ITfC EdTeam Writing Workshop 2024

Workshop Dates

April 15 and 17, 2024

Objective of the workshop

To strengthen the academic writing skills of ITfC team members.

Introduction

ITfC team members have been conducting structured training programmes, seminars, workshops, and other empowerment initiatives for teachers and students in government and aided schools, Most of the team members have been involved in writing reflection notes, reports and academic papers. This workshop is aimed to improve the reading and writing skills of the team members.

Writing Workshop Methodology

The aim of the workshop is to support the team members to strengthen their capacities for academic writing, and to publish their work as academic outputs. This would have two benefits – firstly, their articles could benefit all the team members. Secondly, it would be a professional development exercise for the team members 15 to progress as writers.

On the first day, the team members would be introduced to the craft of writing, time-tested ways of converting ideas into written text, engaging in analytical, creative and critical thinking, taking and giving peer feedback and academic reading, which is a prerequisite for academic writing. The team members would be encouraged to find and read other academic papers and articles related to their topic.

The second day would start with initiating the members into academic writing with a free writing activity, which would be followed by the preparation of the first draft of their academic papers. The sessions are designed in such a way that the members regularly receive supportive feedback from the resource persons and their own peers. By the end of the second day, the members would have written the first drafts of their articles and would have gone through one stage of revision. The second day would conclude with the discussion of how writing is an essential part of self-learning and professional development. The team members are expected to continue working on their papers and share revised versions with the resource persons in a week to receive detailed feedback and hand holding, to enable them to complete their papers.

Tentative workshop session plan - 15 and 17 April 2024

Session No	Time	Agenda	Resources for the session
Day 1
Session 1	11:30 AM to 12:00 PM	Introduction to the program/workshop (GK)	Workshop page
Session 2	12:00 to 12:30 PM	Interactive session on writing: Writing as Carpentry (JK)	podcast, slide deck, brief notes, Useful Resource: Online Writing Lab at Purdue University
Session 3	12:30 to 1:00 PM	Overview of 'digital tools' and their use in writing (GK)
Session 4	01:45 to 2:30 PM	Using AI to review writing/ suggest improvements (CR)
Session 5	2:30 to 4:00 PM	Creation of digital concept maps by team member (on the papers they want to write) (MI can help if needed)
Session 5	4:00 to 5:00 PM	Initial presentation + Peer feedback in plenary, and discussion
Session 6	5:00 to 5:30 PM	Interactive session: ‘Reading for Writing’ and Accessing academic articles (assigning article for reading) (GK)	We learn to write by reading - Krashen
Day 2
Session 1	11:30 to 1:30 AM	“Free writing” (MI)	Free Writing - what and how
Session 2	02:00 to 3:30 PM	Academic writing: Writing the first draft of the paper (in small groups with peer and resource person support)
Session 3	2:00 to 3:30 PM	Peer Feedback and discussion in small groups (Each group member reads one paper of their peer and notes down comments/feedback. Then all members present this feedback to the whole group)
Session 5	3:30 to 5:00	Final revisions in the draft, digitizing if needed
Session 6	5:00 to 5:30 PM	Possible Way forward; journaling for continued learning	Skill Will matrix - Understanding Ability and Willingness to Write, to explore possible CPD

Points to consider and think about while writing

1. problem statement/context?
2. objectives/research questions
3. scope - where, when
4. approach, processes and timelines
   • how
   • resources
   • cost implications/funds for project
5. challenges and mitigation
   • constraints and how they were overcome
6. reflections
   • your key learnings from the project
   • which children did well, why
   • which did not, why
7. outcomes
   • what happened
   • your plans for the future
8. conclusions
9. references

Caveat: The above list is only intended to serve as questions to think about while writing.