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MnWE News Winter Issue
January-February 2022
Next Conference: Zoom and Minn.
Humanities Center, St. Paul, Th.-Fr., Apr. 7-8, 2022
In this issue:
1. PROPOSALS FOR MnWE CONFERENCE DUE AT
MnWE.ORG FEB. 7
2. Teaching: CAN MnWE MEMBERS FACILITATE BETTER TEACHING?
3.
Analysis:
WHERE WILL ALL THE PhDs
GO? MLA ON THEIR FUTURES
4. Equity/Diversity Literary Resources
(in each issue)
5.
Free Teaching/Learning E-Newsletters
(in each issue)
6.
About MnWE
(in each issue)
If you are new to our listserv, welcome! We never share your
address, and you may always unsubscribe at the bottom of any email. Click
here if you wish to
view this or previous issues in your browser.
MnWE News goes to over 2500 English and Writing faculty in
Minnesota and parts of nearby states.
If you are a long-term member of this listserv, thank you for your
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and want to see it six times per year, join us by sending a request to the
editor at jeweLØØ1
at umn
dot edu.
We suggest you give us a permanent email address.
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1.
PROPOSALS FOR APR. 7-8 MnWE ‘22 CONF. DUE AT
MnWE.ORG FEB. 7
Have you sent your proposal, yet, for MnWE 2022? The theme is “Changing
the Narrative: Empowering Stories,” which offers a wide variety of
opportunities for presenting your and/or others’ stories. MnWE ’22 is
Thurs.-Fri., April 7-8 on Zoom and at the Minnesota Humanities Center,
right.
What new teaching ideas–or great old ones–can you share with
others? MnWE conferences are open to all kinds of practical ideas in
smart, caring discussions. You only need present, casually, for 5-6
minutes; then you help participate in discussion.
MnWE ’22 plans to be both online and in person. The two modes will
be integrated in each event at MHC and on Zoom at
www.MnWE.org.
The Minnesota Humanities Center, founded in 1971, is a nonprofit
affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities. It has many
programs for educators and the general public, and it regularly hosts
conferences and meetings in its beautiful classic rooms and large hall. It
is located in central St. Paul in Phalen Regional Park by Lake Phalen. It
is a regional beacon for equity education.
Join us for MnWE’s highly praised events: roundtable discussions, two
luncheon plenaries by experts in their fields, and our Thursday night
social dinner at the Center. Proposals are due around Feb. 7. Register
online anytime. But do so before the final week to receive a reduced rate.
(Adjuncts and students may register at lower rates.)
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Write your proposal or register at
www.MnWE.org.
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2. Teaching: CAN MnWE MEMBERS FACILITATE BETTER TEACHING?
Why don’t more faculty learn to teach better? “[T]alk
to faculty members,”
says the Chronicle’s Jan. 13 Teaching newsletter, “and you quickly learn that professional development focused on
becoming a better teacher, from graduate school onward, is rarely built
into the job. Nor is it necessarily rewarded, come promotion time. For
those on the tenure track, the message is often: Focus on your research
first.”
An irony of our times is that pandemic teaching has
forced most of our colleagues to teach differently, if not always
better, using online, masked, and socially-distanced formats. A second
irony in Minnesota is that lower-division faculty who teach larger classes
in public two-year colleges are required to devote several days per year
in campus meetings to develop their teaching; however, colleagues who
teach upper-division and graduate courses in four-year and graduate
institutions often devote little or no time to teacher training, even
though their smaller classes could allow more varied and finetuned
teaching methods.
Beth McMurtrie,
one of Teaching’s editors,
argues
that many faculty throw in the towel without even considering they might
improve their methodology. One
big
problem, she says,
is “the damaging myth of the
natural teacher,...the idea that good teaching is a talent, not a
skill that can be honed. In this myth, good teaching rests on a foundation
of disciplinary knowledge and
[natural]
characteristics like charisma or
compassion. Yet research shows that good teaching can be defined by a set
of practices and approaches that can be learned and improved upon.” For
this and other reasons, she states, “the science of teaching is often
ignored. Despite decades of research, and hundreds of books and articles
exploring what works, not much makes its way into the classroom.”
