by Michael Kardos   This post first appeared on the blog on September 12, 2011.   My favorite part of that first class session, during which my introductory creative writing students watch me with equal parts eagerness and trepidation, is when I tell them, “Regardless of your major or why you signed up for this course, for the next fifteen weeks, please consider yourself a writer.”   I tell them this because for the next fifteen weeks they will be writers, in that they’ll be doing what writers do: writing, trying stuff out, getting stuck, staying stuck, getting hit with inspiration, revising, revising some more, hating what they’ve written, loving what they’ve written, being completely unsure what to think about what they’ve written.   Many of them will also be doing something else that all writers do at least some of the time: coming up with reasons to put off writing.   One key difference between less experienced writers and more experienced writers is that the latter know full well the sin they’re committing. Newer writers, however, often harbor the comforting belief that their writing comes out better if put off and done last-minute. Even advanced undergraduates will sometimes enter class claiming that their best work gets done the night before an assignment is due. Adrenaline, etc.   A goal for me each semester, particularly in introductory classes, is to get across the notion that writing takes time. And while time alone won’t necessarily yield good writing, time is nonetheless a prerequisite. In practice, this means giving out assignments early and often that get pen to paper (or fingers to keys). It’s actually a hard lesson to communicate, this possibility that starting early and writing every day might just result in more successful stories and poems. I’ve tried everything from “confession sessions” to handing out snapshots of Richard Simmons—the ultimate motivator—to hang up in their workspaces. I’ve been developing a new idea involving dinosaurs, flashlights, and the Harlem Globetrotters, but I don’t want to give away too much.   Truthfully, my most successful approach has been the most straightforward: I try to keep the discussion alive throughout the term. And every semester, at least a few “last-minute” writers will make a breakthrough in their work simply because they gave it more time—though I would love to hear other instructors’ strategies.   Best wishes for the new semester! ... View more

My college is beginning its first semester under a new “multiple measures” placement policy (a misnomer in our case, for as Alexandros Goudas has pointed out, such policies are actually implemented as multiple single measures). In our case, this is a state decision; local faculty did not participate in the development of the policy and cannot deviate from it. Faculty responses have ranged from hand-wringing and consternation to resignation and cautious optimism. What we can say with confidence is that more students will place directly into our college composition programs and co-requisite courses, while enrollment in our developmental IRW courses will continue to decline. The talk around the single-cup coffee maker these days raises important questions: are college composition instructors now de facto developmental or basic writing instructors? How will this change pedagogy, syllabi, and expectations? If instructors have no training in basic or developmental writing or familiarity with its rich history of research—what should they do? I’ve been thinking about how to respond to these questions. Each class will be different, of course, and some instructors will notice the effects of our placement changes more than others. In general, however, there are three positive and proactive steps community college writing instructors can take in light of significant placement changes: Focus on what you already know about teaching writing; reject quick fixes, gimmicks, hacks, and “all-it-takes-is-a-few-hours-on-our-website” approaches. We do know a lot about what works in writing instruction, according to John Warner. Warner notes that students may not have had opportunities to “[engage] with writing that demands they work inside a full rhetorical situation.” Basic writers thrive in courses that provide just such opportunities, where they can “make choices and wrestle with ideas that will be presented to interested audiences.” Listen to the students. Nicole Matos recently wrote a thought-provoking and poignant piece detailing how developmental students responded to this question: “What do you really, really wish your professors understood?” As the primary audience for whom students are writing, we must find ways—explicit and implicit—to ask this question and assure students that their answers will be heard. Join the professional conversation about composition at two-year colleges and developmental/basic writing. TYCA (Two-Year College English Association) has a list-serve, and the Council on Basic Writing has a very active discussion on Facebook.  There are national and regional TYCA and CCCC conferences, and the National Association for Developmental Education (NADE) hosts an annual conference as well. Instructors and researchers exchange best practices for pedagogy as well as platforms to advocate for equity in access and resources for all students (and adjunct faculty). The placement changes can force us back into the role of learners—always a beneficial stance to take. As my students learn to make rhetorical choices in unfamiliar writing situations, I must make pedagogical choices in sometimes unfamiliar classroom contexts. Moreover, two-year community college instructors can—no, must—look at the changes as an invitation for reflection and scholarship: we should gather data about the results of these changes and look for ways to refine and improve them (and ensure faculty voices are included in policy discussions at local, state, and national levels). Want to offer feedback, comments, and suggestions on this post? Join the Macmillan Community to get involved (it’s free, quick, and easy)! ... View more

