OTHER SOURCES OF IDEAS AND HELP WITH YOUR CLASSES

· Syllabi.  The next section of this handbook contains sample syllabi for each course.  Other syllabi are on file in the CWP office.

· Resource Guides and IF-Files.  Over the years, various individuals and groups of CWP teachers have assembled packets and booklets of class activities and exercises.  Some of these are included in this handbook; others are available in the CWP office for you to look at or copy.  Please consider adding your own ideas to our files.

· Exercises and Assignments for English 102 have been compiled on CD by Les Hannah.  Check with the CWP office or with Les to find out more about these.

· CWP-list. This is an online discussion list, open to members and friends of our program.  To subscribe, send a message to majordomo@unr.edu. The message line should read, "Subscribe cwp-list."

¨      Web pages.  Writing programs and centers on various campuses maintain OWLs (Online Writing Labs) and other writing web pages that are often good sources of ideas for writers and teachers of writing.  Some of these URLs are available from Brad or Kathy.  Here are a few good sites with links to many others:

            www.owl.english.purdue.edu (Purdue’s OWL)

            www.english.uiuc.edu/cws/wworkshop (University of Illinois.  Note the links!)

            www.agricola.umn.edu/owc/ (University of Minnesota.  Clever site design.)

            web.missouri.edu/~writery  (University of Missouri’s Online Writery and Café)

UNR’s Core Writing Web Page can be found at www.unr.edu/cla/engl/cwp.  It provides information on the program and includes some sample student essays.

¨      English 737.   This seminar, “Teaching College Language and Literature,” is required for new TAs and recommended for new instructors on Letter of Appointment.

¨      "Teachers Teaching Teachers" (TTT) Workshops are held throughout the year.  At each hour-and-fifteen-minute session, three or four experienced teachers share techniques and materials on a given topic, such as “getting started on research,” “classroom management,” and “winding up the semester.”  Watch for the TTT posters.

¨      Mentors.  Every new teacher in our program is assigned a mentor and a mentoring group for the first year.  Of course, office mates and fellow graduate students may also serve as unofficial mentors, but the mentoring group will offer support to each member and help provide the writing program with some consistency.  See the next page for more information on our CWP mentoring program.

¨      People.  Please stop by to chat about your class with Kathy, Mary, Jimmy, Eric your mentor, and other CWP teachers.

Here are some things your mentoring group should be providing this year:

            1) Occasional informal meetings to chat in a non-threatening atmosphere about teaching issues and techniques. English 737 also offers these opportunities to chat about the everyday challenges of teaching, but many people also appreciate the chance to talk "off the record" with colleagues about classroom problems that might come up.

            2) "Cross-visits," or reciprocal visits to one another's classrooms.  At a minimum, a mentor should visit the classroom of each new teacher, and each new teacher should visit the mentor (or another experienced teacher if necessary) once a semester.  Mentoring group members may also visit each other's classrooms.  Shortly after your mentor visits your class, you should have an informal conversation—perhaps over coffee.  The point of the visit and conversation is not to evaluate the class session, but rather to a) describe what the mentor saw and learned in the class; b) answer any questions you have about your class or teaching; c) discuss any suggestions the mentor might have.

            3) Paper and portfolio reading sessions (at least two).  Each mentoring group should meet to talk about--and demonstrate--constructive ways of responding to some student papers.  The group should also get together to evaluate some papers--and some portfolios--and to talk about their criteria for evaluation. 

            4) A place to make suggestions and generate ideas for the program as a whole.  The director and committee welcome these ideas and suggestions from the mentors or any member of the mentoring groups!

Download an RTF version of Other Sources of Ideas and Help with Your Classes.