Faculty Learning Communities

Spring 2023 Mentoring Through the Writing Process: A Learning Community

Facilitated by Erin Strickland

Overview

The purpose of this learning community is to: 1) enhance participants’ knowledge around the work of mentoring writers and writing in graduate school, 2) create a space for clear communication between advisors and advisees to define roles and expectations.

Participants in the learning community will attend a series of workshops where they will engage in discussions about mentoring as it pertains to writing and their individual roles as faculty member or student and then come together as a mentorship pair to clarify expectations. The outcome of the workshops will be a co-authored “mentoring expectations” document.

Graduate students will be invited to join a writing group that will meet throughout the year with the goal of making consistent progress on their writing. They will also be encouraged to attend the Writing Retreats hosted by the Writing Center.

Faculty members will be invited to work with Erin throughout the year to improve their feedback process and manage the necessary iterations that come with mentoring writers.

Workshop Structure

Participants will attend a total of three hour-long workshops over the course of five weeks. Lunch will be provided by the Writing Center.

During the first four weeks, faculty will meet as a group twice to discuss their selected readings and students will meet twice to discuss theirs. For the final week of the workshop, participants will all meet together and share insights gained from their own self-reflection. The group will then be guided through the process of drafting a joint expectations document.

Questions regarding the learning community can be directed to the Assistant Director of Writing Across MSU, Erin Strickland ([email protected]), 406-994-5314, Wilson Hall 1-114.