 Writing Fellows Program Overview History |
|
| The
Guest Lecture program was begun soon after the founding of the
Effective Writing Center in 2002 as a response to the desire of
classroom teachers to bring writing instruction directly into the
classroom. Today, the program is called Writing Fellows and advisers from the EWC visit 100's of online classrooms each session to assist students. Workshops usually focus on a current assignment that students are working on for that class. We help students analyze the instructor's assignment instructions, then devise a series of instructional threads that help students |
|
| build
their response to the assignment step-by-step. These workshops often
include helping students with outlining, thesis construction,
introductory paragraph construction, body paragraph development,
sentence style, grammar, citations, and any other writing skill needed
for successful completion the assignment. Our Mission As writing fellows, our goal is to assist students by first providing encouraging and constructive feedback on their submissions. Working in an online course can be an isolating experience. One of our main goals is to create an anxiety free zone, where students feel comfortable, valued and assisted in a timely manner (within a few hours of posting). Fear of judgment is a huge factor for students and it is our job to present our suggestions in a manner which reduces their fear and fosters constructive examples through careful, considerate language. The ultimate outcome of our visit is a classroom of confident and skilled writers. Feedback Hierarchy Our approach is to break down a longer assignment into a series of small parts. Usually each of our threads focuses on one small part, whether it be a short outline, thesis statement, body paragraph or a list of citations. Our feedback focuses on the main goals of each thread with detailed suggestions to the content posted by students. However, because we are writing advisers, we also take the time to comment on other aspects of the student's writing that may present issues down the road. So, for example, if a thread asks the student to submit a focused introduction paragraph that presents a clear thesis, the bulk of our feedback will be on the strategies the student chose to introduce the thesis and the adequacy of the thesis itself. However, if the student displays error patterns such as problems with capitalization, punctuation or proofreading, we would be remiss not to bring these briefly to the student's attention and suggest strategies for revision. Virtual Tour of the EWC |
|
Meeting Spot for Writing Fellows
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Writing Fellows Training
Writing Fellows Training
Writing Fellows Expectations 1. Before the Class Workshop
|
Writing Fellows Training
Writing Workshop Venues
There are a few main areas you should bookmark and visit frequently. These include the master schedule (Google Doc), Blog, Writ 999 NG conferences, writing fellows training area (here), and online classrooms you are assigned. My email address is michelle.bowman@umuc.edu. David's email address is david.taylor@umuc.edu.
Please Note: If you ever have difficulty opening the master schedule in Google Docs, I also send the updated schedule every week in a PDF form or Word document. I also email you all individually with assignment instructions from professors. Knowing the assignment instructions before you begin a workshop is essential so that you know what materials to choose and what goals the professor has for the students.
Please see the links below and take some time to visit each venue and familiarize yourself with each. One of the most important areas to study is the NG conference area, where all the workshop materials are. David created these materials for a variety of workshops.
- Sometimes a workshop has already been created for the class and assignment you are covering.
- Other times you may need to pull materials from different areas.
- Finally, you may need to ask David to create materials to fit a specific assignment.
Read through some of these to get a good idea what we accomplish in our workshops, especially paying attention to the end of each thread. Students are most often given a small exercise to respond to the thread. The student's response to the mini-assignment is what you will most often be responding to.
Writing Workshop Schedules
https://docs.google.com/a/umuc.edu/?tab=mo#home
GL Blog
http://umucewcguestlecturepage.blogspot.com/
Writing Fellows Training
Communicating with
Students
Since you have completed training as a database adviser, you have extensive skills for effective communication with students. You know the importance of being enthusiastic,warm and encouraging. You are used to replying with detailed information and examples presented in a suggestive rather than commanding manner.
These are the same skills you will use in our writing workshop threads. The only difference will be how much advice is given at once. For example, if you took a database advice template sent to a student, printed it, cut it into sections, (assignment requirements, thesis, intro, body paragraphs, conclusion, citations, grammar) and glued them in separate conference threads, you would have a typical writing workshop!
