Davis Faculty Fellow Spotlight
"Writing is not only something to be taught reactively, through feedback on drafts, but also proactively using exercises that help students think critically about the choices they will make when constructing papers."
— Professor David Cunningham (Sociology)
Davis faculty fellow spotlight
"I could not believe how effectively my colleagues had designed classes with a series of linked short writing exercises, culminating in a single longer piece of writing that was almost woven out of those bits and pieces.
"It's changed how I design both undergraduate and gradate classes."
— Professor John Plotz (English)
Lesson Plans Developed by the Davis Grant
Davis Grant faculty have developed a number of lesson plans for teaching writing.
Below are some from Professor Morris's biology class (developed with TA Jessie Stickgold-Sarah), Professor Plotz's English class (developed with TA Lauren Holm), Professor Brettler's NEJS class (developed with TA Molly Delmarco), Professor Watson's psychology class (developed with TA Michael Sheehan), Professor Kryder's politics class (developed with TA Paul Herron), and Professor Cunningham's sociology class (developed with TA Clare Hammonds).
When using these or modifications of these exercises, please give us credit by including the phrase "developed through the Davis Grant, Brandeis University."
Biology
- Exercise on citation (doc)
- Investigative exercise on introductions (doc)
- Introduction exercise focusing on reading skills and comprehension, or on writing a research paper for a lab class (doc)
- Exercise on the structure of introductions (doc)
English
- Exercise on note-taking (doc)
- Exercise on revising a thesis with the grading rubric (doc)
- Exercise on poetry (doc)
- Exercise on annotated bibliographies (doc)
Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
- Exercise on writing evaluative pieces (pdf) and (doc)
- Lesson plan on evaluative writing (doc)
- Exercise on choosing evidence and writing a thesis (doc)
- Handout on thesis (doc)
- Lesson plan on summary writing (doc)
- Summary writing handout (pdf) and (doc)
- Exercise for writing a summary paragraph (doc)
Psychology
- Lesson plan and handout on introductions (doc)
- Lesson plan and handout on conclusions (doc)
- Lesson plan on diagramming research reviews (doc)
- Exercise on spotting loser sentences (doc)
- Tips on writing Psychology papers (doc)
- Handout on APA Citation (doc)
Politics
- Lesson plan on clarity (doc)
- Making historical descriptions into claims (doc)
- Outlining papers (doc)
- Exercise on Obama as a writer (doc)
- Exercise on legal writing (doc)