DESCRIPTION
The Graduate Instructor Seminar on the Teaching of Writing will provide graduate students from across schools and disciplines at UVA with advanced skills in writing instruction. Specifically, graduate instructors will learn how to introduce undergraduates and others to the varieties of writing that are central to their professional fields and disciplines; to design writing-related in-class activities specific to their fields and disciplines; and to respond efficiently and productively to student writing and other writing in-process.
During this four-day seminar, offered online in both January and August, instructors will share research on the teaching of writing and models of assignments and other practical resources, respond to participant generated teaching materials, provide practical pedagogical suggestions, and facilitate discussion among participants. The seminar’s format will include a combination of brief presentations, interactive workshops (using breakout rooms), and group discussion. The seminar meets for approximately 18 hours over 4 days. A required follow-up session will anticipate and reflect upon the participants’ initial application of the seminar’s work in their own subsequent work.
Up to twenty graduate students will be chosen to participate, and each will receive approximately $625 in wages (at $25/hour, to include preparation, the follow-up sessions, and contributions to assessment of the program. Please note that as wages, appropriate taxes will be withheld.) Participants will also receive a stipend of $50 for books and materials, which participants may order through the UVA bookstore or independently. Participants will come away with greater knowledge about evidence-based practices in teaching writing as well as teaching materials they themselves prepare for their own courses and other writing-related activities.
Major Topics Covered
- Addressing discipline-specific writing conventions
- Incorporating writing in a content-course: using writing-to-learn (W2L) & writing-to-communicate (W2C) activities (informal, impromptu writing vs. formal writing)
- Sequencing writing assignments (scaffolding and incorporating a multi-step process)
- Responding to student writers (engaging with W2L tasks & providing feedback on W2C papers)
- Incorporating writing instruction, including pre-writing assignments
- Planning and coordinating peer review
- Teaching writing at the level of the sentence (grammar and style)
Instruction also will include updated, practical applications for teaching writing in a time of generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT.
ELIGIBILITY
- Students must be enrolled full-time in a graduate degree program at UVA, in good standing and eligible to work the designated number of hours. Students with additional work assignments during the summer should check in advance to ensure that they are eligible
- Students from all fields are welcome to apply
- Foreign nationals and permanent residents are also eligible to participate
- Students must be located within the U.S. at the time of the training
- Students selected for the experience who have not yet earned wages at the University will need to complete required I-9 and other documentation prior to the start of the seminar
APPLICATION
Applicants will be selected according to the following criteria:
A: likelihood of being able to apply their learning from the seminar by the Fall 2026 term,
B: likelihood of being able to contribute well—through collaboration and through reflection on what is understood to constitute good writing in their own disciplines—to the seminar, and
C: representation by the group of a wide range of disciplines.
Applications consist of:
- A current Curriculum Vitae.
- An additional page in twelve-point font, giving your name, department, sub-field (if applicable), school, degree sought, year in program, and evidence of a) and b) above.
- A completed acknowledgement of support form filled out by a faculty advisor or DGS that confirms eligibility and participation.
Please compile the three pages as a single PDF (the support form should be the final item) and upload using the form here:
Upload Documentation (NOTE: Form is currently closed and will reopen in the fall for the J-term 2025 seminar).
CONTACTS:
Please feel free to direct questions to:
Heidi Nobles, [email protected]