You are invited to participate in a one-week faculty/staff development workshop, sponsored by the Office of the Deputy Provost/Center for Teaching Excellence, on the topic of “Responding to Student Writing in and outside of the Classroom.” This workshop will include both FYS faculty and faculty from across the disciplines, and will be coordinated by Jody Swilky.

Participants will meet on five mornings from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. The first three meetings will be Wednesday–Friday, May 25–27. The workshop will then break for the Memorial Day Weekend and continue Tuesday and Wednesday, May 31 and June 1.

Participants will be asked to read and respond in writing to articles that address both the theory and practice of teaching writing in a variety of classroom settings. We will begin the workshop focusing on the different kinds of response one might give to student writing, depending, for example, on the purpose of the writing assignment, the academic discipline, the professor’s goals at different points in the term, etc. We will take up issues of how to help students develop their thinking within their writing, as well as ways of addressing error and other problems students have with written expression. Since any feedback faculty provide to student writing should be considered in relationship to the assignments students respond to, we will also investigate different approaches to designing assignments.

Participants will be asked to respond in discussion to the writing we ourselves produce in the seminar, as well as to sample student essays.

Participants not on a 12-month contract will receive a summer stipend in the amount of $625. All interested faculty/staff are invited to apply. Participation is limited to ten people. First priority will go to people teaching FYS for the first time. Beyond that, preference will be given to full-time continuing Drake faculty or staff, with an attempt to provide broad representation across various schools/colleges/departments.

Please register here by April 30 if you are interested in attending the workshop.

— Renée Cramer, Deputy Provost