I've noticed that students like to give answers to their homework problems.. well, the kind that ask "What do you think of this phenomenon?" or "Why do you think the thing does that interesting thing?" The problem is, they can't represent their thoughts in writing.
Without fail, students will begin to read their response, and then slowly but surely their heads will begin to lift and then they are just talking. While I certainly don't mind the conversation (and I know that a lot of the time we are developing our world view as we talk about what we think), I sometimes (and more importantly they often) need them to write down what they mean. In today's world of high-stakes testing and written assessments, being able to write, instead of say what you mean is increasingly important.
I'm thinking of starting a routine where I ask fairly simple questions (simple to answer -- not uninteresting though). Questions where there is no fear of being wrong since there might not even be a right answer, and having students just read (and only read -- verbatim) their answers to their partners. I might even introduce a second part where the partner has to summarize (in writing) what was heard and share that out to the class, again by reading.
Any thoughts?
