spring 10 schedule and meeting notes

I think we have the spring 2010 schedule wrangled into shape--at least enough so that Samuel will place notifications in your mailboxes by this afternoon. Please take a look at your proposed schedule, then sign and return it by Thursday Dec. 3.

As predicted in our November meeting, we will not hold a monthly meeting in December. If you have any needs that have to be addressed before the end of the term, please contact me, Grant, or Gae Lyn.

In other news, sorry I've been behind on posting notes from our November meeting. Briefly, we discussed:

1. Our upcoming portfolio evaluation launch. I believe we're still on track to begin this semester, so expect to get an email from Meredith informing you of the students whose portfolios have been selected for evaluation. I will also send out an email to the entire list at that time so that in case none of your students were selected, you won't be waiting needlessly for notification.

2. A reminder to avoid using the front office for collection of large numbers of student papers at the end of the term. Please, too, do not expect the front office to hold your papers and redistribute them to students. Consider alternatives, including inviting students to give you a stamped envelope for the return of their final work, or, holding papers for the first two weeks of the following term then destroying them.

3. Continuing to pilot new texts for 2010/2020 in spring. I have extra copies of both texts, so if you'd like to get in on the expanded pilot for spring, let me know which text you'd like to see/use by next week, and we'll expand book orders for your classes. This is a good opportunity to test one of these texts and have your voice heard as we prepare to make a program wide shift in the 2010-2011 academic year. If you're interested in From Inquiry to Academic Writing by Greene and Lidinsky, please contact Gae Lyn, who's been organizing that book's pilot this semester; if you're interested in Writing Arguments by Ramage and Bean, please contact Grant.

4. A review of policies for end of term grading and evaluation, including UW, E (F), and I grades. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns about assigning these grades--particularly UW and I.

Thanks.

November meeting this evening

Sorry for the late notice, but our monthly meeting is this evening, 5-6 pm, SC 206A. Please make every effort to attend this evening, since we'll be covering issues that will take us through the end of the semester, including:

1. Portfolio project update;
2. State of the spring schedule;
3. Expansion of 2010/2020 text piloting;
4. Discussion on semester research projects, which should be in progress in all first year composition courses at this point;
5. Discussion on end-of-term concerns, such as grading, collection and distribution of final projects, etc.;
6. Handout(s) and, if time, brief discussion of supplemental texts to develop readings in course textbooks.

See you this evening.

Hope everyone's semester is going well so far. Here's an update on where we are in both completing our responsibilities for this semester and getting ready for spring 2010.

Syllabi: about half of you have turned in syllabi to the front office. If you're in that half, thanks; if you're in the other half, please make sure you either send an electronic copy to Meredith (Meredith.Bennie@uvu.edu) or place a copy in her mailbox as soon as possible. (Blog update: we've gotten some more since I sent this post to the listserv, so let's keep up the momentum for those of you who have yet to turn in syllabi)

Spring 2010: schedule preference form for next semester is available at the engladj listserv (or email me for a copy). Please fill it out and return it either electronically or to my box by October 15. Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions or concerns prior to returning it.

October meeting: Tuesday October 13, 5-6pm, SC 206A; also an ideal time to submit your preference forms. Topically, let's pick up where we left off last month, getting some discussion about how we bring the course texts to life and make them relevant to our students. Consider ways that you supplement course texts with readings of your and/or students' choices; how you explain assignments and concepts with familiar examples and models, and so on. Consider, also, where you identify shortcomings and/or weaknesses in course texts and how you overcome them.

reminder: first meeting this evening

Sorry I didn't get this notice on the blog at the same time I posted it to the listserv, but better late than never, right?

Don't forget our first monthly meeting of the year is this evening, 5-6, in SC 206A. We'll keep it relatively open topic, so that we can spend as much of the hour as possible addressing concerns and answering questions that have come up in the first couple weeks of class.

Hope to see you later today.

Orientation agenda

Attached is an agenda for our annual orientation on Wednesday the 19th. You'll see that we're trying something different this year, breaking up our larger group by courses taught and covering common topics but in ways that emphasize either 1010 or 2010/2020. Of course a number of you teach both first and second semester comp, so you can choose which group you'd like to work with.

Agenda

8:00-8:30 Informal Meet and Greet LA 116
Coffee and snacks available

8:30-9:50 General Orientation LA 023
All part time instructors meet for general orientation.

