As the Fall Term picks up speed, many students begin to feel the weight of academic and personal responsibilities. Whether you’re navigating your first year or returning with new goals, October is the perfect time to pause, reflect, and recharge with the support of UM’s Academic Learning Centre (ALC) and campus-wide resources.

Dr. Monique Dumontet, Director of the ALC, shares her excitement on the month ahead.

“Student Success Month is a celebration of learning, growth, and community. We’re thrilled to offer workshops and events that empower students to take charge of their academic journey and well-being,” she says. “We want every student to feel confident and supported.”

Throughout October, students can attend in-person and online workshops on topics such as:

• Academic writing and study strategies
• Research skills and library services
• Coping with stress and building resilience
• Career planning and professional development
• Navigating transitions and building community

Whether you’re a first-year student or finishing your final term, Student Success Month is your opportunity to build the habits and connections that lead to long-term success. Visit the Student Success Month calendar to explore all events and register today.

As Co-founder and Director of the Manitoba Writing Project—a professional network that brings educators and partners together to explore the power of writing— Dr. Honeyford and Dr. Watt have been inspiring teachers through this course together since 2018 (Honeyford since 2014!). It’s no surprise that this year’s course was completely full and in demand amongst graduate students.

An immersive experience

This immersive course, also known as the “Summer Writing Institute”, invites educators to grow as writers to empower them to teach writing more effectively. In just two intensive weeks these students, who are completing their Post-Baccalaureate Diploma or Master of Education, earned six credit hours towards their program. Through hands-on writing, collaborative groups, guest speakers, and exploration of writing craft and pedagogy, participants deepen both their practice and perspective.  

Reconnecting with writing

“Educators write a lot in their professional roles. But many will admit it’s been a long time since they wrote for pleasure, or that they don’t think of themselves as writers” says Honeyford. “Our hope is for them to re-imagine writing as a form of connection, reflection, and action. Through the course, we invite educators to experiment with new and multimodal forms of writing, and to become part of a community of writers.”

Inspired by the outdoors

Many on campus saw the large class out walking and writing along the Red River, around campus, to nearby King’s Park, as well as with a “writing marathon” at The Forks. The walking curriculum is a key component of the experience for students.

Honeyford and Watt worked closely with Sarah Roche, an arts integration educator and M.Ed graduate, who facilitated several movement workshops as part of the course. From a “walking dance” on Day 1 to creating a collective water dance on Day 7, Roche reminded the class that writing and literacies are embodied practices. She invited students to be playful, to be noticers, and to compose meaning with and through their bodies.

“There is work that happens through movement, in becoming more attuned to our bodies and to the ways we walk and learn in relation to one another, both human and more-than-human. We become more aware of how literacies are embodied, and how important it is for us to integrate movement into education,” explains Dr. Honeyford.   

Growing confidence

Dr. Honeyford describes how the writing invitations started small by taking photos and writing 6-word poems. Within two weeks, the students had poetry, photo essays, digital stories, reels, rants, letters, etc., and pieces for publication in the Summer Writing Institute Anthology. Says Dr. Honeyford, “we see the growth educators describe as they reflect on their confidence as writers, and what they plan to take back with them into their classrooms as teachers of writers, and it’s amazing. Every time.” 

Embracing the theme: Ripple Effects Symposium

This summer, the course included a special one-day Ripple Effects/Just Waters Symposium that featured workshops and presentations by the UM Just Waters Project (Dr. Adele Perry, Dr. Jocelyn Thorpe, and Indigenous Knowledge Keeper Ramona Milliea) and Ripple Effects International (Dr. Bronwyn Williams, University of Louisville).

 “Becoming Writers” course participants from previous summers attended the symposium and presented, including Katya Adamov Ferguson (PhD in Education candidate), and Noah Cain (M.Ed graduate). Inspired by the symposium, course activities, and readings, students designed Ripple Effects Place Projects, water-focused writing and inquiry projects they plan to enact in their classrooms and schools in the fall.

Summaries of the projects, which incorporate elements of photography, writing, and publication, will be shared on the Manitoba Writing Project’s website for its Write Out initiative in October.

