Pedagogical Training

A core mission of the Writing Program is to train and support course assistants, lecturers, and faculty in the teaching of writing to students in the College.

Courses in Writing Pedagogy

The Writing Program offers courses in writing pedagogy for graduate students who have been hired to teach for the Writing Program or who are training to teach within their own department or program. Visit our Courses in Writing Pedagogy page for more information.

Professional Development Workshops

Graduate student employees of the Writing Program can polish their skills as writing teachers by participating in our series of professional development workshops. We offer two kinds of workshop series: one for Writing Program staff who work as Writing Tutors, and another for those who work as Teaching Assistants in ENGL 33000: Academic and Professional Writing. These workshops include but are not limited to: best practices in one-on-one pedagogy, crafting effective teaching materials, and mini consultations for evaluating student evaluations.

College Teaching Certificate with Emphasis in Writing Pedagogy

To help graduate students and postdocs develop their approach to teaching and their approach to student writing, the Writing Program has partnered with the Chicago Center for Teaching and Learning to offer a College Teaching Certificate (CTC) with Emphasis in Writing Pedagogy. Visit the link for a detailed description of certificate requirements, which include components such as workshops, implementing pedagogical tools and strategies, written reflections, and submitting a teaching portfolio that includes a syllabus with a substantial writing component.

Spring 2025 Workshops:

Using Writing Assignments to Meet Learning Objectives – Pedagogy Workshop

Wednesday, March 26th, 10:00am – 11:30am over Zoom

Hosted by Ashley Lyons, Associate Director of University Writing Programs

This workshop will help participants plan their course with a writing end-goal in mind. Participants will think critically about the specific writing skills that assignments can cultivate and how assignments (both formal and informal assignments) build upon each other. Participants will also discuss how they can shape both their course readings and sequence of assignments to build writing skills. You can RSVP for this workshop here.

Rhetoric of Writing-Focused Feedback – Pedagogy Workshop

Wednesday, April 2nd, 10:00am – 11:30am over Zoom

Hosted by Ashley Lyons, Associate Director of University Writing Programs

Teaching courses in your department? Preparing for the job market? This collaborative workshop asks you to think critically about feedback in the courses you design and teach in your own field: what, out of many potential functions, do you want your feedback on student writing to do? We’ll share different modes of and approaches to feedback and discuss how to align the different functions and formats of feedback with the learning objectives you have for your students. With these insights, participants will be equipped to decide what kind of writing-focused feedback to include in their course designs, when, and how. Participants will also be equipped to reflect on and better articulate those decisions when preparing future job materials. Please click here to RSVP for the workshop.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Ashley Lyons at anlyons@uchicago.edu.

These workshops are part of our programming for the College Teaching Certificate with Emphasis in Writing Pedagogy. You do not need to be enrolled in the Certificate program in order to attend these workshops. The workshops are open to graduate students, postdocs, and recent alumni. If you have questions about the workshops and requirements of the Certificate with emphasis in Writing Pedagogy, please reach out to writing-program@uchicago.edu.