Guides & Tips
Planning Peer-to-Peer Work: Groups, Peer Review, & Workshops
Writing classes are interactive, with students talking, writing, and collaborating with each other, in various permutations of pairs, small groups, and larger groups, nearly constantly. But how do you decide what kind of peer-to-peer work to integrate into a given class? This page offers some tips for instructors. You may also be interested in the […]
Strategies for Conferences and Tutoring Appointments with English Language Learners
Note that some of these strategies are more applicable in tutoring contexts, but most of them are also effective in faculty-student individual–or group–conferences.
Strategies for “Challenging” Conferences and Tutoring Appointments
Note that some of these strategies are more applicable in tutoring contexts, but most of them are also effective in faculty-student individual–or group–conferences.
Teaching with the WR Journal: Volume 10 (2018)
Read all of Volume 10 of the WR journal, the CAS Writing Program journal of excellent student writing, or browse the following notes to think about how you may want to teach selections from the journal in class.
Accessible Approaches to the Writing Classroom
In order to create a truly inclusive learning environment, it’s important not to put the responsibility for determining accommodations entirely on students with disabilities, nor on Disability & Access Services. Instead, strive to be an active partner in making your classroom and the entire university more accessible. While there are always better teaching practices you […]
Leveling the Playing Field for Class Participation
In general, our writing classes are discussion classes, and students are expected to participate in active class exchanges. Sometimes, faculty may feel frustrated if discussions are slow to get started, or if students don’t speak up. This page compiles selected strategies for effectively facilitating class participation from all students. Scaffolding up front in order to build […]
Teaching the Hidden Curriculum
The term “hidden curriculum” refers to an amorphous collection of “implicit academic, social, and cultural messages,” “unwritten rules and unspoken expectations,” and “unofficial norms, behaviours and values” of the dominant-culture context in which all teaching and learning is situated. These “assumptions and expectations that are not formally communicated, established, or conveyed” stipulate the “right” way to […]
Equity in Writing Assessment: Alternative Grading Approaches
“Alternative” grading practices are becoming more and more common in the Writing Program and in the wider academic community. Departing from traditional assessment systems can allow for greater equity in a writing class, less stress for students and instructors, and more focus on course content, writing practices, and the learning process. It can also help […]
Responding to Multilingual Students’ Writing
Challenges facing multilingual writers vary widely and depend on multiple factors–such as the writers’ first language and their prior education–so responding to errors is a complex endeavor. Furthermore, some teachers might be more comfortable than others when diagnosing and discussing more technical aspects of grammar. It should therefore be kept in mind that the advice […]