Aus dem Nähkästchen Plaudern

Aus dem Nähkästchen Plaudern is a German expression that translates loosely to “spilling the beans” — but it more accurately suggests sharing candid, valuable insights from experience. That’s exactly the spirit of the UMB Writing Center’s virtual workshop series on writing pedagogy at UMB.
What Are These Workshops About?
Led by Dr. Isabell May and James Wright from UMB’s Writing Center, each session invites faculty, instructors, postdocs, and doctoral students interested in teaching to join an honest, practical conversation about the realities of teaching writing, or teaching with writing, in health sciences and human services disciplines. Whether you are teaching a writing course or assigning and assessing writing throughout your course, this series is for you!
What Do I Get Out Of These Workshops?
Teaching with writing can deepen student learning, foster critical thinking, and make disciplinary knowledge more visible. Our sessions are designed to build on the work you're already doing by offering strategies that are adaptable, sustainable, and responsive to current shifts in writing and assessment practices without adding a ton of extra work on already full plates. As generative AI tools continue to evolve, reshaping how students interact with text, these conversations create space to reflect on how we can maintain meaningful learning and feedback without overhauling everything we’ve built.
How Interactive Are These Workshops?
Rather than formal lectures, these sessions offer a mix of practical strategies, real-world examples, and hands-on practice. Whether you're looking to better support student writing in your courses or connect writing instruction with broader curricular goals, these workshops provide space to reflect, experiment, and learn with colleagues across campus.