Introductions and EA Announcements<\/b><\/p>\n
We welcomed Carlton Floyd, Chair of the English Department, who spoke briefly about the Writing Program and his plans to grow and support the work we do. Carla Petticrew, Executive Assistant to the English department, reminded faculty of the procedure for making copy requests, and asked for a lead time of 24-48 hours. Hannah Baldoz, Executive Assistant to the Writing Program and Writing Center, introduced faculty to the <\/span>WP Faculty Manual<\/a><\/strong>, a living document that intends to provide useful info for new and existing faculty. WP faculty are encouraged to look in the manual when they are unfamiliar with a process (for example, \u201chow to request books?\u201d). Please let us know if there is missing information. We will add it!<\/span><\/p>\n Writing Program Announcements<\/b><\/p>\n Additional administrative announcements included the <\/span>AI Resource Working Document<\/a><\/strong>, which is another living document the Writing Program will be updating as we learn new trends and policies, and receive input from the community. The group was also directed to NTT-related updates, forwarded from our representative in the Academic Assembly Deniz Perin-Coombs. Updates included recommendations in the <\/span>NTT Report<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(page 5-6) and two <\/span>Motions recently passed in the Academic Assembly<\/a><\/strong>. Thank you, Deniz, for your service and for keeping WP faculty apprised of these developments! <\/span><\/p>\n Finally, we clarified why it’s important to include the standard learning outcomes in our FYW syllabi (without editing). Our classes are intended to meet the core CFYW requirement. Our program is periodically assessed to verify this is the case. <\/span> Open Forum: Information Literacy<\/b><\/p>\n The meeting switched to an open forum format, where faculty were asked to comment on their experiences teaching information literacy (IL) and research in FYW. While research and IL is not yet explicit<\/em> in our FYW Learning Outcomes, there is activity and interest in this area right now. We have an opportunity to shape what we want IL to look like in our writing classrooms. Here is a summary of WP faculty input:<\/span><\/p>\n The Writing Program will be bringing this input to discussions with other groups. Faculty were encouraged to schedule a library session this semester and be ready to share ideas in the future on both the session and possible assignments. Faculty were also asked to be present during the session, and to include some kind of \u201cfollow up\u201d and\/or \u201cpre-workshop\u201d assignment. Example assignments (not exclusive to writing) can be found here: <\/span>https:\/\/projectcora.org\/<\/a><\/strong>.<\/span> Faculty Presentations<\/b><\/p>\n The topics for this semester\u2019s faculty presentations were narrative and expressive writing, especially their role in potentially inspiring students about the value of reading and writing as we try to discourage them from resorting to AI and other forms of academic dishonesty.<\/span><\/p>\n Professor Joshua Hall, \u201cTeaching and Grading Narrative Essays\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n Professor Hall opened by stating what is important to him about teaching reading and writing\u2013it\u2019s a passion he wants to impart to students. Reading and writing are beyond practical \u201cskills\u201d–they are also tools for personal and intellectual inquiry and growth. To teach only \u201cskills,\u201d \u201crules,\u201d \u201cstrategy,\u201d and \u201cutility\u201d is to limit and devalue a richer experience of texts, thinking, and writing. This is one way to \u201cadvocate\u201d for the importance of actually DOING the work of class, rather than allowing a bot to do it. <\/span>Professor Hall <\/span>s<\/b>hared his narrative essay assignment<\/b><\/a>,<\/b><\/a> which is the first major essay, and is written in class, by hand. The assignment asks students to reflect critically on the role of reading and writing in their own lives, and then construct a personal narrative. The prompt asks students to follow clearly stated conventions for academic writing (a central theme, transitions and structure, relevant connections and supporting evidence). A strength of this approach is its combination of personal narrative and reflection with well-defined skills, bridging personal narrative with academic writing.<\/span><\/p>\n Professor Anne Wilson, \u201cThinking and Writing Reflectively”<\/b><\/p>\n Professor Wilson challenges her students to write <\/span>reflectively,<\/span> emphasizing <\/span>\u00a0the value of introspection, to learn to be patient with yourself, that it is okay to pause before you \u201cknow\u201d something, and reflect first on how you feel about it. It\u2019s through this process that students can begin to trust their own powers and insights, in order to start finding their own meaning and making original observations. It also meets students where they are. <\/span>After describing this approach to teaching writing, <\/span>Professor Wilson described\u00a0 exercises <\/b><\/a> she uses to get students to recall vivid detail in narrative writing, to also prepare them to provide more sensitive readings of texts and stronger academic writing. For example, she challenges students to write about a shared, powerful event: \u201ctell me where you were when the [event] happened.\u201d (The example she discussed from the past was the Cedar fire.) Students were asked to reflect on all five senses to connect with memories about a strongly felt and experienced event. After doing this initial exercise, students move onto class readings and writing, hopefully bringing with them the skills of attending to and capturing meaningful detail.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Introductions and EA Announcements We welcomed Carlton Floyd, Chair of the English Department, who spoke briefly about the Writing Program and his plans to grow and support the work we do. Carla Petticrew, Executive Assistant to the English department, reminded Continue reading
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