Giving thanks and looking ahead

[kathry...@uc.edu]

Little did I know, when I recruited Matt Baker, Matt Gilchrist, and Gina Genova--none of whom I really knew--to help put a preconference workshop together for 4Cs that they would knock it out of the park. But they did! We held the workshop this past week, and it went really well. After an introduction by me, Matt G gave a super presentation on the similarities and differences between teaching rhet/comp and workplace writing. Then Matt B walked them through a structured approach to planning a workplace-writing course, from articulating appropriate outcomes to designing courses and assignments. Gina shared great ideas for designing and sharing criteria for evaluating student work and for giving feedback on that work. And then we all rotated through four breakout rooms to further discuss planning syllabi, designing assignments, writing cases, and assessing student work. Twenty-five people attended, from schools across the US and from a wide variety of programs, and, judging from the vibe "in the room" and the chat comments, they really appreciated the advice and help.

I just wanted to be sure you all knew how hard Matt G, Matt B, and Gina worked, and the "cred" they brought our SIG--and to the teaching of workplace writing. Many, many thanks, you guys!! And thanks again to Kristen Getchell, whose first proposed doing this workshop and who drafted the proposal that we used as a template to get the workshop on this year's 4Cs program.

Geoff recently floated some ideas about next year's SIG activities. I'm going to bow out as a SIG co-chair going forward, but I'm happy to help with any projects that the group wants to undertake for the next Cs. I'm also up for helping set up a 4Cs Liaison SIG in ABC if the group thinks that's a good idea and someone wants to take the lead on this. Note that the deadline for getting a meeting time on the program of the next ABC annual meeting is April 26--and the SIG would need approval from the ABC FIrst VP first.

There are a lot of rhet/comp faculty out there who need our community and our help. Let's keep the mo going!

Kathy

[kathry...@uc.edu]

Forgot to say thank you to Seth Archer and Brian Hentz, who contributed syllabi and assignments to the packet of resources we prepared for the participants. Thanks, guys! I see also that some of our workshop attendees have joined the  SIG. Welcome!!!