This has the advantage of steering students in the right direction if they are in danger of doing the assignment wrong or producing an inadequate response to the assignment. 4Writing assignments should be surrounded by other writing. Writing ought to be a normal mode of learning in the class. It is not hard to establish writing as a normal mode of learning. Journals are an obvious way, but not the only way.
Students can respond informally to readings and class sessions.
The point here is that writing does not have to take up a huge amount of a class's time or energy. There are a lot of little ways to use writing that don't intrude on class time - in fact, that enhance and reinforce what the students are learning. So that's my essay. Certainly many of the issues I've discussed are more complicated and problematical than the essay makes them sound. Also, it gets a bit preachy toward the end, which isn't very essay-like.