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2026 Lake Superior Summit on the Teaching of Writing & ESL
Bridging Communities
2026 Lake Superior Summit on the Teaching of Writing & ESL
Bridging Communities
Registration for the Summit is now officially open!
Please register here.
More details about our conference schedule and keynote speaker are forthcoming! Parking will be free, and lunch will be provided courtesy of the partnering institutions.
Conference Program: Coming Soon!
Conference Program: Coming Soon!
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Eleni Pinnow, University of Wisconsin-Superior
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Eleni Pinnow, University of Wisconsin-Superior
"It's Hard Because it's Supposed to Be: Creating Desirable Difficulties in Writing"
"It's Hard Because it's Supposed to Be: Creating Desirable Difficulties in Writing"
Writing is hard work—as professionals who write and teach we are used to the constant struggle to write. Our students, however, often perceive us as having a natural talent that allows us to create perfect first drafts. Consequently, they perceive that the task of writing is hard because it is unattainable. This talk will review the cognitive psychology concept of "desirable difficulties:" the idea that effortful and difficult tasks produce more robust and long-lasting learning. This concept will be applied to the teaching of reading and writing in a college classroom.
Dr. Pinnow (she/they) is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. She received her B.A. in psychology from St. Olaf College and a master’s and Ph.D. from Binghamton University in Cognitive Psychology. Her primary basic research interests include spoken word recognition. In graduate school, her research focused on how people are able to recognize variant forms of words (for example, how do we know that the word broccoli can also be pronounced as brocc’li, or gentle as gen’le). Eleni’s areas of expertise include psychology, language, memory, canine cognition, and the stigma surrounding mental illness/suicide.
Eleni serves as Editor, Project Syllabus for the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (Division 2 of the American Psychological Association). She is also Associate Editor for Social Sciences for Prompt: A Journal of Academic Writing Assignments.
Getting Around UWS
Getting Around UWS
Parking
Parking
Most events will take place in the Yellowjacket Union. Parking is open in Lot 2. Click the arrow in the upper right of the campus map to expand or download.
Public Transporation
Public Transporation
Multiple DTA routes can drop you right out side the Yellowjacket Union. See the DTA routes here.
sept_2025_campus_map_update-1.pdfPage updated
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