Teaching Writing in College

Now that we've covered the skill I was hoping to develop with my students (a basic knowledge of inductive reasoning) and several lesson plans that could help them develop that skill, in this episode I share the lesson plan I used to have them use AI as they write a summary of a piece of research that they would present in their project. This lesson plan is not only about prompting AI to make a summary, but also a few decisions they could make so that the summary fits into their larger project of a podcast monologue or transcript. I also provide some brief reflection on my teaching--that I just saw a new book in the field of writing studies about AI prompts as a genre of writing. I'd like to come back to that soon in a later episode to see if I can use it to strengthen my own teaching around AI.

View episode 44 on YouTube: Vhttps://youtu.be/1iloIIg_ROY

Teaching Writing in College is available:

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In this next installment of the Back to Class Reflection Series, I walk through the lesson plan I used to show students what inductive reasoning might look like in writing. The lesson plan includes further modeling of inductive reasoning built on previous work with students. The main activity is to have students copy, by hand, a sample summary that I wrote, complete with color coding for introducing the source, explaining the specific examples, and paraphrasing the general conclusion. The summary can serve as a reference point in their notes for their own summaries, which can also be adjusted to fit the genre they were working on at the time. (They were developing a podcast monologue or transcript that explains a cause and effect relationship related to their field of study). This episode also includes a little bit of commentary about technology--that we really need to cut through the "noise" of learning management systems, gradebooks, notifications on phones or laptops, and other distractions to maintain a focus on practice.

View Episode 43 on YouTube: https://youtu.be/YbEUS7Yqao0

Teaching Writing in College is available:

YouTube Playlist (video): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUWbbrcygqkZvxqdPCqhuzu0yyx5trJUw

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/teaching-writing-in-college/id1667922309

YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUWbbrcygqkZvxqdPCqhuzu0yyx5trJUw&si=ZnTI_Q3dItN5rodf

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In this follow-up to episode 41, I share the second lesson plan I used (in which I prepare students to find a piece of research to report on). At the same time, having stumbled across Jay Caspian Kang's "The Despair of the Professor in the Age of AI" in the New Yorker (May 26, 2026), I've been reflecting on the "despair" that professors face in higher education these days. After sharing a few details from a reflection by one of the professors Kang highlights in his article, I offer some brief commentary on how learning is still possible (even though it often feels like it's not). My hope is that this series is a demonstration of that.

I came across it a little late, but I highly recommend Kang's article: https://www.newyorker.com/news/fault-lines/the-despair-of-the-professor-in-the-age-of-ai

View Episode 42 on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fgTles9_rEw

Teaching Writing in College is available:

YouTube Playlist (video): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUWbbrcygqkZvxqdPCqhuzu0yyx5trJUw

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/teaching-writing-in-college/id1667922309

YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUWbbrcygqkZvxqdPCqhuzu0yyx5trJUw&si=ZnTI_Q3dItN5rodf

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4TxG7hTN6qaJHN9euDBIZU?si=ur3jQve0TdyeSLKVyLsNgw

Socials:
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Facebook: Teaching Writing in College
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Teaching Writing in College is available:

YouTube Playlist (video): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUWbbrcygqkZvxqdPCqhuzu0yyx5trJUw

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/teaching-writing-in-college/id1667922309

YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUWbbrcygqkZvxqdPCqhuzu0yyx5trJUw&si=ZnTI_Q3dItN5rodf

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4TxG7hTN6qaJHN9euDBIZU?si=ur3jQve0TdyeSLKVyLsNgw

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In upcoming episodes, I want to dive into how I taught inductive reasoning as a writing strategy. But for Episode 40, it's worth taking the time to reflect on how it became part of my repertoire in writing courses in the first place. In short, inductive reasoning can be used in the service of invention, and I first learned about it in the same way many writing teachers learn about writing strategies: from a textbook I was given shortly before I taught English 2010 for the first time at Utah State University in the spring semester of the year 2000. For this episode, I share (briefly) some of the source material that has informed my use of induction in the classroom. I like it because it can help students develop ideas, but it can also be used to parse research or other material they might encounter in their other classes or in their lives outside of school.

