2009 Stealth Pedagogy Workshop
Oct. 16, 2009
90 minutes
Introduction to Stealth Pedagogy: Institutionalizing WAC Practices
How to negotiate the delicate balance of offering new writing practices to seasoned professors. (5 – 10 minutes)
- The promise of fast, easy help
- Analyzing what professors mean when they say their students "can't write": narrowing the focus to specific facets of writing in order to develop a specific lesson to address that particular aspect of composition; helping with scaffolding/syllabus organization; helping with writing assignments; asking professors what assignments didn't work; looking at examples of professors' assignments; asking what made you unhappy about the result.
Methods of Stealth Pedagogy
Several methods that promote fruitful interaction between writing fellows and faculty.
Macro-level Stealth Pedagogy — Working With Entire Departments (10 minutes)
- Speech: breaking writing instruction into pieces, matching skills with classes. Go to the chair to ask for more writing in the department's requirement. Writing skills objectives for the Speech Department
Packet: Brooklyn College Speech Department Writing Skills Objectives - Philosophy: handbook with philosophy-specific lessons. Possibly creating handbooks for more disciplines. Political science and anthropology currently being investigated as possibilities. Pass around binder.
Packet: 1. Philosophy Resource Book Table of Contents. 2. Excerpts: Effective Writing Assignments (faculty); What Are the Characteristics of Philosophical Diction? (students); Peer Review and Collaborative Learning (faculty) - Business: public relations campaign: motivated by business professors' complaints about their students' poor writing skills, which, according to the professors, prevent students from getting jobs or even job interviews. Campaign developed by business students enrolled in a public relations course: four groups, competition with WFs as judges/clients. They surveyed their peers, who were often unaware of professors' concerns. The students would like more writing assignments. Another outcome: after sharing results with the chair, he vowed to require faculty and adjuncts in the department to assign more writing. Pass around examples
Micro-level Stealth Pedagogy — Mini-lessons
- The process of creating a mini-lesson: consulting with and listening to professors' concerns, choosing complaints to address. using content from course.
- Implementing the micro-lesson: how to organize, who does what?, role of the professor: remaining in the classroom, interjecting, connecting lesson to course requirements, collaborative preparation.
- Negative experience(s): complexity of negotiation, managing expectations, what to do when the professor wants to use course content that won't work for the lesson.
- Share our list of mini-lessons; packet
- Sharing some mini-lessons (20 minutes). Packet: Academic Diction; Avoiding Plagiarism; Using Writing to Read Difficult Texts; Using Interviews for Peer-Review
- Group brainstorming: list the most common complaints about student writing. (5 – 10 minutes). Write on board.
- Workshop: in groups of three or four (20 – 25 minutes).
- Choose one of the complaints.
- Informally outline a mini-lesson to address the problem.
- What kinds of handouts would be useful and will remain relevant/fresh?
- Can this be adapted to suit different disciplines?
- Entire group will reconvene and share and discuss.
- If time permits, compile list of additional possible mini-lessons as group.
