Writing Pedagogy Brown Bags

As we roll out our new First Year Seminars, the CTL and the General Education program are collaborating to organize opportunities for faculty to work together to develop their writing pedagogies.

In addition to a Course Planning Retreat held at the beginning of the year, we are also hosting a series of brown bag discussions throughout the semester, where faculty can share what's been happening in their own classes and learn more about strategies for writing instruction.

Heidi Sadler, the CTL's new Faculty Writing Fellow, will be leading these discussions.  Heidi has extensive training in Writing Across the Curriculum initiatives and is also available to consult individually with faculty on all aspects of writing pedagogy.

Although our primary focus is on our FYS faculty, we welcome all faculty who'd like to participate. 

Spring 2013 Schedule

Spring brown bags will be open topic.  So come with whatever questions or thoughts you want to share.  Meetings are scheduled for the following dates (all roundtables are held in the Duffy 114 conference room from 1:00 - 2:00):

January 29
February 14
February 26
March 14
March 26
April 11
April 23

Handouts/resources from spring roundtables:

"Writer's Autobiography" assignment

"How Composition Scholarship Changed the Way I Ask for and Respond to Student Writing" Profession 1994

"Sequencing Expository Writing: A Recursive Approach" CCC 1985

"Teaching Punctuation as a Rhetorical Tool" CCC 1995

Fall 2012 Schedule

Designing Writing Assignments

September 13, 10:00 - 11:00, Martin Institute Board Room
September 17, 11:30 - 12:45, Duffy 114

This session introduces ways of approaching the design of effective writing assignments, including: making the rhetorical context, conceptual frames, and writing expectations explicit; staging or sequencing assignments; and pairing prompts with clear learning outcomes or rubrics.

Session handouts:

• Questions to ask when designing an assignment
• "Formal Writing Assignments" from John Bean's Engaging Ideaes
• "Informal, Exploratory Writing Activities" from John Bean's Engaging Ideas
• "Designing Writing Assignments and Assignment Sequences" from Gottschalk and Hjortshoj's The Elements of Teaching Writing

Providing Feedback on Student Writing

October 4, 10:00 - 11:00, Duffy 135
October 15, 11:30 - 12:45, Duffy 114

This session introduces ways of responding to student writing, including: understanding the uses of evaluative as well as non-evaluative feedback; coping with grammar issues; responding effectively to content and form; using formative rubrics, and appreciating the utility and value of a minimalist approach to marks of correction.

Session handouts:

• Choosing an Effective Response Strategy
• "High Stakes and Low Stakes in Assigning and Responding to Writing" from Sorcinelli and Elbow's Writing to Learn 
• "What Can You Do with Student Writing?" from Gottschalk and Hjortshoj's The Elements of Teaching Writing
• "Responding to and Grading Student Writing" from White's Assigning, Responding, Evaluating
• "Reading, Commenting On, and Grading Student Writing" from Bean's Engaging Ideas

Evaluating/Grading Student Writing

November 1, 10:00 - 11:15, Duffy 135
November 19, 11:30 - 12:45, Duffy 114

This session introduces way of evaluating and grading student writing, with an emphasis on fairness and clarity, including: the high-stakes/low-stakes approach to grading; the importance of balancing narrative and quantitative feedback; portfolio approaches to assessment; and holistic scoring of individual papers using summative rubrics.

Session handouts:

• "Developing and Applying Grading Criteria" from Bean's Engaging Ideas
• "How to Construct a Rubric" and "Grading with Rubrics" from Stevens' Introduction to Rubrics