The KNIGHTLYnews is an online forum where FWS instructors and other teachers of writing can swap and share ideas for best classroom practice. Weekly posts are designed to help teachers develop lesson plans and writing assignments, and respond to classroom challenges by introducing new teaching tools and sharing emerging pedagogical ideas. Posts also direct readers to program and campus resources that support teaching and learning, and provide opportunities for peer collaboration and mentorship.
The Knight Institute offers a wide variety of First-Year Writing Seminars (FWSs) taught by faculty and instructors across the disciplines. In these courses, students develop their writing through drafting and revising a range of different genres, from more traditional academic writing, like literary analyses, research papers, and literature reviews, to more public-oriented genres, like movie reviews, journalistic podcasts, and public service announcements. Each year, the Knight Institute publishes some of the most exemplary essays written by FWS students in our student publication Discoveries. However, we want to expand the types of projects and variety of writing we can highlight, as inspiration and motivation for students and teachers alike.
Here, we'd like to spotlight some of the creative, engaging, and exciting writing assignments and student work happening in FWSs. We hope that you're inspired and enjoy engaging with the hard work of our teachers and student writers!
Spotlight FWS Project
Journalistic Podcasts, from WRIT 1420 "Podcasting 101" (Navickas, Fall 2019)
Blogging Italy, from ROMS 1108 "Cultural Identities/Cultural Difference: Writing Italy" (Eibenstein-Alvisi, Spring 2020)
Highlight Student Work
Interested in seeing one of your assignments and some of your students' projects spotlighted on this website? We need the following information:
- Course title, semester, and course description
- A paragraph narrating the assignment and learning objectives
- A sample of student writing or projects
- Written confirmation that students are comfortable sharing their writing for this purpose.
Please send the above and any questions about being included to Kate Navickas, ken43@cornell.edu.
