ECE English Conference

What Does it Mean to “Circulate” Our Writing?

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Thank you all for staying with me over this three-post tour of Circulation. Today I want to discuss Circulation as it is most commonly conceived and presented in the first-year writing classroom: as the activity of circulating a piece of writing amongst a particular audience and setting. In the process, I hope to explore the many questions that Circulating asks writers to consider as they compose their writing for a specific purpose and set of contexts. 

Circulation as Rhetorical Context 

Circulation as “Rhetorical Context,” as all of you undoubtedly have heard numerous times, is the practice of writing with a specific audience, genre, form, media, accessibility, impact, etc. in mind. For a library, this is maybe the organization of the materials in their collection, the layout of shelves and displays for patron navigation, and which materials are displayed. It also describes the impact this has on how patrons physically circulate through the library, which materials get circulated, and why—taking into consideration:  

  • Who the library’s patrons are,  
  • What they are interested in or need,  
  • Their access to those materials,  
  • The impact these materials have on their patrons as they circulate?  

In the conference, we want to explore what questions we pose to students—and how we pose them—that can help them identify the affordances and constraints of different types or modes of Circulation. At the same time, we want these questions to promote students’ consideration of these pros and cons in connection with their own goals, enabling them to make purposeful rhetorical decisions with their writing. This may include:  

  • Who do they want to share their writing with?  
  • How does that audience conventionally circulate their writing?  
  • Do they want to adopt these principles or make the conscious, rhetorical decision to depart from certain genre conventions?  
  • What media and/or modalities are best suited to conveying and circulating their writing?   
  • How can a composition be effectively accessed and shared by the audience we want to reach?  
  • What tensions arise between voice and genre and how do we navigate them?  
  • How will it be received and is it expressing its ideas ethically and in good faith? 

When we practice Circulation as a rhetorical context, we are asking students to think about why they are writing, then make informed decisions about how to best achieve these writing goals. And during the conference, we hope to address how to best go about fostering this reflective approach to composition. 

Collaborative Circulation: A Recursive Roadmap 

As these different contexts coalesce, it becomes apparent that Circulation is a recurring and collaborative writing practice. We hope that by foregrounding the practice of Circulation in the classroom, we can enable students to be mindful of all the questions Circulation asks them to consider in every phase of the writing process—harnessing Circulation for their own thinking and writing purposes.  

I look forward to exploring the many ways Circulation takes place in the FYW classroom at the upcoming November 1st! 

Conceptualizing Circulation: Brainstorming and Feedback

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Hi all, as promised, here is the first of two follow-ups to last week’s preview of our Conference theme. In this post, I’ll be discussing the role of Circulation in Ideation and Feedback. Later this week another post will cover Circulation as Rhetorical Context with a summary of our tour of Circulation.  

Circulation for Brainstorming and Ideation GraphicCirculation for Brainstorming and Ideation: 

Thinking back to the library, any specific book that gets added to a collection is shaped by and in response to the active ecosystem of texts, social contexts, culture circulating in and around that library. New writings Engage with their conceptual antecedents, adopt (or reject) established genre conventions of form and style, and augment these precedents according to present social discourse, cultural trends, political, and physical environments. Moreover, which texts are accessible is also directly related to the social and political powers/movements governing circulation. This directly influences the writing that can be engaged with, directly influencing the ideation phase of writing and thinking. And as soon as a new book enters into the library, it becomes a part of the circulating texts and contexts that will shape subsequent readings and writings.  

During the conference, we will explore what Circulation as a tool and context for brainstorming and ideation looks like and how it can be emphasized in the FYW classroom. For example, it may prove valuable to consider that in any ECE writing class, when we ask students to Collect perspectives, Engage with difficult texts, and Contextualize their research question/inquiry, the circulating texts they encounter engender ideation and brainstorming.  

The act of reading, and the thoughts and responses in the margins and/or in the mind of the reader, is a product and practice of Circulation. A circulating text stimulates ideation as the reader “talks” back to the text during their reading. Students’ responses to an inquiry and text circulate in the classroom as they share initial thoughts—writing ideas and questions in their infancy. In a collaborative brainstorming session or class discussion, students’ conversations influence each other’s thinking, which in turn promotes self-reflection and a consideration of alternative perspectives that helps them develop these future writing ideas.  

