A fresh semester!

Some inspirational(ish) thoughts, the WRTG 150 Contest, & upcoming trainings!

Author

Kelsey Smith
January 06, 2025

On implementing small but meaningful changes in our teaching

This year I hosted my side of the family for Christmas and New Year’s. While things went pretty well, I am also feeling mentally drained from the relationship juggling and from the headspace used up by hosting (is this just me? I’m sure many of you are more effortless hosts). The good news is that diving back into class organizing and lesson planning almost feels like a break? I’ll take it! A few thoughts for this fresh semester:

A few years ago we read Small Teaching by James Lang for our English Department book club. There were many wonderful practical takeaways and activities but its overall essence—improving your teaching through small but meaningful changes—is especially golden. I have a tendency to dream bigger than I have the energy or time to implement, and this semester I’m trying to “match [my] expectations to the energy [I’m] willing to give” (thanks to Kendra Adachi’s The Plan). Small changes matter, especially when our big changes are unimplementable because of their sheer bigness.

This semester I’m tweaking Ansalee Greenwood’s writing space reflections to apply to my ENGL 232 reading log, I’m revamping my response paper requirements with a few suggestions from Teaching with AI, and I’m doing some background reading for my Henry IV, Part 1 unit (including The Eagle & the Hart by Helen Castor. Any other Helen Castor fans out there? Email me 🙂).

My last “small teaching” resolution is to interact with students more thoughtfully and productively. A few weeks ago I listened to a Faith Matters podcast regarding “crucial conversations.” The guest, Joseph Grenny gives some great suggestions for how to have difficult but important conversations and create the psychological safety (i.e. a show of respect and clarification of motives) necessary for productive conversations: “We learn to show up in a way that either create atonement that gives the possibility of connection with another human being, or creates the fissures and divides that keep us from one another.” This is perhaps not a small goal, but I do want to muster the energy to get more of Christ’s Atonement in my life.

Good luck to all of us as we prepare for and tackle this new semester! Read on for a reminder about the 150 Contest and a few calendar items.

Writing 150 Contest

Did some of your students submit stellar 150 papers in 2024? Then submit them to this year’s Writing 150 Contest!

This year the contest organizers—Tyler Gardner & Shannon Stimpson—are asking that instructors nominate and submit entries. Students should not submit their essays directly. All instructors need to do is notify the student they are nominating and then use this form to upload. Instructors can nominate up to two entries per category—Powerful Prose, Inquiry and Argument, and Multimodal Projects. The deadline is January 15 (just a week and a half away!) and full guidelines can be found here.

Winners from each category will be awarded a cash prize and invited to present at the annual English Symposium held early March. Additionally, winning students will change their majors to English and reverse the national trend of dwindling Humanities majors. Hurray! Haha, I wish. But maybe this writing recognition will encourage some of our students to keep writing and taking writing classes! #writingproselyting

Finally, if anyone is interested in serving as a reviewer/judge for the contest, please reach out to Tyler or Shannon. The judging process is much more pleasant and easy than grading!

Winter 2025 Adjunct Book Club

Thanks for the great recommendations for book club! This semester we’ll be reading Think Again by Adam Grant. This book beautifully articulates what it takes to change people’s minds and retain a health curiosity toward learning. I already use excerpts in WRTG 312, and I think it could easily be applied to 150 and other Advanced Writing courses.

I tried to find a time that works with many of your schedules and gives the non-Tuesday/Thursday people a chance to attend. So we’ll be meeting Wednesday, February 26th at 2 pm in 3116 JFSB. Please fill out this form by Friday, January 17th if you’d like a free copy of Think Again and to RSVP if you’ll be attending.

Writing Group & GroupMe Reminder

If you are interested in joining a Writing Group, Kirsten Burningham & I will be meeting this semester on Fridays at 1:00 pm in 4013 JKB for some goal setting, check-ins, and maybe some writing time. Email me or Kirsten if you’re interested, or just show up on Friday!

Also, if you are interested in joining the Adjunct GroupMe* & haven’t already, please let me know. It’s been a nice venue for casual check-ins and questions. I’ve loved reading the advice & comments from other adjuncts. Just shoot me an email with your phone # and I’ll add you!

*GroupMe is an App which uses your phone number to facilitate a group chat with better formatting and user interface than in SMS. If you don’t have the GroupMe app then the conversations will show up as text messages (still readable but not nicely formatted).

Stuff for your calendar

JANUARY

  • January 10: Writing Group @ 1:00 pm in 4013 JKB!

  • January 15: Writing 150 Contest Submission Deadline! Use this form to upload student work.

  • January 15: Add/Drop Deadline.

    Waitlists for ENGL classes drop the first day of class and waitlists for WRTG classes drop on the third day of class. You can send students add codes after these deadlines, but don’t add above your caps! (20 students for WRTG 150 & 25 students for Advanced Writing courses)

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

  • April 3: Withdraw Deadline

  • April 16: Last Day of Class

  • April TBD: The Adjunct Awards Banquet

  • April 29: Grade Submission Deadline