Event Flyer

Presented By: Joan Middendorf, PhD, Indiana University Bloomington

What are the deep differences between writing in geology, history, journalism, or any other field? In this session participants will analyze student mistakes in order to spell out the unconscious competence of discipline specific writing skills. Instructors may wish to bring three samples of their students’ writing (exemplary, adequate, and inadequate) for their own perusal. Working in cross-disciplinary teams they will uncover assumptions and mental tasks that undergird competent writing in their field and develop writing-specific assessments.

Joan Middendorf serves as Lead Consultant at the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning and Adjunct Professor in Educational Leadership at Indiana University Bloomington. Along with David Pace, she developed the Decoding the Disciplines method for helping students learn disciplinary thinking. Diaz and Shopkow joined them to apply it to the discipline of history; the four have published widely and led faculty workshops around the world in many disciplines. As a Co-Director of the History Learning Project, she received the 2008 Robert Menges Research Award from the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education and the 2009 McGraw-Hill – Magna Publications Outstanding Scholarly Work on Teaching and Learning Award. When not working on her urban farmstead, Joan likes to kayak, hike, and practice T’ai Chi.

Refreshments will be provided. Please RSVP to teachers@lmu.edu or x85866.

This presentation is part of Rachel Wasburn's CTE Faculty Associate Project on Engaging Students in Disciplinary Ways of Knowing and Practicing. 

Additional workshop offered by Dr. Middendorf:

Decoding the Disciplines 

This program will be video and audio taped and may be podcast. By your willing participation in the program, you expressly and irrevocably consent to be photographed, videotaped and/or audio taped and quoted/cited. The films, tapes, and other digital recordings will become the property of the Center of Teaching Excellence, LMU.