Classroom in Progress Brownbag Series
"Classroom in Progress" is a monthly brownbag series where graduate students, faculty members, and others interested in writing instruction come together in an informal environment to share ideas and concerns regarding classroom structures, assignments, activities, policies, and procedures.
See below for the current Brownbag Schedule.
Since this series began in fall 1998, Classroom in Progress brownbag topics have included:
- Bringing an Instructor's Writing Talents into the Classroom
- Responding to Students' Texts
- Reading in Composition Classrooms
- Collaborative Writing and Learning in a Portfolio-based Class
- Evaluating a Text: What Makes Writing Work?
- Responding to Students' Offensive Comments
- Scaffolding and Modeling for Students
- A Case for Dictations in the University Classroom
- Journal Writing
- Blurters, Dozers, and Smirkers: Managing Classroom Discussions
- Preparing Students for Portfolios
- Encouraging Collaboration in the Writing Classroom
- Reading Practices in Composition Classrooms
- Teaching Argumentation
- Teaching Non-Argumentative Texts
- Narration v. Exposition: A Teaching Demonstration
- Undiagnosed Learning Disabilities
- Successful Assignments
- Socratic Circles
- Peer Response Activities, I
- Introducing Scientific Discourse in the Composition Classroom
- Personal Narratives
- Peer Response Activities, II
- Reading Writing Reflection
- "What Do I Do When Students . . . "
- Finding and Defining a Thesis for Text Analysis Essays
- Addressing Grammar and Punctuation Challenges
- Locating Logical Arguments
- Analyzing Visual Texts
- Analyzing Texts
- Vocabulary Building for Students
- Narrative Assignments
- Public Speaking
- Assignment Development
- Teaching Text Analysis
- Using Internet Resources in the Composition Classroom
- Working with Students with Disabilities in a Reading- and Writing-Intensive Course
- Using Election Materials in the Writing Classroom
- From Professional Conference to Classroom Practice
All brownbag sessions will meet in the CWP Quinn Room in 114 Wheeler Hall. Participants are invited to join us when they can, for as long as they can. Brownbag topic and session schedules will be posted on-line in the Calendar of Events as information becomes available.
For more information, contact Caroline Cole cmcole@berkeley.edu.
Brownbags for Fall 2009
The Lost Week End of the Semester:
How to Deal with the Reading/Recitation/Review Week
Thursday, September 10, 2009
12:30 pm to 2 pm
Quinn Room, 114 Wheeler Hall
Facilitators: Verda Delp, Jane Hammons, Heather Kirn, and Michael Larkin
Given the loss of the last days of class, and that the last week of classes is now the week following Thanksgiving break, what changes have you made or are you contemplating to address the institution of the RRR period? How have you changed your syllabus or important assignments? When do you plan to return any final assignment so that it can be revised (if necessary) for the portfolio? How and when will you guide students through portfolio preparation sessions? How will you give your class a "concluding moment," knowing the final portfolios will not yet be in?
In this round table discussion we hope to explore answers to these questions by eliciting ideas and plans for making the shortened semester work for students.
Collaborative Classrooms: Tips and Techniques for Engaging Students
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
12:15 pm to 1:45 pm
Quinn Room, 114 Wheeler Hall
Facilitators: Teri Crisp and Michelle Baptiste
Many of us use collaborative learning techniques that shift classroom interaction from teacher-student to student-student. In this session, we will provide rationale for collaborative work and offer a compilation of 25 ideas for encouraging substantive and lasting learning.
We invite you to consider these techniques, share your own, and discuss how best to make group work succeed.
Teaching Students about Academic Gestures
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
12:15pm to 1:45pm
Quinn Room, 114 Wheeler Hall
What resources can help teachers and students become proficient in the rhetorical moves valued in academia? Several faculty members have used Graff and Birkenstein's They Say/I Say in the classroom with varying levels of success. Some faculty have noted that the book has helped their students see patterns they could use in situating and framing discussions, working with source materials, ensuring cohesion, and imitating rhetorical conventions. Others bemoan the template approach as overly simplistic and formulaic.
In this session, faculty members share classroom experiences. We invite participants to share the ways they have used They Say/I Say in the classroom or other texts and resources they have found to help students learn and develop proficiency in academic discourse conventions.
