Tag: writing pedagogy

“I Changed My Mind”: Articulating Empathic Design

Post author By caitlincholmes
Post date February 25, 2016

By: Rachael Burke

Rachael Burke is a second-year Writing and Rhetoric PhD student at George Mason University. Her research centers on empathic articulation and social-emotional design. She has taught composition, ESL, and interdisciplinary studies, and she is currently teaching at GMU and Northern Virginia Community College. You can reach her at rburke13@gmu.edu.

This post is the third in a series on empathy and writing scholarship. For the full series, please see her first post and second post.

When I think about what it means to write collaboratively and productively across the curriculum, I am always attempting to determine which frameworks best help us all define empathy ontologically and pragmatically. Toward this end, in my previous posts, I have attempted to simultaneously advocate for empathy’s inclusion across the curriculum even while I have tried to better define it. Admittedly, this is a complex task, and not just for me. As Daniel Batson (1991) says, “opportunities for disagreement abound” within the framework of empathy’s theoretical uncertainties (p. 11), and even with a “liquid” understanding of empathy (Burke, Permanence and Change, 1965 qtd. in Miller, 1984, p. 158), a firm sense of definition or application can be hard to come by.

Tags Empathy, English 302, theory, WAC, well-being, WID, Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing in the Disciplines, writing instruction, writing pedagogy

Graduate Students Teaching Writing

“Evolution not Revolution”: Empathy as Supportive Practice

Post author By caitlincholmes
Post date February 11, 2016

By: Rachael Burke

This post is the second in a series on empathy and writing scholarship. For Rachael’s first post, please click here.

In my previous post, I discussed what empathy is partly by talking a bit about what it is not. The challenge presented by proposing we should actively include empathy as a curricular goal is convincing writing teachers that the change is a natural and necessary one. Consequently, my previous entry began the task of examining and overturning a few misconceptions that have long plagued how we talk about empathy in rhetoric and composition (when we talk about it at all), and then suggesting that a more constructive definition of empathy might help us reinvigorate some of our problematic or confusing writing practices. In this entry, I want to continue to expand our understanding of empathy in rhetorical practice on our own disciplinary terms.

Tags Empathy, pedagogy, supporting student writers, teaching writing, theory, Writing, writing pedagogy

Teaching Writing

The One Minute Paper – Instructional Module

Post author By caitedungan
Post date November 5, 2015

Tags Assignment Design, College Composition, composition, education, faculty writing support, Feedback, Higher Ed, higher education, pedagogy, Teaching, Teaching Strategies, Writing, Writing Across the Curriculum, writing pedagogy

Evaluating Writing Modules

Commenting Strategies

Post author By caitlincholmes
Post date September 24, 2015

Tags teaching writing, Writing Across the Curriculum, writing exercises, Writing in the Disciplines, writing pedagogy

Evaluating Writing Teaching Writing

Mini and Mighty: How the One-Minute Paper can Transform Your Teaching

Post author By caitlincholmes
Post date August 27, 2015

By: Tom Sura

Tom Sura is an assistant professor of English and the undergraduate writing coordinator at West Virginia University. Tom would love to know if you use one-minute papers in your courses and what discoveries they have led to. You can find him several ways: @tom_sura on Twitter, thomas.sura@mail.wvu.edu on email, and tomsura.tumblr.com online.

One of the most powerful tools in a teacher’s toolkit—regardless of the discipline—measures just three inches by five inches. That’s right. The standard-issue index card has a remarkable power for increasing student engagement, assessing pedagogy, and providing evidence of exceptional teaching.

Tags Assignment Design, best practices, composition, education, in-class writing, undergraduate writing, Writing, Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing in the Disciplines, writing pedagogy