Bits December Blog Flashback

Bedford/St. Martin’s Bits bloggers posted on topics ranging from working with new TAs to how we teach research projects. Be sure that you check out all the great ideas for talking about pop culture (like reality TV shows) and how to teach with comics—and don’t miss Holly Pappas’s reflection on the end of one term and the beginning of the next in the Classroom Strategies and Resources section:

About Writing and Being a Teacher of Writers

• Nedra Reynolds explores the work of Peter Elbow and Suguta Mitra, and then asks, “Do Writers Need Teachers? Really?”
• Steve Bernhardt gives us some insight on Mentoring New TAs and shares details on his own experience with new TAs.
• Doug Downs gives us an extended analogy that applies to how we teach writing in Riding on Ice (A Lesson in Conceptions).
• Susan Naomi Bernstein talks about learning English in The Nice White Lady Tells a Thanksgiving Story.
• Andrea Lunsford tells us all “What I Want for Christmas”—and the gift is all about Building Stories!

Classroom Strategies and Resources

• Holly Pappas reflects on the research projects she’s assigned over the years and The most wonderful time of the year.
• Jonathan Alexander takes a look at Vibrant, Visceral Things in his Interview with a Young Writer and graphic novelist.
• Andrea Lunsford asks, “Is the Term Paper Dead?” and considers how research assignments have changed. 
• Dan McDonough shares activities on the Controversy surrounding the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on High School Bits.
• Jonathan Alexander interviews Compositionist Kat Eason on Beginning to Teach with Comics.
• Holly Pappas reflects on the end of one term and the beginning of the next in Academic Rhythms: The Fallow Period.
• Nathan Odell shares an Exercise: Close Reading for Gender on the High School Bits Blog.

Analyzing Popular Culture and Current Events

• Susan Naomi Bernstein talks about the challenges and revelations of Teaching after Hurricane Sandy.
• Liz Losh reviews how we can engage writers with real world issues in Representing Organizations with Comic Books.
• Jack Solomon substitutes a “Cultures Versus Vultures” meme for the oft-heard political meme of “makers versus takers.”
• Barclay Barrios thinks about readings and discussions he can use to Teach the Gaza Conflict.
• Jack Solomon considers the profound cultural signifier of the Unreal Housewives of American TV.

Teaching with Technology

• Traci Gardner explains why Teaching with Twitter Chats is a great addition to writing classes and describes how to get started.
• Barclay Barrios shares a link on Teaching Digital Citizenship with games.
• Andrea Lunsford reviews recent efforts to bring effective online education to the masses in MOOCs to you! 
• Michael Michaud shares details on his recent experiments with Collaboration in the Paperless Writing Class. 
• Traci Gardner explains how to kick off in-class discussion with Introductory Twitter Chat Activities.
• Barclay Barrios spends some time thinking about technology and The Dark Side of the Digital Humanities.
• Traci Gardner suggests some Advanced Twitter Chat Activities you can try next term.
• Michael Michaud describes how he uses Google Docs as part of The Paperless Writing Class.

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[Photo: Comics by Ryan Brunsvold, on Flickr]