The Silver Dollar Method

I spent this past weekend at the Eastern Conference Writing Centers Association (ECWCA) with Dr. Kory and three of my fantastic colleagues. Miami University hosted the conference, and let me tell you, MU is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. It's unbelievable. I want to pull a Percy Bysshe Shelley right now and see how many metaphors and similes I can come up with re-Miami University's beauty, but no one wants to read my poetry. Instead, here is MU's virtual tour. 

Although I attended several informative and interesting sessions, I found Victoria Willson's and Megan Ward's presentation on the connection between reading and writing  particularly compelling. They provided strategies to aid (mainly first-year) students with critical reading. One of their primary claims is that struggling writers often struggle with reading, a claim I agree with. Of the two methods Willson and Ward walked us through, I think The Silver Dollar Method could be easily employed in a classroom setting and would have immediate positive results.

Also, a guy I grew up with plays in a band called Silver Dollars, and they're pretty sweet, if you're into alt-country. Check 'em out.