With this provocative series of discussions, the Center’s Teaching with Writing program offers University of Minnesota faculty members, TAs, and other instructors a venue for discussing controversial issues related to teaching with writing. Here we focus on teasing out tangled and difficult teaching issues rather than providing strategies and solutions. To help frame discussions, we will send registrants one or two short articles in advance.

fall 2009 discussions

e n g a g i n g . c o n t r o v e r s i e s . d i s c u s s i o n
the erosion of writing skills

Friday, December 4
9:00–10:30 am
125 Nolte Hall (East Bank)

Teachers frequently make the claim that each generation of students gets progressively worse at writing. Texting, spell-check, and wanton neglect of grammar instruction are among the suspected culprits for the supposed decline. But what evidence do we have about the rise or fall of student writing abilities? In this open and impassioned conversation, we'll try to unpack and untangle perceptions and realities.

This is the third in a series of monthly "Engaging Controversies" open discussions that explore provocative issues that are dynamically related to writing, writing instruction, and pedagogy more broadly. Brief readings distributed in advance. Coffee provided.

to register, go to the TWWi

e n g a g i n g . c o n t r o v e r s i e s . d i s c u s s i o n
what counts as "writing"?

Friday, October 2
9:00–10:30 am
125 Nolte Hall (East Bank)

The meaning of "writing" as a term has become so broad as to risk rendering it meaningless. Join a spirited discussion considering the consequences of narrowing and broadening what we consider to be "writing" in the twenty-first century.

This is the first in a series of monthly "Engaging Controversies" open discussions that explore provocative issues that are dynamically related to writing, writing instruction, and pedagogy more broadly. Brief readings distributed in advance. Coffee provided.

e n g a g i n g . c o n t r o v e r s i e s . d i s c u s s i o n
i write, therefore i learn?

Friday, November 6
9:00–10:30 am
125 Nolte Hall (East Bank)

The concept of "writing to learn" is well established throughout our educational systems, constituting something of a "first law" of writing across the curriculum. Although many of us believe that when we write we enhance our learning, have we taken the opportunity to explore the limits and mechanisms of our belief? Join a energetic conversation that delves into a neglected topic.

This is the second in a series of monthly "Engaging Controversies" open discussions that explore provocative issues that are dynamically related to writing, writing instruction, and pedagogy more broadly. Brief readings distributed in advance. Coffee provided.