View Episode 40 on YouTube:

Teaching Writing in College is available:

YouTube Playlist (video): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUWbbrcygqkZvxqdPCqhuzu0yyx5trJUw

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/teaching-writing-in-college/id1667922309

YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUWbbrcygqkZvxqdPCqhuzu0yyx5trJUw&si=ZnTI_Q3dItN5rodf

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Episode 39 of Teaching Writing in College reflects on the big picture when it comes to assessment. For the most part, we live in a system of education that emphasizes external motivation. Although we value things like the writing process, we often reward the end result, or the product with the larger portion of credit. That, of course, subverts any motivation to work on the small things--the day-to-day activities that actually lead to learning. In this episode, I reflect on a few different ways to set up assessments in writing classes to reward practice, not product.

Teaching Writing in College is available:

YouTube (video): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUWbbrcygqkZvxqdPCqhuzu0yyx5trJUw

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/teaching-writing-in-college/id1667922309

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A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education focused on the frustration faculty have been experiencing for the last few years--since genAI became widely accessible a few years ago. For some, that frustration has become the impetus for early retirement. Although I understand and sometimes share that frustration, I also see plenty to look forward to for my students and me in the context of a writing classroom. A few things can help alleviate that frustration, including how we think about writing, what we decide to teach about writing, and how we understand learning. In this episode, I cover briefly how I understand writing, what faculty need, selecting concepts about writing that will help both faculty and students, and how it can play out in class. In this and the next few episodes, I'd like discuss how preparation in those areas has focused my own classroom practices directly on student learning. Along the way, I'll share examples of how that understanding can translate into classroom practice.

Teaching Writing in College is available:

YouTube (video): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUWbbrcygqkZvxqdPCqhuzu0yyx5trJUw

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/teaching-writing-in-college/id1667922309

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As I reflect on my teaching from last year what I'd like to do this year, I'm launching a series that dissects several lesson plans I used on writing skill: inductive reasoning in cause and effect. The lesson plans led up to a passage students wrote with AI, and they incorporate a lot of teaching knowledge and skills I have historically relied on. But at the same time, of course, I've had to make new choices. This episode introduces my thinking behind the writing skill, while subsequent episodes in this series will be about the lesson plans themselves. Along the way, I'd like to evaluate what I did and consider how AI is changing the way I teach.

Teaching Writing in College is available:

YouTube (video): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUWbbrcygqkZvxqdPCqhuzu0yyx5trJUw

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/teaching-writing-in-college/id1667922309

YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUWbbrcygqkZvxqdPCqhuzu0yyx5trJUw&si=ZnTI_Q3dItN5rodf

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For episode 36, I share a helpful acronym from Richard Fulkerson called the STAR criteria. STAR can prompt learners (or all of us) to ask: is my support sufficient, typical, accurate, and relevant? STAR can also be helpful for writing transfer. While I've used the STAR criteria to help students make decisions about support or evidence they might use in an essay, Substack, report or any other written assignment based on genre, I've also used it to help students make decisions about how they support reflection about their own writing in metacognitive assignments. To my mind, metacognitive reflection is a skill in its own right, and appropriate support can and should come from the student's own writing life. STAR can help students This episode walks through how I have used the STAR criteria recently, both for writing practice and for reflection.

Teaching Writing in College is available:

YouTube (video): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUWbbrcygqkZvxqdPCqhuzu0yyx5trJUw

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/teaching-writing-in-college/id1667922309

YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUWbbrcygqkZvxqdPCqhuzu0yyx5trJUw&si=ZnTI_Q3dItN5rodf

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4TxG7hTN6qaJHN9euDBIZU?si=ur3jQve0TdyeSLKVyLsNgw

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Questions about whether and how AI is used in writing and other communication seem to be an important part of the writer/audience relationship. In this episode, I walk through my effort to include transparency as a form of knowledge about writing. With transparency as a frame, this semester I have shared two strategies with my students that can help them be transparent in their use of AI.

Teaching Writing in College is available:

YouTube (video): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUWbbrcygqkZvxqdPCqhuzu0yyx5trJUw

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/teaching-writing-in-college/id1667922309

YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUWbbrcygqkZvxqdPCqhuzu0yyx5trJUw&si=ZnTI_Q3dItN5rodf

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4TxG7hTN6qaJHN9euDBIZU?si=ur3jQve0TdyeSLKVyLsNgw

Socials:
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: Teaching Writing in College
Bluesky: @teachingwriting.bsky.social
YouTube: @teachingwritingincollege
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