Some far-sighted university English and Writing departments
have realized that training
for teaching can happen
during
graduate
school, perhaps in part because administrators like how it can be
monetized. Graduate students pay to take advanced courses in such subjects
as teaching composition if they plan to look for work at schools in which
much of their job will be offering such courses. And experienced teachers
take doctorates in education to improve their opportunities for
leadership. In addition, some private colleges expect most of their
faculty to develop stronger teaching and learning methods.
Significantly, Minnesota’s public two-year college system requires new
permanent faculty either to have three years of teaching experience or to
take four courses in teaching methods before receiving the equivalent of
tenure. And each two-year faculty member must report yearly on engagement
in “professional development.”
All such training helps. Still, though, often it does not require middle-
or late-career faculty, who offer the majority of courses, to learn better
skills.
McMurtrie asks, what can your own university or college “do differently to promote
more effective teaching?” In English and Writing, much
faculty development is left to academic conferences, especially when it
involves learning how to teach better. CCCC historically has had a strong
emphasis on practical pedagogy, and MLA and MMLA gradually have increased
their interest in it. NCTE and MCTE, especially for K-12, are driven by
pedagogy.
What about MnWE? It was born for this. If you read the
MnWE News, you are part of a broad community in six states and beyond
learning better teaching and learning. This community believes in pursuing
a variety of pedagogical options to meet the evolving needs of
everchanging students in a dynamic world.
As a result, many of you are
ambassadors of teaching and learning to your campuses. Improving an
institution, division, or department’s opportunities for training is slow,
but once new practices are rooted, they gradually can transform the
culture. This happens not just in conversations with other faculty and
administrators but also in whom you hire.
How can you help? The pandemic continues to occasion the
need for mastering new media. Moreover, right now, administrators are
pressed to create greater equity and inclusion. None of these latter two
issues can happen very much, or very well, unless they embody better ways
of teaching and learning. They don’t just appear miraculously from more
advertising, scholarships, or hiring, though these can help. Significantly
greater equity and inclusion require deeper, more substantial changes in
how a campus views both individuals and cultures. Teaching and learning
advocates both the Chronicle’s Teaching and Race on
Campus newsletters point out that getting new, and more, students of
color is one issue, but keeping them requires better and more focused
teaching and learning.
As a member of the MnWE
community, you may be more knowledgeable than most about goals and methods
that facilitate such change. And you may be able, better than you realize,
to share your knowledge in faculty development and committees to keep
education in our colleges and universities equitable and vital. Each of us
might consider what we can do to help spread new and old forms of teaching
and learning.
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MinnState’s “Equity and Inclusion” info:
www.minnstate.edu/system/equity/index.html
University of Minnesota’s “Office for Equity and Diversity” info:
https://diversity.umn.edu/
Minnesota Private College Council’s “Diversity” info:
www.mnprivatecolleges.org/policy-research/collective-impact-our-colleges/diversity
MnState’s new Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion:
www.minnstate.edu/media/newsreleases/2021/061621-Dees.html
University of Minnesota’s new Senior Advisor to the President for Native
American Affairs:
https://mndaily.com/268506/news/karen-diver-joins-umn-as-new-senior-leader-for-native-american-affairs/
Hamline U. and St. Olaf College’s focus on diversity:
www.mnprivatecolleges.org/news-events/news/how-two-colleges-are-focusing-racial-equity
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3.
Analysis:
WHERE WILL ALL THE PhDs GO? MLA DISCUSSES THEIR FUTURES
In
her “President’s Column” in the Fall 2021 MLA Newsletter, Barbara
Fuchs considers two major themes. The first is that “amid protests for
racial justice and in the wake of the attack on the Capitol...we could not
go back to business as usual.” She argues that MLA members must “recommit
to access for all students and...redouble our advocacy for the humanities
as a key pillar of democracy. Critical thinking about representation,
agency, and the public good has never seemed more urgent.” This viewpoint
is, of course, very timely.
But it is in her second theme that she
asks
us, in particular, to focus on the current plight of
PhDs.
