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The Celebration of Student Writing

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

EMU Student Center Grand Ballroom

It sounds intriguing... but what is it? The Celebration of Student Writing is a phenomenon! Described objectively, it is the culminating event for many sections of ENGL 121. For the Celebration, students create projects based on the research work they've conducted throughout the semester. Less objectively, it is an exciting, loud, vibrant event where students, faculty, administrators, and staff spend time looking at and talking about writing and the fabulous work done by students in English 121.

View CSW: The Movies

What does it look like? At the Celebration, each participating class has about 12 feet of table space to display their projects. But projects don't all go on these tables--students have created projects that can only be displayed on the floor (like paper roads leading to different "signs" of student achievement, each discovered and developed through research), or on video monitors spread throughout the room (like a video about a student's research site), and elsewhere. The more creative, the better! (For some CSW photos, see the old FYWP web site CSW page.)

What really happens at the Celebration? On the day of the event, students and/or classes bring their completed research projects to the new EMU Student Center Grand Ballroom, where someone from the FY Writing Program is available to help them locate their tables. By 4pm, students whose work is displayed at the Celebration are at the tables, ready to discuss their projects with others. Typically, students rotate through the event--they spend some time with their projects and some time looking at and talking about others' work. (Some instructors set up schedules for students, for instance.)

What kinds of projects can students do? Celebration projects should be linked to students' research work for the term. But there's no one model or format for projects -- every term, students get more creative! Some recent displays have included

Science fair-type displays of research work
Chapbooks or compilations of student work
Websites
Video productions
Models (of study sites) or other locations
Class webzines or magazines
Multi-media displays

Who attends? Everyone who creates a project for the Celebration attends (unless they have another class or inescapable obligation) the Celebration. Additionally, other students, administrators, professors, and staff attend. Recently, visitors from other campuses and area high schools have often attended the Celebration. Working with the Department of Admissions, we also invite significant teachers and/or counselors from participating students' high schools to attend the Celebration, as well as prospective EMU students. Over 1400 people visited the Winter 2005 Celebration!

Do participants enjoy the Celebration? We'll let them speak for themselves. Some comments from Celebration evaluation forms:

I got to rub shoulders with some bigwigs on campus. I gained confidence in my writing that I felt was very important.
Being there was valuable. Seeing other students’ projects made me laugh (in a good way) and helped me understand others’ views.
The experience at the Celebration was very valuable because I have never experienced anything like this before. It was neat to write about a certain topic and be able to share it with other people.
Being a part of this university is fun. It doesn’t always have to be about sports or clubs, but it is good to know that there are other ways to be involved.
I think it opened us as students up. When a project is on display you work harder at it and get more joy out of letting people see your work because it is letting them get to know each other better.
It shows people that there are lots of talented writers here at EMU. So come with your best or funniest materials.
It was a lot bigger than I expected, also there was a lot of good work.
I thought it was a good way of showing all the different ways people use writing.

For more information on the CSW, e-mail Linda Adler-Kassner