Earlier this week, I told my students that this semester’s syllabus is probably the best I’ve ever written—finally, eight years of writing a syllabus pays off!

Of course, all good writing is the result of feedback, so I’d like to thank

• Shannon Stimpson for the helpful WRTG 150 syllabus guidelines.

• Larisa Schumann for sharing her syllabus with me, which showed me that I could include links (yes, this was news to me in 2023!) and helpful information like how to get to my office.

• Julie Swallow, our Center for Teaching and Learning consultant, for her syllabus training last August, which helped me identify a specific audience for my syllabus: first-generation college students.

• Some of my past students for moving me to take notes right in the middle of class on what to include in my syllabus next semester.

(I did not include Microsoft Word in my thank yous due to the unhealthy amount of frustration and anger I felt while working with textboxes.)

Survey, survey—take the survey!

If you haven’t already taken the one-minute Adjunct Faculty Teaching Availability Survey, do it right now (or by January 16)! Click here and voila! You just helped University Writing, the English department, and the entire adjunct faculty crew in the quest for better schedules for all.*

*NOTE: The aim is to create a WRTG and ENGL schedule that better fits adjunct faculty’s schedules. Note the word better—not the same as great or perfect. Unfortunately, little things, like classrooms and students, also have to be factored into creating schedules. Sigh.

Match Day: January 20

While we won’t be ripping open envelopes to find out where we’ll be doing our residency like med students, we will be opening emails by January 20 to find out which full-time University Writing faculty member we’ll be working with on our Adjunct Faculty Performance Review for the next three years! Cha cha cha!

Write! It’s good for you!

One of the best things you can do for yourself this year is to write. Write regularly. I wrote nearly every week last semester, and it felt so good. I even started research on a project I’m calling, “Why Funny Girls Don’t Date.”

I had a good time talking about my writing process (woes) and writing with my students—I walked the talk!

If you need help setting aside time for writing, I recommend Write Now! Which is a writing-buddy finder. This semester you can come to 4013 JKB and spend an hour writing with Alisa Brough on Wednesdays from 8:30-9:40 am and/or me, Katie Palfreyman, on Fridays from 9-10:30 am.

Trust me, it works. In addition to writing, last semester Susan Morris and I shared some dang helpful ideas with each other and solved the world’s problems (well, figuratively).

One more thing, if you’re interested in hosting a Write Now session, send me an email with the day, time, and place!

Coming soon! Narrative Sharing Time

We’re going to get together and speed-share ideas on how to teach narratives in February (date and time TBD—watch your email!). Please please please plan on sharing! You can share anything that you use to teach narratives—from assignments and lesson plans to planning/drafting/revising/reflecting activities. You can even share ideas that you want to use but haven’t yet (just like my mom who contributed recipes to the ward cookbook that she. never. ever. made)!

And for those of you who already know you can’t come, don’t worry: you can share electronically—and I’ll make sure you get everyone else’s loot too!

Stuff for your calendar

It’s a new year! Take a few minutes to check out The English Department Calendar. 

JANUARY

January 15: All English symposium and WRTG 150 submissions are due!

January 16: Add/Drop Deadline. Your class rolls are set!

FEBRUARY

February 13: Treat Yo’Self to a Professional Development Book! This is just a reminder that you can spend your $200 professional stipend all 2024 long.

MARCH

March 7–8: The English Symposium. Check out its awesome new website!

March 18–22: Adjunct Faculty Book Club Lunch. Sometime during this week we’ll meet to chat about Verified over lunch. For those of you who signed up, keep an eye out for an email to vote for the best day and time to meet.

March 28: Student Ratings Start! Encourage your students to complete ratings for all of their classes, but especially yours.

APRIL

April 3: Withdrawal Deadline. Use the week before this date to have the a-W-is-better-than-a-F conversation with your students who have many absences and/or are failing. You’ll be grateful you did.

April 18: The Adjunct Faculty Biennial Conference! One of the best days of the year! Great presentations with new ideas and strategies! Please consider presenting! And please come! Your teaching lamp will be refilled! Keep an eye on your email for more information.

April 18: The Adjunct Faculty Award Luncheon! After the biennial conference, we’ll meet for lunch and celebrate all of our good works. Both the conference and the luncheon will take place in the WILK.

April 18: Student Ratings Close. Perhaps request a rating analysis from the Center for Teaching & Learning SCOT program—and go for the big picture: ask them to sort and categorize your last three years of student ratings (don’t worry if you’ve been at BYU that long :).

April 30: Grades DUE by NOON!

Our makeshift website

As I’ve noted before, Ansalee Greenwood, Greyson Gurley, Kelsey Smith, and I are hard at work writing content for our Adjunct Faculty Website (and we are continually surprised at how much stuff we need to cover!). Until this website is up and running, here are links to some helpful Google docs (which you can also find in your “swag” folder that’s sitting in your mailbox right now):

Adjunct Faculty Sunshine Fund

Book and Travel Stipends

How to Train to Teach Other WRTG Courses

Meet Your Course Coordinator

Observation Opportunities—sign up to be observed or find someone to observe!

Syllabus Requirements: I just added another option—the RWC’s official syllabus statement that you’re welcome to customize!

Write NOW!—want to get some of your own writing done? Write NOW! can help!