2024 Pre-Conference Workshops

Friday, November 1, 2024

Renton Technical College, Renton, WA
1:00 pm to 4:00 pm 

These professional development workshops are designed to provide opportunities to discuss and examine relevant topics and important issues in greater depth.  Annual conference sessions will follow on Saturday, November 2, 2024.

Clock Hours are available for both the pre-conference workshops and the Saturday conference.

Pre-Conference Registration

Register Through October 20th: 
  • $30 for members (through October 20th)    
  • $35 for non-members (through October 20th)
Register October 21st to October 31st:
  • $35 for members (October 21 – 31)
  • $40 for non-members (October 21 – 31)
Register Onsite November 1st:
  • $40 for members 
  • $50 for non-members

Click here to become a WAESOL member if you have not yet joined WAESOL.

View descriptions of Pre-Conference Workshop options below.  You will need to indicate your session choice when you register.

1: AI in the Multi-lingual Classroom

Friday, November 1st, 1:00-4:00

Jihee Im, Washington State University
Dini Arini, Washington State University
Hadir Alderaan, Washington State University

Description:

This 3-hour hands-on workshop is designed for teachers interested in integrating
practical AI tools into their classrooms, with a special emphasis on supporting
multilingual learners. The workshop will begin with a one-hour session focused on
introduction of AI in education, and discussing the various uses of AI in education.
Participants will explore the pros and cons of different AI applications, delve into
theoretical and practical concerns, and share their own experiences and applications of
AI concepts in their teaching practice.

The remaining two hours will be dedicated to hands-on activities. In the second hour,
participants will explore AI tools that can assist them in lesson planning and creating
more engaging classroom experiences. These tools aim to streamline preparation
processes, allowing teachers to focus more on student interaction and personalized
learning.

In the final hour, participants will shift their focus to AI tools that can be introduced to
students. These tools are designed to help students, particularly multilingual learners,
enhance their learning experiences through personalized support and interactive
features. Participants will have the opportunity to try out these tools, reflect on their
effectiveness, and discuss how they can be integrated into their own classrooms.
By the end of the workshop, participants will have a deeper understanding of the
practical applications of AI in education and will be equipped with a variety of AI tools
to enhance their teaching and support their students’ learning.

Workshop Objectives:
  • Understand the different applications of AI in education, including their benefits and
  • challenges.
  • Discuss theoretical and practical concerns regarding AI use in the classroom.
  • Share their own experiences and insights on integrating AI tools into teaching.
  • Engage in hands-on activities with AI tools designed to enhance lesson planning and
  • classroom engagement.
  • Explore AI tools that can be introduced to students to support their learning,
  • particularly for multilingual learners.
  • Reflect on and share their takeaways from using the AI tools during the workshop.
Presenter Bios:

Jihee Im is a Ph.D. student in LLT at WSU, with a B.S. in TESOL from SUNY Oswego and a master’s from ASU. She has five years of teaching experience in New York and South Korea and researches trauma-informed instruction for pre-service teachers of refugee MLLs.


Dini Arini s an Associate Professor from Universitas Lambung Mangkurat, Indonesia and a Fulbright scholar pursuing a doctoral degree in LLT at WSU. She specializes in the implementation of AI in EFL classrooms, specifically in AI policies to support English teaching and learning.


Hadir Alderaan is an English Language Instructor at the University of Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, and pursuing doctoral studies in the LLT program at WSU. Her research primarily explores the application of educational technology, with a focus on AI in education in the context of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher education.


2 : Visual Rhetoric and Visual Literacy Skills into the Composition Classroom


Friday, November 1st, 1:00-4:00

Prakash Paudel, Washington State University
David Martin, Washington State University

Description:

Visual Rhetoric is all around us.  We are inundated by images on social media, at the checkout stand, in our buildings, and anywhere we conduct business daily.  Most of the time we tune the images out and say that they don’t impact us; however, so often the images are influencing our conversations, what we purchase, how we respond to others, etc.  In this workshop, we will discuss some of the images that have been deemed iconic and worth noting and how we can help our students process the impacts of visual rhetoric and become more visually literate.

We will focus on one assignment that is being used in a university composition classroom, breaking down the components of the assignment to see how similar concepts might apply in other contexts.  We will discuss the reasons that visual literacy is necessary across multiple disciplines and engage in collaborative discussion and development of future assignments for both composition and language learning contexts.

The workshop will be divided into three segments, which include the following:

  • Understanding what visual rhetoric is, how it works, how it has been applied to the assignment, and ways to communicate it to students in the process of explaining the assignment.
  • Engaging with a portion of the assignment (i.e. processing the image, brainstorming ideas, organizing ideas, etc.)
  • Collaborating with other participants to craft a mini-assignment (or a larger unit) surrounding visual rhetoric and visual literacy development.

The workshop begins a discussion surrounding visual rhetoric and the importance of being visually literate.

Workshop Objectives:

During the workshop, participants will 

  • Engage with the concept of visual rhetoric within the context of a composition classroom.
  • Apply concepts of ethos, pathos, logos, and Kairos to understanding the impact of images considered iconic or representative of a larger concept.
  • Discuss the sample assignment and the elements of visual literacy involved from a student’s and teacher’s perspective.
  • Collaborate with other participants to discuss how a similar assignment might play out in their own classrooms.
  • Collaborate to create an assignment that could be implemented in their classrooms.
Presenter Bios:

Prakash Paudel, WSU PhD student, has been teaching English Studies and composition from K-12 to higher education in multilingual contexts for 15 years. He promotes visual literacy using visuals and their rhetoric, paying attention to the cultural settings. His research includes public rhetoric and the rhetoric of health and medicine.


David Martin, PhD, has been teaching for 25 years in K-12, intensive English, and higher education contexts.  His current focus is on the integration of visual media, visual rhetoric, and visual literacy development in the composition classroom.  David’s research looks at identity in transitional contexts and visual literacy development.