ROUNDTABLE Session: 

The wide variety of levels of preparation and skill evident amongst 21st century college students in the space of the writing classroom demands varied approaches to text-based assignments, which clearly establish academic expectations as well as the techniques necessary to foster student success. When selecting pieces for the composition classroom, do professors choose canonical/classic texts as instruments to facilitate the integration of the new generations into intellectualism and the rigors of academic growth or do we choose texts and methodologies that appeal to populist culture in order to create spaces where students attempt to define and analyze the current trends in the society around them? What kind of intellectual and physical spaces do successful educators cultivate when confronted with groups of students often reluctant to read, and who have been acculturated into a system dominated by the standards of mass media and instant gratification? In order to produce students who are able to successfully negotiate the rigorous analysis demanded by college-level writing and life long intellectual advancement, should professors create classroom spaces that shelter students both intellectually and physically from the intrusions of mass popular culture and technology or create spaces that embrace the noise and rapidly changing landscape of a commercial and technological driven world?

When selecting pieces for the composition classroom, do professors choose canonical/classic texts as instruments to facilitate the integration of the new generations into intellectualism and the rigors of academic growth, or do we choose texts and methodologies that appeal to populist culture in order to create spaces where students attempt to define and analyze the current trends in the society around them? In order to produce students who are able to successfully negotiate the rigorous analysis demanded by college-level writing and life long intellectual advancement, should professors create classroom spaces that shelter students both intellectually and physically from the intrusions of mass popular culture and technology, or create spaces that embrace the noise and rapidly changing landscape of a commercial and technological driven world? This writing pedagogy roundtable seeks presentations/conversation focusing on collegial debate and examples of the best practices of experienced professors in the composition classroom. 

Abstracts are due September 30, 2017, at  https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/17026

Please contact the session chair, Professor Kim Ballerini:  Kim.Ballerini@NCC.EDU if you need further clarification.

Conference Details:

NeMLA's 49th Convention will take place April 12-15, 2018, in Pittsburgh, PA. The convention theme is "Global Spaces, Local Landscapes and Imagined Worlds." There are more than 450 CFPs, and abstracts are being accepted now online.