Creating authentic experiences: Using
collaborative writing teams in a servicelearning composition classroom
Adam Webb
Introduction
Two types of instruction in the
composition classroom:
 Individual
and textual
 Collaborative and social
Traditional-textual instruction vs.
transitional-social instruction
Pedagogy: Cognitive-individual
development
Traditional-textual instruction
Expectation: Individual-textual proficiency
Outcome: “Academic” essay
Pedagogy: Constructionist-collaborative
development
Transitional-social instruction
Expectation: Collaborative-multi-textual
proficiency
Outcome: “Academic/non-academic” essay
Four instructional models
The four main instructional models in many composition
classrooms that I will focus on in this action research study
are:
 Apprenticeship instructional model (usually limited to
textual-discipline specific engagement)
 Activist instructional model (usually limited to textualpolitical-social engagement)
 Student-learner instructional model (usually limited to
textual-political-social engagement)
 Participator instructional model (textual and actual
engagement in the political-social-disciplinary spheres
of discourse)
The participator instructional model
Service-learning in the composition
classroom:
 Involves volunteering at a local non-profit
organization (LNPO)
 Collaborative research and writing teams
 Field-research
 Reflective writing
 Self and peer assessments
What is service-learning?
What is service-learning? Service-learning is a method that
connects teaching and learning goals with community
service, usually in the form of volunteering. Servicelearning helps students participate within local
communities—promoting civic engagement and
responsibility—thus building important connections and a
greater understanding of those communities’ diverse needs.
The educational component of service-learning comes in
the form of having students reflect on their experiences.
Service-learning’s connection to freshmen composition is
relatively recent, starting in the mid-nineteen-eighties.
Sigmon’s (1979) three principles
The first step would be to list the important principles and
factors that go into incorporating service-learning into the
classroom. Robert Sigmon (1979) lists three principles for
service-learning:
 “Those being served control the service(s) provided
 Those being served become better able to serve and be
served by their own actions
 Those who serve also are learners and have significant
control over what is expected to be learned” (Sigmon, p.
10).
Herzberg’s (2000) “four possibilities”
While Sigmon establishes the foundational principles for
using service-learning in the classroom, Bruce Herzberg
(2000) claims that service-learning should be used within
the composition classroom because:
 “Current issues” are more appealing to students
 Issues and problems within the public community “helps
students understand audience and genre constraints”
 Establishes a “social consciousness” that might “to
social action”
 Encourages “civic leadership” (Herzberg, pp. 467-68)
Dubinsky’s (2001) “three factors”
Also building on Sigmon’s three main principles, James
M. Dubinsky (2001) lists three important factors in
service-learning:
 “Learning (with clearly defined goals)
 Serving (one’s community)
 Reflecting (on the service aspect)” (Dubinsky, p. 3)
 Sigmon, Herzberg, and Dubinsky provide theoretical
and pedagogical realms of consideration when
incorporating service-learning into the classroom.
Three approaches
Linda Adler-Kassner (2000) suggests Thomas Deans’ three
approaches of how service-learning can be connected to
the teaching of composition:
 “Writing for community” – Students create documents
specifically based on that community’s needs
 “Writing about community” – Students reflect on their
experiences working within a certain community
 “Writing with community” – Students work more
collaboratively together with individuals in a certain
community in order to meet a need (Adler-Kassner, p.
28)
Purpose of this study
The purpose of this action research is to determine if
collaborative writing teams in a service-learning
composition classroom help students become better
writers. The independent variables for this
study are the collaborative writing teams and the
local non-profit organizations. The dependent
variables in the study are the students’ writing and
their overall sense of achievement.
Research questions
The questions that I will answer with this action research
are:
 Will the participator instructional model create more
opportunities for collaborative writing projects in
service-learning composition classrooms?
 What will the structure of a service-learning
composition classroom look like?
 What types of activities and assignments will students
engage in a service-learning composition classroom?
 How will student writing be assessed in a servicelearning composition classroom?
Process
Setting:
A university in South Texas (a Hispanic Serving Institution)
Investigators:
Composition Instructor 1
Composition Instructor 2
Population:
College level freshmen students in their second semester of
English composition 1302
Instruments:
Attendance rubric
Portfolio-project rubric
Presentation rubric
Self & peer evaluations
Survey (one for subjects & one for all other students)
Goals for composition 1302
• Develop cross-cultural understanding and
respect
• Use writing, reading, and academic inquiry to
critically engage increasingly complex openended questions and ill-defined problems
• Write, read, and speak for a variety of realworld purposes and for various audiences
(Writing Program’s Staff Manual, Goals and
Objectives 1302, 2009)
Objectives for composition 1302
• Explore diverse perspectives on issues
• Locate and evaluate appropriate primary and secondary
•
•
•
•
•
•
sources in terms of credibility, context, author, purpose
and audience
Synthesize appropriate primary and secondary sources
Construct arguments that are ethically responsible and
rhetorically effective
Use conventions (i.e. APA)
Use computer technology to research, generate texts,
and communicate across disciplinary contexts
Generate a research portfolio
Self-assess research process and product (Writing
Program’s Staff Manual, Goals and Objectives 1302,
2009)
The structure
Writing teams (WTs)
Collaborative research and writing
Local non-profit organizations
One large portfolio-project
Classroom description
Composition Instructor 1 – Three
composition courses (25 students per
course)
 Composition Instructor 2 – One
composition course (27 students)
 Meeting time per week – Tuesday and
Thursday, one hour and twenty minutes
each day

