Wed., Jan. 24
1-2pm
CUE 318
Lunch provided
(if you RSVP)

Getting What We Ask For: Designing Effective Writing Assignments
Tom Deans, Associate Professor of English and Director, University Writing Center

How can we steer students toward the kinds of thinking and writing that we value? The answer often hinges on how we frame our assignments. This informal workshop will explore how to make assignments more effective and rewarding for both teachers and students.

Thurs., Feb. 1
2-3pm
CUE 318

Responding to (and Grading) Student Writing
Tom Deans, Associate Professor of English and Director, University Writing Center 
  
Responding to student writing can be enormously time consuming, but there are experience-tested strategies for doing it more efficiently and effectively. We’ll discuss a cluster of issues: options for streamlining response by having students do self-assessments; ways to communicate high standards and deliver formative feedback; the benefits (and pitfalls) of using grading rubrics; and strategies for getting students to take responsibility for their own writing.

Wed., Feb. 7
1-2pm
CUE 318
Lunch provided
(if you RSVP)

S-H-A-R-P: Five Suggestions for Writers
Richard Reynolds, Professor Emeritus of English

Drawing on his experience as both a UConn professor and a long-time leader of business writing seminars, Richard Reynolds offers advice on how to make your prose—and that of your students—more clear, concise, and friendly.

Thurs., Feb. 15
Noon-1pm
CUE 318
Lunch provided
(if you RSVP)

Informal Writing That Propels Thinking: An Example from Engineering
John DeWolf, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

This workshop offers a window on how one professor uses back-of-envelope calculations in a structural steel course to focus discussion on how engineers consider alternative designs. These write-to-learn activities, which complement the traditional lecture/assignment process, have  increased student interest and expanded opportunities for interaction. Examples will be drawn from engineering but should still speak to teaching possibilities for other fields.

Tues., Feb. 20
1-2pm
CUE 318
Lunch provided
(if you RSVP)

Teaching Style and Editing
Tom Deans, Associate Professor of English and Director, University Writing Center

“Style, in its finest sense,” remarked Alfred North Whitehead in The Aims of Education, “is the last acquirement of the educated mind; it is also the most useful.” Whitehead wasn’t talking exclusively about prose style, but in this workshop we will be. How can we get students to grasp that sentence-level choices have real consequences? And how can we include fruitful (even if limited) instruction in usage and style within a content-driven course?

Tues., May 22
1-2pm
CUE 318
Lunch provided

Looking Ahead: Designing Your Next W Course
Tom Deans, Associate Professor of English and Director, University Writing Center 
  
For advance planners, this workshop addresses several questions: How do most people integrate content coverage and writing instruction? What works best when sequencing writing assignments? How can we build in robust but still manageable revising processes? And, of course, we’ll discuss any questions you have about W course design and teaching.