Advocacy: noun public support for or recommendation of a particular cause or policy. “their advocacy of traditional family values” Advocacy is influencing through communication. In her chapter on Social Media and Advocacy in the Technical and Professional Communication Classroom., author Sarah Warren-Riley encourages TPC instructors to teach their students the importance of advocacy Read More…
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We, the ADVOCATES
Social media is so many things. It’s interaction, communication, fun, games, creation, friendship, and SO. Much. More. Here’s one more (maybe controversial) thing to add to the list: social media is advocacy. Let’s back up–I just threw so many words into those sentences and maybe I need to provide a little bit more of an Read More…
Reshape your classroom for inclusion
Dr. April Baker-Bell’s Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy uses a methodical and brilliant rhetorical analysis to address the inequalities within the classroom. Dr. Baker-Bell’s chapters “Black language is good on any MLK Boulevard” & “What’s Anti-Blackness Got to Do Wit It?” center around the themes of “white mainstream English” deprives students of Read More…
Plain Technical Language
As teachers of writing, rhetoric and professional communication, constantly we remind our students to analyze their audience and to start their work by considering what their audience expects and how they can best persuade them. So when considering how best to teach technical communication to college students, we as instructors should consider our audience, and Read More…
Collaboration in the Classroom
We’ve seen it before: blank stares after asking the class a question, confusion when proposing a new concept, and of course, that one kid- the one who’s certain he knows a lot more about the subject than you- raising his hand to undoubtedly ask “why are we doing this?” Much of this, I’ve found in Read More…
Goldilocks and the Three Standards: Intellectual Participation in the Classroom
As teaching fellows, we often quantify our work by audience participation. However, while participation is just fine, intellectual participation is a standard of excellence that many strive to achieve. How do we define intellectual participation visually? Verbally? Physically? And how do we measure intellectual participation in the classroom?
Embodied Participation and Those Who Dread it
To Speak, or Not to Speak- is that Really a Question? Class participation, in general, can be rough. If you’re the teacher, and you’re lucky, your class is a fruitful Socratic ideological marketplace. If you’re a student, and you’re lucky, a few oral heroes take on the weight of perpetuating an active discussion. Either way, Read More…
“One Does Not Simply Teach Without Using a Meme”
I’m sure many of you have Tiktok or watch Instagram reels. If so, you might be familiar with the trendy sound effect that goes: “add a little bit of *spice*”, where the content creators show boring, traditional things and then show them from a different light– a better one. The *spice* in our case, Read More…
Grammatical Versus Pragmatic Error: Employer Perceptions of Nonnative and Native English Speakers
Although the semester is over, I wanted to post my summary and a brief thought about this article and what it was lacking. There is a significant focus on issues with nonnative English speakers and teaching writing and communication and where the emphasis should be placed on improving or correcting their errors. However, I feel Read More…
Diversity in The Classroom
Online learning has given us the opportunity to try new ways of educating and communicating with our students. We get to test new methods of teaching to assess if our students are able to complete their work in an online modality of learning. However, our practices might not be as inclusive as we think. ESL Read More…