Events:
Check this page frequently to find news of upcoming writing instruction events.
Writing Instruction Opportunities at Western (WOW) Presentation Series
Click here to view information on past WOW events.
Fall 2009 WOW Sessions
A New Literacy? Technology and Effects on Writing Proficiency
Friday, Nov. 13, 2-3:15 p.m., *NEW ROOM* HU 102
In the August 24, 2009 issue of Wired Magazine, Clive Thompson muses on how recent technologies such as email, texting, and twittering have affected students' writing proficiency. He notes that many pundits bemoan the results while rhetoricians such as Andrea Lunsford from Stanford have reason to believe that "technology isn't killing our ability to write. It's reviving it." You can view the brief article at http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/17-09/st_thompson
Hope you will come join a dialogue with Tom Moore from Liberal Studies/Honors and Clifford Haas, a former White House news correspondent, to explore this new literacy and how recent technologies have affected our students' writing attitudes and behaviors. All are welcome, especially students. Sponsored by the Writing Instruction Support Program.
Ethos and Error: Helping Students Understand Your Editing Priorities
Monday, November 2, 4-5:20pm in College Hall 131
English faculty Margi Fox will discuss the impact of student errors. She'll present an instrument for measuring our individual responses to particular editing problems, discuss the implications of having that knowledge, and facilitate a dialogue on promising practices for recognizing and guiding student writers’ editing needs.
Let’s Talk About the Writing Requirements at WWU
Wednesday, October 7, 2009, 4pm in College Hall 131 including a discussion about various pathways for offering Writing Proficiency Courses for points or whatever else you want to talk about in terms of teaching writing.
Faculty Writing Series and Residency: Call for Participation
2010 WWU Faculty Writing Series and Residency - Call for Participants
Are you a faculty member working on a significant academic writing project? Interested in pushing your project into print? Want to practice strategies that enable writing in your own teaching? If so, we hope you will answer this call to participate in Western’s faculty writing series and residency.
The Writing Instruction Support (WIS) program, with the endorsement of the Vice-Provost for Undergraduate Education, is again offering a monthly faculty writing series followed by a three-day writing residency. Participation is open to all tenure-track faculty in their second through fifth years at Western.
Expectations include participating in once-a-month writing group meetings to exchange strategies for getting writing done, to have individual work time, and to receive guided response to work in progress. Participants need to be available for meetings from 3-5 p.m. on the second Friday of each month: January 8, February 12, March 12, April 9, May 14, and June 11.
The series culminates in a three-day writing residency September 1-3, 2010 at an off-campus site. WIS covers all residency costs, including lodging, meals, and transportation.
Dr. Carmen Werder (Communication/Writing Instruction Support) and Dr. Karen Hoelscher (Elementary Education/Woodring) serve as facilitators for the monthly series-residency.
The series-residency can support up to 12 faculty. We invite pairs of writers from the same department/college to apply together, to enable the creation of appropriate reader response groups. Please note: You do not need to be working on the same writing project.
For each paired application, send: 1) your names, dates of hire, and department/college and 2) a one-to two sentence description of each writer’s project.
Submit applications by Monday November 16 to carmen.werder@wwu.edu.
If you have questions, please contact Carmen at the above email address or Karen at karen.hoelscher@wwu.edu
Faculty Writing Instruction Workshop-Retreat
Mark your calendars! The 2010 Faculty Writing Instruction Workshop-Retreat will be held Wednesday, September 8th, through Friday, September 10th at the North Cascades Institute Learning Center.
All WWU faculty – of any rank – who teach officially designated writing courses or any course with a substantial writing component are invited to join other teaching writing colleagues in a two-and-a-half-day working session to gain ideas and practices for enhancing writing instruction. Inspired by the Writing Assessment Group and offered by Writing Instruction Support (WIS) through the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, this development opportunity was held on September 8-10, 2009 at the North Cascades Institute Learning Center (east of Sedro Woolley).
Each year, the theme of the event is “Backwards by Design.” The goal is to move backwards from identifying discipline-based learning expectations, to devising evaluation schemes for realizing those expectations, back to designing effective writing assignments, back to developing classroom activities for supporting those assignments. Participants will also identify other specific topics to address. Sessions include presentations, dialogue, and demonstrations, as well as time to work on individual course materials in the company of colleagues.
Each year, the session is free and participation includes transportation, lodging, meals, and materials as long as participants commit to two overnight stays. Unfortunately, participants with physical challenges may have difficulties on this site; please alert us if disability accommodations are needed.
While first-time participants will receive priority, past participants are welcome to apply for the waiting list. We encourage participation by multiple members from the same department or area.
Space is limited to up to 25 faculty, so if you’re interested, I hope you’ll sign on right away. To pre-register, email Megan Otis, and for more details about the event contact Carmen Werder.
"Discussing and hearing the expectations, struggles, and strategies of writing and of teaching writing to students across the disciplines was extremely valuable. Presenting instructional methods for teaching writing was practical and gave me ideas to take with me to the classroom." - a 2008 workshop participant
The beautiful scenery at the North Cascades Institute Environmental Learning Center.
2008 Workshop participants taking a break from their work to enjoy a canoe trip on Lake Diablo.
For the powerpoint presentation from the 2009 Faculty Writing Workshop-Retreat, click here.
To see group notes from the 2007 workshop click here.
National Conversation on Writing
National conversation on writing:
- Link to introduction: http://ncow.org/browse/video/calling_teachers.html
- Direct link to campaign video: http://ncow.org/features/feature_1-2_09.htm
Other Writing Related Events
- The Art of Plagiarism is at 4:30 on January 27th, 2010 in the LPR.
- Information and Knowledge as Commons: The Case of Wikipedia, Turning Points, March 3rd, 2010.
Check back here often for more information.