Hello, dear Colleagues: I send all good wishes to you and your students for the new academic year. I’m often asked these two questions at the start of the semester: What are the best ways to introduce a Hacker/Sommers handbook? and What activities might help students develop the habit of using a handbook? We know that most students enter a writing classes uncertain about what a handbook is and how and why it will help them succeed as college writers. Yet we also know that the more students rely on their handbook, the more effective they will become as writers, especially when they’re writing their papers at 2 a.m. and need a trusted source to answer their questions about using sources and meeting the expectations of college writing. On the first day of class I tell my students this: Everything you need to become a successful college writer in any course is in your handbook. Buy it, become friends with it. I’ve learned, though, that this statement is a well-intentioned abstraction unless I require students to bring their handbook to each class and give them specific reasons to open it—questions to answer or problems to solve—and show them how the book is designed for them. I want students to start asking questions about their writing and to learn how to find the answers in their handbook. One of my oft repeated queries in class is—Where in your handbook will you find the answer to that question? I designed the following activities to introduce A Writer's Reference and activities to introduce Rules for Writers to help students become more confident using their handbook. These activities—scavenger hunts, open-book quizzes, and more—promote collaboration among students as they learn to navigate their handbook. Enjoy using these activities with your students. Let me know how it goes. With all good wishes, Nancy Sommers ... View more

Last week, I offered some suggestions for how to prepare and manage discussions about racism and other difficult topics with students. Inspired by a conversation with Lillian Mina on Facebook this afternoon, I’m following up with a classroom activity with a real-world scenario that involves racism, rather than a fictional situation.   Naturally, there is plenty of room for fictional scenarios and the safety net they provide when we discuss these issues. I plan to share some fictional cases in the coming weeks, in fact. The problem is that those fictional scenarios sometimes feel a bit fake to me. Still, I recognize that they have a purpose. Students can maintain a certain distance when the scenario isn’t real, even though it is based on and likely similar to experiences that students have had, seen, or heard about. A real-world scenario, on the other hand, brings authenticity into the conversation and asks students to consider the real consequences of their discussion and their decisions.   This activity focuses on the scheduled CCCC Convention slated for Kansas City next March and the Update from CCCC on Kansas City, which was sent to CCCC members yesterday. For those not in the know, the Executive Committee of CCCC is searching for the best response to the NAACP travel advisory, warning against travel to and in the state of Missouri. The dilemma focuses on the safety of CCCC members attending the convention, the demands of some members to respect the travel advisory to protect members and protest the conditions that led to the advisory, and the significant financial impact that the association will face if the convention is canceled or relocated.   This situation serves as the backdrop for the activity, but it seems unfair to ask students to choose the best solution. The CCCC Executive Committee is struggling with the decision, and they have been working for weeks even though they have a thorough understanding of the issues at play. Students are unlikely to get beyond a gut-level response in the time devoted to the activity. That kind of superficial decision trivializes the situation and the underlying issues. For that reason, this activity focuses instead on analyzing and revising the Update from CCCC on Kansas City, following these steps:   Ask students to read the document thoroughly prior to class, noting any places that they find confusing or that they have questions about. Begin the class session by asking students to discuss the situation described in the document and finding answers to any questions that they have. The goal of the conversation isn’t to find answers or weigh the options, but to ensure students have a strong understanding of the situation. Have students identify the audiences and goals of the document. To start, ask students to share what they can tell from their reading. Provide students additional information about the association, the people who attend the convention, and the reasons that they might attend. Encourage students to look for secondary and tertiary audiences and goals. Arrange students in small groups, and ask them to consider how the document design fits the goals and audiences for the document. If students need more structure for this conversation, provide these scenarios or similar ones patterned on the audiences and goals they identified: an untenured faculty member of CCCC who submitted a proposal to the convention and only a few minutes between classes to look at the message. a former member of the CCCC Executive Committee who sympathizes with the current members and wants to know how they are proceeding. a graduate student member of CCCC who is planning on going to the convention and wants a fast overview of the important details without having to read the full document in depth. a CCCC member who is concerned about safety at the convention and advocates respecting the travel advisory. a book publisher’s sales representative who is scheduled to exhibit books at the convention. As students consider these readers and others they have identified, encourage them to think about how race and gender identity influence how people read the document. Close the discussion session by asking student groups to share their conclusions and save notes for the next session. Begin the next class session by reviewing the information from the previous session, and introduce the revision project students are to undertake: Working in small groups, students are to rethink the document thoroughly and make changes to the document design that will help it better fit the needs of a particular audience. Emphasize that students should present the information from the original document with sensitivity to the issues it covers and attention to sharing the details accurately. You can leave this document design work open, or provide specific revision projects like these: Compose an abstract or executive summary that communicates the main points of the document to a reader who doesn’t have time to read the full document immediately. Chunk the document into an online-friendly series of pages (rather than one giant wall of text) that use document design to increase readability. Convert the document into a slideshow presentation, keeping in mind the TEDblog’s 10 tips on how to make slides that communicate your idea, or the information on slideshow presentations from your course textbook. Allow groups the remainder of the course session (and additional sessions as needed) to complete their document redesigns. Monitor groups and provide support as necessary. Once students’ redesigns are complete, have a presentation session, where each group shares the redesign student members have created with the class, explaining their goals and how they changed the document to meet them.   What I like about this activity is that students must engage with the racism, the potential for violence, and the concerns for safety that the document concentrates on. They cannot ignore the situation that brings the document into being, but they aren’t tasked with solving the problem. Instead, they must develop strategies to discuss racism with compassion, fairness, and honesty—and that’s something that the world needs right now.   Next week, I’ll return with some of those fictional scenarios that I mentioned at the beginning of this post. Until then, if you have suggestions for talking about racism with students or resources to share, please add a comment below.     Credit: Detail from Kansas City by Dean Hochman on Flickr, used under a CC-BY 2.0 license. ... View more

