Back to “Normal”

The University of Florida’s Writing Program invites proposals for our annual Conference on Pedagogy, Practice and Philosophy. This year, as we approach the tenth anniversary of this conference, we want to recognize the continuing importance of developing practical strategies and approaches for teaching writing while also interrogating universities across the US’ desire to return to “normal” instruction this year, even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

As we discussed in last year’s conference, the pandemic led educators to grapple with sudden, unexpected shifts to remote and online classes. And this year, students and educators are returning to the physical campus with the lessons learned from the remote classroom, including how to adapt the mainstays of the composition classroom (discussion, activities, group work, etc.) to new spaces and formats. With this back-and-forth shift of writing instruction in mind, this conference is designed as a practicum for writing instructors to continue to exchange ideas and learn from one another in a collaborative spirit, as they have been before and during this pandemic. We particularly encourage graduate students and beginning instructors to apply.

Conference participants are asked to reflect upon the study, practice, and philosophy of teaching writing in universities, and to consider or reconsider current educational trends about learning, engagement, comprehension, and skills-development. In addition, we ask scholars to reflect on writing methods and environments that occur outside of classrooms and to discuss how diverse modes of writing influence classroom learning. The goal of this conference is to create a network for sharing effective, inclusive, innovative, and creative approaches to composition pedagogy.

Conference Format

As last year, this conference will be held remotely. Our goals are to extend conversation across sessions and to encourage the active exchange of ideas. Instead of traditional conference papers, we invite proposals for eight- to ten-minute presentations or demonstrations that illustrate pragmatic approaches, strategies, and techniques for teaching writing.

Thus, we invite two kinds of proposals:

1. Activity swap contributions: one activity, lesson, or technique for teaching writing in person or remotely. Participants will be put into small breakout groups. Each participant will have eight to ten minutes to demonstrate their activity, followed by group discussion and feedback.
2. Themed roundtables: featuring 3 to 4 speakers discussing a specific idea or topic related to the conference. Participants’ talks will be eight to ten minutes each to allow for audience discussion. Roundtables should adopt a conversational, collaborative, and audience-centered or participatory format.

Proposal topics can include (but are not limited to):

• Remote learning strategies and/or challenges
• Transitioning into or out of remote or online learning
• Teaching as a new instructor (remotely and/or in person)
• Specific writing activities or lessons
• Teaching critical thinking/analysis skills
• Planning a semester
• Strategies and/or challenges involving student participation/course “buy-in”
• Issues of access or inequality in writing instruction
• Inclusive pedagogy
• Writing situations, networks, assemblages
• Community literacies
• Multilingual education and language diversity
• Disability studies and composition
• Assessment and evaluation (for students and instructors): grading, grading contracts, ungrading, teaching observations and student evaluations
• Collaborative learning and peer teaching and assessment (coteaching, collaborative lesson planning, grading parties, etc.)
• Peer review/peer feedback
• The use of new media and technologies in writing instruction, including course management systems (Canvas, Blackboard Learn, Sakai, Desire2Learn, etc.)
• Online teaching resources and pedagogy forums (including Facebook, twitter, etc.)
• Sustainable approaches to teaching writing
• Exploring race, class, gender, and/or sexuality in the writing classroom (including instructors’ status/identity in the classroom)
• Establishing and cultivating teaching personas
• Diverse pedagogy models
• Writing in and across the disciplines
• Writing programs and composition course curriculum
• Mindfulness/self-care strategies for students and instructors
• Reflective writing/exercises for students and instructors

Submissions

To submit a proposal for the activity swap or a themed roundtable, email a 250-word abstract with your contact information, affiliation, and position/title to Jonathan Hernandez at jhernandez4@ufl.edu. When proposing a roundtable, please include the relevant information for each participant.

Proposals must be submitted no later than December 1, 2021. Accepted participants will be notified by December 15, 2021. The conference will occur on February 4-5, 2022, hosted online by the University of Florida.

For more information about UF’s Writing Program, visit: https://writing.ufl.edu/

Please feel free to email jhernandez4@ufl.edu if you have any questions.