Caffeinate Your Work Week: Teacherly Writing Café

A large pink typewriter on fantasty ground surface with a cup of steaming coffee and plants and a ladder around it. In the typewriter is a ruled sheet of paper with the words: "Program overview: Brainstorm and draft pedagogical project; Reflect on teaching successes, challenges, and barriers; Share the secrets of teaching well and surviving writing assessment."


Date: Mondays, January 30−April 10, 2023 (9:30 a.m.− 11:00 a.m. MDT)*
*Do I need to commit to attending every session ever? You can, but you can also drop in whenever you can, so long as you register.

Program overview:
The Teacherly Writing Café elevates your pedagogy through the power of the pen (or keyboard or whatever writing tools you use), so you can do the following:

  • Brainstorm and draft pedagogical projects (syllabi, lectures, activities, assignments, low-stakes writing activities/prompts, teaching philosophy statements and teaching dossiers/portfolios, and grading/feedback)
  • Freewrite on and discuss key concepts in instructor/learner project management (sustainable schedules, breaks, embodied approaches, and writing communities)
  • Reflect on teaching successes, challenges, and barriers
  • Share the secrets of teaching well and surviving writing assessment (care, equity, and accessibility in mind)

Throughout the online café, we will cover various pedagogical topics and also periodically engage in short, interactive workshops that connect the writing we do as instructors with the writing that we require/ask our students to do. Collectively and individually, we will identify goals, track progress, and incorporate periodic reflections. We will think about our writerly work as instructors and identify sustainable, community-based approaches to feedback in and beyond the classroom.

Time Commitment and Format:
To kickstart our work week, this program will run on Mondays from 9:30 am to 11:00 am from January 30th to April 10th, 2023. Participants are not required to attend each session and can enter/exit any singular session as necessary. In other words, please feel free to attend in ways that meet your goals, needs, and schedules. During each session, time is set aside for guided work, group discussion/activities, and individual work.

The Teacherly Writing Café will run virtually through Zoom. Participants will receive a Zoom link in their Google Calendar invitation, along with eClass access and any other relevant details and handout materials.

Facilitator: Dr. Dalbir Sehmby (he/him), Educational Developer, Writing and Multimodal Communication Pedagogies

If you would like to be notified of our next Teacherly Writing Café, please email ctl@ualberta.ca