Like many teachers of writing across the country, I am shocked, stunned, and horrified by the events that took place recently at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Watching the KKK especially took me back to my youth in the South, when I had recurring nightmares about the Klan. I didn’t know anyone in it (that I knew of) and had never seen a Klansman: their influence was so insidious that it got into my little head and stayed there, keeping me scared and quaking after I woke up from one of these nightmares.   At such a time, every teacher, every person, must stand up in resistance to the Klan, the Neo-Nazis, the white supremacists, and to other hate groups. Together, we are stronger—much, much stronger—than they are.   I just received the following statement from the Rhetoric Society of America, which I was very glad to get and which I pass on here. Please share it with others.               Posted August 18, 2017 The Rhetoric Society of America supports the study and teaching of rhetoric toward the end of advancing constructive communication among people who sustain their societies through discussion, debate, and well-reasoned argument rather than violence.   Recent statements by President Trump about the events in Charlottesville suggest the claim that the hateful ideology of white supremacy and this nation’s founding principle that all people are “created equal” and share “certain inalienable rights” are acceptable differences of opinion in American. The White-Nationalist, Alt-right, KKK, and Neo-Nazi groups that assembled in Charlottesville espouse an ideology that has caused some of the worst atrocities of US and international history. Those who defend them use language in ways that Wayne Booth would recognize as “rhetrickery” – essentially, verbal violence in the guise of civic rhetoric that is a direct violation of democratic values and practices.   We call upon citizens, press, and political leaders of the United States and beyond to reject public statements that would normalize this ideology and to work together in language and in law toward a just society sustained by a public discourse that proceeds upon principles of honesty and respect for all people who adhere to those same principles.   Gregory Clark, President Rhetoric Society of America   I’m sure many of you have thoughts on the events in Charlottesville, or maybe plan on discussing the rhetoric surrounding these issues in the classroom. Please write any comments below—I would love to hear how you all are addressing and reflecting on this with your students. ... View more

