first-day writing
As an English teacher, I find it extrememly important to get a writing sample the first day of class. The writing doesn't have to be much more than a paragraph or a page. A good writing topic for any class is: "What hopes, fears, and expectations do I have about this course?" This is a good way to open up a discussion about both the course and student apprehensions and expectations.
Dennis,
I like your form of a pretest. You are getting a baseline on your students from which you can customize your instruction for their benefit. I use a pretest in my classes and this gives me a snap shot of my students and how I can plan for what direction I need to take the class so they will get exposure to critical content.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I do this too; it's a good way to see where their writing strengths and weaknesses are, what they have liked and didn't like about previous English classes and so forth. Importantly, it also gives you a sense of their individual writing styles - which helps in terms of recognizing signs of plagiarism.
