Opportunities

Teaching squares are groups of four faculty members who visit each other’s classes -- to learn from each other, not to evaluate each other -- and then get together to discuss what they learned from the visits. (Groups of three may also form a teaching triangle.)

To support these goals, I can help by 

• • providing prompts to guide the class visits and/or the debrief (in addition to my Teaching Squares Guide), and

  • supporting your debrief conversation by covering the cost for a meal together on campus.

After the debrief, each participant will be asked to submit a very brief report (download here) on insights gained from the experience.  

✍🏼  Apply for support for a Teaching Square (or Triangle) by completing this form.  ✍🏼  

Faculty are invited to propose a Faculty Learning Community (FLC)—a small, faculty-led group that meets regularly over a semester or academic year to explore a shared topic related to teaching or more broadly to their professional growth. 

TWU FLCs aim to foster meaningful conversation, mutual support, and purposeful change.  This change may be modest or radical, but the spirit of these groups is to amplify impact beyond the group members through

• a tangible product (e.g., a teaching resource), 

• a curricular innovation (e.g., redesigned course or course sequence), 

• a campus event (e.g., a workshop, panel, or brown bag lunch), 

• a broader dissemination of insights (e.g., a publication, presentation, or op ed), or

• another impactful result.

Selected proposals will receive modest funding for refreshments or books and may request help with planning and facilitation.

✍🏼  Propose a Faculty Learning Community completing this form.  ✍🏼  

In most faculty members’ long "To Do" lists, "Write that [article / book / collection of poems / promotion narrative / symphony / grant proposal]!" is often demoted when urgent but less important tasks pop up, so writing perennially disappears from calendars from August until June. If you're looking for a sustainable writing practice during the academic year--and if accountability, structure, and community sound like helpful writing support--apply to the Writing Accountability Group (WAG) Program.

WAGs are writing accountability groups (not peer review groups, writing exchanges, or time for chatting) that focus on the process and prioritization -- not the content -- of writing. If participants follow the process below, they work.

Participants develop personalized writing plans, track their progress in a shared accountability document, establish and celebrate milestones, and cultivate a writing practice they can live with.

Participation Options 

Pick one of the following formats:

Regular WAG

A traditional WAG is a group of four faculty members who meet every other week for seven one-hour sessions to support each other’s writing progress.  Each WAG schedules its own meeting times and follows the structured WAG meeting format described below.  This format works well for faculty who want ongoing accountability across the semester and the flexibility to schedule meetings with their group.

4-Week Intensive WAG

A 4-Week WAG follows the same model but meets weekly for four weeks.  Groups of four faculty meet once per week for one hour, using the same WAG meeting structure and shared accountability document. This format works well for faculty who prefer a shorter, more intensive burst of writing accountability.

Hosted WAG

In this format, Nancy Chick schedules and hosts the WAG meetings.  (Scheduled sessions will be announced soon!) Faculty simply sign up for a group with a schedule that fits their availability.  Hosted WAGs follow the same meeting structure but eliminate the need for participants to coordinate schedules with one another.  This format works well for faculty who want the structure and accountability of a WAG without the logistical work of finding other participants or scheduling meetings.

What Do Participants Do?

• Attend the scheduled WAG meetings for your chosen format.

• Track your writing plans and progress in our shared accountability document. (See what it looks like here.  The real version is shared only with participants.) 

• Set and work toward writing goals between meetings.

Because WAGs depend on consistent accountability and shared commitment, full participation is essential. Participants who attend and track their progress for at least 6 of the 7 meetings in a Regular WAG—or all 4 meetings in an Intensive WAG—receive a $300 stipend and the progress that results from a consistent writing practice.  (Individual faculty may participate in as many WAGs as they want, but they will received the stipend for only one WAG per semester.)

How Do I Join?

There are two ways to join a WAG:

• Apply as a pre-formed group of four faculty members, and identify if your group will be a Regular WAG or a 4-Week Intensive WAG, or

• Apply individually to join one of the hosted WAGs that fits your schedule.

The application form will be posted here soon.

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WAG Tools & Resources

Writing Project Planners

• • Choose among these writing plan templates to break your project into manageable phases, goals, tasks, and timelines. 

Structure of WAG Meetings 

Each WAG meeting is 60 minutes, tracks its activities in our shared document, and follows this precise schedule:

• 15 minutes: Report on the progress toward your goal since the last WAG meeting, and set a goal for today’s 30-minute writing session.

• 30 minutes: Write. (Mute and turn your camera off if you're virtual. One person may also share their screen with a virtual timer like these.) You'll be surprised at how much you can do in a 30-minute writing session!

• 15 minutes:  Report on today’s progress, and set a goal you'll work towards before your next WAG meeting. 

Shared Accountability Document

• • • WAGs track their plans and progress in a shared accountability document. (That's just the public version. Only participants will have access to the live version.)

Designed and facilitated by Dr. Karen Dunlap (Faculty Liaison, Professor Emeritus Curriculum and Instruction), WOW is two-week program of writing (or engaging in scholarly activities) for at least 20 minutes a day. Get some writing done, and enjoy the accountability and fun of following Oakley on his adventures.  Learn more here.

Give yourself a block of time to write by adding these to your calendar. No agenda, no program—just a supportive space for uninterrupted writing. Bring your materials (and headphones if needed), and enjoy refreshments while you work. 

Spring 2026 Faculty Writing Retreat in Denton: Tue, May 12, 9am-3:30pm

Join me for a one-day, off-campus faculty writing retreat just minutes from the Denton campus. Close to campus but removed from everyday routines, Wildflower Art Studio is a creative, light-filled space that makes it easier to settle in, focus, and reconnect with your writing. 

Whether you’re drafting, revising, planning, or simply trying to make space for thinking on the page, this will be a full day designed to support the kind of writing that’s hard to fit into the regular rhythm of the semester.  The retreat will offer a balance of structure and flexibility, with generous blocks of quiet writing time, light framing to help you get started or unstuck, and good food and coffee to keep you nourished and focused—all alongside colleagues who value protected time for scholarly and creative work.  Space is limited, so please apply only if you can commit to attending the full day retreat.  Apply here.