A Surplus of Plusses: Transferable Teaching Strategies From Writing to Text
(Roundtable)Ruth Prakasam (Suffolk University)
Katherine Horn (Suffolk University)
Post-2020, the general education curriculum is being re-evaluated at many institutions. Within these core requirements, first-year writing courses are becoming increasingly vulnerable whether by repackaging the requirements through non-Writing specific classes or by streamlining two-semester writing sequences into one.
However, the value of first-year Writing courses is more crucial than ever for addressing, reviving, and developing what students have academically and personally lost during the height of the pandemic. Through methods such as deconstructing a text’s meaning, small group-based discussions, and peer reviewing, students build confidence to grapple with the complexity of language and to provide insights into the shared human experience while building real community.
The transference of pedagogical approaches between first-year Writing and Literature classes reinforces critical thinking, verbal, and written skills. Yet equal in importance for the current population of students, but less visible to those wary of general education’s ‘profitability’, is the structure and delivery of the course materials which creates connections with their peers and encourages students to be receptive to being intellectually challenged.
The Roundtable welcomes proposals which discuss how pedagogical techniques implemented in First-Year Writing classes, Introductory Literature courses, or both, have supported student learning in broad or specific ways as they have transitioned back to face-to-face learning.