An international initiative

The “Becoming Writers” course is modeled after the Summer Writing Institute offered by the National Writing Project. Every summer, in nearly 175 university-based writing project sites across the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, as well as international sites including Hong Kong, Malta, Norway, and the Dominican Republic, teachers come together to write—and to grow their practice as teachers of writing. Dr. Honeyford and Dr. Watt are Co-Directors of the Manitoba Writing Project, which became an Associated International Site of the National Writing Project in 2018, the first in Canada.

The Academic Learning Centre, in partnership with the Faculty of Graduate Studies, is hosting an intensive 2-day writing retreat designed to help graduate students progress in writing their theses/dissertations.  This Graduate Writing Retreat is based on the Australian National University “Thesis Bootcamp,” where attendees focus on writing as much text as possible in a supported environment. Each day starts with a short workshop on writing faster, managing procrastination, and developing a consistent writing routine.  Attendees will be provided with a quiet space, writing tutor support (if needed), beverages and snacks each day, and lunch for one of the days.

The aim for students attending this bootcamp is to write 5,000 words. This is a stretch goal and aiming big encourages commitment and focus. To increase success, attendees are required to develop and submit a writing plan in advance of the retreat (See: How to prepare a thesis “road map” )  to academic_learning[at]umanitoba[dot]ca with the subject line “thesis roadmap” by April 20, 2025 (midnight). Submitting early is encouraged. Students are encouraged to discuss their writing plans with their advisors or an ALC graduate tutor.

The UM Graduate Writing Retreat will run 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday May 5 and Tuesday May 6 on the Bannatyne campus. Students must apply by April 13 to attend.  The Graduate Writing Retreat is NOT virtual and attendees must commit to attending all three days (flex time is available for parents who have children in daycare).

We’ll start where our assignments usually start – you are given a set of instructions telling you to find sources and write your paper. Sounds simple enough in theory, right? Well sometimes it is, and that is great, but when it’s not, take a breath and explore the different ways the UM libraries can help. A great place to start is the Learning Support page, which outlines many of the resources and services offered by the UM Libraries. If you already have a particular question or challenge you are looking for help with, here are some of the specific ways the UM Libraries and librarians can support you.

If you are new to doing research, consider making a one-to-one appointment with one of UM’s librarians for support on how to search for sources. They can help you get familiar with the UM Library system including the basic “library search” (like google but better for research), as well as the various databases available. UM librarians can also help you understand the types of sources to look for based on your assignment requirements (what is peer-reviewed anyway?) and how to use filters to make finding them easier. This will help to ensure that, once you find the perfect source, it really is the perfect source.

If you would like to do your research more efficiently, librarians can teach you tips and tricks to streamline your search. Not all search terms are created equal, and a librarian can help you figure out the best search terms to use to find the topics you need. They can also help you understand and filter the information provided for each source to help you quickly determine if a source is right for you and what you are working on.  

If you are looking for something on a more obscure topic, it might sometimes feel like no one has written anything that covers what you need. That is the time to find your subject librarian. Subject librarians are not only research experts but experts in a particular field and so will be best able to help you with everything from knowing which database to start in to helping dig up more niche information.

If you find the perfect source but can’t seem to access the document, reach out to any of the UM’s librarians either through a one-to-one appointment or through the online chat, Ask Us. Through the mysteries of the libraries (or perhaps knowing where else to look or how to use Document Delivery), there is a pretty good chance the librarians will be able to help you out.

Whatever aspect of research you are working on, UM librarians are excited and ready to help. You can find them through the online chat, one-to-one appointments or drop-in sessions – more information on all of these can be found on the UM libraries website.

Sonja Boon is a writer, researcher, teacher, and flutist. The author of the memoir, What the Oceans Remember: Searching for Belonging and Home (2019), she has published creative nonfiction and poetry in numerous literary magazines, and is author/co-author of four scholarly books, including The Routledge Introduction to Auto/Biography in Canada (with Laurie McNeill, Julie Rak, and Candida Rifkind, 2022). For six years, Sonja was principal flutist with the Portland Baroque Orchestra and has performed with various orchestras around the world.

