Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC)

“ The WAC fellowship offers a unique opportunity for interdisciplinary faculty to engage in meaningful discussions about the significance of writing in curricular designs. Through this experience I gained valuable skills, including a deeper understanding of writing pedagogies, navigating assessment frameworks, and learning various writing-related terminologies. I am now applying this newfound knowledge to enhance my HIST 213 course, “The Vietnam War Through Archival Documents,” as a WI offering. Students in this course are exposed to academic history writing through a series of scaffolded assignments and activities, ultimately leading them to complete a substantial research paper by the end of the semester.

“ WAC Fellows helped me to better articulate the value of writing to my students and include different strategies into my course design more thoughtfully. Taking what I learned, I revised my syllabus and assignments for SOCI/WMGS 346, “Intersections of Privilege.” I successfully implemented scaffolding assignments that culminated in an analytical literature review where students investigated a system of privilege by synthesizing information from existing studies. We also used informal writing activities inside and outside of class to practice skills needed for the final paper, including paraphrasing, creating an annotated bibliography entry, and putting articles in conversation with each other.

“ As someone who already teaches in humanities – where no one needs to hear an argument about the importance of writing to learning – being a WAC fellow helped better ground my commitment to helping students become more proficient writers by making my writing-intensive course more accessible and more approachable. One of my biggest takeaways was learning to think more capaciously about “writing” – that is, about the various ways that students can demonstrate that they are effective and informed communicators on ethical topics. Moreover, because of the resources Kat shared, I am thinking better about the role of writing in my courses.