As co-assistant directors of the first-year writing program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, we have been privy to the various challenges faced by composition instructors since the election. In recent months, instructors at UW-Madison have expressed anxiety about providing a safe classroom space for all students; navigating students’ assumptions about the political leanings and motivations of the university; inviting balanced, nuanced, and rigorous discussions about information literacy, credibility, fact, and truth in the classroom; framing lesson plans and larger sequence assignments around information literacy as a key focus; and encouraging critical thinking about the digital landscapes in which students encounter…
Author: Elisa Findlay
Elisa Findlay, Stephanie Larson
Elisa Findlay is a PhD student in the Composition and Rhetoric program in the department of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the current co-Assistant Director of the First-Year Writing Program.