Boon is excited to work with the UM community. “I’m very much looking forward to creative conversations with UM folks and Winnipeg community members, and to being inspired by the low horizons and the endless skyscapes of the prairies,” said Boon.

“Sonja’s multi-modal creativity encompasses a rich and fluid array of talents,” said Nancy Kang, CCWOC Acting Director. “Her energetic craft taps into the finest nuances of personal identity to illuminate histories and regions. Like an embroiderer, she stitches out delicate yet deliberate intricacies of especially women’s lives. Her musicality, archival experience, ability to narrate oceans and genealogies with sensitivity and lyricism, as well as her buoyant presence, make for an inspiring addition to the Writer-in-Residence program.”

WELCOME EVENT

CCWOC will welcome Sonja Boon to the University of Manitoba at a welcome event held on campus. Boon will share a selection of her work and describe her creative vision to the UM community. Student writer Aevan Caples will will also read at the event. All are welcome. No registration necessary. The event is free.

Playing with Mud: Oceans, Archives, and Speculation
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Readings and talk: 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Reception to follow
Room 108 St. John’s College

WRITING WORKSHOPS

Boon is hosting seven free workshops for aspiring writers during the residency. View the full schedule of creative activities including cross stitch, how to prepare for stressful presentations, working with archival materials and more.

INDIVIDUAL WRITER CONSULTATIONS

As part of Boon’s role, she will be available by appointment to writers of all levels from now to April. To consult with Boon, students, faculty, staff, alumni and members of the public are encouraged to contact her to arrange a free 30-minute meeting.

For more information about any of these programs and events, please contact the Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture at ccwoc@umanitoba.ca.

The Academic Learning Centre, in partnership with the Faculty of Graduate Studies, is hosting an intensive 3-day writing retreat designed to help graduate students progress in writing their theses/dissertations.  This Graduate Writing Retreat is based on the Australian National University “Thesis Bootcamp,” where attendees focus on writing as much text as possible in a supported environment. Each day starts with a short workshop on writing faster, managing procrastination, and developing a consistent writing routine.  Attendees will be provided with a quiet space, writing tutor support (if needed), beverages and snacks each day, and lunch for one of the days.

The aim for students attending this bootcamp is to write 10,000 words. This is a stretch goal and aiming big encourages commitment and focus. To increase success, attendees are required to develop and submit a writing plan in advance of the retreat (See: How to prepare a thesis “road map” )  to academic_learning[at]umanitoba[dot]ca with the subject line “thesis roadmap” by 9 a.m. Monday, December 2, 2024. Submitting early is encouraged. Students are encouraged to discuss their writing plans with their advisors or an ALC graduate tutor.

The UM Graduate Writing Retreat will run 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday through Friday, December 11, 12 and 13, 2024 on the Fort Garry campus. Students must apply to attend.  The Graduate Writing Retreat is NOT virtual and attendees must commit to attending all three days (flex time is available for parents who have children in daycare).

For students looking to improve their writing skills, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) provides  one-to-one and group tutoring,  and Drop-in Study Sessions. Writing Tutors make suggestions on students’ work and help develop writing skills at any stage in the writing process or any level of writing. Writing tutors help build foundational skills for writing and strengthen existing skills.

Strong writing is more than proper sentence structure, grammar, or spelling. Completing an academic paper requires skills such as note-taking, research, reading, and time management. For those new to university, the writing process may be unfamiliar. “Organization is a big one [writing skill], as many students are accustomed to writing without an outline upon starting university. For shorter and less complex essays at the high school level, this can be a workable approach, but it is almost invariably a bad idea at the university level,” notes Garrett Levacque, writing tutor with the ALC.

Levacque highlights the value of meeting early with writing tutors: “Some of the appointments [that] students have implied or said were particularly helpful are appointments at these early stages where the student and I co-construct an outline and work together on developing a thesis statement.” Sometimes students may not know how to start planning their writing. By working with a writing tutor, , getting started can be easier and less intimidating.

