During the spring semester, FYW began a new social media initiative called Ask @UConnFYW to create a space for informal dialogue and information exchange across our community. Our first post solicited questions and comments about letters of recommendation. Now, check out responses to those questions from Ellen Carillo, Professor of English and Writing Coordinator at the […]
Working with Students
Re-Engaging Students
by Kelly Coons Let’s set the scene. You’re midway through the semester—one or two projects down, so two or one project to go. Most of your class is along for the ride. Key word: most. One of your students has disappeared over the course of the semester. You reached out to the student over email, […]
Transforming Feedback Practices with Screencast Video
By Sarah DeCapua & Heon Jeon On February 28, we had the pleasure of co-leading a workshop for FYW instructors called “Transforming Feedback Practices through the Use of Screencast Video Feedback in Second Language (L2) Writing Classrooms.” This workshop came about as a result of our investigation into using screencast video feedback to respond to […]
Creating Cross-Campus & Community Networks in First-Year Writing
by Danielle Gilman Collaboration is an essential element of first-year writing seminars at UConn. Students spend the semester exploring project-based inquiries through a series of course moves designed to facilitate ongoing exchange with their classmates and instructors. In addition to encouraging students to perform experiential research, participate in and contribute to public discussions & debates, […]
Re-Engaging Students
by Kelly Coons Let’s set the scene. You’re midway through the semester—one or two projects down, so two or one project to go. Most of your class is along for the ride. Key word: most. One of your students has disappeared over the course of the semester. You reached out to the student over email, […]
Brown Bag Lunch Reflection
This year, we’ve implemented an event series called the Brown Bag Lunch. Once a month, the First-Year Writing office picks a topic related to teaching and we gather with other instructors to eat lunch and discuss various methods, challenges, or experiences in our teaching. September’s lunch discussed student engagement, October’s discussed how to incorporate games […]
College-Level Writing: Pedagogy and Its Contexts
In his blog, The Write Space, Director of the Connecticut Writing Project Jason Courtmanche thoughtfully commented on Joseph Teller’s recent opinion piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education, “Are We Teaching Composition All Wrong?” Below, we’ve reblogged Jason’s entry (which you can find in its original habitat here)— College-Level Writing: Pedagogy and Its Contexts One of […]
Should First-Year Writing Be Academic Writing Only?
Every August, when I introduce the UConn’s First-Year Writing course to new instructors, I present the course—“the pedagogy”—as a fairly coherent set of approaches and practices coming out of a particular tradition, which we do our best to engage with, revise, and renew each year. I encourage new instructors, who may be best positioned to […]
Plagiarism and the Pedagogy of Fear
Students in my classes are able to define plagiarism pretty easily and they understand that plagiarizing comes with consequences. Those same students identify plagiarism under the heading “bad” and its attendant ramifications as catastrophic. Most syllabi include a statement about plagiarism with consequences that range from a failing grade for the essay to failing the […]
Amazing, Brave, Consistent, Dull, and Fragmentary: On Grading
The conclusion of fall semester is near, and it will soon be time to submit final grades. What final grades are supposed to mean (and what they communicate) remains contested. We hear about grade inflation and wonder how we could be the one to ding a student’s GPA. They all have 4.0s, right? And yet, […]