The Never-Fail Writing Method

Hi Everyone,

Just a friendly reminder that the Never Fail Writing Method event will be held on Wednesday, December 6th at Noon ET. There is still time to register here. 

Are you looking for a way to teach writing that never fails? Join us on December 6, 2023 at Noon ET for this LINCS event to learn more about the Never Fail Writing Method! During this engaging event you will hear from our guest, the legendary adult educator Kate Nonesuch, about how she teaches appreciative writing feedback to her students and how they use what they learn to give positive feedback to others. 

Hope to see you there!

Steve Schmidt, Moderator

LINCS Reading and Writing Group

Hi Everyone,

Kate Nonesuch, a veteran adult educator from British Columbia, was our guest subject matter expert for our December event on the Never Fail Writing Method. I’ve been a fan of Kate’s for many years after reading her blog. 

Ms. Nonesuch describes the Never Fail Writing Method in a detailed handout here. Rather than summarize this information, I’ll include several points Kate made.

In writing instruction, we are trained to seek out the negative rather than praise the positive. Typical instructor writing feedback is of the red pen variety where we try to correct numerous student learning gaps. Kate mentioned how students will only briefly glance at our written marks, and she deemed the red pen mark up, “a waste of time.” She pointed to a study by Eskreis-Winkler, Fishbach, and Ayelet (2019) that showed that failure undermined learning. Ms. Nonesuch indicated that learners tune out negative feedback and that a better strategy is to appeal to a “students’ more competent self” through an appreciative approach to writing feedback.

Instructors and students can learn to give positive writing feedback. Kate demonstrated how she gives feedback in writing groups. She praised a students’ writing sample for its detailed word picture, its ability to zoom in and out like a movie, and its genuine tone. Another sample received praise for its effective transitions and how it compared to Shakespeare. A final sample garnered praise for its paragraph structure, use of humor, and accurate conversation detail. Kate noted how students learn to give similar feedback on effective writing elements and more importantly, began to incorporate these elements in their own writing. 

During the writing group process, students are asked to choose a favorite sentence, read it aloud, and explain why they chose it. Through this process, students see effective writing modeled and praised which in turn improves their writing. Garbled and unclear sentences are ignored and eventually give way to better writing. The positive feedback “creates a warm and supportive atmosphere,” and takes place in real time, person-to-person. The feedback’s effectiveness is also magnified by the number of learners who hear it. (Please see the handout for more specifics on how to give appreciative writing feedback.)

Participants asked several interesting questions (and I include paraphrased answers)

How would this method work with non-fiction analysis like argument essays? ‘I comment on what I hope students will do' (the effective strategies for this type of writing).

What is a student asks for specific grammar feedback? ‘I give it to them. This means they are in the mode to listen to this feedback which I do in private verbally. Nuanced written feedback is not very valuable to our emerging writers.’

Closing thoughts from Kate Nonesuch

“When students know their work will be read out loud to a class, they put in much more effort into writing and proofreading their work.”

“My goal is to train students to proofread their own work, so they can write independently.”

“Adopting this method will drastically decrease your paper marking load.”

“Students do pay attention to others' feedback.”

What did you learn from this event that you can apply with your students?

Thanks for your thoughts,

Steve Schmidt, Moderator

LINCS Reading and Writing Group