News
Tennessee Tech to host 20th annual Festival of Student Writing
Students and presenters mingle at last year's Festival of Student Writing.
Tennessee Tech University students will be demonstrating how they can think outside
the traditional essay from 11 a.m.-noon on Tuesday, Nov. 21, at the 20th annual Festival
of Student Writing in the Roaden University Center’s Multipurpose Room on the second
floor.
"The primary goal of this annual event is to celebrate and showcase students' writing
and research projects from their fall English Composition courses," said Tony Baker,
director of composition at Tech and founder of the festival. "I'm always excited and
surprised to see what students and their instructors have been working on."
The festival features work from first-year students who will display posters, exhibits,
brochures, multimedia presentations and performances on a wide range of subjects.
In the 20 years since he got the idea of the festival from a conference, Baker has
seen creative projects ranging from board games and 3D posters to argument boxes and
simulated protests.
“One student’s research project was on childhood obesity, so she made an argument
box in the shape of a large red Happy Meal box, with statistics and facts about her
topic pasted on the outside. To read her project, people had to pick it up, turn it
around, and interact with it,” he recalls.
“Another student brought in a large refrigerator box with a cut-out door. His project
was posted inside the box, so to read his project, people had to step inside this
closet-like box, switch on a little light, and read his walls. I love it when students
think outside (or inside) the box to reimagine their project for this live festival
audience.”
Though Baker does not yet know what this year’s participants have in store for the
festival, he says he is looking forward to seeing how this unusual format gets them
to look at their writing and research in a new way.
"Students are used to writing for their teachers. The festival adds a live audience
to the mix, and that live audience isn't grading them. Instead, they're actually talking
with this audience about their projects, their ideas, their choices. I'm convinced
that this live audience helps students invest and engage more in their own writing
and their own learning," he said. he recalls.
The Festival of Student Writing is a free event open to the public. During the event
will also be a Golden Eagle Challenge, a scavenger hunt throughout the festival with
prizes for those who complete the hunt quickly. For more information, contact Tony
Baker at 931-372-6314 or abaker@tntech.edu.
