Wishes for 2010 in Writing Richmond Writing

Wishes for 2010 in Writing Richmond Writing Im hoping for the following on our campus this   year:  Steady growth in what Stanford calls a culture of writing. I love this phrase from their Hume Writing Center. This would involve, at Richmond, faculty engagement in the forthcoming seminars to prepare us to teach in the First-Year Seminar program, more writing in disciplines where it is not traditionally assigned, and, perhaps, a different way of thinking beyond writing to get it done by students. More work with technology in writing assignments. Eng. 103 faculty have done an admirable job, during their swansong years as the program winds down. But how many of my other colleagues have writers work online with blogs, wikis, or multimedia compositions?   These are the sorts of writing our students will do beyond the college gates, and Im not seeing enough of this sort of work assigned.  Fewer busy work assignments. Many of our students take writing less seriously than they might because we pack in so much reading, short assignments that never get assessed, and so forth. Part of this, I feel, stems from faculty belief that students wont do any work unless we push them. My policy of late has been to assign less but assess more carefully. Grades still motivate students; a short write to learn in each class that may be occasionally graded will keep students reading more than regular and lengthy assignments. Then writers will have more time for formal writing. Those are three wishes from the Writing Center Director! Well see what 2010 brings.