At Lake Superior College, there are students from all over the world. Many of them have a Primary Language that is not English, yet here, they must speak, listen, read, and write in English. That they are successful, and they are, is absolutely amazing. Kirsi Halonen, LSC English Instructor, was once one such student, and here she: Explains ways th…

All of this talk about writing. I think it’s time to acknowledge reading. It’s not rocket science that there’s a connection between the two. LSC Reading faculty Keri Stimpson talks with us here about: The literal relationship between these two critical acts. How college reading – reading for content – is hard work, and our social media habits are n…

All of this stuff you’ve been learning in Comp class? You know, thesis statements, Intros, bodies, conclusions, transitions, citations? All good stuff, right? Well, LSC’s Lindsy Mason O’Brien says sure. Fine. But wait? She maintains that: There are other ways of academic writing that are totally different and legit in other cultures and contexts. T…

As we know from an earlier episode with Amy Jo Swing, this English language comes from...England. OK. Pretty obvious, but in this episode, British expatriate Nicola Scott from LSC’s Tutoring and Learning Center unpacks for us what she learned about writing back in her school days. It’s kind of surprising: That what we would call high school (second…

Let me guess. You’ve been waiting and waiting for an episode on Thesis Statements. You are in luck, because Paul Richgruber and Jocelyn Pihlaja met me at Mexico Lindo one night to talk about just that. Paul, a writer and history faculty, was really there to get some insight into how to help his students arrive at better theses. And the three of us?…

Our conversation with Liam Wright-Meier and Jocelyn Pihlaja resumes as we wrestle with AI writing and what it means for college students, teachers, and heck, the future of the human species. Yep. This is big stuff. In this episode, we investigate: The temptation something like ChatGPT opens for students. How instructor Jocelyn is already handling t…

Right before the Spring 2023 Semester started at LSC, something called ChatGPT suddenly became the buzz, at least for writing teachers. ChatGPT is an Artificial Intelligence, or AI, tool that can seemingly write just about anything a person could ask of it. Naturally, questions for said faculty became, if our students use it, are they learning anyt…

In this episode, LSC’S Gretchen Flaherty (she/her) investigates how writers use Pronouns. Primarily, Gretchen uncovers: What pronouns are and why we use them How the 2nd person You/Your pronoun is problematic in college writing How our growing understanding of gender – now much broader than she/her and he/him - is changing how we think and write Th…

Poet Amy Jo Swing returns yet again, this time to discuss her true love, poetry. More accurately, Amy Jo shows that poetic language has a role in academic writing. She shows us: That making use of metaphor and simile is powerful.. That idiom can also be powerful, but should be used with caution and an understanding of audience. That the sounds of o…

Our conversation with Blair Powless at the Dovetail concludes with a dive into something Blair calls The Continuous Conversation. He makes references to Western Academic Tradition, and here, “Western” specifically refers to culture and tradition that originated in Europe and spread around the world, definitely to places like the U.S. As a person of…

Our conversation with Blair Powless at the Dovetail continues. In this episode, Blair clarifies: That we think about what words mean through denotation and connotation. That a poetic awareness helps writers consider the layers and layers of meaning that word connotations bring to our writing. That including poetic language like metaphors in our wri…

Blair Powless calls himself a freelance educator. He’s been writing faculty at Lake Superior College, has coached local Spoken Word Poets in a group called Are Poets, and is currently studying history in hopes of teaching it. In this episode, Blair emphasizes that: Academic writers will benefit from poetry because such language will help connect em…

Kelli Hallsten Erickson is back, and this time with a very practical discussion of Outlines. I figured that would get you excited. Right. Anyway, pay attention to how Kelli: Argues that outlines save time as well as provide clarity. Is a big fan of all things Delayed Gratification. Shows how outlines are valuable to college composition students, no…

In this episode, LSC’s Executive Diversity Officer Sarah Lyons is going to explore the intersection of Implicit Bias and College Writing. She breaks down the difference between explicit and implicit bias. She shows how our implicit biases, while hardwired into all of us, can be problematic if we don’t pay attention to them. She rocks our compositio…

Because seeking feedback is a key to good writing, LSC and Fond Du Lac writing tutor Tanner Servoss uncovers what is valuable about this sometimes intimidating process. Tanner reveals that there are higher level concerns that college writers should consider, and – spoiler – they are not grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Tanner reveals that meetin…

Amy Jo Swing, LSC writing instructor and poet, returns in this episode to do a little time travel with us. That’s right. This English language that we wrestle with has a history, and knowing how we got into this mess is helpful. Amy Jo breaks down... How a succession of invaders, in addition to a lot of bloody mayhem, actually changed this language…

In this episode, poet and LSC English instructor Amy Jo Swing is going to help us uncover wordiness. You know, when we’re using words we just don’t need. Listen for these clues: Chuck the dead wood. Avoid Passive Voice. There are better words, so use ‘em. Amy Jo will expand on those ideas and more, so listen in.…

In this episode, Kelli Hallsten Erikson, writer and LSC English instructor, digs into the importance of considering audience. Three clues that Kelli shares are. The point of most writing, even if it’s assigned How writing a diary and writing just about anything else are very different things. Just how granular Kelli gets thinking about her own audi…