1. Teaching Writing about Writing and Threshold Concepts
Elizabeth Wardle
Miami University, Oxford Ohio

2. A little background: How I got here

3. The origins of first-year writing

4. What CAN’T first-year writing courses do?
Inoculate students; teach students to “write in general” “once and for all”
Because…
Good writing is context-specific
All writers always have more to learn
There is no such thing as “writing in general”
For illustration, look at some of the disciplinary writing guides faculty at Miami have created: fellows/created-by-fellows/index.html

5. What CAN first-year writing courses do?
Share declarative and procedural knowledge about writing with students, so that they are empowered by knowing about the nature and workings of the activity itself and can act from their knowledge instead of having writing done to them
Share with students the same frameworks for analysis & access to research about how texts work that we have.
Ask them to engage in and respond to research themselves, as empowered agents.
(Wardle & Downs 2013)

6. What CAN first-year writing courses do?
Shift students’ conceptions of writing.
Teaching conceptions of writing that align with our field’s research (starting with, “there is no one class that will make you a ‘good writer’”) has real writerly consequences.
Students learn they can control their writing lives, understand what is happening when they encounter a challenging rhetorical situation, and learn a variety of strategies for responding.
Build declarative and procedural knowledge of writing with an eye toward facilitating transfer. Teach students how transfer works, change their expectations about how writing works and what they can expect in new rhetorical situations.

7. What is the transferable knowledge we can share with students?
Threshold concepts
See Chapter 1 of WAW 3rd edition
Writing is not just something people do, but something people study (7), so we know:
Writing is impacted by prior experiences (8)
Writing helps people make meaning and get things done, but there are always constraints (10)
“Good writing” is dependent on writers, readers, situation, technology, and use (12)
Writing is a process, all writers have more to learn, and writing is not perfectible (15)
Genres are types of writing that respond to repeating situations through recognizable forms (17)
Texts are people talking (24)

8. Definition →
Erik Meyer and Ray Land (2003) developed the Threshold Concept Framework, defined as:
A threshold concept can be considered as akin to a portal, opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something. It represents a transformed way of understanding, interpreting, or viewing something without which the learner cannot progress. (p. 1).

9. Threshold Concepts are:
Transformative
Integrative
Learned recursively (with time in liminal space)
Troublesome
Possibly irreversible once learned
They are ideas, ways of thinking and doing (practicing), that enable learner to do things differently and see things differently than they did before.

10. Writing Threshold Concepts and Transformation
If learners believe: “good writers are just born” or “some people are just naturally good writers and others aren’t,” vs “all writers have more to learn,” “failure is an important part of learning to write,” “writing is not perfectible” How will they behave differently?

11. So what doe a course about writing threshold concepts do and not do?
It is about learning ideas
It is about changing practices and self-concept related to writing
It is about helping learners understand for themselves how writing works rather than being told “how to,” “rules,” or “tips and tricks.”
The assignments and activities are all in the service of the above. You can’t pick an assignment, a tool, or an activity first. You have to first ask “what do I want students to learn about and do differently as a result of this? How can we get there together by doing?”
Perfectly edited papers and prose are not the goal of this pedagogy.

12. A reminder of the TCs in WAW
Writing is not just something people do, but something people study (7), so we know:
Writing is impacted by prior experiences (8)
Writing helps people make meaning and get things done, but there are always constraints (10)
“Good writing” is dependent on writers, readers, situation, technology, and use (12)
Writing is a process, all writers have more to learn, and writing is not perfectible (15)
Genres are types of writing that respond to repeating situations through recognizable forms (17)
Texts are people talking (24)
Each is explained in the introduction and then one of the chapters digs into it more deeply by providing research and inviting students to engage in inquiry

13. Digging into these threshold concepts about writing
In a small group, pick one of the preceding TCs, read the short explanation in the textbook, and answer the following questions:
Do people (students, parents, legislators, etc) usually share this conception? If not, what do they tend to think instead—what are their common misconceptions?
What are some consequences of misunderstanding this aspect of writing?
How might a person’s behaviors toward/about writing change if they understand writing in this way?
What are other benefits or consequences of having this accurate conception of writing?

