Summer is in the air. The weather is warming up and City Tech is buzzing with the frenetic energy of final papers, projects, and exams. The WAC program is wrapping up for the semester too. Some of you may have attended the WAC Colloquium last Thursday, May 12, at which this year’s certifying faculty presented their “WAC-ified” course materials.
For those unfamiliar with our certification process, the WAC team at City Tech administers a program to certify full time faculty to teach Writing Intensive (WI) courses. In the fall, faculty attend four workshops that introduce WAC pedagogy and provide practical tools for incorporating more writing into courses without overburdening the instructor with grading or displacing course content. In the spring, faculty work to revise a syllabus using these strategies and present their results at a year-end colloquium. Each faculty member is paired with a WAC Fellow who works with them throughout the year to provide feedback and other support.
As the end-of-semester rush slows down and you begin to think about next year, we encourage you to consider joining the WAC certification program in Fall 2016. City Tech requires that all students pursuing associate degrees complete two WI courses, and students working toward their baccalaureates need four WI courses in order to graduate. As the college grows, so will the need for instructors to teach WI course and participating in the WAC program can provide those instructors preparation and support.
If you have a WI syllabus in need of some revision, or a course that you might want to transform into a WI course, think about contacting the WAC program. You can get in touch with one of the WAC coordinators or just keep an eye out for the posters and emails advertising the first WAC workshop in the fall and speak to someone in person.
Even if you aren’t ready to commit to a year-long program, WAC can provide support for writing in your classroom. All instructors—both full and part-time, WI or non-WI—are welcome to drop in on our workshops or ask for the help of a WAC fellow. So from all of us at City Tech WAC we wish you happy finals and a great summer, and we hope to see you in the fall!