Current events in the U.S. focus far too regularly on activities driven by racist (and antiracist) views and actions. These events are nothing new. Racist acts happen every minute of every day in the U.S. What is perhaps new is the wide media coverage that some events receive. With the rise of citizen journalism, events that would never have made it out of local newspapers become high profile examples of the state of racism in America, and they come not just with first-person accounts, but also with images, videos, and audio recordings that document the prejudice and, frequently, the accompanying violence.   As I reflect on the summer’s events, I am acutely aware that I haven’t done enough to counter and fight against the prevalent racism that I - that we - see every day. With my post today and others over the coming weeks, I hope to begin correcting that shortcoming. To do so, I have been brainstorming writing and discussion projects that ask students to critically examine racist events or racist artifacts and actions. In future posts, I’ll share some of those ideas, but this week, I need to say two things about preparing to explore these issues in the classroom.   First, though we may wish to, we cannot force students to accept and support a particular viewpoint. We cannot require an ideology, but we can ask questions and encourage analysis that persuades students to consider the issues more clearly. The activities that I will share in the future ask students to consider the factual aspects the issue they are exploring, but not to judge the facts or their presentation as good or bad.   Second, when we introduce such topics, we have to recognize that some students will not share our perspective, that they will fall on the “wrong” side of the issue. We have to be prepared then to guide students through fair but honest discussions in ways that avoid emotional or highly-charged confrontations. These resources suggest strategies to manage these conversations:   “Difficult Dialogues” from the Center for Teaching at Vanderbilt University “Approaching Diversity: Some Classroom Strategies for Learning Communities” from the AAC&U journal Peer Review “Managing Hot Moments in the Classroom” from the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University “Guidelines for Discussing Incidents of Hate, Bias, and Discrimination” from the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching at the University of Michigan   The most important suggestion these resources make is to be sure that you are well-prepared for the conversations and that you have prepared students as well. Specifically, create classroom discussion guidelines and practice following them in less contentious conversations before moving to more difficult subjects. You cannot guess everything that can go wrong, but you can have classroom management strategies in place that will help you defuse problems before they spiral out of control.   Finally, I want to recommend the AAUP article “Eight Actions to Reduce Racism in College Classrooms,” from the November–December 2016 Academe. The article offers a candid outline of typical ways that racism appears in higher ed as well as some concrete suggestions for self-examination. It urges readers to “recognize your implicit biases and remediate your racial illiteracy,” to “meaningfully integrate diverse cultures and peoples into the curriculum,” and to “responsibly address racial tensions when they arise”—excellent suggestions all. These recommendations are supported by climate studies the authors conducted at the Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education at the University of Pennsylvania. It’s short and well worth your time.   That’s all I have for this week. Next week, I will be back with some classroom-ready activities on these issues. In the meantime, if you have questions or suggestions about discussing racism in the classroom, please let me know by leaving a comment below. I’ll see you next week.       Credit: Multiculturalism by Pug50 on Flickr, used under a CC-BY 2.0 license. ... View more

Teacher, scholar, and author Nancy Sommers pairs her voice with student voices in a brief video that reminds us, just as we begin the academic year, that disagreement is at the foundation of intellectual inquiry and academic growth. You might ask students to view and respond to Nancy Sommers on Argument early in the semester. How do you encourage students to argue in ways that promote inquiry, empathy, and respect? ... View more

When I teach annotated bibliography, I have the class do a "talk show" activity. I ask students to imagine that they are producers of a morning talk show, and I give each small group their topic for the day. To one group, I say your show is going to be on whether to continue music instruction as part of the public school curriculum, to another group I say, your show is going to tackle how to protect the American drinking water supply, and so forth. The job of the producers is to think about who they're going to invite to be a guest on their show. What experts do they need? What angles should they explore? What statistics would be helpful? We talk about how dull it would be to have 7 different guests who all say that music ed is a waste of taxpayer money or how people would turn the show off if they heard only a bunch of data about water quality. We also talk about the value of having leading thinkers on our talk show. While an occasional regular consumer or parent is fine, audiences generally respond better to scientists, researchers, doctors, and psychologists. The class activity is for each group of producers to compose and present a proposal to the class (acting as the talk show executives). They have to present a guest list and rationale for each guest. The activity gets students to think actively about gathering sources and thinking through the roles that they need their sources to play in a project. Too often students hunt for sources that are all in "the same lane," as I say in class; they all sort of line up with the student's own thesis. The activity also goes along nicely with our reading, sections R1 and R3 in A Writer's Reference, especially the subsections on search strategy and thinking about the variety of ways in which sources contribute to a project (as support, as counterargument, as data, as definition, and so on).  Are there activities that you find useful as you prepare to teach annotated bibliography? ... View more