There are writing tutors for both undergraduate and graduate students who can help students synthesize and develop their thesis statements, cite and reference, meet deadlines, and improve their editing strategies. For graduate students, writing tutors can help with source integration, reference management and organization of ideas in, complex writing tasks like theses and dissertations.

As students advance in university, writing assignments tend to become more frequent and complex. The ALC’s writing tutors can help students adjust to increased expectations in their writing courses. Levacque remarks that “More experienced university students who have not had to do a lot of writing in earlier years of their degree also frequently seek out writing tutors for assistance, with nursing students being a particularly notable cohort of this sort.” Learning to write is an ongoing process, and both new and experienced writers can benefit from meeting with a tutor.

For all students, an outside reader can provide important feedback on their writing. “As a student, I would almost always have a family member read over my papers for clarity, flow, and proofing errors that I might gloss over while revising independently,” recalls Levacque. “I know that many students don’t have that advantage, and campus-based tutoring that is free at the point of service helps to make for a more equitable academic environment where all students can have an informed second set of eyes on their paper.”

Students can make up to two appointment per week with a writing tutor through the ALC tutoring platform

Some areas in which a writing tutor may help students

• Organizing ideas for a paper;
• Understanding the assignment;
• Setting up a writing schedule;
• Planning and outlining;
• Paraphrasing and synthesizing;
• Editing and revision strategies;
• Referencing and citing.

What can students do to improve their writing skills before and after seeing a tutor

• Organization is key! Make clear, detailed outlines
• When researching, note down more than you think you may need. You never know when extra information will come in handy.
• Plan and schedule so that you have time to write. Always allow more time than you think you need.

Interested in becoming a tutor? The ALC hosts regular tutor training workshops to help prepare students to become writing tutors and help their peers. This training also counts towards Experience Record recognition.

The ALC and can be reached by phone at 204-480-1481 or by e-mail at academic_learning[at]umanitoba[dot]ca and at the Bannatyne Reception Desk, S211 Medical Services Building at the Bannatyne Campus.

Reading to Write is a free, 3-week online program for incoming students or UM students who have completed fewer than 60 credits. It is a non-credit program that will have no impact on your GPA, but is eligible for recognition on the Experience Record (formerly Co-curricular Record).

This is an excellent opportunity for students to practice academic reading and writing during the summer months. The program can help you refine your academic skills, improve your writing, understand assignment expectations, and learn new strategies for tackling complex academic texts.

Online feedback from trained Academic Learning Centre tutors will help you identify your personal strengths and areas that need improvement and will help you take your academic writing to a new level. 

By participating in the program, you can gain a better understanding of academic expectations and feel more confident in your ability to succeed in upcoming coursework.

Session details:

Session 1: July 3 – July 22
Register by June 15

Session 2: July 24 – August 12
Register by July 15

The Academic Learning Centre, in partnership with the Faculty of Graduate Studies, is hosting an intensive 3-day writing retreat designed to help graduate students progress in writing their theses/dissertations.  This thesis retreat is based on the Australian National University “Thesis Bootcamp,” where attendees focus on writing as much text as possible in a supported environment. Each day starts with a short workshop on writing faster, managing procrastination, and developing a consistent writing routine.  Attendees will be provided with a quiet space, writing tutor support (if needed), beverages and snacks each day, and lunch for one of the days.

The aim for students attending this bootcamp is to write 10,000 words. This is a stretch goal and aiming big encourages commitment and focus. As a result, attendees are required to develop and submit a writing plan in advance of the workshop (See: How to prepare a thesis “road map”)  to academic_learning[at]umanitoba[dot]ca with the subject line “thesis roadmap” by April 28, 2024. Submitting early is encouraged. Students are also encouraged to discuss their writing plans with their advisors and attend a workshop on preparing a thesis road map facilitated by the Academic Learning Centre (see ALC website for description, date and time).

The UM Graduate Thesis Bootcamp runs from May 1 to 3, 2024, on the Bannatyne campus.  Students must apply to attend.  It is NOT virtual and attendees must commit to attending all three days (flex time is available for parents who have children in daycare).

