Friday, February 22, 2008
12:00-1:00, Tartan Room

This program—an adaptation of a successful program that Monie presented last fall for students—is intended to offer faculty suggestions for supporting their students’ meaningful reading of the texts they assign, and to provide a forum for reflecting on how they convey the purposes of their reading assignments to students.

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Using Rubrics to Enhance Teaching and Learning
Professor Stephanie Baugh

Monday, March 3, 2008
12:00-1:00, Tartan Room

This program—growing out of interest from ILA faculty last fall—builds on Stephanie’s past experiences using rubrics in the classroom.  After introducing rubrics, she will talk about teaching with rubrics and using them for scoring and grading.  The information is adaptable across courses and offers us all another option for evaluating student writing and speaking.

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Thursday, March 27
12:00-1:00, Tartan Room

Sharing Our Stories:
Reflective Writing As An Academic Experience
Rev. Kathleen Fannin

What are the limits of human existence?  Can human beings live outside of story?  What do reflective writing and sharing our stories have to do with developing community and becoming engaged citizens?  I believe asking students to engage in reflective writing as part of their academic experience helps them integrate concepts presented in the classroom, while at the same time offering a lens through which the professor can gain insight into students' understanding of course material. 

Strategies for Group Critiques
Prof. Brian Baugh

I'll be discussing various methods used for getting students to discuss their own artwork as well as the work of other students in a constructive way.  The strategies can be adapted to writing and speaking activities outside of the Art Department.

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Thursday, April 17
4:00-5:00, Tartan Room

Fishbowl Exercise
Professor Marlo Belschner

The most effective writing and speaking assignments are those that link communication and course content, as demonstrated in "The Fishbowl.”  The purpose of the Fishbowl exercise is to improve students’ abilities to ask questions and to discuss the traits of excellent classroom discussion.  The activity, created for an ILA class but adaptable to a variety of disciplines and levels, asks students to form questions, guide class discussion, and critique not only course material but also the effectiveness of the discussion.

Animals in the News
Professor Ken Cramer

Short writing assignments, looking at current events related to introductory science classes, help students meet multiple course objectives.  To learn more, come to the session!

Writing to Learn: The Learning Memo
Professor Judy Peterson

Students at an introductory level need to discover their own voice early on, so that as they progress into more complex courses and situations, they are confident in giving their own analyses and descriptions.  Yes, they can actually say it better than someone else -- their particular take on a subject matter may be just what makes someone else understand it, while at the same time reinforcing their own understanding and continually fine-tuning it.  The Learning Memo is a great tool to use to begin this process.