As summer begins to wane—in spite of a heat wave bearing down on us—I begin to get that annual itch: it’s almost time for school to start. As I’ve written before, autumn is my favorite season because it means school to me, and school is where I’ve spent most of my life, a place that is familiar and homey and comfortable.   So regardless of my consternation over this government’s attacks on the environment, education, justice for all, and on the institutions that support them, my heart still leaps up at the thought of new and old students arriving and of the learning teachers and students throughout the country will be doing. I want to open my arms in welcome to every single one of those students and to celebrate every one of those teachers.   Yet I am deeply aware that many students in this country will not feel welcomed and will not experience school as familiar and homey and comfortable. Many may be frightened—indeed, terrified—that they and/or their families will be deported. Others will have so-called “access” to choice schools but in reality will be left out almost entirely. And still others will carry the burdens heaped upon them by various forms of thoughtlessness, exclusion, and discrimination. Especially in the face of the new Secretary of Education’s systematic attempts to dismantle public schools, this fall’s school opening seems fraught with difficulty.   What can we do in response to such attacks, to the thoughtlessness, exclusions, and discriminations? First, we can recognize them—we can name them; we can call them out, repeatedly. We can work locally to support teachers by volunteering and contributing our time, talent, and money to our public schools; by supporting knowledgeable and ethical citizens for election to school boards and other local offices (or by running ourselves!); and by keeping pressure on our representatives and senators to restore funding for public education in order to support dreamers across the land.   And we can—and must—be the welcoming faces and voices students see in our communities, in our churches and local institutions, and, most of all, in our schools. This is going to be a hard year for teachers, who will be asked to take on added responsibilities, to hold the line against encroachments on student rights, to teach truth, and to speak truth to power. But if there’s any group in this country up to such a task, I believe it is our teachers. So as this school year begins, I am wishing that the forces for good, for truth, for justice, will be with all of us as we say, to each and every student, “welcome back to school.”   Credit: Pixaby Image 2093743 by Wokandapix, used under a CC0 Public Domain License ... View more

Admittedly, I am guilty of using too many exclamation points in my personal emails and text messages. I do try to avoid them in the email messages that I write to students and my colleagues, however. I have been even more self-conscious about exclamation points since my summer school class had a discussion about what you should and shouldn’t do in email messages at work. Turns out, there are some pretty strong feelings about whether to use exclamation points at all, where to use them if you must, who you can use them with, and exactly how to use them. I thought it might be fun this week to share some of the resources the class explored as background readings for the discussion: Exclamation Points, by Mignon Fogarty (Grammar Girl) offers an excerpt from David Crystal’s Making a Point How Many Exclamation Points Do Great Writers Use?! by Elmore Leonard, on The Atlantic website What Overusing Exclamation Points Says about You, from the BBC website After Years Of Restraint, A Linguist Says ‘Yes!’ To The Exclamation Point, from Fresh Air Do You Really Need That Exclamation Point? from Hubspot Avoiding Exclamation Point Overuse, from the Grammarly blog Everyone’s favorite was the Hubspot piece. It ends with a somewhat satirical flowchart that suggests you definitely shouldn’t use exclamation points. It’s a fun flowchart, so I want to share it. Click here to see the full-size version. I particularly like the alternative suggestions included in the flowchart. It goes beyond just telling readers to avoid the exclamation point by telling them what they can do instead. It doesn’t hurt that students found it humorous but truthful as well. Do you have any fun resources for talking about punctuation in the classroom? Please share them in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you!—exclamation point intended 🙂     Credit: Grumpy Cat meme from Meme Generator ... View more