She says, “Certainly we must continue to advocate for tenure-track
positions [but] the pandemic feels like a turning point.... Returning to
the way things were seems unimaginable [thus we must heed] powerful calls
for diversifying graduate training and promoting a broad range of career
options for...PhDs....”
She
tells us that for many graduate students, the traditional road from PhD to
tenure-track job simply will not happen, or at least it may be a slow
drive up a steep grade with many switchbacks. New PhDs must ask themselves
how much they love teaching, whether they can pursue research outside of
universities, and whether jobs involving advocacy or administration
interest them. Fuchs remarks that what in our profession “so long seemed
like a dire landscape of [job] scarcity,” though it continues, must be
reimagined as “a broader range of career outcomes...seeded across a range
of nonprofit institutions and for-profit companies.”
She
does not mention one outlet of hope: the increasing number of PhDs who
find tenure-line positions in community colleges, where English and
Writing faculty typically teach composition courses 60-90% of the time.
However, even two-year schools are seeing a glut of PhD candidates for–in
these pandemic times–fewer positions.
Other English PhDs, Fuchs says, may gladly go into nonprofit or
for-profit companies. She doesn’t point out that some of them who enjoy
teaching can scratch their itch by working for a post-secondary
institution on weekends or evenings.
Fuchs’
urging of PhD candidates and degree holders to expand their vision is not
just a call for change. It is equally a reflection of the profession
itself. Many PhD-producing English and Writing departments have been
learning to adjust how they advise their graduate students. They likely do
so both for ethical reasons and for maintaining the size of their graduate
programs.
Fuchs underlines the changes involved in both of her article’s
themes by quoting, at the end, from I Am Sending You the Sacred Face:
playwright Heather Christian says, “Let yourself get unused to how it
was. The night will wipe your memory if you let it. Let it. We will not be
going back.”
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4.
Diversity Literary Resources
This
is a new feature as of Sept. 2021, repeated in each issue. What diversity
books might you or your students read? Suggestions are welcome.
Asian-American:
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Black:
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Indigenous/Native American:
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Latin
American:
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LGBTQ:
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Graphic Novels and Diversity
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5.
Free
Teaching/Learning E-Newsletters
(listed in
each issue)
Do you want to be more in touch with colleagues nationally, or seek
ideas from other networks? Connect by subscribing to one of these free
email newsletters. You may start or stop a subscription at any time.
Go to each
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NEA HigherEd, National Education Association.
Weekly
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Always available online, the Style Center’s
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Cited: A Quick Guide"
Teaching
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Weekly brief advice on
general methods:
Subscribe
Samples
Tomorrow’s Professor, Stanford University.
Twice-weekly reprint of a pedagogy article:
Subscribe
Sample
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The Campus View, Minnesota Private
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private college news:
Subscribe
Past
issues
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6.
About
MnWE: Old
Issues, Joining, Who We Are, Grad Credit, Unsubscribing
(repeated
each issue)
More Online-Teaching Resources:
See
www.mnweconference.com/resources.html.
Our Newsletters: For new and old issues,
visit
MnWE News.
Forwarding/Joining:
Please forward this email to other
interested faculty and administrators. Your
newer full-time and adjunct faculty members, graduate students,
writing center tutors, and English and
Writing administrators may not receive it.
If you are not on the listserv and would
like to join it, simply send your request and email address to richard
at jewell dot net. We always enjoy signing up new list members.
Who
are
we?
“MnWE” is “Minnesota Writing and English,” an all-volunteer organization
started in 2007. MnWE has a coordinating committee, a listserv, and an
annual, two-day spring conference attended by 100-200 faculty. Our
coordinating committee, which meets about six times per year, is composed
entirely of unpaid college, university, high school, and other
professional English/Writing volunteers.
All activities are by and for college, university, and
college-in-the-high-schools English and
Writing
faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and related academic and
literary scholars, writers, tutors, and others in the Upper Midwest. Our
purpose is to bring together these communities in Minnesota and in nearby
states and provinces.
Where are we?
Please visit us online at
MnWE.org.