We hope to discuss methods of working with students to help them recognize that participating in the Circulation of ideas in a public ecosystem is not only about “putting our writing out into the world.” It also consists of receiving, responding to, and then interrogating those responses in a way that helps us come up with concepts they can develop in writings that will make meaningful contributions to that ecosystem. We want students to see that they are participating in Circulation in every phase of writing.  

Circulation of Feedback and Suggestions: Circulation of Feedback Graphic

Similarly, the Circulation of feedback and suggestions helps students further develop their writing. When I think of the editing of a book, I am imagining the cinematic portrayals of an author bickering with their editor about what gets included. Or maybe the editor poses a question that prompts a total rewriting or reconsideration of an author’s stance. As feedback discursively circulates between editor and author it cultivates a more thoughtful reflection on the piece of writing, its goals, and its method in a fashion that is ultimately generative. When “editing” a library, staff must first reflect on which materials are being (or not) circulated most by patrons. This then informs the “editing” of their collection—what materials are weeded and what materials are added—to help the library best serve the needs of its patrons, i.e., achieve its purpose. And this does not take place in a vacuum but features a discussion amongst multiple librarians and between staff and patrons as they “revise” and “refine” the library. 

The FYW classroom is a comparable space; students circulate their work as they collaboratively revise and refine their writing to more effectively achieve their compositional goals. Group workshops and peer-review offer a low stakes environment where students can gauge audience reception, find alternative perspectives, receive feedback, and work together to develop their own and others’ compositions. These drafting and revision activities grant them freedom to experiment radically or minutely with their writing. Practicing how to provide and receive feedback—inside and outside the classroom—encourages students to reflect on their writing and its goals and how they might best achieve them. During the conference, we will explore ways to capitalize on the opportunities for growth and learning that Circulation affords during these activities. We also look to share and discuss the various forms, uses, and struggles of giving and receiving feedback. 

Circulating Our Conference Concept

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Ahead of our upcoming Fall 2024 Conference: “Collaborative Circulation: A Recursive Roadmap” I thought it might prove valuable to share how we arrived at this theme and the three session topics.  

When I think of “Circulation” the first thing I imagine are the materials circulating in a library. Any given book (or other material) itself and the ideas it contains and expresses, moves amongst and across discrete spaces (within a library or system of libraries), interacting with individuals as they read, and augments the cultural discourse or zeitgeist. At the same time, these texts are consciously and unconsciously indebted to centuries of literary antecedents and the precedents set before them. They are also shaped by the books already in circulation. They consciously adopt, build upon, or reject conventions of genre; they reiterate on concepts and themes in response to their present social landscape; and as they circulate, these texts shape the present cultural moment that will give rise to and contextualize the writings of others.  

In a First Year Writing (FYW) setting, the “Habit of Practice” of Circulation is most often discussed it in reference to how a writing will be shared, with whom, and the rhetorical decisions this informs (genre, diction, modality, etc.) But from the moment students step into the classroom, ideas, writings, and bodies are circulating. Student’s responses, discussions, collaborative work circulate responses to the course inquiry within the classroom environment. Circulation in an FYW classroom is a social and recursive practice, from the compositional act of marking/annotating their reading, responding to shared texts, group discussions, collaborative workshops, peer & instructor feedback, and the sharing of a piece of writing.   

In attempting to tease out the significant role that circulation plays in various contexts we have divided up the conference to give three Circulation zones individual attention (though they often overlap).  

  • Circulation For Brainstorming and Ideation: The role of circulating materials and ideas in a way that stimulates ideas to write about 
  • Circulation of Feedback and Suggestions: The process of providing, receiving and reflecting on feedback to inform purposeful revisions. 
  • Circulation as Rhetorical Context: Navigating the contexts of why, where, when, how, and with whom writing is being shared with.  

In posts coming early next week, I will explore each of these zones in more detail. But on a broader scale, by exploring the role of circulation in these phases of writing we look to broaden our definition of Circulation as more than just the final stop in writing, the sending out of “finished” compositions. During the November 1st conference, we will discuss some ways Circulation can play a role in the three zones we’ve identified, share strategies for dealing with the challenges of “Circulation,” and discuss its synergy with the other “Habits of Practices.” Ultimately, framing Circulation as a dynamic practice that is ever-present in an FYW classroom allows us to see it as a way into, a part of, and extending beyond the practice of writing. 