Here at Macmillan, we've been blessed with several excellent summer interns in our Boston office, and it's been a pleasure to get to know them and their habits as writers and as young professionals. Paola Garcia-Muniz, a recent Fairfield University grad, recalls that when she was in high school, she wrote in MLA style using "the basic formula: an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion." She discovered that the rules are looser in college, the expectations less formulaic. She learned how to be agile with style systems, too. According to Paola: "[My] handbook helped me adjust to the new expectations that came with the freedom of college writing. My freshman year, I didn’t just have to learn about APA style for my first psychology course, I also had to learn how to use Chicago style for my History 10 course while writing my English composition papers in MLA style format. The handbook helped make sure that I wouldn’t mix and match style rules."  This summer Paola is strengthening her writing and editorial chops by helping us to understand the changes in the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition. We'll use her analysis to help us adapt our humanities handbooks and textbooks with the new guidelines. Lucky us!    < I'm Paola. Ask me about Chicago style. ... View more

I have been lucky since I have been teaching professional writing courses: students typically come to the course with knowledge of how writing works. They already know that there is information gathering and research at the beginning. They understand that there is revision and proofreading work for their drafts, though they sometimes focus more on small editorial changes rather than substantive revision. Since I am using a labor-based assessment system (Inoue, 2014), I ask students to continue working on their projects until they reach the level that would be used in the workplace. I have told them, “If it’s not ready to send out in the workplace, it’s not finished for the purposes of our class.” Relying on the grading options in Canvas (our LMS), I assigned the pieces either a Complete (when they were done) or an Incomplete (when they were not). The system worked well during submission and the first round of revision and resubmission. When I returned some of the resubmitted drafts still earning an Incomplete however, individual students began emailing me with questions. Apparently I blew students’ minds with my belief that more than one round of revision is sometimes needed. That confusion about revision showed me that students don’t really understand the revision process at all. Despite all their experience in summer jobs, internships and work-study positions, most of the class had not encountered the multiple rounds of revision and rewriting that a document can go through in the workplace (or, apparently, in college courses). As a result of this realization, I am adding some resources and discussion of revision in the workplace early in the course schedule. My first thought was to write a narrative explanation of revision, using a kind of case study that reports my own experience in the workplace. I worried, though, that they might only skim the piece and not change their understanding of revision in any concrete ways. I have had a good bit of success with videos in the course, but so close to the beginning of the fall term, I don’t have time to produce a video with subtitles and a transcript. I think an infographic will provide the information quickly and efficiently. By simply following the rounds of revision in a visual representation, students will be able to see that one round of revision is the exception. Several rounds are far more likely. I’m not sure if I’ll use a flowchart, timeline, or journey-style map, but once I develop my new resource, I will share it with all of you. In the meantime, what do you do to help students understand the many and varied cycles of revision? Do you have useful resources you can share? Please add a comment below to let me know.   Credit: Brainstorming by Kevin Dooley on Flickr, used under a CC-BY 2.0 license ... View more

Accessibility is critical to success in the writing classroom, both for students and teachers. It’s not just a matter of meeting laws and guidelines for required accessibility and support for accommodations. It is also about making sure that we out disability in the classroom, making a safe space where anyone can find a welcome space to think, collaborate, and write. Two resources that I have revisited recently have reminded me of the importance of talking about disability and accessibility openly in the classroom. First, I reread Amy Vadali’s 2015 WPA article Disabling Writing Program Administration, which was awarded the 2015 Kenneth A. Bruffee Award at last month’s Conference of the Council of Writing Program Administrators. Vidali explores the ways that disability is absent or discussed in stereotypical ways in accounts of writing program administration. Her piece helped me recognize that I rarely talk about my disabilities with students. Sometimes, when physical issues make it necessary, I admit my arthritis and bursitis, usually when I cannot walk around the classroom. Very occasionally, I will mention my diabetes, when my blood sugar is off and I am feeling dizzy. In both cases, I’m reluctant because I fear they will judge me by quickly, connecting my disabilities to the fact that I am overweight. Even worse, I recognized that I never talk about my struggles with depression and anxiety. Fearing that I will be written off as insane, I only disclose my mental health if a student discloses her mental health first, in situations where I want to connect and convince her that I understand her needs. I need to be more open with my students, if only to be a role model by making disability visible. Second, I returned to Melanie Yergeau’s luncheon plenary from the Council of Writing Program Administrators Conference in July 2016 when I was editing the video recently so that it could be published online. The video, shown below, captures Yergeau’s search for support on her campus. The script, slides, and resource list are available online: Video Link : 2055 Yergeau’s account focuses on her own search. When I consider the many roadblocks Yergeau—a smart faculty member who knows the support she is entitled to—encounters, I worry for the undergraduate students who struggle to find resources on campus and those who do not even know what resources they should be provided with. I have written in the past about work to Improve My Accessibility Policy, but Yergeau’s account reminds me that I need to do more to advocate for my students and others like them. I invite you to consider these two resources and think about your own support for disability. Tell me what you are doing, and how these two pieces effect your teaching. I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. Credit: Nearest accessible entrance by Paul Wilkinson on Flickr, used under a CC-BY license. ... View more

