星空传媒's Common Reading selection for 2021-2022 is Tracy K. Smith's Wade in the Water. The Writing Program offers the following resources for using this text in First Seminars and other writing courses.
Wade in the Water won the for poetry in 2019, and Smith served as from 2017-2019. You can hear Smith of the collection, and you might consider how Smith鈥檚 poetry serves as a form of . The collection may inspire you to experiment with 鈥渇ound鈥 and 鈥渆rasure鈥 poems, to explore the resources collected on the website, or to investigate voices from 星空传媒鈥檚 history (try searching the ).
A group of thirteen faculty members shared their responses to Smith鈥檚 poetry in , an essay that considers the work from various disciplinary perspectives. You might read this essay with your students to consider the value of different kinds of writing. Kelvin Smith Library鈥檚 includes a link to the essay, as well as additional resources.
Smith will speak at our Fall Convocation on Wednesday, August 25 at 4:45 p.m. This formal opening of the academic year is an opportunity to reflect on the history, symbols, and traditions of the university. You might attend this event as a class, and faculty might ask students to reflect on their experience and their expectations for college. We have found that a brief, written reflection can help faculty plan activities and assignments to support their student writers, and reflection is an important academic success skill for students.
Our Resources for Faculty page offers some general advice about working with student writers, and the Writing Resource Center consultants are ready to work with faculty, staff, and students on their writing projects this year.