It all began with an article from The New York Times titled “The Community College / ‘Real College’ Divide.” The article was part of an assessment tool being used by the community college for whom I was an Adjunct English Instructor that fall semester of 2016; the Assessment Coordinator was asking all teachers of Composition I … Continue reading Seriously, What’s the Difference? by Jeanette Lukowski
A Few Confessions of an English Teacher by Alexandra Glynn
Preparing for classes rouses up the guilt again. I teach writing, but I don’t do what I tell my students to do. I plagiarize, in a sense, all the time. I don’t read articles; I skim them enough to make them seem read. And when I write, I really don’t consider any of the items … Continue reading A Few Confessions of an English Teacher by Alexandra Glynn
Writing is Elemen‘tree’: A Visual, Auditory, and Tactile Framework for Navigating the Writing Process by Lyndi Maxwell
Abstract This article describes how teachers can use manipulatives, visual aids, and poetry to help students navigate a process-approach writer’s workshop. The workshop is presented as being analogous to how a squirrel navigates an oak tree, as the squirrel represents the writer, each part of the oak tree represents a stage of the writing process, … Continue reading Writing is Elemen‘tree’: A Visual, Auditory, and Tactile Framework for Navigating the Writing Process by Lyndi Maxwell
Dogmatism and Teaching Writing by Alexandra Glynn
The great writing textbooks seldom prompt aspiring writers to be certain. The ancients assumed that they would already be, so there was no need to discuss it. The moderns deride certainty. But how many times have writing teachers had to correct an “I think that the political atmosphere is…” by deleting the “I think”? And … Continue reading Dogmatism and Teaching Writing by Alexandra Glynn
Infographic-Making Activity by Michael MacBride
[pdf version here: MacBride-Infographic-activity] Objective: To encourage the use of charts, graphs, maps, and other infographics in student writing. Approximate Time Required: 30 minutes Materials Needed: A computer with access to the internet and access to the video “Kurt Vonnegut on the shapes of stories” available a number of online locations, including: https://vimeo.com/53286941 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-84vuR1f90 … Continue reading Infographic-Making Activity by Michael MacBride
Five Ways in Which High-Quality Literacy Instruction Can Increase Student Interest in Our Content Areas by Kelly Birkett
[pdf version here: Birkett-FiveWays] Each year, on the day after Labor Day, the invasion begins. We stand in the hall next to our classrooms at the sound of the warning bell, and feel the adrenaline rush through our veins as we hear the sound of excited chatter of our new students. It continues to pulse … Continue reading Five Ways in Which High-Quality Literacy Instruction Can Increase Student Interest in Our Content Areas by Kelly Birkett
Building Literacy in all classrooms by Melissa Brandt
[pdf version here: Brandt-BuildlingLiteracy] As new teachers embark on the challenge of the classroom, they are given a barrage of guidance: be nice to students, but not friends; care, but be firm; establish rules, but let the kids work out the procedures; incorporate high-quality literacy, but … Continue reading Building Literacy in all classrooms by Melissa Brandt
The “Write” Track: Effectively Leading Your School to Incorporate Writing in Every Classroom by Jennifer Simpson
[pdf version here: Simpson-TheWriteTrack] Currently, 42 states, the District of Columbia, four territories, and the Department of Defense Education Activity have adopted the Common Core State Standards (NGA). Minnesota adopted the ELA standards, but not the math. Within the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts, there are specific writing standards that have been a … Continue reading The “Write” Track: Effectively Leading Your School to Incorporate Writing in Every Classroom by Jennifer Simpson
Implementing Tabletop Gaming in the English Classroom: Promoting Literacy through Interactive Gameplay by Mike P. Cook, Ryan Morgan, & Matthew Gremo
[pdf version here: cook-implementing-tabletop-gaming-in-the-english-classroom] Introduction Table-top gaming, at its core, is simply a term used to refer to any social game that is traditionally played in person around a table. Over the years, the term itself has become an umbrella for all forms of board games, but in gaming culture it is most commonly applied … Continue reading Implementing Tabletop Gaming in the English Classroom: Promoting Literacy through Interactive Gameplay by Mike P. Cook, Ryan Morgan, & Matthew Gremo
My Not-Quite-Scientific Composition I Experiment by Jeanette Lukowski
[pdf version here: Lukowski-My Not-Quite-Scientific Composition I Experiment] Although I have been teaching college writing courses non-stop since I first entered the classroom as a T.A. in 2001, and have taught for a number of universities and community colleges in both Minnesota and Wyoming, Fall 2014 was the first time I taught an online class. … Continue reading My Not-Quite-Scientific Composition I Experiment by Jeanette Lukowski
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