Making Connections Workshop
Back to The First Year Writing Program - for Faculty
From Jessica Restaino’s workshop on October 12, 2005, this worksheet offers teachers a way to think about how they might support their writing instruction through use of outside speakers and other resources. Be sure to note, at the bottom of this document, web sites to help you find resources.
Making Connections: Linking Classroom and Public
Course Planner Worksheet
This is a worksheet to help you design a course that makes connections both within the campus community and beyond. This is an opportunity to bridge your teaching (and your students) with organizations, programs, and people who are outside the university and/or classroom walls. Fill in each section as much as you can, and use the resource list to start initial research.
- What is your theme for the course? Also, in one to two sentences, what are your overarching objectives for your students? (Keep it to no more than two or three, tops).
- Use your imagination: What kinds of outside voices or organizations might enhance, compliment, or complicate (in the most positive sense) the issues you imagine your students reading and writing about? Think, too, about the theme of the course—are there certain reading choices that come to mind right away? If so, what issues are they linked to?
- Now it’s time to make some initial connections. Using the resource list provided, just conduct some preliminary web research. Make a master list of possible organizations, groups, or individuals who would be of interest to you, based upon your course goals and theme. Use the back of this paper for your list.
Some "Networking" Resources
Montclair State Resources
Student Clubs/Organizations:
http://www.montclair.edu/clubs/
Student Development and Campus Life:
http://www.montclair.edu/pages/sdcl/
MSU Women’s Center
http://www.montclair.edu/pages/womenscenter/
MSU Center of Pedagogy
http://cehs.montclair.edu/academic/cop/
SPECTRUMS (MSU gay/straight student alliance)
http://www.geocities.com/spectrums_msu/main.html
Academic Advising
http://www.montclair.edu/pages/academicadvising/index.shtml
Info about Grants/Fellowships for both students and faculty:
http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/grants/3gradinf.htm
Outside University Walls: Here are some helpful links to get you started
The Center for Non-Profits/NJ links:
http://www.njnonprofits.org/Links1.html
State sponsored site for non-profit organizations:
http://www.nj.org/nonprofits.html
Directory of registered NJ charities:
http://www.state.nj.us/lps/ca/charfrm.htm
Township of Montclair:
http://www.to.montclair.nj.us/