I'm very happy to have Susan writing our response, and to see such good
input from others. But it isn't a petition we're sending. Having a
single signature and a reference to the two professional organizations
would sound calmer and more confident.
-- Margaret
Catherine F. Schryer wrote:
> Hi all
> I think it would be great if we could have a "host of signatures."
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Betsy Sargent"
> <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2008 8:21 PM
> Subject: Re: our joint piece
>
>
>> Susan, I want to join everyone else in thanking you for drafting this
>> piece. I think the tone is excellent. I was wondering if it would
>> make sense to have not just CASLL/Inkshed members signing it, but
>> CATTW as well? (there's so much overlap between the two--and it gives
>> us a chance, as Anthony mentioned, of highlighting the professional
>> organizations that exist in the field). I'm not sure of the
>> logistics involved in signing such a piece, but I'd certainly be
>> honored to have my name associated with it, as a member of either
>> organization.
>>
>> If you're still working on a revision, I thought perhaps Tosh's point
>> of agreement with Marche ("Greater TA training and support are
>> needed") might be worth highlighting. And also you might emphasize
>> what you mentioned in your earlier email about WHIIPS--that "Write
>> Here in Plain Sight is Sunny Marche's response to his observation
>> that much learning is tacit . . . ." Because so much of the rich
>> resevoir of knowledge faculty have about writing in their own
>> disciplines is tacit, TAs are not the only ones who need some
>> training and help figuring out how to integrate more writing
>> productively into upper-level courses. As Shurli mentioned, scholars
>> in Writing Studies research disciplinary discourses and thus can help
>> other faculty come to more explicit understandings about what it is
>> they do when they write in their own fields--which in turn helps them
>> make their tacit expectations clearer to students (it's hard for
>> students to learn all they need to know about writing in a particular
>> field through observation alone--for one thing, since Marche is one
>> of the few faculty to compose in public, students won't get many
>> chances to observe writing in progress!).
>>
>> I like the tact of your piece as it stands now, but I'm also
>> remembering how Wendy S. described working with faculty at SFU--what
>> she described seemed like the best sort of collaboration between
>> colleagues who shared their different areas of expertise to mutual
>> advantage (the faculty in other disciplines would show her samples of
>> what they considered excellent work in the field, from senior
>> scholars as well as from novices/students, and together she and the
>> faculty member would do a discourse analysis that would help them
>> articulate for students what the defining characteristics of
>> excellence were in that community of discourse and what was expected
>> for particular assignments).
>>
>> Sorry--I know all of this is obvious to Inkshed and CATTW folks--I'm
>> just trying to think here of a way to acknowledge the expertise
>> Shurli brought up while also acknowledging how much those of us in
>> Writing Studies need (and need constantly to acknowledge) the
>> expertise of faculty in other fields in order to help WAC initiatives
>> work well. Unlike Shurli, I don't have specific words to suggest--but
>> maybe there's a way to use Marche's own idea about the tacit to
>> strike this balance (that is, even with training TAs who will be
>> assigned to WAC courses, it's often a matter of helping them make
>> explicit moves they already make tacitly in their own disciplinary
>> writing).
>>
>> Thanks again for taking this on. Best, Betsy
>>
>> At 09:53 AM 3/22/2008, you wrote:
>>> Thanks everyone for the comments so far and for the wiki editing.
>>> I wanted to get some feedback before I tried to finish it, and this
>>> has been very helpful. Let me absorb and get back to you.
>>>
>>> Cheers (and to those to whom it applies, Happy Easter!)
>>>
>>> Susan
>>>
>>>
>>> Susan Drain, PhD
>>> Department of English
>>> Mount Saint Vincent University
>>> Halifax, NS Canada B3M 2J6
>>> 902 457 6220
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>
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