I have never felt adept at Tumblr. I just don’t get it. Enough people like it for me to believe that there must be something there; but whatever it is, I don’t quite connect with it. To look for answers, I attended that Computers and Writing workshop, “When You Find a Great Meme to Post for Your Assignment: Tumblr as a Multimodal Writing and Community Space in the Composition Classroom.” I gained some pointers, but honestly, I still couldn’t understand what Tumblr offers that wasn’t already available with tools I already used.   As I was preparing for my presentation on social media for the Council of Writing Program Administrators Conference (#CWPA2017) earlier this month, I was looking for a way to share example sites that met several goals:   Hosted on a trustworthy site (and not one I owned) Has no cost Incorporates screenshot images easily Publishes entries easily (since I would have many) Allows a system of tagging or similar option to sort entries on various criteria   I was essentially thinking of a simple database, but I didn’t want to program or host it. I went through a number of tools, but everything had some problem—until I came to Tumblr.   Tumblr met all my goals. I remembered, as I was testing it, that the workshop leaders, Meg McGuire and Jen England, had mentioned that one of the things people liked most about Tumblr was its rich tagging system. I quickly began gathering examples of the online presence of writing programs and writing centers for my #CWPA2017 presentation in my own Tumblr blog, Social Media for WPAs.   The homepage of Social Media for WPAs felt a little busy to me, with its Pinterest-style grid layout. To provide a simpler organization, I created a Categories page, which lists my folksonomic tags under a few headers. Clicking on any of the tags on the Categories page takes you to a page that shows only the entries that demonstrate that particular tag. For example, if you click the Instagram tag, you get a page showing examples of writing programs or centers that use Instagram.   As I worked on my Social Media for WPAs site, I realized how valuable Tumblr would be in the writing classroom. I could use a similar system of tagging to organize online examples or readings for students. If I was teaching students about blogging, for instance, I could gather examples of different kinds of entries and collect them on a Tumblr blog. Likewise, students doing online research could do the same thing, tracking what they find in a Tumblr blog.   Using Tumblr, it turned out, was easy, and it provided exactly what I needed. Perhaps I finally get Tumblr. Do you? If you have ideas to share for using Tumblr, I would love to hear from you in the comments.     Photo Credit: Workshop on Tumblr in the classroom by tengrrl ... View more

Last month, I shared a series of questions that can help with the process of Organizing Successful Writing Groups. Today, I want to share another resource that I’ve found that teaches students how to give one another feedback.   I love the video No One Writes Alone: Peer Review in the Classroom, A Guide For Students (6m 33s), which demonstrates how students collaborate and provide feedback on drafts for one another. I ask students to watch the video, paying attention to the kind of feedback people give and how the authors respond to the feedback. I had hoped that the video would provide enough modeling that students would be able to get beyond short, summative comments in their feedback to one another. I gave them the following instructions:   The online discussions that you have about your writing group should be much like the conversations that took place in the video. When you comment on someone else’s projects, you provide concrete details about what you see and what the writer can do to improve. When someone comments on your projects, remember to be open to suggestions and avoid becoming defensive.   Somehow, it wasn’t enough, so I have spent time in the last week looking for additional resources. I found a gem. Peer Review: Commenting Strategies (5m4s) from the University of Minnesota Writing Studies program demonstrates six concrete strategies for providing constructive and helpful feedback:   Video Link : 2048   While the MIT video gives students some overarching suggestions for what peer review looks like, this University of Minnesota video gives students very specific instructions. If students are unsure how to make constructive comments, after they spend five minutes watching this video, they’ll know exactly the kind of comments to share with the members of their writing groups.   How do you demonstrate constructive feedback strategies for your students? I am always eager to find more resources to share with my classes, so please leave me a comment below with your ideas. ... View more