Local non-profit organizations
Charlie’s Place Rehabilitation Center, for substance
abuse, counseling, and recovery
(http://charliesplaceonline.com/media/news.html)
 The Wenholz House, also for substance abuse,
counseling, and recovery (http://ccsafeplace.com/)
 The Salvation Army of South Texas
 The YWCA of South Texas
 The Food Bank of Corpus Christi
(http://www.foodbankofcorpuschristi.org)
 P.A.L.s Animal Shelter (http://www.palscc.org/)

LNPO’s continued…
Planned Parenthood of South Texas
 USS Lexington, a retired aircraft carrier now a museum
on the bay (http://www.usslexington.com/)
 The Texas State Aquarium
(http://www.texasstateaquarium.org/)
 Communities in Schools (C.I.S.), a public school
mentoring program
 Special Olympics of South Texas
 The Women’s Shelter of South Texas
(http://www.thewomensshelter.org/)
 Boys and Girls Club of Corpus Christi
(http://www.bgccorpuschristi.org/)

The assignment sequence
Instruments to measure writing and collaboration:
Attendance
First four weeks (two meetings times per week)
Five checkpoints (over two-and-a-half months)
Portfolio-project
1 collaborative document
1 final reflection from each team member
Presentation
Collaborative, formal, multimedia
Self and peer evaluations
Portfolio-project
Description
Part or section
Proposal (75-100 words)
(third part of the essay in the portfolio-project)
Abstract (25-50 words)
(third part of the essay in the portfolio-project)
Introduction & history of non-profit
(first part of the essay in the portfolio-project)
State & federal laws of non-profit
(second part of the essay in the portfolio-project)
Interviews & volunteering
(second part of the essay in the portfolio-project)
Recommendations and conclusions
(third part of the essay in the portfolio-project)
Sources
(references … both primary and secondary)
Final document
(parts one through three in one document)
Final presentation
(formal, multimedia)
Final reflections from writing teams
(one per group member)
Writing about and with…
The project document addresses two of
Thomas Deans’ (2000) approaches:
Writing about community
 Writing with community

