TAs at the University of Minnesota are responding to and grading student writing of every academic genre, whether researched arguments for an economics course, lab reports for a genetics course, design proposals for a computer engineering course, treatment plans for a pharmacy course, or critical summaries for a literature course. At any given moment, departmental TA offices have buzzed with questions and concerns:

• Are we supposed to comment on both grammar and content?
• How can I get students to do substantial revising rather than just fix things I've noted?
• Am I grading according to the same standards all other section leaders are using?
• Is it possible to grade papers and still have some semblance of a life?

BUT THAT WAS BEFORE.

Now, in this two-day seminar, new and seasoned teaching assistants will have opportunities to...

• consider writing process from student writers’ vantage points
• discuss course-appropriate, discipline-specific writing criteria
• practice writing comments that encourage revision
• create assignment-specific grading schemes that ensure fair assessment
• increase efficiency
• hear from a panel of award-winning instructors

register

facilitator

Pamela Flash has been at the University of Minnesota since 1991, serving as an instructor and as an instructional consultant to faculty members and graduate TAs. She currently serves as Director of Writing Across the Curriculum in the Center for Writing. Through the Department of Writing Studies, she offers an interdisciplinary graduate seminar, “Theories of Writing and Writing Instruction” (WRIT 5630).

flash@umn.edu — 612.626.7639