WRIT 480: WRITING AND HEALING

Course Syllabus

University of Wisconsin-Superior

Spring 2017

Julie Gard, Associate Professor of Writing
Office: Swenson Hall 3136
Office Phone: 715-394-8471
Email:
Office Hours:Wed1-4 pm
Tues/Thurs 1-2 pm / Tues.5:00-7:50 pm
Swenson Hall 2012

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Exploration of theoretical and applied aspects of writing and healing. Forms studied and practiced may include poetry, story-telling, journaling, guided autobiography, and/or creative nonfiction, with focus on restorative benefits of narrative and imagistic writing.

LEARNINGOUTCOMES

Students will be able to:

1.Articulate the theoretical and research-based foundations of expressive writing as a healing tool.

2.Perform and facilitate writing exercises geared toward self-discovery and healing.

3.Compose an extended narrative that processes an issue or trauma.

4.Analyze uses of restorative narrative work in a variety of settings with diverse populations.

5.Develop appropriate strategies for integrating writing as healing techniques into their own area(s) of academic and/or professional specialization.

UW SUPERIOR STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOME

Individual and social responsibility: Students will engage in personal development, interpersonal competence, and social responsibility through active learning.

TEXTS

Anderson, Charles M. and Marian M. MacCurdy. Writing and Healing: Toward an Informed Practice. Urbana, Illinois: NCTE, 2000.

Bolton, Gillie, Victoria Field, and Kate Thompson. Writing Works: A Resource Handbook for Therapeutic Writing Workshops and Activities. London: Jessica Kingsley, 2006.

Charon, Rita. Narrative Medicine: Honoring the Stories of Illness. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2006.

DeSalvo, Louise. Writing as a Way of Healing: How Telling Our Stories Transforms Our Lives. Boston: Beacon Press, 1999.

Herman, Judith. Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence -- From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. New York: Basic Books, 2015.

Pennebaker, James. Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions. New York: The Guilford Press, 1997.

MATERIALS

- Spiral notebook and two-pocket folder(or lined paper & three-ring binder)

- Dependable method of storing and backing up documents

(i.e., cloud storage, dropbox.com, flash drive, UWS G:/ drive access, etc.)

- Access to D2L course website, which we will use on a regular basis

COURSE AND UNIVERSITY POLICIES

1. Grading: You will be completing a number of written assignments for this course, as well as receiving credit for participation-based activities.

Course Requirement / Percentage of Course Grade
Shorter Assignments (seminar papers, reading reflections, document drafts,etc.) / 15%
Participation (discussion, group work, attendance, in-class writing exercises, etc.) / 15%
Healing Narrative Essay
(5-7 pages) / 25%
Individualized Research/CreativeProject
(8-10 pages) / 35%
Final Presentation / 10%

Hold on to all assignments until the end of the term.

All major requirements (worth 5% of your grade or more) must be

completed to receive a passing grade in the course.

Your final letter grade will be determined using the following grading scale:

90-100%=A80-89%=B70-79%=C60-69%=D59% & below=F

Plus (+) and Minus (-) grades range in the upper and lower two points of each category.

Grades for all assignments will be posted online on our D2L course website, and you can check your current course grade at any point during the semester.

2. Academic Honesty: All work handed in or presented must be your own and generated specifically for this class. All outside sources of information used in an assignment must be given credit and cited properly. Violation of this policy can result in an “F” on the assignment and possibly an “F” for the course. See the UW-Superior website for the university’s plagiarism policy:

3. Attendance: Because of the interactive nature of this class, your presence at every meeting is crucial. Please come to class prepared and on time. Let me know ahead of time if you ever need to leave early or must miss class. In the case of illness or an emergency, it is your responsibility to find out what you missed by emailing me at .

4. Classroom Conduct: I will do everything I can to encourage an atmosphere of respect in this class, and I ask you to do the same. To this end, no words or actions will be tolerated that show disrespect for any person or group of people. Please pay careful attention to everyone’s comments and ideas, and respond in a supportive and constructive manner. Remember that we all benefit from diversity in our classroom and have a great deal to learn from each other.

5. Diversity Resources: I consider myself an ally of all forms of diversity on our campus. Following are some important links and resources:

The Alliance (LGBT+ and allies) -

Office of Multicultural Affairs -

Disability Support Services -

Gender Equity Center -

Veterans and Nontraditional Students -

All Student Organizations -

6. Due Date Policy: Assignments will go down one letter grade for each weekday they are late.Technological malfunctions are not a valid excuse for late work. Save and back up your assignments early and often!

7. Writing Center:Visit the UW Superior Writing Center in Swenson 1030 for free, one-on-one sessions with peer consultants. You can make an appointment at or access the website at

8. Email Communication: You will be using email frequently this semester, since it is the best way to reach me and also a good way to communicate with your classmates. You will be expected to use proper grammar, sentence structure, spelling, and punctuation in your emails, in addition to respectful and appropriate language. Please use your UWS account for all correspondence related to this class.

9. Technology: Cell phones and other electronic devices must be turned off during class. Once class time starts, computers should be used only for course assignments.

10. Food & Beverages: Be responsible regarding food and beverages, and especially cautious around the computers. Leave your work area at least as clean as you found it.

11.Class Cancellations: When weather conditions are dangerous, students will be informed via the media about class cancellations. Students should not call Campus Safety. Phone lines need to be open for emergencies.

12.Accommodation of Religious Beliefs: Students' sincerely held religious beliefs shall be reasonably accommodated with respect to scheduling all examinations and other academic requirements. Students should inform their instructors at the start of the semester of these needs.

