Celebration of Student Writing day
I'm sitting in the ballroom waiting for the beginning of our Celebration of Student Writing , the "big event" in our First-Year Writing Program at EMU. It's the calm before the storm time - people have been setting up since 8am, and at 4pm we'll open the door to the 1100 students (and that doesn't even count the visitors!) who are participating in the CSW. (I'll update the pics on our web site after this year's CSW - maybe next week.)
This event is pretty cool, I have to say. I've been here for every one for the last six years (and we do it twice a year), and it never gets boring to me. For the most part, students really, really, really like it -- they're terrified before it happens because it's SO public, but once they do it they say things like, "I actually learned that people are interested in what I have to say." How cool is that?
This will be our last CSW in the current location, the ballroom of McKenny Union. This is a *very* cool ballroom, just the kind that you might imagine if I say "student union constructed in the 20s kind of ballroom." Big, wood floors, arched ceiling... totally cool. Unfortunately, EMU is building a new student center (it's fortunate in some ways, I guess), and we'll be there next time. There are up sides - this semester's CSW, our big one (as opposed to the "small" fall CSW, with only 750 or so students), is spread across four interconnected rooms (ballroom and three others); in the new union we'll at least be in one room. But we'll lose the cool character of this room... ah, well. Progress. Sure.
I had an interesting conversation in the hallway with a colleague from the English Department who was on her way to a meeting during the set-up time for this event, too. She was talking about the need to involve students in assessment, essentially thinking about having assessment not be scary, but part of a project involving teaching and learning and conversations about same. This is all good - and an interesting counter to the NASCLGU stuff that I posted about earlier in the week.
This event is pretty cool, I have to say. I've been here for every one for the last six years (and we do it twice a year), and it never gets boring to me. For the most part, students really, really, really like it -- they're terrified before it happens because it's SO public, but once they do it they say things like, "I actually learned that people are interested in what I have to say." How cool is that?
This will be our last CSW in the current location, the ballroom of McKenny Union. This is a *very* cool ballroom, just the kind that you might imagine if I say "student union constructed in the 20s kind of ballroom." Big, wood floors, arched ceiling... totally cool. Unfortunately, EMU is building a new student center (it's fortunate in some ways, I guess), and we'll be there next time. There are up sides - this semester's CSW, our big one (as opposed to the "small" fall CSW, with only 750 or so students), is spread across four interconnected rooms (ballroom and three others); in the new union we'll at least be in one room. But we'll lose the cool character of this room... ah, well. Progress. Sure.
I had an interesting conversation in the hallway with a colleague from the English Department who was on her way to a meeting during the set-up time for this event, too. She was talking about the need to involve students in assessment, essentially thinking about having assessment not be scary, but part of a project involving teaching and learning and conversations about same. This is all good - and an interesting counter to the NASCLGU stuff that I posted about earlier in the week.
posted by Linda Adler-Kassner at 11:27 AM
2 Comments:
I just got a call from one of my students who apparently has not arrived on earth as yet. He wanted to know where the "Celebration thing" was as if we hadn't been talking about this event for days and days. However, most of my students are very excited and I know will be in for a rare treat today in ....just about 40 minutes!
Hey, I've kind of changed my mind about the new student union. Old thinking: yet another financial boon-doogle. New thinking: wow, it's gonna be plush, and a nice place to hang around/do "academic business" while Pray-Harrold is closed for two years for construction. If that ever happens (and I think it will, actually....).
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