ECE English Spring 2024 Conference

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ECE English Presents

Inquiring About Writing: Syllabi and Texts in the ECE English High School Classroom

April 2024 Conference

UConn Hartford

For conference slides, please visit this website:

SharePoint

Teaching first-year writing in the high school classroom is a unique and fun experience that grants us the chance to experiment and play with how we and our students engage with writing. This freedom to pursue a course directed toward our students’ needs is the focus of this conference. How can you revise your syllabus to make it more inquiry-based and student-focused? What does it mean to teach first-year writing over a high school academic year? How can you utilize various types of texts—from books to articles to art to film to contemporary events—in your classroom? These questions and more form the basis of this focus on syllabi and inquiry in the ECE high school classroom.

With the end of another year quickly approaching, this conference brings together ECE English teachers to reflect on how to improve our syllabi, use different texts with our teaching, and implement first-year writing in the high school classroom for the next school year. We gather at the UConn Hartford campus for a differentiated conference experience. Choose from engaging with Hartford’s public museum, the Wadsworth Atheneum, and talking about identity and writing; an intensive for new(er) teachers to think about teaching a full year of ENGL 1007; workshops on unit arcs and using texts in the classroom; or come ready to do some guided work in our group working room.

April 26, 2024 | 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
UConn Hartford

 

Agenda

“Barbie, Literary Theory, and Art” Course Unit Discussion

Advisory Board Member Kevin Barbero provides an example of a course arc focused around Barbie, literary theory, and art, showcasing his assignments and syllabus architecture for this unit. Teachers will engage in a workshop discussion about course inquiry and teaching units in the ECE English high school classroom with Kevin’s example as the jumping off point. 

Wadsworth Atheneum: Engaging with Inquiry, Identity, and Writing

Join Advisory Board Member Arri Weeks as she takes a group to the Wadsworth Museum in downtown Hartford. The group will think about inquiry, texts, identity, and writing as it relates to an exhibit in the museum.

New(er) Teacher Intensive Workshop

If you are a new or newer teacher who is thinking about the yearlong ENGL 1004 or 1007 classroom in the high school setting, this intensive workshop is for you. Join Advisory Board Members Kyle Candia-Bovi and Alexa Kydd as they show you an example from their syllabi about how to turn the usually semester-long ENGL 1007 into a yearlong course.

Group Working Room

Do you need some time to just think deeply with a group about your syllabi and class and have some quiet time to work on them? Join Advisory Board Members Emily Genser and Ramona Puchalski-Piretti in some an hour-long guided working session.

“The Good Place, Literary Theory, and Philosophy” Course Unit Discussion

Advisory Board Member Kristen Rotherham provides an example of a course arc focused around The Good Place, literary theory, and philosophy, showcasing her assignments and syllabus architecture for this unit. Teachers will engage in a workshop discussion about course inquiry and teaching units in the ECE English high school classroom with Kristen’s example as the jumping off point. 

Concluding Session

Join us for concluding remarks about syllabi, text choice, and inquiring about writing in the ECE English high school classroom.

ECE English Conference Spring 2023

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ECE English Presents

Salutations, Congratulations, and Critiques
Praise and Optimism in the Writing Classroom

October 2023 Conference

For conference slides, please visit this website:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FR8fEQitbG3gt7MUhOOKKFcH3CTRV4dFo0pEWSjG1QA/edit?usp=sharings.uconn.edu/fall23slides

Poster for the October 2023 Conference. Information can be found on the webpage.A lot has happened in the last few years from pandemics to wars to disagreements to economic upheavals. Our students have lived through these events, surviving and, hopefully in some cases, thriving resiliently. How can we make our classrooms a space for optimistic inquiry through writing? How might we facilitate classrooms with positive critique and critical praise? How can we bring some joy and light through multimodality and studio pedagogy into the lives and experiences of our students? This conference builds on the work of Deonna Smith on joy and the anti-racist classroom, Gholdy Muhammad on cultivating genius and unearthing joy, and Felicia Rose Chavez on the anti-racist writing workshop in a series of workshops that brings together our community of early college experience English teachers to share in the delights and failings of giving feedback.

