WR 111
Syllabus Checklist
This checklist includes important reminders, deadlines, links, and tips for preparing your WR syllabus. Please review this checklist before submitting your draft syllabus to ensure that your syllabus aligns with the latest Writing Program requirements. Note that this checklist is for your use only and should NOT be submitted along with your syllabus. Consult the […]
Facilitating Discussions
Each Flipped Learning Module (FLM) is a set of short videos and online activities that can be used (in whole or in part) to free up class time from content delivery for greater student interaction. At the end of the module, students are asked to fill out a brief survey, in which we adopt the […]
Student Presentations and Strategies for Audience Engagement
WR 111, WR 112, WR 120, and WR 151 all require oral presentations for students and value these opportunities for students to speak to their peers. However, instructors sometimes struggle to sustain engagement on the part of the rest of the class during presentations. The following list provides some strategies to motivate audience members to […]
Place-Based Possibilities: Experiential Learning Ideas for WR Courses
This guide helps instructors connect place-based experiences and experiential learning to different courses in the WR sequence. Guiding Questions for Adventures Outside of the Classroom How can students engage deeply and safely with a place/event and its community/ies? What clear ground rules can you create to protect students while giving them freedom to explore? How wide […]
Argument-Driven Paper in WR 111
At the end of WR 111, students need to write a formal, argument-driven academic essay on the longer work (novel or memoir) that has been assigned. (Consult the sidebar here for the current list of longer works used in WR 111.) For this assignment, students should be mainly focused on thematic analysis, rather than primarily […]
Rhetorical Analysis in WR 111
Though all sections of WR 111 ask students to write and revise a rhetorical analysis of a passage from a course text, instructors have their own preferred ways of introducing this assignment. You may decide whether you wish to refer to Aristotelian models or not; this page gives you two possible approaches to this assignment. […]
Summary, Paraphrase, and Outlines in WR 111
One of the important tasks of WR 111 is to teach students to craft strong, clear basic summaries of texts. Paraphrasing and outlining are of course related, though distinct, skills. The resources on this page may help instructors scaffold this assignment for students. For the first summary assignment in the course, spend additional time on […]
Writing Program Shared Vocabulary
This list represents some of the core shared vocabulary of the CAS Writing Program’s curriculum. Using these terms with students helps foster a common language across course sections and levels. Rhetorical Situation Audience Purpose Context Genre Mode (more applicable in WR 151/152) Argument Claim Reasons Evidence Acknowledgment and response Introductions Current situation/[common ground]/[background] Research question/[problem statement] […]
WR 111 Grammar Presentations
In this activity, WR 111 students work in teams to review a grammatical topic, share it to the class, and practice their oral presentation skills at the same time. Instructors should make sure they have read the Faculty Guide to WR 111. Objective To work together to review and learn more about a grammatical topic; […]
WR 111 Rotating Team Presentations
In this activity, WR 111 students work in teams to explore an assigned course reading in greater depth and practice their oral presentation skills at the same time. Instructors should make sure they have read the Faculty Guide to WR 111 and understand the positioning of this assignment in the semester. Objective To work together […]