Come a little bit closer
Hear what I have to say
Just like children sleepin'
We could dream this night away.

But there's a full moon risin'
Let's go dancin' in the light
We know where the music's playin'
Let's go out and feel the night.

--from “Harvest Moon” by Neil Young

right click here and open in new window, scroll down for the song

The cycle of seasons, the light and the dark, the exertion and the celebration . . . we invite you to join us in thinking about harvest as it relates to the work we invest in as writing teachers and teachers who write in two-year colleges.

What are our most important resources for this work? How do we till, plant, cultivate, gather, and ultimately enjoy the rewards with our students? Who are we, the workers? What migrant work habits characterize some of our lives? What is the yield we’re looking for, working toward in our courses? How does technology, the mechanization of “harvest,” aid or hinder our work in the field? What conditions are ideal for learners? How can the crop of students make or break us? How do we sustain ourselves, especially in difficult economic and political times? When and how should we—and our students—rest the spade and “go dancin’ in the light”?

We welcome proposals for interactive sessions, multi-media presentations, roundtable discussions, and other creative variants. Please submit proposals by Monday, June 20, 2011.

Possible Topics

• Connecting with the community
• Multicultural/multilingual learners
• Preparing to teach in the two-year college
• Innovation and renewal
• Place based learning
• Developmental writers, first generation learners, underprepared students
• Transformations and transfer students
• Collaborative learning: writing centers, learning communities, interdisciplinary approaches
• Theoretical/pedagogical perspectives on teaching writing or literature
• Assessing what we do in the classroom and beyond
• Modern mechanizations: e-learning, digital texts, hybrid classrooms



And don't forget to nominate a colleague for the
Lisa S. Ede Teaching Award!