*Podcast Alert*- Introducing 21st Century Sophist

I'm making a podcast! 21st Century Sophist is a rhetoric and writing podcast produced and featuring Jacob Richter, RCID PhD student at Clemson University. In our inaugural episode, we explore how teaching circles in university writing programs can empower collaborative leadership capabilities and improve writing instruction and student learning. Future episodes will feature interviews, discussions, … Continue reading *Podcast Alert*- Introducing 21st Century Sophist

Writing Matters V (2018)- “Writing With Mirrors”

I spent Saturday writing and working with the Seven Valleys Writing Project and its members at Writing Matters V. This year's theme, Creating a Culture of Writers, was particularly attractive to me as I continue to pursue a career working within English and Writing departments within academia, and obviously as I prepare and construct pedagogies … Continue reading Writing Matters V (2018)- “Writing With Mirrors”

Hacking the Curriculum: FYC, Critical Information Literacies and Social Web Environments

Hacking the Curriculum: FYC, Critical Information Literacies and Social Web Environments      Among the benefits of teaching writing at my current university institution is the freedom and flexibility it allots to its composition instructors. Next semester I’ll be teaching Writing Studies II, the second leg of the institution’s FYC sequence. Writing Studies II is … Continue reading Hacking the Curriculum: FYC, Critical Information Literacies and Social Web Environments

Discourse in Democracy: Composition, Digital Citizenship and the Crafting of Authentic Rhetorical Situations

The scene is a familiar one. A student knocks reluctantly on my office door, enters the musty room with uncertainty and then proceeds to speak some deeply heartfelt words in a trembling, quivering voice. Something along the lines of “I do not feel comfortable with other people viewing the writing I produce for this class.” … Continue reading Discourse in Democracy: Composition, Digital Citizenship and the Crafting of Authentic Rhetorical Situations

Should Students Choose Their Own Writing Topics?: A Mindful Approach

      Should first-year writing students choose their own essay topics? I’d like to take some time this morning to venture an interesting take on this question that has been turning around in my head for a few months now. Long a topic of boisterous debate within composition and rhetoric, the role of student … Continue reading Should Students Choose Their Own Writing Topics?: A Mindful Approach

Can We Hold Class Outside, Professor? Nature, Cognition and Composition

Composition and education have long questioned a central premise of the academy and university life in higher education: What is a classroom?  Recent research published in Psychological Science steers us toward a premise that is of paramount interest to our discipline.  What would it mean for the natural world to serve the acting, thinking brains of our … Continue reading Can We Hold Class Outside, Professor? Nature, Cognition and Composition