Improving Student Writing What can you as an instructor do? If
you want to improve students' writing skills, you must give
students opportunities to write -- in a variety of ways and
contexts. Writers are not born; they develop their skills over
time. And we need to keep this in mind as we work together to
help students improve their communication skills. That said,
what can you as the instructor do? Lots of things that will
improve the student writing you receive and enhance the
educational experience students have in your classroom. Keep in
mind that students need to practice writing, especially writing
about the ideas of others as well as communicating their own
views. And students also need time to develop their facility
with language -- something they can only do with practice. Here
are a few suggestions: 1) Try to build several short and
informal assignments into your course such as periodic summaries
of and responses to readings and lectures. 2) Give students five
to ten minutes at the end of class to