Instructor interview for Place-Based WAC/WID writing instruction in American Studies, clip 10 of 11

Abstract

Brief excerpt from interview: Even though there is this thing that we have called a Writing Intensive focus, it's not necessarily rigid in terms of the kinds of assignments and kinds of writing you can have students do. And I think that's important for a lot of instructors to consider - you don't have to assign four 5-page critical essays or two 10-page [essays] for students to write to fulfill that 20-page writing requirement... There are so many other ways that you can incorporate writing into your classroom, make it Writing Intensive, and get students into a regular practice, which I think is especially important. That's the only way that you see progress and improvement in writing over time, if they are writing regularly and seeing other writing regularly.

My students are learning how to write as American Studies scholars... just by virtue of the kinds of place-based issues we are looking at and the fact that the place(s) we are discussing are within an American colonial context.