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Fall 2018: Academic Writing Faculty Prep for Semester with Biannual Workshop

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Academic Writing instructors take part in writing activity during the August 2018 program conference.
On Monday, August 27, 2018 the MMC Academic Writing community gathered for the August program workshop to discuss and learn strategies, community building, and teaching style in preparation for the rapidly approaching Fall 2018 semester.

The biannual Academic Writing Program workshops are an opportunity for all of the program’s instructors, continuing and new, to meet and learn from one another, Program Director Diana Epelbaum explains. “These workshops are centered in best practices for college writing pedagogy; we share classroom strategies with the goals of aligning our curriculum and policies across classes and communally fostering an ethos for our program that individual instructors build (and build on) in their courses.”  At the start of each semester, these workshops provide a physical space of learning that then extends into the semester, where faculty continue to share materials and support one another as they teach. Meeting other instructors is critical to building community and a support system.

Epelbaum says, “My favorite part of these workshops are the teaching insights that emerge: these filter into our pedagogy and make us think creatively! We get better and better at what we do when we take the time to hone our old practices and learn new ones.”

Assistant Professor of Academic Writing Tahneer Oksman writes, “I love the opportunity to take a moment–a full day, actually–at the beginning of each semester to talk to other instructors, to hear what they’ve been doing and thinking, and to get settled in before the rush of the semester. In this most recent workshop, Diana Epelbaum gave a session on emotions and writing. It was an enriching exercise that revealed the various ways that professors, as writers ourselves, experience the ups and downs of various stages of writing. I’m excited to now try out that exercise with my students during my very first class sessions this semester. It will be especially interesting to compare and contrast how professors and students approach the writing process– I’m sure there will be some surprises.”

Published: August 28, 2018

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