Engaging the Transfer of Writing Skills
Activity
1. Identifying Threshold Concepts (TCs) (10 minutes - individual)
Using a large sticky note, name and draw two threshold concepts within your discipline. One should be related
to your discipline/field as a whole while another should be specific to writing within your discipline. To help you
brainstorm/verify your TCs, consider the following resources from our reading/handouts:
- Five key characteristics of TCs that Glynis Cousin identifies in “An Introduction to Threshold Concepts” (4)
- List of “Features of a Threshold Concept” on the handout from Kerri
In addition to identifying the concepts, draw/illustrate how the concepts build upon, connect, and inform one
another. It may also be useful to include any skills or knowledge learners would need first in order to learn the
TCs within your discipline as well as to identify what new knowledge or skills understanding these TCs could lead
to. While you may include more than two TCs, we want to start with two well thought out concepts.
2. Gallery Walk (10-15 minutes)
Everyone posts their TC map and the group explores the work of others. The goal is to identify overlaps and
connections with the TCs from various disciplines in order to create groups of 2-3. To identify connections,
participants might consider the following questions:
- Are any of your TCs similar or identical to those of another?
- Do any of your TCs inform or lead to the TCs of another?
- Do any of your TCs involve skills or activities related to the TCs of another?
3. Teaching Strategies (20 minutes)
Once groups are formed based on connections within and among TCs, each group will discuss and record
teaching strategies that they would use to teach the various TCs. The goal is that participants will have actual
activities they can take back to their classrooms to share with students. We think that having identified overlaps
in skills or knowledge might allow teachers from different disciplines to build off of one another.
We ask that each group use a laptop to record their teaching strategies (so that we can compile each group’s list
of activities and ideas to share in Dropbox). Consider the following questions:
- What strategies would you use to teach the TCs to your students?
- How can you create activities/assignments that engage students?
o Please see Wardle’s list of her students’ ideas about engaging writing assignments on pages 77-78
of “Understanding ‘Transfer’ from FYC”.
- How can these strategies engage and encourage the transfer of skills and knowledge within and/or
across courses and disciplines?
4. Sharing (15 minutes)
Each group will share their work with the group. Depending on the number of groups, each group will have
approximately three minutes to present.
5. Open discussion of take-aways from the reading (if time remains)
Supplies Needed
- Large sticky notes (one for each participant)
- Laptops for participants to record their teaching strategies with Questions from Part 3 set up in a Word
document
- Markers
- Digital stopwatch