification); the third about their experience of writing a short story.
The questions changed somewhat for each questionnaire, but all remained related to the student’s creative process. The hope was that, in thinking about their writing process, students could understand that learning to write–especially creatively–is something that happens outside the context of classroom assignments.
Documentation
Writing Process Self-Assessment: Short Story
An example of a student self-assessment for their short story.
Figure #1: Writing Process Self-Assessment: Short Story
Writing Process Self-Assessment: Received Form
An example of a student self-assessment for their short story.
Figure #2: Writing Process Self-Assessment: Received Form
Measuring Impact
Collated Responses to Writing Process Self-Assessment
Figure #3: Collated Responses to Writing Process Self-Assessment
Analysis
As expected, student reflections varied greatly from student to student, but many students responded thoughtfully in response to the questions. It was clear in many cases that this was the first time they had been asked about their process in a way that wasn’t focused on skills so much as on a more intuitive approach to the writing process (appropriate for a CW course).
The first and third surveys sparked more detailed reflection than the second reflection, and the responses about their short story process were, in particular, more detailed and thoughtful, especially in reference to the main elements of fiction (plot, character, setting, POV, tone), which we talked a great deal about during class.
Folding this sort of reflection into a syllabus–making it a part of the course but treating each as low-stakes assignments (or “extra credit”)
Recommendation
Building this sort of self-assessment into a course of assignments, particularly in CW, could be a way not only to increase student awareness of their own creative process, but also functions as a way for instructors to get a feel for how their students are feeling about writing itself–perhaps very useful for students who suffer from writing anxiety, and students who find themselves creatively blocked.
