Spring workshops aim
to help student writers
OCCC will host a Spring Writing Symposium,
a conference for professors and students,
Friday, April 7.
The conference will contain workshops that teach new ways to write.
Melinda Barr, OCCC history professor, will hold a presentation on studying history using primary sources.
Since this is Barr’s first time participating in the symposium, she said she is excited to learn from her colleagues and share ideas about writing in history disciplines.
The symposium theme this year is “transitions.”
The conference will kick off with a panel discussion about high school to college, community college to university, and college to work transitions.
Pam Stout, symposium committee chairperson, said the conference is designed to help students make meaningful transitions within their educational experiences.
“What you learn in college will go with you,” she said.
She said conflict between community college and universities will be addressed in the conference discussions.
“Sometimes community college is [viewed to be] not as significant, but we serve a powerful purpose,” she said.
The symposium committee invited a student to sit on the symposium panel, “Educational Transitions,” for the first time this year.
Stout said she hopes to learn new ways of teaching and making connections with students.
Barr said students will have the chance to watch faculty discuss something they find interesting.
Other activities will include a presentation to inform teachers of better ways to teach non-native English writers.
The symposium also will feature a student panel on non-native English speakers and English Composition I courses.
The workshops are free to OCCC students and faculty. General registration is $25. It will begin at 8 a.m. and the panel discussion will begin at 9 a.m.
The committee is expecting teachers from high schools and colleges across the Midwest to attend.
For more information about symposium workshops and registration, visit www.occc.edu/ah/symposium/index.htm.
Staff Writer Ebonee Gilliard can be reached at StaffWriter2@occc.edu.
