Michelle Baptiste, an applied linguist, has been teaching writing at UC Berkeley College Writing Programs since 2002. She specializes in teaching culturally, racially, and linguistically diverse classes of developing writers. Her passion is supporting students to cultivate their own unique voice and develop a repertoire of voices they can access as they write across genres. She enjoys supporting students as they revise, design, and publish multimodal pieces online and encourages students to conduct interviews as part of their research process. In her own research to earn her MA in English as a Second Language, she observed 64 US naturalization interviews and continues to be engaged in examining citizenship--historically and today. She served as a US Peace Corps volunteer for two years in St. Lucia (West Indies) designing curriculum and a nationwide advertising campaign for adult literacy programs and also taught English at a summer camp at an American School in Japan (ASIJ). In addition, she has taught writing to multilingual students at the University of Hawai'i, as well as to Navajo (Diné) teachers on the Navajo Nation through Northern Arizona University in partnership with Northern Arizona Literacy Enterprises (NALE) and Northern Arizona Writing Project (NAWP). Currently, as a Teacher Consultant with Bay Area Writing Project (BAWP), she collaborates with educators from Kindergarten through college--seeking professional development opportunities and embracing lifelong learning herself.
PUBLICATIONS
Baptiste, M. (2023). Representing & Using Others’ Ideas: Finding the Perfect Signal Verb. In D. Coad & M. Reznizki (Eds.), Dynamic Activities for First-Year Composition. National Council of Teachers of English.
Baptiste, M. (2019). Your Word & My Word. Blog Post. Available at http://michelleucb.weebly.com
Baptiste, M. (2017). Teaching Writing to Multilingual Students. Writing Across Berkeley.
Baptiste, M. (2016). The Value(s) of US Citizenship: An Analysis of the English Writing Test for Naturalization Applicants. (Chapter 2). In A. Loring & V. Ramanathan (Eds.), Language, Immigration, and Naturalization. Bristol, United Kingdom: Multilingual Matters.
Baptiste, M. (2008). Drawing students in as active participants in professional development: one teacher’s success. In Professional Writing of the 2008 Summer Fellows. Bay Area Writing Project, University of California, Berkeley, pp. 17-26.
Baptiste, M. (2008). The appointment. In Creative Work Anthology. Bay Area Writing Project, University of California, Berkeley, pp. 47-48.
Baptiste, M. (2008). The language on campus. In Creative Work Anthology. Bay Area Writing Project. University of California, Berkeley, p. 49.
Baptiste, M. C. (Winn) and Seig, M. T. (2007). Training the Guardians of America’s Gate: Discourse-Based Lessons from Naturalization Interviews. In High Stakes Gatekeeping Encounters and their Consequences: Discourses in Cross-Cultural Institutional Settings. (Special Edition, Guest Editor Julie Kerekes). Journal of Pragmatics 39, 1919-1941. Available at http://www.sciencedirect.com
Winn, M. (2005). Collecting target discourse: The case of the US naturalization interview. In M. H. Long (Ed.), Second Language Needs Analysis (pp. 265-303). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Winn, M. (2004). The C©(c)hurch is a human institution. In Soulspeak: An Anthology of Writing from the Bay Area Writing Project 30th Year Anniversary 2004 Summer Institute. University of California, Berkeley.
Winn, M. (2004). Language awareness empowering students. In Professional Writing for the 2004 Invitational Summer Institute: Works in progress. Bay Area Writing Project, University of California, Berkeley.
Winn, M. (2004). Naming. In Soulspeak: An Anthology of Writing from the Bay Area Writing Project 30th Year Anniversary. Bay Area Writing Project, University of California, Berkeley, pp. 88-90.
Winn, M. (2002). The use of African-American Vernacular English in teaching Standard American English as a second dialect. In A. Bell, J. Shoemaker, & G. Sibley, Eds. Proceedings: Selected Papers from the Third College-Wide Conference for Students in Languages, Linguistics and Literature 1999. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i at Manoa.