We hope to welcome in the new school year with an approach to teaching that is firm to our core principles while at the same time bringing out more bright opportunities and chances for our students. Through the collective experience of attendees, this conference will create an archive of feedback models, facilitate close pedagogical relationships, and partner with others to improve all of our methods of communication with our students. We will engage in the first-year writing habits of practice—collecting and curating, engaging, contextualizing, theorizing, and circulating—to strengthen our community, learn from each other, and find joy in our students.

October 6 | 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Student Union 305
UConn, Storrs Campus

Registration now open!

Learn more through our blog series!

Throughout the months of September, October, and November, we will host a series of blogs focusing on our critical interlocutors—Smith, Muhammad, and Chavez—in order to think through some of the principles in their books.

Introducing Praise and Optimism in the Writing ClassroomCover image for the blog "Introducing Praise & Optimism in the Writing Classroom"

In this blog post, Adam introduces the authors and texts we’ll be working with, along with a brief thought on what feedback and critiquing—supporting our student’s writing and revising—might be.

Gholdy Muhammad’s Cultivating Genius and Unearthing Joy introduce the five points of historically responsive literacy.

Deonna Smith’s Rooted in Joy centers our anti-racist work in joy.

Felicia Rose Chavez’s The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop gives ideas of how we can run our classrooms and support our students writing.

ECE English Conference Spring 2023

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Spring Forward!

Tuesday, April 18

9 a.m. – noon

UConn Storrs Student Union rooms 304 A/B/C

Conference schedule.pdf

Get a head start on your materials for the fall at our spring conference. This year we’ll focus specifically on the role of text (which comes in many forms!) in the ECE English classroom, developing course materials for 2023-2024, and using UConn’s varied library resources for activities and assignments.

Conference resources

Main materials:

Opening Remarks slideshow (Google Slides)

Conference slideshow (Google Slides)

Using the UConn Library slideshow (Google Slides)

Session Padlet links:

Session 1 Padlet (“Reading in ECE English”)

Session 2 Padlet (“Building Text into the Course Inquiry”)

Supplementary links:

UConn Reads homepage

UConn Library homepage

UConn Archives & Special Collections digital collections homepage

Connecticut Digital Archives (CTDA) homepage

Fall 2022 conference: kicking off the school year

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Our first conference of the 2022-2023 academic year—and our first in-person conference in quite some time—was a fun and successful one. Attendees shared creative artifacts from the studio segments of their ECE English classrooms, and we discussed the field research component of ENGL 1007 a bit in the second session of the day. 

Session 1, Studio Pedagogy: Creative Experimentation, asked participants to do a little homework ahead of time. Teachers shared a studio artifact before arriving at the conference—a successful activity or assignment they were proud of, or something students really enjoyed working on. Many people brought up podcasts as one such activity: students like working in a creative medium and exploring their own interests through research and conversation. Likewise, conference attendees spoke to how fun and exciting it is to learn about those interests as the information is relayed in a unique format. Participants referenced platforms like GarageBand (Apple), Audacity, and Soundtrap (Spotify) as popular and accessible methods for creating podcast episodes.Podcast editing platforms Audacity, GarageBand, Soundtrap

Some teachers shared assignments which centered around the literature they read in their classes, and others still spoke on activities focused on social media and pop culture. You can find a curated collection of submitted studio artifacts here, in a shared Google Drive folder. 

Session 2, Making Contact With the World: Field Research/Documentary in First-Year Writing, invited attendees to think about how students conduct research intentionally for ENGL 1007. What kind of research are they conducting? Is it tangible—and does it need to be? How are they curating it for any given project? Some conference-goers shared their thoughts on our Session 2 Padlet (which you might still fill out, if you have your own lingering thoughts). Among some of the ideas shared were:

  • having students fill out observation charts as they conduct research
  • conducting case studies
  • having students conduct interviews

Some conference-goers expressed concern over the amount of technology they should feel responsible for teaching and incorporating in their studio sessions. While multimodality is an essential component of the ENGL 1007 curriculum, we encourage you to explore and play rather than master and perfect. Also, keep in mind that your students likely have some level of competency (or expertise!) in these media/platforms already. Students know how to take and edit photos and videos on their phones, for example, and they are fast learners to boot.

