CUNY Academic Commons

WRITING FELLOWS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
August 25, 2015 Hostos Community College Cafeteria

NOTE: All sessions have readings to be completed in advance–they are available at https://commons.gc.cuny.edu/groups/wac-resource-center/ Please read and be prepared to discuss.
Please print out and bring with you. At the same location are in-session materials to be printed out and brought with you to the workshops.

Time Session Topic and Leader(s)
8:45-9:15 Registration, coffee, and pastry
9:15 Welcome
Lucinda Zoe, University Dean for Undergraduate Studies

9:30-11:00 Writing to Learn and WAC Principles
Jonathan Hall, York College

Topics to be covered: A brief history of WAC, defining WAC/WID, WAC at CUNY, informal writing, and the writing process. Through the discussion of readings, Fellows will come to understand basic WAC Principles, such as “low-stakes writing,” its applications, and the meaning of “writing to learn.”

Readings: Advance Readings: McLeod and Miralgia “Writing Across the Curriculum in a Time of Change”; McLeod Writing to Learn; Monroe, “Writing and the Disciplines” In-session: Young, “Teaching Writing Across the Curriculum” ; Questions for Writing in the Disciplines; Unified Writing Curriculum. Preparatory exercise: Identify a concept that students always find difficult in a course that you teach.

11:00-11:15 Break

11:15-12:45 Reading Across the Curriculum
Rifat Salam, Borough of Manhattan Community College

Topics to be covered: reading challenges, using writing strategies to improve student reading skills Fellows will discuss connections between reading and writing and practice strategies for teaching “difficult” reading assignments.

Readings: Advance reading: Horning-Reading Across the Curriculum + 7 handouts to print out & bring with you for use in the workshop

12:45-1:45 Lunch
Video: “What Does It Mean to Be a Writing Fellow?” (Aneta Kostrzewa, York, 2012). Discussion

1:45-3:15 Developing and Scaffolding Assignments
Craig Levinsky, City College of New York
Dennis Paoli, Hunter College

Topics to be covered: Elements to consider when developing an assignment, what makes a prompt “achievable,” how to design an effective, scaffolded an assignment.

Readings: “Designing Assignments”–read & think of your own examples +2 optional readings

3:15-3:30 Break

3:30-5:00 Responding to Student Writing
Rebecca Devers, City Tech

Topics to be covered: Identifying “good writing,” higher-order and lower-order concerns in student writing, and commenting to promote revision. Fellows will develop an understanding of WAC perspectives on the writing process and gain knowledge of commenting strategies aimed at promoting revision.

Readings: Advance reading: Williams, “The Phenomenology of Error”; Haswell, “The Complexities of Responding to Student Writing; or, Looking for Shortcuts via the Road of Excess” ; print out and bring session agenda and handouts A and B with you