Michael W. Joy (Modern Languages and Literatures)
Request for TLAC Conference Grant
I write to request consideration for a TLAC conference grant in the amount of $500
to enable my attendance and active participation in a workshop at the Bard College Institute
for Writing and Thinking from July 6 to July 11, 2008. Each summer, the Institute sponsors
several workshops, held on the Bard College campus, where secondary teachers and college
faculty live and work together to discuss issues related to teaching writing and to
incorporating writing into courses in other disciplines. According to the Institute, its
workshops “seek to enrich student learning by offering challenging, engaging, and effective
teacher-development programs that focus on the role of writing in teaching and learning.”
The workshop in which I would like to participate—Writing and Thinking—is a gateway
workshop, one that the Institute recommends to teachers who will be experiencing the
program for the first time. Every day for a week, teachers in all fields and at all levels discuss
the values they bring to teaching and work intensively on “invention strategies, coaching the
writing process, and revision.” (More information on all the Institute workshops is available
at www.writingandthinking.org.)
Regarding the pedagogical and educational value of my attendance in the workshop,
I believe that it would be an invaluable opportunity to collaborate with other teachers of
writing, to refresh my skills relating to the teaching of writing, and to energize myself as a
language arts professional. The workshop is envisioned as a retreat where teachers can
rediscover the pleasure of reading and writing and where we can, in a way, rediscover our
own writing selves. Specifically, of course, I will be able to apply the techniques and
methods discussed at the workshop to my own teaching of writing. This fall, for instance, I
am scheduled to teach Spanish 300 (Reading and Writing), a course that I have taught before
and that I would like to revitalize, with an even greater focus on the process of writing:
Michael Joy
TLAC Grant Proposal
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generating ideas, writing, editing, revising, and the like. I also plan to regularly teach UN100
as part of Northern’s First Year Experience program; I taught this course last year and
would like to enhance the writing component of this important class.
Will this experience benefit only myself? No. I see my participation in this
workshop as a “trial run.” My fervent hope is that the experience will be so fruitful and
engaging that I will be able to convince colleagues from other NMU departments to attend
future workshops at the Institute (there is a 10% discount offered for teams of three or more
from a single institution). As part of this effort, I will schedule a presentation for the entire
campus community in order to pass on the information and insights gained at the workshop
to colleagues from other departments. Alternatively, I can envision a TLAC-sponsored
panel discussion on writing, with myself as one of the participants, along with colleagues
from Education, English, or other fields. Either way, I definitely see my involvement with
the workshop as a first step, with benefits extending far beyond my own department.
Since the start of my career, I have had an active interest in issues related to teaching,
learning, and pedagogy; I have translated this interest into service and professional
development activities. This service includes my involvement with liberal studies programs
and seminars for first-year students (here and at my previous institution), participation on
the NMU Liberal Studies Committee, and—on a somewhat larger scale—organizing and
moderating a session at the 2006 Modern Language Association convention which dealt with
the challenges and pleasures of teaching Golden Age Spanish literature at smaller colleges
and universities. Finally, at the MLA convention in Chicago in December 2007, I attended
the following panels related to teaching: “The Undergraduate Student as Scholar: Courses
and Seminars” and “Teaching Don Quixote in the English Department: Justifications,
Michael Joy
TLAC Grant Proposal
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Challenges, and Rewards.” I see my active participation in this workshop as a continuation
and enhancement of my previous work in the field of teaching and learning.
I have included a breakdown of estimated expenses related to the workshop
immediately following this essay. I will be using my AAUP funds for the coming academic
year for discipline-specific conferences (including a proposed panel at the 2008 MLA
convention in San Francisco) and would greatly appreciate TLAC’s support for my
attendance at this innovative and interdisciplinary workshop. Thank you very much for your
consideration.
BREAKDOWN OF EXPENSES
Workshop registration (includes food and lodging for six days): $900
Transportation (airfare): $500
Total: $1400
Total requested: $500