If you were unable to attend this conference, you can find all of the links on our site conference page here.

ECE English Conference Fall 2022

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A New Chapter

Tuesday, October 18

8:30 a.m. – noon

Program.pdf

Let’s turn the the page together! In 2022, UConn’s First-Year Writing program transitioned from ENGL 1010 and 1011 to ENGL 1007: Seminar and Studio in Academic Writing and Multimodal Composition. Though much is the same, this transition ushers in new emphases: a focus on course inquiry, studio pedagogy, field research, and writing moves. By now, you’ve settled into your ENGL 1007 (and ENGL 1004) classrooms, so at this conference we wanted to celebrate the successes and wins that have come with this new transition to ENGL 1007, as well as address some of the challenges you may be facing. We spent time collaborating on some potential solutions to implement for the rest of the 2022-2023 academic year, and also discussed implementing new ways to “make contact” with the world in the field research portions of our classes.

 

Opening remarks presentation links:

Google presentation 1

DALL·E 2

General session links:

Google presentation 2

Field Research / Documentary Notes (session 2) Padlet

Working lunch brainstorming Padlet

Curated Google Drive folder of collaborative studio artifact examples

Supplemental materials:

Kathryn Warrender’s Google slideshow on Primary Research assignments in FYW

FYW’s resources on synchronous studio modules in UConn classrooms

FYW’s resources on asynchronous studio modules in UConn classrooms

ECE English Conference Spring 2022

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A Day of Plausible Dada

Thursday, March 31, 2022

10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Register

Conference Program.pdf

English 1007 Overview

Session I links:

The Studio Experience Slideshow

Infographic Overview and Workshop Instructions

Session III links:

Designing a Course Inquiry Slideshow

Course Inquiry Template

 

 

What is “P.D.”? Plausible Dada? A Pajama Day? A Pleasant Digression?

“Professional Development” is a term that secondary education folks cringe when they see. “P.D.” is a loaded phrase, synomous with the idea of outside “experts” who come in to hawk trends that vanish in a year or two.

For our Spring 2022 Conference, we are playing with the much-dreaded notion of “P.D.” as we embark on a play day to refresh our syllabi for the changeover to ENGL 1007 in the fall. We are dedicating the conference to a day of workshops intended to help instructors jumpstart their course inquiries, experience Studio Pedagogy as students, and develop their own Studio activities. Bring your syllabi, your assignments, and your ideas!

 

Supplementary readings

View these videos about course inquiry and writing moves:

Course Inquiry

Writing Moves

Check out the recent blog posts by Kari Daly and Scott Campbell:

As well as these websites regarding Studio Pedagogy:

ECE English Conference Fall 2021

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Friday, October 22, 2021

10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Conference Program.pdf

CLICK HERE FOR CONFERENCE MATERIAL ARCHIVE

(You must be logged into your UConn email to access)

 

Please check out the following blog posts:

Choosing Readings, Part I

Choosing Readings, Part II

As well as Letting Go of Literary Whiteness: Antiracist Literature Instruction for White Students by Carlin Borsheim-Black and Sophia Tatiana Sarigianides and The Antiracist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom by Felicia Rose Chavez.

 

Teaching for Joy and Justice

The past eighteen months have brought substantial challenges to our profession. As teachers, we are just beginning to emerge from the heavy cloud of the pandemic to embrace the new normal. Concerns about access to technological tools for distance learning have given way to concerns about navigating a safe, socially-distanced classroom. In this new world, it’s easy to be overcome with frustration from the need to constantly pivot in our teaching while simultaneously implementing an antiracist pedagogy. Additionally, ECE instructors are keenly aware of the pressure to meet the criteria of the new English 1007 course next year.

Our fall conference seeks to recapture the joy of teaching, to reinvigorate our pedagogy and embrace the beginning of a new era. We will celebrate what we’ve learned from the pandemic and our antiracist work and ask how we can continue to grow as instructors.

In this conference we’ll explore the possibilities which the changeover to the ENGL1007 curriculum affords us by sharing exciting new multimodal assignments; learning how studio pedagogy can foster problem solving through composition; and finding inspiration in fresh takes on the readings we assign in first-year writing. We invite you to lean into the new curriculum with us to discover how it can promote student exploration and reinvigorate our teaching.