Higher Education Events

We typically think of narrative as a structure, a way of organizing information based on experience. Narrative is not the go-to structure for organizing material for research-based writing; we assume that kind of writing should use logical structures, usually built on the thesis-proof model. Reason, not narrative, is the organizing principle of academic writing. Yet if we begin to see narrative as a mode of thinking rather than a structure it becomes obvious that it is a powerful--and common--method for discovery. Narrative is also an essential element of reporting findings. This talk will examine the role of narrative thinking and writing in research

In this session you will learn about teaching two types of argument: generative argument (power with) and persuasive argument (power over). Traditionally, students have been told that argument is primarily about persuasion and exerting power over others. They learn that argument is a tool for defending their beliefs, confronting others, attacking weak logic, and reinforcing positions. In other words, persuasive argument is the rhetoric of battle or conflict.

“Teaching and Learning the Recursive Reading/Writing Strategy" illustrates ways to combine research-based, classroom-tested best practices of reading and writing into a recursive strategy for engaging with and creating text. The reading/writing strategy guides students to activate prior knowledge, ask and answer questions, infer and imply, develop vocabulary, and make meaning, as well as evaluate, synthesize, and apply new information as readers and writers. The presentation explains and illustrates the specific phases of the reading/writing strategy with classroom ready learning activities and graphics. The discussion of the strategy includes topics such as reading/writing to learn, modeling and assigning think-alouds for readers and writers, and types of written responses to reading selections

According to a 2013 study by MIT professor Rosalind Picard, cognitive, emotional and attention arousal was lowest at two points during their week—while watching TV and during class lectures. Surprisingly, more arousal was detected while sleeping. Knowledge Quest, a grant-funded program at the Community College of Denver, wants to change this dynamic. It engages students by flipping the college composition and reading curriculum through games and videos. This session will highlight the history and progress of the Knowledge Quest program, including the games, videos, interactive tutorials and all the tools used to create the pilot program. Participants will learn how they can use affordable and accessible software to flip their own courses

There is little question that the relationships between writing technologies, writing instruction, and student writing have undergone and are undergoing significant changes. These changes are most often identified through the rapid introduction of new tools available to students and teachers. Many of these new technologies and tools often appear to function counter to teachers’ methodologies and/or philosophies about teaching writing. This presentation offers specific strategies not for using specific tools, but for accounting for the ubiquitous presence of writing technologies in the classroom. That is, in this presentation Sid Dobrin offers pragmatic approaches for thinking about and using technology in the classroom

The focus of this session will be on integrating Reading and Writing curricula into accelerated course sequences using supplemental software programs, such as Pearson’s MySkillsLab. Wes and Karen will reference their experiences with Best Practices, which can help instructors mold courses into positive educational experiences for students of varied learning styles. Additionally, they will speak to the needed changes in standardization across states and how the MySkillsLab reporting features can be used to provide data for administrators and state boards of education.

Students often begin their college experiences immensely proud of the accomplishment of graduating from high school and entering college. They see college as their transition to adulthood. Unfortunately, they sometimes bring with them immature attitudes and inappropriate behaviors, which can set the wrong stage for their college careers. Instructors can take some steps during the first weeks to establish a tone of mutual civility both online and in the classroom. In this session, the presenter, a veteran instructor at a two-year college, will offer suggestions for course policies, classroom activities, and writing assignments that introduce students to college expectations and appropriate codes of behavior

One of the challenges faced by college writing instructors is how to make the traits and skills we want to teach relevant to students. In this presentation we will reflect on how to use the methods of research and argument valued by professional academic writers as a means of inviting our students to critically engage with ideas and issues that are important not only to us, but to them as well.

Is self-regulation like a muscle (the more it’s used, the stronger it becomes), or is it like a tank of gas (the more it’s used, the lower it gets)? Is it more cognitive (control over thoughts), behavioral (control over actions), or affective (control over emotions)? Psychological research on self-regulation is relevant to English instructors’ efforts to help their students write well. Procrastination, distraction, mis-estimation of time, avoidance, pointless effort, and negative self-talk are all enemies of successful writing process, and they all involve failures of self-regulation. This session will summarize classic and recent research findings about what self-regulation is, what promotes it, and what impairs it. It will focus on how these findings can be useful to the classroom instructor

How can we help our students to better understand the visual arguments that surround us all every day? How can students become more aware and critical consumers of the photographs, web sites, posters, advertisements, and other visual arguments that are so prevalent in our society? Through this interactive, online workshop, Jack Selzer will demonstrate a practical approach to the rhetorical analysis of visual rhetoric.

Movies and other digital media are increasingly present in classroom teaching as well as in our students’ lives. But how can we incorporate digital media into the classroom as more than just window dressing or substitutes for reading? In this talk, textbook author and film scholar David Pike provides tips for using visual media to introduce and reinforce key concepts in literature and critical thinking and to enable beginning college students to transfer passive visual literacy into classroom success. He suggests strategies for using film adaptations and other visual media to refresh and deepen students’ understanding of classic literary texts and to integrate new writing and world literature into the traditional literature or writing classroom

Ecocomposition takes as its most fundamental premise the idea that learning to write well and becoming an engaged, environmentally conscious citizen go hand in hand. “Place” (or physical context) and “animality” (our bodies and our relationships with other species) are two of the essential paradigms of environmental expression.