In the next edition of TYCA to You, we’ll be talking about hybrid composition courses and how they work for you. Interested in offering your two-cents? Here’s what we’d like to know… 1) How does your school handle hybrid courses? Do students have to take orientation to sign up? Do these classes count as a regular […]
Office Hours–Proposal Writing Tips for First-Timers
April 21, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Proposal Writing Tips for First-Timers by Michelle Byrne, University of Akron I wrote my first conference presentation proposal when I was first hired at my college. I had never heard of TYCA, never written a presentation proposal, was brand new to my college, and clueless. Fortunately, I had three outstanding colleagues who ignored all that […]
TYCA to You–Politics in the Classroom
February 1, 2017 by 1 Comment
Dear TYCA Midwest Members: Let your voice be heard! Please respond to the survey below about the role politics should (or shouldn’t) play in the composition classroom. The survey has 6 questions and shouldn’t take you much longer than 5 minutes. Your feedback on these questions may be used in the next Midwest Update in the […]
Message from the Chair–Losing My Patience
November 2, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Losing My Patience by Michelle Byrne, University of Akron My students wonder why writing is “so hard.” My students just want me to tell them “how to do it.” They ask me to help them brainstorm, and they wonder if they are “doing it right.” In years past, I am usually patient with them. College […]
Conference Reflection–Ode to TYCA
October 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment
So, maybe there’s a reason I leave TYCA-MW last, when I do attend. Maybe I am meant to be the non-elected, unofficial reflector of the event. Maybe I’ve become that person because I travel the farthest, typically, to TYCA-MW, being the North Dakota rep and all. Maybe it’s because I love to write journal entries about my life […]
Office Hours–From Then to Now
October 13, 2016 by Leave a Comment
From Then to Now by Helen Lepp Friesen, Ph.D., University of Winnipeg I never really had any intention of being a university writing professor. Like many young graduates with an MA in English I had lofty idealistic dreams of writing the next great American novel and becoming a full time sought after writer. The fall […]
Office Hours–Using Artifacts to Assess Professionalism
October 13, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Using Artifacts to Assess Professionalism by Galen Leonhardy, Black Hawk College The concept of academic professionalism in local contexts remains common in my writing. The basic question I ask is, what is professionalism in English education? Answering that question results in a kind of journalistic ethnography allowing me to look at micro-contexts and assess them […]
What Works for Me–A “Killer” Assignment
October 13, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Murder Mysteries and English Composition: An Interesting (Dead Man’s) Bridge to Academic Literacy by Sarah Justice, English Instructor, Columbus State Community College My Composition I classes have the same topic: sustainability. I feel college students should engage in topics that are integral to the continuation of human society so that they can vote, protest, or perform […]
TYCA to You–General Education Outcomes
August 10, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The next edition of TYCA to You will have information on college practices surrounding gen ed outcomes for higher ed and how people feel about the outcomes themselves and/or the revision processes within their states. In order to provide a full picture, our region’s national representative, Suzanne Labadie, seeks feedback from Midwest members on […]
Scholarship–Call for Book Chapters: Approaches To Teaching LGBT Lit
June 23, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Call for Book Chapters: Approaches to Teaching LGBT Literature at the Post-Secondary Level Contact: John Pruitt, University of Wisconsin-Rock County, [email protected] In 1995, George Haggerty and Bonnie Zimmerman’s landmark volume Professions of Desire: Lesbian and Gay Studies in Literature (MLA), followed by William Spurlin’s Lesbian and Gay Studies and the Teaching of English (NCTE, 2000), […]