Breaking It Down
If you have browsed through the writing workshop threads in the NG conferences, you saw how our writing workshops break down essay writing into chunks or small steps. So, your advice in an "outline thread" will be about organization of the outline and whether it addresses assignment requirements. Your advice in a "thesis thread" will concentrate on an adequate controlling idea that fits the assignment. In an "introductory paragraph thread," you will focus feedback on employing an effective intro strategy. If the the thread presents information on citations and a small exercise on citations, you will provide feedback on citation format.
Surface Errors (Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling)
Regarding surface errors, when you see error patterns in a student's writing, it is important to comment on those, too, but limit comments to one or two error patterns only. By not commenting on obvious errors like sentence fragments, spelling, capitalization, comma misuse and such, we run the risk of reinforcing the errors for future submissions. If penalized later for such errors, the student may ask why these problems were not pointed out earlier. Not pointing them out can also damage our credibility with the professor and other students. So, when helping a student in this area, use the same technique as if advising a paper in the database: Pull an example from the student's writing, provide explanation and resources, then suggest revision strategies.
Reading Full Drafts in a Writing Workshop
During an in-class workshop, you are helping students prepare parts of an essay. If the student wishes the full draft to be reviewed, the student should be encouraged to submit it to our database service. Sometimes we look at full drafts within our workshops, but only in special circumstances and classes. The instructions at the end of each thread are what students should follow when submitting their draft "chunks."
Since you have completed training as a database adviser, you have extensive skills for effective communication with students. You know the importance of being enthusiastic,warm and encouraging. You are used to replying with detailed information and examples presented in a suggestive rather than commanding manner.
These are the same skills you will use in our writing workshop threads. The only difference will be how much advice is given at once. For example, if you took a database advice template sent to a student, printed it, cut it into sections, (assignment requirements, thesis, intro, body paragraphs, conclusion, citations, grammar) and glued them in separate conference threads, you would have a typical writing workshop!
Breaking It Down
If you have browsed through the writing workshop threads in the NG conferences, you saw how our writing workshops break down essay writing into chunks or small steps. So, your advice in an "outline thread" will be about organization of the outline and whether it addresses assignment requirements. Your advice in a "thesis thread" will concentrate on an adequate controlling idea that fits the assignment. In an "introductory paragraph thread," you will focus feedback on employing an effective intro strategy. If the the thread presents information on citations and a small exercise on citations, you will provide feedback on citation format.
Surface Errors (Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling)
Regarding surface errors, when you see error patterns in a student's writing, it is important to comment on those, too, but limit comments to one or two error patterns only. By not commenting on obvious errors like sentence fragments, spelling, capitalization, comma misuse and such, we run the risk of reinforcing the errors for future submissions. If penalized later for such errors, the student may ask why these problems were not pointed out earlier. Not pointing them out can also damage our credibility with the professor and other students. So, when helping a student in this area, use the same technique as if advising a paper in the database: Pull an example from the student's writing, provide explanation and resources, then suggest revision strategies.
Reading Full Drafts in a Writing Workshop
During an in-class workshop, you are helping students prepare parts of an essay. If the student wishes the full draft to be reviewed, the student should be encouraged to submit it to our database service. Sometimes we look at full drafts within our workshops, but only in special circumstances and classes. The instructions at the end of each thread are what students should follow when submitting their draft "chunks."
