[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-detail-591522-en":59,"doc-seo-591522-105":80},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":60},{"doc_id":61,"user_id":62,"nickname":63,"user_avatar":64,"doc_module":4,"category_id":52,"category_name":53,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":66,"doc_content":67,"file_id":68,"file_url":69,"file_type":70,"file_size":71,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":56,"language":72,"language_code":73,"site_id":74,"html_lang":73,"table_of_contents":75,"faqs":76,"seo_title":77,"seo_description":66,"update_tm":78,"read_time":79},591522,962088121634,"supergirl","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","Using Play to teach Writing","The article examines how play can transform college composition instruction through ludic pedagogies grounded in D. W. Winnicott’s “potential space.” It describes classroom practices that let first-year writers experiment with course conventions, “authoritative” texts, and their own drafting. Through playful transgression, students confront writing anxieties, negotiate identity conflicts during the college transition, and begin critiquing authoritative discourse. Evidence from student outcomes suggests that playful attitudes should receive greater emphasis in first-year writing curricula.","Using Play to teach Writing  \n•  \nTom Batt  \nThis article explores the potential of play in the teaching of college composition. Drawing primarily on the theoretical framework of D. W. Winnicott, the author describes how he used ludic pedagogies to provide first-year writing students a“potential space” in which to explore a range of course elements including composing conventions,“authoritative” texts, and their own writing. By creatively transforming these elements through play, students learned to confront their anxieties about writing and reconcile the identity conflicts that typically accompany their transition to college. The author argues that play also positioned students to critique“authoritative discourse” that they otherwise would not have questioned. These findings suggest that play and an attitude of playfulness deserve a more prominent place in the first-year composition curriculum.  \nAs an instructor of college composition, I have the difficult task of motivating students who find writing boring, intimidating, or both. I teach at a maritime academy where learning to write well is not a high priority for most students, but I have found a similar attitude at other colleges and universities. Typically, my students have had little experience writing outside of school; they see writing as irrelevant to real life; they slip into passivity and apathy without a blink; and they rely on restrictive compositions, such as the five-paragraph essay, that had worked for them in the past. On the first day of class, the students—usually all freshmen, eighteen or nineteen years old—clearly do not expect much. They have some hope that college writing will prove more engaging than the assignments they struggled with in high school, but, if not, they are prepared to do what I ask in order to pass the class and move on, if possible, never to write again. How, then, to get through to these students? How do I help them see writing as exciting, surprising, satisfying, empowering—if only so that they willingly undertake the hard work of revision needed to succeed as writers?  \nIn a word, my answer is “play.” I woke to the possibilities of play several years ago when I faced a class similar in disposition to the one I just described. My first assignment was boilerplate for college composition: stake out an is-  \n© 2010 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois  \nsue and develop a set of arguments supporting a clear thesis. I helped prepare students for their task by modeling the essay, discussing process, and urging them to choose promising topics. But, for the most part, the early drafts were flat, even disjunctive. The students seemed more concerned with writing what I wanted to read rather than what they wanted to say. I was not surprised. This sort of compliant response is typical of novice writers and understandable too. They know where the power lies and what the consequences of straying too far from the instructor’s expectations are. But I was frustrated. I knew that this attitude would yield only the slowest, most painful progress for many of the students. They would learn far more if they saw the possibilities of their writing for themselves and felt motivated to act upon them. On an impulse I asked students to break a rule in their next drafts.“Rule? What rule?” they asked.“I don’t know,” I replied.“What rules are you following?” That led to a discussion of rules they had always obeyed but never questioned: rules of grammar, punctuation, usage, formatting, and citation, but also implied rules of etiquette, style, voice, and audience. We talked about why these conventions exist and the manyways they could be transgressed. Grins started to appear in the room. These next drafts would be fun.  \nThe energy and creativity the students put into their next drafts impressed me. Many had merely played with font and color, but others went further, writing in landscape view, in Spanish or Italian or Morse code. One student wrote","cbCaiqzFDcUh5lNr","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiqzFDcUh5lNr","pdf",214359,"English","en",105,"# Using Play to Teach Writing\n## Play as a “Potential Space” for Composing\n## Rethinking Rules Students Follow Without Questioning\n## Student Creativity Through Rule-Breaking Assignments\n## Effects on Anxiety, Identity, and Authoritative Discourse","[{\"question\":\"How does the article connect play to college writing instruction?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that play creates a “potential space” where first-year students can explore course elements and reshape them through playful transformation.\"},{\"question\":\"What classroom exercise did the instructor use to promote playful engagement?\",\"answer\":\"The instructor asked students to break a rule in their next drafts, prompting discussion of grammar, punctuation, usage, formatting, citation, and also implied rules of etiquette, style, voice, and audience.\"},{\"question\":\"What changes does the article report in student writing and attitudes?\",\"answer\":\"Students became more creative and more willing to revise extensively, and several reported seeing their writing in a new light, including feeling free to experiment and revise rather than treating the first draft as final.\"}]","Using Play to teach Writing | PDF",1792072654,29,{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":82},"ok",{"site_id":74,"language":73,"slug":83,"title":65,"keywords":84,"description":66,"schema_data":85,"social_meta":138,"head_meta":140,"extra_data":142,"updated_unix":78},"using-play-to-teach-writing","",{"@graph":86,"@context":137},[87,101,120],{"@type":88,"itemListElement":89},"BreadcrumbList",[90,94,96,99],{"item":91,"name":92,"@type":93,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":95,"name":9,"@type":93,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":97,"name":53,"@type":93,"position":98},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/lifestyle/",3,{"item":100,"name":65,"@type":93,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/using-play-to-teach-writing/591522/",{"url":100,"name":65,"@type":102,"image":103,"author":108,"headline":65,"publisher":110,"fileFormat":113,"inLanguage":73,"description":66,"dateModified":114,"datePublished":114,"encodingFormat":113,"isAccessibleForFree":115,"interactionStatistic":116},"DigitalDocument",{"url":104,"@type":105,"width":106,"height":107},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/using-play-to-teach-writing/591522.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":63,"@type":109},"Person",{"url":91,"name":111,"@type":112},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":117,"interactionType":118,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":119},"ViewAction",{"@type":121,"mainEntity":122},"FAQPage",[123,129,133],{"name":124,"@type":125,"acceptedAnswer":126},"How does the article connect play to college writing instruction?","Question",{"text":127,"@type":128},"It argues that play creates a “potential space” where first-year students can explore course elements and reshape them through playful transformation.","Answer",{"name":130,"@type":125,"acceptedAnswer":131},"What classroom exercise did the instructor use to promote playful engagement?",{"text":132,"@type":128},"The instructor asked students to break a rule in their next drafts, prompting discussion of grammar, punctuation, usage, formatting, citation, and also implied rules of etiquette, style, voice, and audience.",{"name":134,"@type":125,"acceptedAnswer":135},"What changes does the article report in student writing and attitudes?",{"text":136,"@type":128},"Students became more creative and more willing to revise extensively, and several reported seeing their writing in a new light, including feeling free to experiment and revise rather than treating the first draft as final.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":100,"og:type":139,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":111,"og:description":66},"article",{"robots":141,"canonical":100},"index,follow",{"doc_id":61,"site_id":74}]