2015 AWP Writers Conference Panel Presentation and Bookfair

2015 AWP Writers Conference Panel Presentation and Bookfair

Grant:
Lecturers' Professional Development Fund (LPDF)
Academic Year:
2014 - 2015 (June 1, 2014 through May 31, 2015)
Funding Requested:
$2,000.00
Project Dates:
-
Applicant(s):
jchamber
Overview of the Project:
To attend the 2015 AWP Writers Conference as a presenter on the panel "God Made Flyover States: Writing the Rural Midwest," which relates directly to and will help inform my continued teaching of Midwestern, Michigan, and Rust Belt Literatures in the English Department at the University of Michigan, as well as to participate in the bookfair as the Editor-in-Chief of Fiction Writers Review, an online literary journal founded by University of Michigan alumni. I also hope to attend a number of talks and panels focused on the teaching of writing in general and the pedagogy of creative writing in particular, with special attention to issues related to teaching genre literature, integrating new media and digital publishing in the classroom, and effectively interacting with student writing as a critical respondent.
Final Report Fields
Project Objectives:

To attend the 2015 AWP Writers Conference as a presenter on the panel “God Made Flyover States: Writing the Rural Midwest," as well as to participate in the bookfair and to attend panels, readings, and conferences related to my teaching at the University of Michigan.

Project Achievements:

The project's achievements were fourfold:

  1. The paper I delivered as part of my panel was later published as an essay entitled "Know Thyself: The Linguistics of Place" in the September/October 2015 issue of Poets & Writers magazine, which is a nationally distributed publication with more than 60,000 subscribers. And because the subject of my talk and this essay has to do with teaching rural fiction to undergraduates here at Michigan in my English 298 class--and the unique challenges that arise due to the fact that less than 20% of Americans in the US have contact or experience with rural America, leading often to prejudices and misunderstanding--I received many emails from teachers around the country in response to this work.
  2. Participating in this panel introduced me to other educators and writers whose work deals with "rural fiction," a topic that I engage with not only in my "Contemporary Michigan Narratives" (English 298), but also in my "Rust Belt Narratives" (English 317) course. As such, collaborating with these individuals was beneficial to my teaching.
  3. I attended a number of talks and panels focused on the teaching of writing in general and the pedagogy of creative writing in particular, with special attention to issues related to teaching genre literature, integrating new media and digital publishing in the classroom, and effectively interacting with student writing as a critical respondent. These panels on writing pedagogy have been beneficial to my work as the Assistant Director of the English Department Writing program because in my administrative role I work with graduate students in the MFA Program, Language and Literature, Women's Studies, American Culture, English and Education, and Comparative Literature as they begin teaching for the first time. It also has benefitted my own continued development as a teacher.
  4. I was also able to participate in AWP's bookfair in my capacity as the Editor-in-Chief of Fiction Writers Review, an online literary journal. Further, three UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program) students who are undergraduates here at Michigan accompanied me to the conference, and this allowed them to conduct research on their project about audience development for online literary publications at the bookfair, as well as to experience the many events of the conference. Each semester I also host a one-credit publishing internship (English 321) for the English Department, in which students work on this literary journal. So this experience benefitted not just my teaching and work as an editor, but also these three undergraduates, the UROP program, and the Department of English.
Continuation:
No. Though I do hope to apply to attend the 2017 AWP Conference.
Dissemination:
As I noted above, the talk I gave was subsequently published as an essay in Poets & Writers magazine and the department was notified of this publication by the Chair of the English department. I have also brought the experience and knowledge gained in the pedagogy panels to my work mentoring graduate students in the various departments mentioned above as they begin teaching. Finally, I hosted a teaching circle with fellow Lecturers interested in creative writing pedagogy during the 2015-2016 academic year which drew on these panels and presentations.
Advice to your Colleagues:
Over the last several years of teaching at the University of Michigan I have discovered that our students are, for the most part, fairly comfortable in literature classes talking about issues related to race, class, gender, and sexuality. In particular, many are familiar with the concept of intersectionality and the way in which the intersection of race and gender, say, affect our understanding of individual experience and identity. However, few of our students have had any contact or experience with the rural. As such, it is an entirely foreign concept to them, particularly when studying or discussing literature related to rural identity or rural subjects. And, unfortunately, many of our students seem to have an inherent bias toward rural people--largely based on misunderstanding. Specifically, they few these people as unintelligent, "backwater," or unable to possess complicated thoughts and emotional experiences due to a lack of education. And because of this prejudice, it's often harder for them to engage or empathize with this particular human experience. Participating on this panel, then, and the subsequent work of developing my talk into an essay for publication, as well as the response from other teachers across the country who'd read the piece, really helped me better understand the challenges my students face in this area (for many are completely unaware of their biases) and how best to incorporate literature that engages with the rural experience more successfully into my classroom.
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