Winn, M. et al w/ Da Pidgin Coup. (1999). Pidgin & Education: A Position Paper. University of Hawai’i at Manoa: Charlene Sato Center for the Study of Pidgin, Creole, & Dialect Studies. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ877775.pdf
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Leveling Up: Using the Thesis Pyramid to Design an Argument Structure and Discover a Level 3 Conclusion (Workshop with Chisako Cole)
Fostering Connections Conference, Berkeley, 2024
Beyond Mere Comparison: Rethinking the Movie vs. Book Essay, CATESOL, Alameda, 2023
Why Learn to Write in the Age of AI? University Students’ Perspectives on the Writing Requirement, Conference on Community Writing, Denver, 2023
Bolstering Student-to-Student Engagement: Participation via Padlet (Padlet IdeaLab Presentation) ATXpo, UC Berkeley, 2022
Creating Connections: Authors Are People Too! (Padlet Poster Presentation) UC Writing Programs Conference, UC Berkeley (online/virtual), 2021
Rubric Expansion & Genre Study: Identity Self-Reflection & Language Learning Narrative to Op-Eds & Electronic Portfolios (Projected Handout) ATXpo Follow-up Multimodal Workshop, Santa Clara University, 2020
Creative Student Activities to Foster Inquiry & Learning Panel (with Jason Courtmanche & Lawrence Grandpre)
Experimenting with Voice & Genre to Ask Meaningful Questions
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), National Writing Project strand, Baltimore, 2019
From Behind Bars to Raising the Bar: Reframing the Narrative from the Inside Out (Panel with Jamie Hein)
Cultivating Student Voice & Building Empathy: Reading & Writing Gripping Relevant Texts
Conference on Community Writing, Philadelphia, 2019
Embracing Diverse Experiences: How Literacy & Language Learning Narratives Inform Our Practice & Spur Meaningful Reflection Panel
(with Nancy Hunt & Linda Jensen Darling)
UC Writing Conference, UC Merced, 2018
Engaging Students Through Ethical Inquiry Panel (with Teri Crisp & Donnett Flash) "Planting the Seed: Education in Action: Environmental Field Studies"
Conference on Community Writing, Boulder, 2017
Civic Engagement and Composition: Inquiry around Freedom, History, & Politics in our Current Democracy Panel (with Amy Jamgochian & Grace Morizawa)
“Building Bridges: Engaging in Democracy: Political Discourse Analysis in a University Classroom”
Conference on Community Writing, Boulder, 2017
Multiple Angles on Legitimating Multimodal Writing in Reading, Composition, & Research Courses Panel (with Kim Freeman, Amy Lombardi, & Ryan Sloan)
Explicitness, Entrée, and Empowerment: Revising the Rubric
UC Writing Conference, Santa Barbara, 2016
Paradigms for Composition Pedagogies: Social Justice, Reason, & Emotion Cross-UC Panel
UC Writing Conference, Santa Barbara, 2016
Investigating Community Action for Equity & Justice—in the Research Course (with Teri Crisp)
UC Writing Conference, Santa Barbara, 2016
Public University, Civic Responsibility Panel (with Teri Crisp & Pat Steenland) "Moving towards a Just Society: Research Projects that Create Bridges"
Conference on Community Writing, University of Colorado, Boulder, 2015
What It Means to Be(come) American: An Analysis of the English Writing Test for Naturalization Applicants
Clairefest, University of California, Berkeley, 2015
What It Means to Be(come) American: An Analysis of the English Writing Test for Naturalization Applicants
American Association of Applied Linguistics, Toronto, 2015
Researching Beyond the World Wide Web: Accessing & Assessing Diverse Sources (with Pat Maughan & Pat Steenland)
California Association of Teachers of English, Santa Clara, 2009
The Analytic Essay: Building the Pyramid to an Insightful Thesis
Biennial Diablo Valley English Articulation Day Conference, Pleasant Hill, CA, 2006
Cross-Training between L1/L2 Composition Specialists (with Margi Wald)
Discussion Facilitator, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Tampa Bay, FL, 2006
Learner Empowerment through Analyzing Text and Self (with Margi Wald)
Colloquium, Conference on College Composition & Communication, San Francisco, 2005
Analyzing Text/Self in Multilingual Writing Classrooms (with Margi Wald)
California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Long Beach, CA, 2005
Impractical Distinctions between NS & NNS: One Program's Attempts to Re-Vision the Responsibilities of Composition Specialists (with Jane Stanley & Margi Wald) Symposium on Second Language Writing, Purdue, IN, 2004
Collaborative Tutoring Model Boosts Success of At-Risk Students (with Nicole Bouchard)
Northern California Writing Center Association, Palo Alto, CA, 2004
Examining High Stakes Situations: A Discourse Analysis Colloquium: Discourse-Based Training Lessons from INS Interviews (with Mary Theresa Seig)
American Association of Applied Linguistics, Arlington, VA, 2003
A Case Study in Collaboration Between Writing Centers and Academic Departments Panel
Northern California Writing Center Association, Monterey Bay, CA, 2003
Transforming Teaching Practices in Navajo/Diné Schools (with Dolores Healing)
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Salt Lake City, UT, 2002
Methodology in Collecting Target Discourse: The US Naturalization Interview
American Association of Applied Linguistics, Salt Lake City, UT, 2002
Target Discourse Collection: The Case of the US Naturalization Interview
Pacific Second Language Research Forum, Honolulu, HI, 2001
Interviewers’ Roles in the US Naturalization Interview
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, St. Louis, MO, 2001
Negotiating Borders & Discourse: Interaction & Outcome in Naturalization Interviews
American Association of Applied Linguistics, St. Louis, MO, 2001
Cultural Values and Contextual Presuppositions in the Naturalization Interview
Second Language Research Forum, Madison, WI, 2000
Values at Play: The US Naturalization Interview
Conference of the College of Language, Linguistics, and Literature, University of Hawai’i, 2000
Purposeful Uses of African-American Vernacular English in the Classroom
Conference of the College of Language, Linguistics, and Literature, University of Hawai’i, 1999