Jenae Cohn

Jenae Cohn's Blog Posts

ATS Annex: Creating Simple and Sustainable Online Writing Courses

Submitted by Jenae Cohn on Thu, 2020-09-03 11:46

“I live on the Internet now,” I often said to people this summer. In truth, the Internet has long been where I’ve spent the bulk of my time, a fact that likely comes as little surprise to anyone who knows that my job is dedicated to understanding how we learn, read, and write online. But in a moment where PWR pivoted rapidly to online learning, where the world, in fact, is roiling through a constant state of unexpected twists and turns, I felt even more fully invested in understanding how to make online spaces feel like home spaces. 

Pen, Crayon, Smartphone: Exploring How Materials Shape Content and Writing Practice

Submitted by Jenae Cohn on Sun, 2019-09-08 16:06

Overview: This activity invites students to explore how materiality affects content through responding to a writing prompt using different sets of writing materials.

Activity title: Pen, Crayon, Smartphone: Exploring How Materials Shape Content and Writing Practice

Author: Russ Carpenter, Jenae Cohn, and Cassie Wright

Course: PWR 1 or PWR 2

Rhetorically Speaking: A New PWR Podcast

Submitted by Jenae Cohn on Thu, 2019-05-30 07:58

Photo by Christine Alfano of Cassie Wright, Jenae Cohn, and Jake Warga getting ready to record an interview for Episode 1.

Here in PWR, we are experts at writing and speaking about what rhetoric is and why it matters for our students. But what might happen if we take those conversations about rhetoric and writing and communicate them in the form of a podcast?

ATS Annex: What Sewing a Book Taught Me About Teaching with Technology

Submitted by Jenae Cohn on Mon, 2018-11-19 16:04

Twenty folded pages of paper. A spool of waxed thread. A rounded needle. Two cardboard covers. A ruler. These were the technologies I had for composing as part of a National Endowment for the Humanities summer institute I was invited to join, called The Book: Material Histories and Digital Futures. Along with a group of twenty other scholars from across the nation, we engaged in regular “making” workshops where we would pick up that thread and those papers to experiment with creating new book forms. And every single time we would begin, a wave of dread washed over me.

Teaching "Storytelling and Science": An Interview with Kim Savelson

Submitted by Jenae Cohn on Thu, 2018-08-30 10:15

The PWR Newsletter team had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Kim Savelson about her new PWR 91 course, "Storytelling and Science," which she taught in spring quarter 2018. Learn more about how Kim and her students debated the definition of "story," found their own compelling science stories, and discovered the rewards and challenges of crafting powerful stories.

Exploring and Narrowing Research Topics with Yewno

Submitted by Jenae Cohn on Wed, 2018-07-18 14:08

Overview: When students pick a research topic for the first time, they may not know where to begin in their research process. This activity invites students to pick a key term or phrase from their research and use a software application available through Stanford Libraries, Yewno, to explore associated keywords or ideas with a central research topic. Students will finish the activity with a new list of keywords, key people, or key places to investigate as they delve further into their research.

Exquisite Corpse Topic Narrowing Activity

Submitted by Jenae Cohn on Wed, 2018-07-18 11:32

Overview: Writers often get stuck in a certain way of thinking about their research projects, which may make it challenging for them to make revisions or to understand the next directions for their projects. In this activity, students engage in an "exquisite corpse"-style activity, where they will get to pass around their research topic idea and see how other students in the room understand, interpret, illustrate, and expand upon it.

Dr. Cristina Ramírez On Barrio Rhetorics of Belonging

Submitted by Jenae Cohn on Mon, 2018-05-14 10:56

“If we look closely and engage in rhetorical listening, we can find precarious spaces located in the everyday,” Dr. Cristina Ramírez of University of Arizona suggested during her talk at a PWR program meeting on Friday, April 20th. Indeed, Ramírez’s talk, “Barrio Rhetorics of Belonging: Recovering and Historicizing Hidden Rhetorics from Precarious Spaces,” takes on a project that involves not only listening, but also transcribing and translating from the archives of Mexican women writing in precarious times.

Two Heads Are Better Than One: Collaborations in PWR

Submitted by Jenae Cohn on Fri, 2018-01-12 14:36

In writing classes, we often encourage students to collaborate with their peers on developing research ideas, refining their prose, and clarifying their arguments. As instructors, we benefit from collaborating with our peers too, and in PWR, several instructors have developed fruitful collaborations both within and outside of the program to help improve their students’ learning experiences.

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