Call for Proposals

The Call is now closed. Thank you to those who submitted. Please check out the Program Schedule.

The 8^th Annual Lake Superior Summit on the Teaching of Writing & ESL calls for proposals for 15-minute presentations on the theme of “Essential Innovations.”

Audience: Attendees at the Summit are instructors of writing & ESL at the high school, technical, community, and 4-year college levels. When thinking of your audience, think inclusively and attend to how your assertions and evidence may be creatively & broadly construed.

Format: In each 50-minute timeslot, 2 presenters will present for 15 minutes each, leaving 20 minutes for group conversation and synthesis of the two presentations. Presentations should be engaging and include the audience as much as possible. You may use Powerpoint or share your screen as desired. Ahead of the conference, we will compile handouts or additional materials to share with all participants.

Speaking to the Theme: As you ideate your presentation, consider the three track areas, defined more fully below: "Teaching with Technology," "Lessons Learned from the Difficult Times," and "Language & Culture." Please consider which track your proposal will best reflect.

How to Propose a Presentation: Please send a 4-5 sentence description of your 15-minute presentation containing:
its title, the main topic/argument/approach, how you plan to engage the audience, your name & institutional affiliation, and which track your presentation fits in an email with the subject line Summit Proposal to: CLIC@uwsuper.edu by 4pm on Monday, February 15, 2021. The committee will review all proposals and aim to include everyone who would like to present.

Teaching with Technology: This track asks presenters to share their practical “how to” knowledge of tools; logistics and solutions for online and/or hybrid teaching; the affordances and limitations of various course management systems; the challenges and tensions that frameworks such as Universal Design for Learning bring; teaching language online with or without elaborate language software/apps; reviews of technologies or failed experiments; looking ahead at how these technologies may inflect your “normal” teaching or the future of teaching; other “essential innovations” in teaching with technology.

Lessons Learned from the Difficult Times: This track focuses on the conditions and attendant changes demanded of us as educators and people during the pandemic, including: social distancing in the classroom; workplace collegiality & camaraderie while separated; re-envisioning the word “flexibility” when it comes to teaching & learning; ours & students’ well-being and mental health; compassionate and trauma-informed teaching; critical analysis of traditional, policy-driven approaches during the pandemic; home responsibilities & care work while working from home; pandemic fatigue and working amid a sense of disintegration.

Language & Culture: This track was inspired by our collective zeal for understanding and appreciating the current moment’s effect on linguistic and cultural ramifications of 2020. Topics could include but of course are not limited to: pronouns & gender identity in the classroom (online and otherwise); issues of identity generally for teachers and students; language changes; challenging conventions of writing; appearing in life as a block box with a name on it; language as a gatekeeper to academics or academic success for students from marginalized backgrounds; the 2020 CCCC statement on Black Linguistic Justice; dialects of privilege; decolonizing the teaching of writing.