Call for proposals
What is the important work?
Since I launched The Important Work in November, we’ve already gained almost 300 subscribers—without publishing any posts! I’m grateful for this newsletter equivalent of the “pre-order”—and now that the semester is wrapping up, I’m ready to get to work on this project. I hope you are too! As I mentioned in my initial post, my goal in setting up this newsletter is to create a space for writing instructors at all levels—high school and college—to share reflections about teaching writing in the era of generative AI. Below, you’ll find information about how to propose reflections. I hope you’ll consider sharing a reflection—and that you’ll share this post with anyone you think might be interested.
In my initial post, I explained why I’m calling this newsletter The Important Work: “Back in the early days of ChatGPT, we heard a lot about how using generative AI was going to free us up to do “the important work.” But for those of us who teach writing, the writing has always been the important work, and so we entered a new era in which the lines between process and product were no longer clear. Two years later, we’re still asking questions: What does it look like to teach writing in the era of generative AI? What should it look like? Do we agree on the important work? Should we?”
Whether you’ve brought generative AI into your writing classroom or not, I want to hear from you. If you’re interested in sharing a reflection in The Important Work, please fill out this form so we can be in touch. If you’re interested in sharing suggestions about the newsletter, you can also email me at janerosenzweigwrites@gmail.com.
Below, I’ve included some notes about posts—but I want to keep this as open as possible so that you can share what you think is important for us to hear.
The Important Work Submission Notes
Pieces should be reflections on your work in the writing classroom. We won’t be publishing advertisements for AI products or pieces by people who are profiting from the technology they’re writing about. But, of course, we are interested in hearing what AI tools you’re using in your classroom where relevant.
The question of “what is the important work?” is the guiding principle here, but your post doesn’t need to directly mention the question. The goal is for writers to be reflecting on this question from many different angles.
Because this is a newsletter for writing instructors, we’d like to stay focused on what you’re thinking about/doing related to teaching rather than related to AI in more general terms (although there are plenty of places to publish those pieces as well).
Pieces should be 700-1000 words unless they need to be longer—then we can discuss.
Your piece will be your own work—we won’t be editing beyond quick copyediting—and you’ll retain all rights to republish it (this will be spelled out in detail for you).
We have no funding (at least for now) and aren’t planning to charge for this newsletter, so this is not a paying gig. I support all desires to be paid for your work, and I’m happy to consult with you about other venues (instead or in addition to this one) that do pay. The flip side: this is an informal opportunity to share your thoughts, and you don’t have to spend a month drafting it.
You’ll need to get a Substack account (not your own newsletter, just an account) so we can set up your byline as a “guest post.”
Examples of what you might consider sharing:
An assignment you have changed/created in the AI era and how it went/what you learned/what surprised you
Why you have decided to bring generative AI into the classroom/not bring it into the classroom.
A problem you had in your teaching that you think you’ve solved
A reflection on a particular aspect of teaching writing in the age of AI—feedback, reading, brainstorming, research, drafting, etc.
Reflection on something that has surprised you about how things have unfolded
A question you have that you don’t think people are talking about enough
An insight about how students are using generative AI that you don’t think has been given attention
A concern you have and how you’re thinking it through
A positive experience you’ve had and how it’s changing your teaching
A narrative of what you’ve been doing differently
What you want high school teachers to know about college writing/what you want college teachers to know about high school writing
Many ideas I’m sure we haven’t thought of yet!
Given the length, posts will likely work best if they focus on one topic rather than on everything you’re doing related to AI. For example, instead of focusing on everything you’ve changed in your course, tell us about one assignment, one in-class experience, one question that you’re grappling with, one way that your thinking has shifted. I’m hoping that we’ll create a community here where readers will comment on posts, so you should feel free to raise open questions and specific questions in your posts.
We’ll start publishing as soon as we can in the new year. In case you missed it above, here’s the link to the proposal form.
Just what I needed right now for my own writing teaching! Look forward to learning and sharing Jane
How have you seen the introduction of generative AI tools influence students' approach to the writing process? Are there any unexpected challenges or benefits that contributors have shared so far?