14. Report back

15. Learning Threshold Concepts
Learning TCs takes a long time, and is a recursive and troublesome process
TCs are not outcomes and skills, they are not assessable by “telling”
Learning TCs is troublesome often because our initial misconception about the idea is so entrenched in our minds, experiences, and culture
Thus, your course needs carefully built activities, discussions, and assignments that give students multiple opportunities to work through and toward threshold concepts.
The book and the IM provide all of this for you.

16. Teaching these concepts in more depth
Threshold Concept
Chapter
Writing is impacted by prior experiences (8)
Chapter 2: Literacies: How is Writing Impacted By Our Prior Experiences?
Assignments: Literacy narrative, group analysis of literacy history, linguistic observation and analysis
Writing helps people make meaning and get things done, but there are always constraints (10)
Chapter 3: Individual in Community: How Does Writing Help people Get Things Done?
Assignments: Analysis of Gee’s claims, Discourse community ethnography report, Activity analysis, Reflection on gaining authority in new discourse community
“Good writing” is dependent on writers, readers, situation, technology, and use (12)
Chapter 4: Rhetoric: How is Meaning Constructed in Context?
Assignments: Rhetorical analysis of a previous writing experience; Rhetorical reading analysis: Reconstructing a text’s context, exigence, motivations, and aims; Mapping a rhetorical ecology; Analyzing rhetorical velocity in social media
Writing is a process, all writers have more to learn, and writing is not perfectible (15)
Chapter 5: Processes: How Are Texts Composed?
Assignments: Autoethnography, Portrait of a Writer; Writer’s Process Search

17. Ways to approach this
Have students read all of Chapter One first, engage the activities, and then move into specific study of the various TCs in subsequent chapters Or
Have students read chunks of Chapter One, then work with the relevant subsequent chapter
You can decide which subsequent chapters/TCs to teach, or you can let students pick those chapters/TCs based on their interests when they read Chapter One

18. What TCs do you want to teach? How will you teach them?
Which threshold concepts seem most important for your students?
What major assignments have you designed/adapted/chosen to teach toward those threshold concepts? (Look at the assignments provided at the end of each chapter)
How does this assignment teach the threshold concept?
Threshold Concept
Major Assignment

19. Scaffolding to help students learn these concepts
More doing, less talking at and about
Pick a few readings for each major assignment but the assignment, the inquiry, is how students are going to really learn the TC
Include lots of student-facing activities before and during reading
Before:
Example, p. 69: “Compare notes with a roommate…make a list of ways…what are the implications…”
After:
Example, p. 99
First are questions for comprehension and understanding
Next are activities for applying and exploring ideas from the reading: “Compare your own literacy history to…. Interview a classmate about…”
Ask students to reflect after every reading (meta moments)
Example, p. 100
”Are there experiences you are currently having that Brandt’s ideas help to explain?”

20. Scaffolding the TCs and the Major Assignments
Threshold Concept
Major Assignment
Scaffolding Activities & Readings

21. Some General Tips for Using WAW
Read the Instructor’s Manual; it provides summaries of each reading and additional activities, as well as tested sample syllabi
Rely on and use the framing material (chapter intros, questions for discussion and journaling)
Assign the meta-moments (reflections)

22. Some General Tips for Using WAW
Don’t teach readings as though you are teaching graduate students; pick a few readings, emphasize take home points and let the rest go
Rely on activities and reflection to help students get into the ideas and terminology from the readings
Use students’ own experiences to show them they understand these ideas even if they’ve never used this language before
Example from Brandt: where/how did you learn to write and read, etc. These are literacy sponsors!

23. Some General Tips for Using WAW
Use and modify the major assignments at the end of chapters to support your teaching goals
Look for signs of learning, creative problem- solving, and self-reflection in student writing; error-free prose is an unrealistic goal
There are many genres and media that can be used to help students achieve goals.

24. How do you begin in order to get students on board?
First day:
Start with them: what are their conceptions of writing, their experiences of writing, their frustrations with school, their experiences outside school.
Put them in small groups, fill the board with their experiences and concerns
Then note: This is what this class is about, you, and helping you take ownership of the frustrating experiences

25. Resources
University of Central Florida’s program, including published student writing: CCCC Special Interest Group Lots of users we can put you in touch with : UCF, Angela Rounsaville, Boise State, Heidi Estrem, UT Rio Grande, Andrew Hollinger, U Arkansas, Elias Barajas, U Memphis, Katherine Fredlund,