{"id":1864,"date":"2021-12-09T10:06:16","date_gmt":"2021-12-09T16:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/sips\/?p=1864"},"modified":"2021-12-20T10:25:31","modified_gmt":"2021-12-20T16:25:31","slug":"sip_14-14_self-compassion_and_compassion_for_writers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/sips\/sip_14-14_self-compassion_and_compassion_for_writers\/","title":{"rendered":"SIP 14.14 Self-compassion and Compassion for Writers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thirsty for a Strong Instructional Practice?<\/h3>\n

\"Close<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be honest about writing.<\/p>\n

In the professional world, writing timed essays isn\u2019t common. And yet, in most academic disciplines, students are expected to produce quality writing, often research-informed, under the constraints of our prompts and deadlines while managing other end-of-semester projects and exams as well as off-campus life and work.<\/p>\n

Moreover, students have been taught to adhere to hetero-cisgender White-supremacist rules and rubrics for \u201cgood writing\u201d (Inoue, AB.; Poe, M. Poe and Elliot, E. 2019<\/a>;\u00a0Kendi, I.X. 2019<\/a>;\u00a0Condon, F. and Young, V.A. 2017<\/a>;\u00a0Petrosi, K. 2015<\/a>). BIPOC students carry with them stories of forced unlearning of their English and writing styles; for more information about more-equitable grading practices, see SIPs\u00a03.6,<\/a>\u00a03.7<\/a>,\u00a04.4<\/a>,\u00a05.14<\/a>,\u00a010.9<\/a>,\u00a010.11<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a014.6<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The hard truth for students: Most students readily list their writing weaknesses and undervalue their writing strengths. You may hear students complain about essays\u2019 time-consuming nature, which they may or may not enjoy, that produce highly subjective grades. Students may have internalized a lack of confidence in their writing or catastrophize writing as fruitless or a conduit for unexplainable or unreasonable grades based on a history of red-penned papers. They express feeling discouraged and defeated. (Check out\u00a0SIP 4.8<\/a>\u00a0on ways to challenge students\u2019 negative mindsets.) Some semester projects and exams may be weighted so heavily that student success requires near-perfect research and writing above and beyond understanding and applying the course\u2019s core concepts.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a lot of pressure on students. And yes, all instructors have been through the same end-of-semester writing crunches when we were students. Does it have to be this way now just because it was then?<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, we instructors start with scholarly intentions, confident that our assignments and exam questions showcase learning in many areas. Then stacks upon stacks pile up, and we find ourselves in a similar time crunch brought on by grade deadlines and semester weariness. We\u2019ve addressed the frustrations of grading and the seemingly subjective evaluation of student writing before: SIPs\u00a04.5<\/a>,\u00a05.13<\/a>,\u00a010.7<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The hard truth for instructors is that written assessments take demonstrably longer to read, evaluate and assign a grade to than multiple-choice exams and practicums. In end-of-term hurried and harried submissions, student writing can be harder to decipher. Ideas may be repeated. We have been encouraged, through the tradition of student writing, to provide feedback through white-supremacist hierarchical feedback \u2013 a stackable mix of comments, rubrics and summary comments for each student\u2019s submission. Instead of looking forward to the pleasure of reading student successes, instructors may feel overwhelmed.<\/p>\n

Final projects don\u2019t need to be drudgery. What if students and instructors employed more compassion to end-of-semester writing? Grading with compassion for students and yourselves will minimize the time crunches of quick-turnaround deadlines for you and will minimize students\u2019 apprehension toward writing.<\/p>\n

Take a SIP of this: Self-compassion and Compassion for Writers<\/h3>\n

If you have five minutes<\/em><\/h4>\n