| Frequently Asked Questions Q: How long do writing workshops last? A: Usually as long as the professor requests. This can be anywhere from a week to an entire semester. The length of your workshop will be clear on the Master Schedule. A typical workshop lasts 7 days. Q: What is a typical turnaround time for feedback? A: Within 24 hours or sooner, if you have a dialogue going or a critical question being discussed. It's best to set aside a certain time each day to devote to a class. That way, you will be sure to provide feedback every 24 hours. Writing workshops exist to create a conversation about writing. For it to be successful, each participant must uphold his/her end of the conversation. We need to be available for back and forth interaction within the short timeframe we are in the class. Q: When are my days off? A: Your days off are usually the days students are still reading the workshop materials and not posting yet. This can sometimes be several days. If you are scheduled for other workshops simultaneously, you might not have the day off in another classroom. However, typically workshops run from either Sunday or Monday to Sunday or Monday. Some of the busiest days are often times on Saturdays and Sundays when students are posting at the last minute. Days off are more likely to happen on Mondays, Tuesdays, or Wednesdays. Q: What if I need a weekend off? A: Just let Michelle (or David in her absence) know. We can work around it. I can watch your lecture while you are away or ask another advisor who is not busy to cover for you. If you are asking all the time though, you might want to consider whether guest lecturing is for you. Q: When are the busy times? A: Some of our busiest times are the middle of semesters. Some of our slowest times are in between semesters. There are always projects to work on while things are slow. Just email Dan, Aimee, David, Anna or me and we'll put you to work! :) Q: If I am paired up with a guest lecturer and we are both assigned the same workshop, how do we split it up? A: This is where some awesome learning takes place and students really get some extensive feedback. Usually both advisors answer all students. So, the advisors have to read each other's posts to be sure they are not repeating anything. This is especially useful to students in our resume and cover letter workshops. The more advice students can receive, the better. This pairing also gives advisors the chance to learn from one another and work in a team environment. Q: What if a student posts the completely wrong information in the thread? For example, what if a student posts an entire draft to the "virtual tour thread?" A: Gently, kindly steer them in the right direction. Tell them that this area is not for full drafts. Ask them to refer back to the instructions at each thread. Explain that you are excited to provide feedback when they do! Q: If I am guest lecturing, can I still help work in the database? A: If you have three or four guest lectures, no. If you are scheduled in one guest lecture and it is slow and you need the hours, definitely. Q: How can I make my presence known in the classroom if it seems like I am invisible? A: Email the professor and ask if he/she will announce your visit on their announcement page. David has a generic Writing Workshop announcement that you can provide to the professor. You can also e-mail the students by clicking on "Class Members." You will see all of their email addresses next to their names. Down at the bottom, place a check in "Email All Students." Let them know you are excited to work with them and encourage them to submit their work. Be sure to tell them where to submit it. You can also offer a live WebEx "office hour." This way you can meet with students and answer questions live. David or I can help you get set up and practice using WebEx. Q: Do you ever need help with videos or audio? A: Yes. David loves to get everyone involved in this! Email him and ask how you can contribute. Please respond here with any questions I didn't cover! :) |
Writing Fellows Training
Communicating with Professors
After you have been assigned a workshop, contacting the professor a week before the workshop begins is the next step to open communication. Professors are trusting us to visit their classroom and guide their students. They might feel nervous about our visit if it is their first time or might be "regular customers" who have already established a trusting bond with us. Below is a sample e-mail letter to a professor. Below that is a closing sample letter that can be sent when the workshop is finished. Feel free to modify these letters as you wish.
Note that the letter begins with thanking the professor, then confirms the specific dates of the workshop and the assignment to be covered.
Below is a video we send faculty when inviting them to use our services. If you receive questions about our writing workshop services, feel free to send the link to the professor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=xbHiIwbvXYY
After you have been assigned a workshop, contacting the professor a week before the workshop begins is the next step to open communication. Professors are trusting us to visit their classroom and guide their students. They might feel nervous about our visit if it is their first time or might be "regular customers" who have already established a trusting bond with us. Below is a sample e-mail letter to a professor. Below that is a closing sample letter that can be sent when the workshop is finished. Feel free to modify these letters as you wish.
Note that the letter begins with thanking the professor, then confirms the specific dates of the workshop and the assignment to be covered.
