CFP for TCW 2021
Call for Participation: Psst…Pass It On: Writing for Knowledge Transfer
[gview file=”https://tcwms.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-TCW-CFP-Visual.pdf”]Transitioning to College Writing Symposium 2021
We are excited to announce that our annual symposium for teachers and students of composition will be held IN-PERSON this year on Thursday and Friday, October 21-22, 2021. This year’s symposium will again coincide with the National Day on Writing, an initiative of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). We hope you will join us for keynote speakers, workshops, and special writing events!
This year, we welcome keynote speaker, Christie Toth, Associate Professor in the Writing & Rhetoric Studies program at the University of Utah. Her research interests include 2-year college composition studies, transfer student writing experiences, writing assessment & placement, and tribal college writing instruction. We look forward to her sharing her research on the transfer of knowledge at TCW 2021!
We value our identity as a symposium that emphasizes the importance of conversation in how writing instruction transitions across grade levels and disciplines. Our theme this year seeks to examine the challenges and opportunities that come with knowledge transfer between teachers and students, students and students, classrooms and communities, as well as between grade levels and institutions.
We seek fresh ideas that encourage innovative approaches to assignments, projects, and classroom activities, while also prizing the strength of foundational writing.
We will consider these questions:
- How do we move forward in a post-pandemic world? How do we acknowledge the various modes of learning that took place as we move towards a new normal?
- How do we think about knowledge transfer from grade level to grade level, institution to institution, person to person, subject to subject, etc…?
- How do we balance teaching “state standards & objectives” with what we know can prepare students for the rigors of the next level?
- How do we help our students rethink how varied composition can be as they navigate through their grade levels and institutions?
- How can we make writing and writing instruction more inclusive and accessible?
- How do we encourage critical thinking as a college readiness skill?
- How can we support teachers in balancing the various demands of their jobs and their students?
- How do we teach teachers to teach writing? What kinds of mentorship and other pedagogical training can we offer to pre-service teachers, new teachers, and/or experienced teachers?
- What is the place of multimodal forms of composition in your classroom? How do you make use of students’ layered or multiplex literacies to strengthen their academic work?
In alignment with our work in examining the transition to college writing and knowledge transfer, this year we invite proposals for four types of sessions:
- 20-minute interactive presentations from middle school to college writing teachers. To encourage conversation across levels and institutions, we will be pairing teachers based on these proposals to form 50 minute sessions (including time for Q&A).
- 40-minute cross-institutional roundtables from teachers across grade levels and institutions and/or include student voices. These roundtables should be interactive and encourage conversation across levels and institutions.
- Poster sessions that showcase successful classroom practices and/or research you are doing. These poster sessions should show your pedagogy or research and encourage conversation with attendees during the Thursday evening session.
- Flipgrid videos that showcase successful classroom activities, assignments, or practices. These are a great way to participate asynchronously and videos will be limited to 10 minutes.
We believe these types of sessions will foster important conversations about the vertical alignment that could and should exist in writing instruction from elementary school to advanced composition in college. Please remember that we love presentations and workshops that include audience participation and ample time for questions.
Questions? Email us at tcw@go.olemiss.edu!
To submit a proposal, please complete this form. You will receive an email confirmation from the planning team. Proposals should be submitted by Friday, April 30, 2021.