Our geographical center is Minneapolis-St. Paul.
About 2700 faculty, graduate students,
tutors, and related administrators see our emails.
Those on our listserv receive this
newsletter six times per year, along with additional conference
announcements and helpful forwards. Our listserv
members come from state universities, public and private two-year
colleges, private colleges and universities, high schools, publishing
companies, and the public universities of Minnesota, Wisconsin, North
Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, and other schools and locations
in the United States, Canada, and overseas countries.
Conference:
At our annual two-day conferences,
our speakers highlight pedagogical
concerns and are scholars and writers of national excellence from both
local and national locations. Some of our presenters come from states or
countries far beyond our own geographical area. The majority of our
attendees and presenters are from universities and private
four-year colleges; a significant
minority are in two-year colleges, high
schools, and other groups.
Graduate Credit: Anyone may earn one graduate credit from Southwest
Minnesota State
University for attending
a MnWE
Conference day and writing a related research paper (up to three
such credits may be earned). For questions about
this course–“Eng 656: MnWE Practicum”–please contact
lisa dot lucas at smsu dot edu
or see
www.smsu.edu/academics/programs/english/?id=11637.
Unsubscribing:
To unsubscribe from this listserv (and no longer receive the MnWE News,
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you try unsubscribing on your own without success, then send an email to
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Questions:
We invite you to email the editor or any
coordinator on the MnWE Committee listed below. You also are always
invited to attend any of our five to seven
MnWE Committee meetings per year: to join the listserv, email
jeweLØØ1
at umn
dot edu
(L zero zero one).
If you’d like to attend a meeting, or join the committee for in-person
meetings, Zoom attendance, or email comments from a distance, please
ask Richard. In addition, you always are invited
to offer suggestions to MnWE, or to volunteer your leadership for a
session at the annual conference.
Copyright:
This newsletter is written primarily by MnWE
News editor Richard Jewell without copyright so that anyone may quote,
paraphrase, or forward any or all parts freely, unless otherwise noted. We
do ask that you give credit to the
MnWE News and/or
www.MnWE.org;
and when you use material that has been quoted or paraphrased in this
newsletter from another source, please be sure to give proper credit to the
original source.
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Richard
Jewell, Editor
MnWE News
Minnesota Writing and English
www.MnWE.org
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David Beard, UMD Advisor, University of Minnesota-Duluth
Heidi Burns, Web & Docs Coordinator, Minn. State Univ.-Mankato
Mary Ellen Daniloff-Merrill, SMSU Advisor, Southwest Minn. State Univ.
Casey DeMarais, 2022 Site Coordinator, Minn. Humanities Center
Edward Hahn, Registration Coordinator, North Hennepin College
Ryuto Hashimoto, International Co-Leader, Minn. State Univ.-Mankato
Danielle Hinrichs, Program Coordinator, Metropolitan State University
Richard Jewell, Gen. Coord. and News Ed., Inver Hills Coll. (Emeritus)
Yanmei Jiang, Equity Co-Leader, Century College
Linda O’Malley, Volunteer Coordinator, Metropolitan State University
Kerrie Patterson, Treasurer, Hennepin Technical College
Gordon Pueschner, Registration Desk Co-Coordinator, Century College
Beata Pueschner, Registration Desk Co-Coordinator, N. Hennepin Coll.
Jana Rieck, Communications Coordinator, Champlin Park High School
Donald Ross, Co-Founder and UMN Advisor, University of Minnesota
Kako Shintani, International Co-Leader, University of Leeds
Larry Sklaney, Conference & Cost Center Coordinator, Century College
Mary Taris, Equity Co-Leader, Strive Community Publishing
MnWE Journal Editorial Board: David Beard, Ryuto Hashimoto,
Yanmei Jiang, and Mary Taris
richard at jewell dot net
- (612)
870-7024
larry dot sklaney at century dot edu
-
(651) 747-4006
danielle dot hinrichs at metrostate dot edu
- (651) 999-5960
MnWE
.org
Minnesota Writing & English
A Consortium of Colleges & Universities
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Format updated 13 May 2021
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