13.Disabilities Accommodation: Adaptations of methods, materials, or testing must be made to accommodate educational participation. Students should inform instructors at the start of the semester of these needs.

14. General Statement Regarding University Policy: The University of Wisconsin-Superior is dedicated to a safe, supportive and nondiscriminatory learning environment. It is the responsibility of all undergraduate and graduate students to familiarize themselves with University policies regarding special accommodations, academic misconduct, religious beliefs accommodation, discrimination and absence for University- sponsored events. For further information, see Syllabus Attachment 2013-2014 on our course website. For details regarding Student Disciplinary Procedures: Academic Misconduct Disciplinary Process (Chapter 14) can be found at and Student Nonacademic Disciplinary Procedures (UWS Chapter 17) can be found at

*

COURSE SCHEDULE - WRIT 480/680: Writing and Healing*

Week 1

Course introduction

Writing and healing in context

Pennebaker - Opening Up(overview of text and research)

Bolton - Writing Works ("Warming Up and Working Together," 35-54)

Week 2

Research-based foundations of expressive writing

Pennebaker - Opening Up(1-103)

Week 3

Writing and well-being

Pennebaker - Opening Up(104-197)

Week 4

Defining the healing narrative

Literary examples of the healing narrative

Begin work on narrative essay

DeSalvo - Writing as a Way of Healing(1-107)

Week 5

Creating the healing narrative

Continue work on narrative essay

Handout: "How Story Heals Family Heritage" (Christina Baldwin)

DeSalvo - Writing as a Way of Healing(108-216)

Week 6

Disconnection and forms of societal violence

Literary examples of trauma-based writing

Interview/Video: Author Maxine Hong Kingston on Working with War Veterans (Bill Moyers)

Herman - Trauma & Recovery(Part I)

Week 7

Role of the narrative in personal and societal healing

Narrative essay draft due; peer review session

Herman - Trauma & Recovery(Part II)

Week 8

Healing narrative due; midterm reflective presentations

Week 9

Writing as therapeutic tool for health care providers and recipients

Documentary: Healing Words: Poetry and Medicine (John Fox)

Charon - Narrative Medicine(Parts 1 and 2)

Week 10

Narrative competence for professionals / decisions about self-disclosure

Reminiscence therapy, life review, and guided autobiography

Online reading: "Sample Legacies" (The Legacy Center)

Charon - Narrative Medicine(Parts III and IV)

Week 11

Individual conferences and project work

Research/creative project proposal due

Week 12

Writing and healing in the classroom - "Good writing" as restorative writing

Anderson & MacCurdy - Writing and Healing(MacCurdy - 158-200; Anderson - 58-81; Brand - 201-221)

Week 13

Writing and healing in the classroom - Rhetoric and revision

Anderson & MacCurdy - Writing and Healing(Johnson - 85-114; Warnock - 34-57)

Week 14

Therapeutic writing activities and resources

Research/creative project draft due; peer review session

Bolton - Writing Works(Introduction & Part One)

Week 15

Case studies and situational uses of writing and healing

Bolton - Writing Works(Part Two and Conclusion)

Documentary: What I Want My Words to Do To You (Eve Ensler)

Final research/creative project due

Week 16

Final presentations & reflections

Course wrap-up and evaluation

* Notes:

1. Each student will serve as a discussion facilitator and a writing exercise facilitator at least once during the semester. We will come up with this schedule as a class.

2. This course schedule is a general overview and subject to change. Throughout the semester, detailed updates on our schedule and specific requirements for assignments will be posted in D2L. Any changes to the original schedule will be made with the goal of better meeting the needs of the class, and you will be notified ahead of time.

WLS Department Meeting

9/15/15

Swenson 1058

11:30 – 12:30

Present: White-Farnham, Britton, Schlacks, Gard, Rutford, McCormick, Iwen, Cross, Nolin-Smith, McGrew, Grbavcich, Tu, Faul

Excused: Jacobs, Gornik, Herold, Higgins, Sharp

Approval of Agenda: White-Farnham/Gard moved to approve the agenda. The motion carried unanimously.

Approval of Minutes: Rutford/Gard moved to approve the department minutes from August 31, 2015. The motion carried unanimously.

Department Budget for 2015-2016: Schlacks/Iwen moved to approve the budget proposal regarding using money from our remedial account to help pay for some student travel by students who serve as Writing Mentors for WRIT 099. The motion carried unanimously. The motion is contingent upon receiving some extra funds in our remedial account. Rutford/White-Farnham moved to approve the budget proposal as a whole. The motion carried unanimously.

Course Proposal: Writing & Healing – Iwen/Rutford moved to approve the proposed Writ 480/680 course. The motion carried unanimously.

APR Response: The department discussed the APR report. Several comments were noted by Schlacks and she will draft a response to the APR report.

Writ 099 Proposal: White-Farnham/McCormick moved to approve the 099 proposal. The motion carried unanimously.

Streamlining and Innovation proposals: White-Farnham/Rutford moved to approve the streamlining proposal. The motion carried unanimously. Gard/Rutford moved to approve changing the core writing requirement to 102 and 209. The motion carried unanimously. Gard/Rutford moved to approve the innovation initiative. The motion passed unanimously with one correction.

Reports:

Chair – No report

UAAC – White-Farnham noted that an agreement between a University in Turkey and the Math and Computer Science Department at UWS has been approved.

Senate: Gard noted that senate will be meeting today. They will be looking at the University of Turkey/UWS agreement.

Other: The department discussed classroom modernization. It was noted that a rolling whiteboard, a second projector, and a picture rail would be nice in each room.

Respectfully submitted,

Carmen Britton

WRIT 480Syllabus – Spring 2017 1