Proposal
The Proposal Project:
There are some options for the proposal project. Hopefully, your manifestos will lead in some way directly to your proposals, as you think about how to advocate for changes in practice that are related to your passions about teaching writing. Below are listed the two options (again, one for each of us): The Writing Program Innovation Proposal (from Joyce) and the CTLT Teaching-Learning Development Grant Proposal (from Cheryl). Each are described below. Contact both of us to ask questions about either assignment.
Writing Program Innovation Proposal (Joyce)
My idea was that others might want to create proposals for changes in the Writing Program here at ISU, since we are in the middle of big changes anyway. I am (1) REALLY interested in gathering ideas about practices for teaching and training, and goals for our program, and (2) REALLY excited about the idea that you all might be willing to do some of the research (for our proposals) that we need to do to develop the program in interesting ways. Program proposals could potentially include the following areas:
- Changes in our Teacher Training Practices: Such proposals should be specific about the problems in our existing system, and explicit about what they think we need to do to change. Propposals should include support (primary research in terms of interviews or published research about teacher training, for example) for the changes being proposed.
- Changes in our Teaching Materials: This could be related to either the modules we want to develop for teachers to use in the program, or more specifically the kinds of content you believe the textbook should contain.
- Proposals for innovative course design for writing courses in the Writing Program (Team teaching, cross-section pollination of writing, etc.)
- Proposals for Writing Courses or Programs Outside of the Writing Program: Under this category, authors might want to propose course design changes, or programmatic changes for writing-intensive courses or programs OTHER than our writing program. However, if you want to do this you need a “stakeholder” (i.e., some person who could potentially adopt the changes in a specific course or program). So if you are interested in this option, you should contact us right away so we can discuss the feasibility of your idea.
Notes: The CTLT proposals have some very specific requirements (see Cheryl’s notes below). For the above proposals, length and content is negotiable. However, here are some guidelines:
- The proposal has got to be an achievable change (something realistic not fantasy and not a change or innovation that would require years of work and collaboration with a range of entities — for example, proposing a WAC program for ISU is not an achievable change in the short term, so it wouldn’t be an appropriate project.
- Has to have adequate support in terms of primary or secondary research.
- Length should be NO MORE than 5-6 pages.
- If changes for our writing program are being proposed, examples and/or specific details would be REALLY useful. So don’t just say, “Hey, let’s change our teacher training practices.” Give me something I can use with examples and specifics.
Proposal for a CTLT Teaching-Learning Development Grant (Cheryl)
Teaching-Learning Development Grants “support substantial projects involving innovations in teaching and learning on the ISU campus. Successful individual applicants can receive up to $1,500 and teams up to $2,000.” The goal of this grant is to “to support faculty innovation and excellence in teaching and learning and sharing of results with the Illinois State University campus community,” as per the goal statement on the CTLT website, where you can find all the criteria, eligibility, etc., for this grant.
Regarding eligibility as it relates to the purpose of choosing this grant: While graduate students cannot be PIs (i.e., project investigators, the term for the “lead researcher” on a grant), they can partner with faculty, NTTs, or AP staff who have teaching responsibilities, who would serve as the PI. This partnering also makes you potentially eligible for the $2,000 award instead of just the $1500 award. For instance,
- you might consider taking an idea you’d write for the ISU Writing Program Innovation proposal (first option) and going ahead and writing *this* proposal option with a writing program change in mind. (Then Joyce, as WPA, could partner with you on the grant, if she agrees your proposal is strong and a good choice for innovation in the writing program.)The difference would be that the CTLT grant gives you MONEY for your idea. ;) But your request for money has to be justified in the need.
- Or, you might go in a different direction: Maybe you are a creative writer, or a children’s literature specialist (or insert your own area of emphasis), and you want to get funding to study some aspect of your curriculum for one of those classes that you would teach. Perhaps even preparing a proposal for the class you might teach as your Internship, if you are a PhD student. You could write up your own class innovation idea for this grant, and then if you decide to submit it, ask one of your faculty mentors in that area to co-PI with you.
Cheryl has submitted to this grant before, and although her proposal is not the greatest example (it is TWICE the word limit because she wrote it in half the time she should have spent on it), it was funded and will give you an idea of what the CTLT Grant Program might be looking for when reading proposals from this grant. She has also recently submitted an NEH Teaching Development Grant, which is more along the lines of a typical length grant proposal for teaching (3 pages single-spaced). Her NEH proposal is here. (Keep in mind that all these proposals have extra cover pages, addenda, etc., that meet the criteria. All you’re getting here, for the most part, are the narratives and sometimes the budgets.) To complete the proposal assignment for the CTLT Teaching-Learning Development Grant, please follow the Application Materials and Procedures as outlined on the CTLT grant page, except for the delivery, which you can read more about below.
Turning in either proposal:
Deliver your proposal in the necessary format (as outlined in the RFP or guidelines above) to the proposal forum we’ll create in the ning. These proposals are due during exam week.