5 main objectives
•
•
•
•
•
Developing collaborative writing teams
Using PM Wiki to post their research and
writing
Developing a portfolio based on a servicelearning project
Creating a formal multimedia presentation
Conducting self and individual peer
evaluations
Set of guidelines for WTs
• Writing teams will consist of three-five members. Students will
collaborate in their research, reading, and writing for the course of
the semester
• Writing teams will be decided at the beginning of the semester, but
may change after that. Once the research/writing for the portfolioproject begins, the groups will remain the same, unless there are
MAJOR differences among group members
• In the instance of MAJOR differences, the writing team and I will
decide what needs to happen in order for all group members to be
happy
• Writing teams will decide on a socially acceptable group name
• All researching, reading, and writing is shared equally among all
writing team members
Set of guidelines continued…
• There will be no “dumping” on one or two members because of
laziness. There will also be no “invisible” team members who pop
in from time to time to lay a claim to all the hard work that their
writing team is doing
• Collaborative writing is a team effort and all responsibilities for the
portfolio-project will be shared equally, creatively, and respectfully
• The actual writing of the final paper may be the hardest part for
your writing team; however, this is a challenge that you will have to
work through together with your group members
• During the course of the semester, I will check with each group
constantly to see where your team is at and how things are going. If
an individual in a writing team has a question or something to
discuss that they do not wish to share with their group members, we
will deal with this type of situation on a case-by-case basis
Selection of four writing teams
All four writing teams volunteered at the
same LNPO (P.A.L.S Animal Shelter)
 Shared experience with the same LNPO
 Composition Instructor 1 had three
writing teams
 Composition Instructor 2 had one writing
team

Findings
Figure 1.1 Grades for writing team 1
Findings continued…
Figure 1.2 Grades for writing team 2
Findings continued…
Figure 1.3 Grades for writing team 3
Findings continued…
Figure 1.4 Grades for writing team 4
Survey questions
1. Collaborative writing was very useful to me in this class
2. My writing team’s non-profit organization was useful to our writing as a source of
knowledge
3. My teammates contributed equally
4. This composition class was well-structured around our writing teams
5. My composition instructor's input was beneficial to the outcome of the entire portfolio
project (Presentations, emails, interviews, volunteering, writing of the essay, etc.)
6. This composition class has provided the opportunity to look at writing and researching
from another perspective
7. I took advantage of the one-on-one workshops with my composition instructor throughout
the semester
8. Please select which letter grade you think you have earned: A, B, C, D, & F
Survey findings
Figure 1.5 Survey findings
Survey findings continued…
Figure 1.6 Survey findings
Times visited
Figure 1.7 Number of visits or times volunteered at P.A.L.S.
Overall survey findings
Figure 1.8 Survey findings for all other writing teams within the four composition classes
Survey findings continued…
Figure 1.9 Survey findings for all other writing teams within the four composition classes
Student response
I really liked the purpose of the Service learning
project, but I think this project would work a lot
better with students who are further on in their
education. I think this because Freshmen students
are not as serious as a Junior or a Senior. I did
learn how to work with a group and correspond
with someone and I actually learned how to
volunteer and the process, and I will most likely
give my time to another organization that I have
interest in
Student responses continued…
• Learn to work with other people, which may sound easy
but trust me, it is not always, what you think it will be
• Take responsibility for your actions. Other people are
counting on you
• Be a leader. If no one in your group is responsible
enough to share the work equally, figure out how to
make them do the work, or how to make up for their lack
of work
• Make sure that you are committed to the project. This
project is hard, takes a lot of time and effort, and
requires a lot of planning. If you want a good grade, you
need to be able to be on top of things no matter what
Findings in the writing and learning





Difference between “strong” and “weak”
collaboration in WTs’ final documents (Elbow,
1999)
Visible growth as learners
Resistance existed between students not wanting
to work in groups (not in volunteering)
Challenges in writing collaboratively
Students gave constructive and critical feedback
in their self and peer evaluations
Sample portfolio-project
This is a sample portfolio-project from the
writing team, “The Chinchillas,” from
Composition Instructor 1’s class:
Sample portfolio-project
P.A.L.S Animal Shelter PowerPoint
Presentation
Conclusions
• Improved grades
• Differences between collaboration & cooperation
• Develop roles earlier in the semester (i.e. researcher, organizer,
planner, etc.)
• Because of the dynamic nature of service-learning and writing, it is
difficult to create a classroom structure or assignments that “fit”
goals and objectives of traditional curriculum (more than just a
component in the classroom)
Limitations
• Scope of the study (only looks at 4 composition courses)
• Time (duration of collecting and evaluating student writing for this
study)
• Structure of classroom and grading rubrics (first time used)
• Shared survey between instructors (different teaching styles)
• Learning community atmosphere–had other assignments and test
preparations
Further research
• Using service-learning in multiple
composition classrooms
• Keep using service-learning as more than
just a “component” in the classroom
(different methods & approaches)
• Continuing the conversation in
composition and writing research
Questions?