The Academic Learning Centre has developed a workshop, Planning What to Write: Mapping your Thesis/Dissertation, to support students who are interested in attending the Bootcamp. This workshop will be useful for any graduate student who is in the process of writing their thesis/dissertation and is not restricted to retreat attendees.

Planning what to write: Mapping your thesis/dissertation
Writer’s block is not caused by a lack of inspiration. Instead, it is caused by insufficient research, lack of organizational planning, and/or negative emotions writers may have about the writing process. Developing an outline and a well-articulated writing plan can help to reduce all three. This hands-on workshop includes a demonstration of several planning techniques, including outlining and reverse outlining, thesis mapping, and the snowflake method. Students will work on developing their own plan during the workshop.

March 19 | 4:30 – 6 p.m. 
March Registration (Zoom)

April 17 | 12 – 1:30 p.m.
March Registration (Zoom)

‘What Our Bodies Know’ is a student anthology.

At the launch party, eleven students read from the collection and then the authors circulated through the crowd signing copies for their families and for themselves similar to a class yearbook gathering. The students were clearly proud to showcase their work that covered a broad range of topics such as hearing loss, surviving domestic violence, bipolar disorder, ADHD, emotionality and learning disability.

Each essay in What Our Bodies Know is less than 750 words. They were originally created as class assignments. Themes and concepts shared by scholars from both WGS and disability studies were touchstones for the essays and covered ideologies of normalcy; stigma; appearance; invisibility; care-taking and care-receiving; issues of access and inclusion; impairment/difference; and intersectionality. Students were asked to identify a shimmering moment from their lives that connected thematically to one of the course’s over-arching concepts. Dr. Stewart shared that the student essays “sprung from this moment.”

“This was a new kind of writing for most students, and it challenged them on multiple levels,” said Dr. Stewart. “Many began to rethink their personal relationships to their bodies and/or their diagnoses, their disability or the disability of a loved one. These essays reveal just slivers of those rich and important thinking processes.”

Anamika Deb

Student Anamika Deb, a political studies major and WGS minor, admitted that at first she was “scared to expose” herself, “I drew a blank on what to write about because my disability is not visible.” She explained that once Dr. Stewart confirmed her sciatica qualified as a topic, it ended up being comforting to write about it and then share it out loud to the crowded room. “A horrible experience led to an amazing thing,” exclaimed Deb with a smile on her face as she held up the book and gestured to her parents and brother who came to support her at the event.

Dr. Tina Chen, Vice-Provost (Equity), noted that Dr. Stewart created “a safe space for students” through a creative assignment. “As I listened to their essays, I was moved by the power of each student’s lived experiences,” she shared. “Projects and courses like this encourage us to think about ableism at our institution and to come up with new ways we can support students.”

The project extended well beyond the class assignment. The book cover was designed by social work student Opal Premack. Three additional students contributed to the book’s editing and design. The book launch event was also organized by students. This involvement has added to the overall learning experience of the course, providing an opportunity for students to practice skills including design, editing, time management, decision making, promotion and event planning.

Environmental design student Abbey Bellisle was part of the team who brought the book to life, “I have read the essays countless times over the past year, and was moved each time. It was very special to meet the authors and hear them share their stories in person.” Bellisle is hoping to pursue a masters’ degree in interior design or architecture and noted that this experience helped “open her eyes to disability.” She added that, “There is no excuse for a lack of accessibility in 2024. Courses like WOMN 2540 and this anthology project can aid in educating a future designer, like me, to make thoughtful and informed choices when it comes to accessibility in design.”

Dr. Stewart hopes to produce a future edition showcasing essays from more students who take the course, starting with the essays from students that were in the fall 2023 class. 

The first printing of What Our Bodies Know is sold out! To add your name to a list to obtain a copy from the second printing, email Christine.Stewart@umanitoba.ca.

Learn more about the women’s and gender studies program in the Faculty of Arts.
Learn more about experiential learning at the University of Manitoba.