Meeting in the Middle
The fourth annual Meeting in the Middle will be held Friday, February 19th, 9:30-4:30, at the UNC-Charlotte Up Town Center, in Charlotte, NC. The gathering will focus on Supporting ESL Writers and Showcasing our Programs.
As writing programs throughout the Carolinas welcome growing numbers of ESL students, Writing Program Administers (WPAs) seeking strategies for supporting this student group can learn from the flourishing field of second language writing. Our 2010 morning session features local scholars who have had active leadership roles in the CCCC Committee on Second Language Writing and the TESOL Second Language Writing Interest Section. In addition to sharing the recently revised CCCC Statement on Second Language Writing and Writers, the speakers will share strategies for supporting ESL students in writing programs ranging from writing centers to first-year writing programs at R1 institutions to WAC programs in private universities.
The theme for our afternoon session also responds to current issues faced by WPAs and composition instructors. As budget constraints continue to have an impact on writing programs and writing instruction, students and faculty are finding it prudent to highlight more of what we already do well. During the afternoon, participants are invited to present posters as a way to display and explain our successes, both for each other and, after the Meeting in the Middle ends, for promotional purposes within our own institutions. Please see the “Request for proposals” below for more information.
Interested graduate students are also encouraged to participate. Graduate students may also display and discuss their posters containing research in any area of writing and/or the teaching of writing. This is a great way for graduate students meet others in the local area.
To read the call for proposals or to register, please download the Registration Form.
In February of 2007, CWPA hosted its first “Meeting in Between,” a meeting/workshop scheduled in the middle of the academic calendar to complement the annual fall conference.
The Second Annual CWPA “Meeting In Between” — “The New Processes of Composing: Technology, Multimodality, and Social Networking” — was held Friday, February 22 from 9:30-4:30 at the UNC-Charlotte Up Town Center, 220 North Tryon Street, in downtown Charlotte.
The Third Annual CWPA “Meeting in the Middle” was held Friday, February 13, 2009, at the UNC-Charlotte Up Town Center, in Charlotte, NC. The meeting focused on “Writing Courses Online: Dare we go there?” Our morning session featured a panel, comprised of colleagues who have varying degrees of experience teaching and researching online writing courses, who led us in a discussion of the complexities of online writing instruction, while our afternoon session featured several hands-on demonstrations of activities and assignments that can be used in online writing environments.