| SAMPLE "Hello" LETTER Professor Taylor: Thank you for having me in your Writing 394 classroom January 4th-12th to work with your students on their Project 1 papers. The materials included in the workshop will be uploaded in your conference area a few days beforehand (can be more specific), so please feel free to take a look at them before they are visible to your students and send me and comments and suggestions. If you have any questions, please let me know. I look forward to working with you and your students. Best regards, Anna Dumonchelle EWC Advisor **************************************************************************************************** SAMPLE "Goodbye" LETTER Professor Taylor: Participation in the writing workshop was excellent. Your students worked hard and it was a pleasure assisting them. Sometimes writing can be less intimidating if the writing is addressed in small steps and the student is able to get some feedback and guidance along the way. Thanks again for having the Effective Writing Center in your class. I hope you will consider inviting us back in future semesters. In the meantime, your students can submit work to our 24/7 database service. They can turn in their full drafts and receive feedback by signing into their MyUMUC page, then clicking on "Submit to Writing Center" on the left side nav bar under "Academic Information." You can also request another writing workshop in your classroom by contacting Michelle Bowman at michelle.bowman@umuc.edu. Best regards, Anna Dumonchelle EWC Advisor |
Below is a video we send faculty when inviting them to use our services. If you receive questions about our writing workshop services, feel free to send the link to the professor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=xbHiIwbvXYY
Uploading Workshops
Preparing Conferences for Instruction: Scenario #1 and Scenario #2 |
|
| In
this thread we talk about the nuts and bolts of setting up your
workshop
in a teacher's classroom. Whenever you are assigned a writing workshop
in a professor's class, you will find yourself in one of two scenarios: Scenario #1 In this scenario, the workshop you have been assigned has been taught for that professor's class before, and you will find an existing conference for it in WRIT999. In this case, you only need to ensure that the teacher is still doing the same assignment before you import the conference into the classroom. |
|
| Text Version: Scenario #1 You receive the following email from Michelle Bowman, coordinator of the Writing Fellows program:
Upon receipt of this email and assignment, you will first want to establish communication with the teacher, introducing yourself and projecting a sense of excitement about the opportunity to work in the classroom. In this communication, you should also let the teacher know that you will be sending out a welcome email to students. Techniques for and examples of doing this were covered in an earlier thread--"Communicating with Professors" One other important purpose of this pre-workshop communication is to determine where the teacher prefers that you post your workshop materials. We recommend that you suggest to the teacher that you create an EWC Workshop Conference in the conference area, and ask the teacher to let you know if he or she prefers otherwise. Ensure You Are Rostered In Your next step is to check your class roster in WebTycho to see if the assigned class has shown up yet. So let's do that. In this case we are looking for Amanda Barnett's WRTG291 class. Yes, there it is. I have been rostered in. You now want to confirm your status as a TA in the class. Open the class link and click on BIOS. Your should see your name listed. Click on Bio. If you have not yet done so, please fill out your bio and include a photo of yourself. You can do this by clicking on "Edit this Biography" at the top of the page. Check Course Schedule Next, check the Course Schedule in the Syllabus area to ensure that class assignments coincide with the dates of your scheduled workshop. It's also helpful to know the assignments leading up and following the one you will be working on. This provides you with the same context the students are working with. Under Project Descriptions, you should see the assignment instructions for the project that you will be helping with. Compare these assignment descriptions with any assignment instructions you have been given. You might also find additional assignment commentary in the Course Content area. Import Conference Next, open up the Conferences area. This is where you will post your materials unless you have been instructed otherwise by the professor. The first thing you will need to do is to import the conference. Recall that we are dealing with Scenario #1--doing a workshop in a class for which materials already exist. Here is how to do that.
Your next step is to import the individual conference threads. To do this, you first want to set up a split screen view with the target classroom on one side, and the WRIT999 on the other side where the individual threads are. In the target classroom, with your EWC workshop open, click on "New Topic" and give it the same name (or alter to suit your needs) as the original thread. Some advisers simply copy and paste the title. Then, if you wish to copy design view, activate your cursor in the window, and type CTRL A to select all, the CTRL C to copy all. Go to your target classroom, activate your cursor, then type CTRL V to paste all. Click on submit and you should see the conference thread reproduced. Since the thread is now posted under your name, you can also make whatever changes to it that you wish. A second option is for you to transfer the threads using html code. This is essentially the same procedure, but you are working with code only, not any object. Open the html thread. Activate cursor, and select all, the copy all. Go to your target conference in Professor Barnett's classroom. Click on New Topic. At the bottom, be sure to select the CODE tab. Now erase whatever is there, and paste in your html code. Add a subject, Click submit and you should see the same results. Follow these procedures until you have transferred the thread in 999 into your target classroom. Keep in mind that you name is on them, so you can alter the threads in any way you feel is justified. Scenario #2 A workshop for this professor has never been taught before and you will need to create a conference in 999, and add threads to it to create a unique workshop for your students. Text Version: Scenario #2 Now let's review the procedures for Scenario #2: you have been assigned a workshop for a class assignment that we in the Writing Fellows program have never taught before. This means that you will consult the correspondence between David, Michelle and the classroom teacher, as well as study the assignment directions yourself, to put together a sequence of threads that teach the skills student need for the assignment. Creating a New Conference For Scenario #2, you follow all of the same steps as above, except for the importing options. Instead of importing a ready-made conference from WRIT 999, you will have to create a conference for that teacher and workshop in 999, then populate it with the threads you want.
Now you will work with tabs in Tycho NG to populate your new workshop conference. Left click on the new conference in the left-side pane. You see in the right side pane that the name of the conference appears in the tab at the top, but the conference is empty. No problem. Now you simply go and find the threads you need. Your Multimedia Welcome Message There are some threads which should appear in very workshop. The first one is a Customized Welcome Message. Click on it and notice that a new tab has opened in the right side pane and the threads of the conference appear.-- the welcome messages. Each adviser should have some type of multimedia welcome message to post. As you notice here with Kevin's, it is paired with a virtual tour of the EWC. If you do not have a customized welcome message, please see thread below and we will work together to build one for you. There are two ways to copy an existing thread into your new conference. Try this both to see which one you like best. First, you can work in design view. Kevin would double left click on his message to see it in full page form. then he would simply copy and paste what he sees. Click in the window. CTRL+ A to select all, CTRL + C to copy all, Close the window. Click on the tab for the conference you are creating. Click New Topic. Activate cursor. and CTRL + V to paste it in. Type in a title and click submit. Be sure to check to make sure that everything works. A second way is to copy and paste the html. I have found this to produce fewer problems when it comes to picking up and reproducing multimedia elements. In this method, you open the html version of the same thread. Select all CTRL A then Copy all CTRL C. Now click on the tab of your target conference. Click on New Topic. Then go down to the bottom and click on Code tab. Delete what is there, and paste in the code you just copied. Fill in the subject field and Click Submit. Assignment Analysis Thread A second thread you will need is Assignment Analysis. This is the key thread for most workshops. Notice the blanks that must be filled in for this crucial thread. We consider helping students analyze assignment requirements and outline a response to that assignment to be our first and most critical task in a writing workshop. We will cover how to modify this thread and others in a subsequent video. "Generic" Section Finally, notice that Assignment Analysis is located in the section called "Generic"-- this is the area where you will find lesson threads on a large variety of writing topics that your can pull from and adapt. If you don't see what you need, contact me, David Taylor, immediately. For other threads-- Generally, students will need help coming up with strategies for on an introduction and a solid thesis. Body paragraphs vary a great deal depending on the assignment, so it is usually a good idea to have a body paragraph thread so that the student can show he/she understands the assignment well enough to discuss one aspect of it in a logical paragraph. Citations styles can also vary, so make sure you choose the one that the teacher requires. Back in the Target Professor's Classroom Once your threads are in place and your new conference is complete, simply go to the professor's classroom and follow the same import procedure as you did for scenario 1. After your conference is in the instructor's classroom, please notify the instructor. This serves two purposes: (1) to reassure the teacher that you are ready to go and (2) to give the teacher a chance to review the materials. Welcome Message to Students Finally, the day before the workshop is to begin or the morning of, please send a welcome message to students. You do this by utilizing the Class Roster in the teacher's classroom. Log into WebTycho in the usual way. Look for the class that Michelle has rostered you into and enter that class. Look at the bottom of the left side menu and Click on Class Members. On the Class Members page scroll to the bottom and select the appropriate box. It's best to send your communications to everyone in the class, including the professor and other assistants.. Then click "Send an E-mail to Selected Class members." Next Video In the next video, we will talk about how to adapt any of our materials to best fit the assignment, students, and your teaching. See you there. |
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)