• welcome from department administration and staff
• Program updates, general Q&A
• Introduction to portfolios and embedding in current scholarship (by Gae Lyn)
• writing lab representative

10-10:50 Breakout #1

1010 instructors LA 106
Student engagement: discussion led by Angie Carter

2010/2020 instructors LI 205
Library services orientation


11-11:50 Breakout #2

1010 instructors LI 206
Library services orientation

2010/2020 instructors LA 106
Assignment sequence review: Second-semester instructors bring syllabi from last (or previous) semester and work together to develop/fine tune course plans; to include pacing, approaches to content, opportunities for revision, matters of length, number/type of sources required, and so on. Discussion will include portfolio generation plans and strategies.


12-12:50 Breakout #3

1010 instructors LA 112
Assignment sequence review: First-semester instructors bring syllabi from last (or previous) semester and work together to develop/fine tune course plans; to include pacing, approaches to content, opportunities for revision, matters of length, number/type of sources required, and so on. Discussion will include portfolio generation plans and strategies.

2010/2020 instructors LA 106
Student engagement: discussion led by Lovisa Lyman

. . . . . . . . . .

Please note that one of our activities is an assignment sequence review (2010/2020 at 11, 1010 at 12). Please bring a copy of a recent syllabus so we can talk about how the implementation of assignment sequences has gone for you in the past couple of years, share strategies and experiences, and begin mapping out syllabi for fall.


We're almost fully staffed for fall, thanks to the willingness of some of you to take additional class sections, and especially to new instructors who are joining us this year. We'll likely be facing tremendous enrollment pressure in the first couple of week of class, and we'll have some time on Wednesday to review departmental/institutional add policies and to field any questions or concerns you have about handling waves of unenrolled students.

Sorry that some of you who are no longer teaching for us will still receive emails on the listserv for the time being, and new instructors aren't yet added. I hope to get with IT this week to work out subscription problems. Please remember that program notices are copied to this blog, so let me encourage you to subscribe at least for feeds, if not also to participate as a contributor in discussions with other instructors in the program.

See you Wednesday if not before.

Annual Orientation Wednesday August 19th

Sorry for the delay in notifying you all, but finally the upcoming term's starting to come into focus. We're getting close to completing the fall schedule--or at least getting to the point where we can offer some of you additional sections or find sections that can better fit your needs.

Also, we have a date for orientation, which will be Wednesday August 19, and will run from 8:30am-1:00pm. Attendance at this meeting is required for all part time instructors. We'll provide breakfasty snacks, talk about portfolios and other program business, and field your questions in the first session (8:30-9:50). We'll then have three breakout sessions (10-10:50, 11-11:50, and 12-12:50), details of which will follow.

Thanks to those of you who have made suggestions for orientation content and volunteered to present--to the latter group, I'll be getting in touch soon to get as many of you involved as possible.

Thanks for your patience as we've been working out the schedule over the summer. Talk to you soon.

The Extra Credit Dilemma

Last Saturday after class, three of my students approached me together to ask whether there was anything they could do to receive extra credit. Their request put me into a little bit of a panic. On the one hand, I've never really allowed extra credit opportunities. I believe that it's unfair to give extra credit because it panders to underperforming students, giving them an opportunity to wheedle an unearned grade out of my class. But on the other hand, these three particular students were fairly good candidates for extra credit. They were pretty hard workers, but they happened to be at an unfortunate disadvantage in my class because they spoke English as a second language.

I've been agonizing over my ESL students all semester long. In a class of 20, one third of my students are ESL speakers. I've never had that many in a single course before. It's been a serious challenge for me, to say the least. Every time I've sat down to grade a major paper, I've been plagued with thoughts about how to treat them equitably. Is it fair to hold them to the same standards as the other students who are native English speakers? If I make them the exception and lower my standards as I grade their drafts, am I cheating the native English speakers who have worked equally hard on their papers?

To date, I've been grading them with the same standards I use with all my students. As justification, I've held the image of my freshman roommate from Hungary in my mind. She had a scholarship and a 4.0---and she worked very hard for it. She studied constantly and didn't have much of a social life. When a major paper was due, she started composing it well in advance, regularly visiting the writing lab and inviting my feedback on her papers. (If I had half her motivation and personal dedication, I probably would have done much better in subjects like Math and Science for which I have absolutely no natural talent.) I figured that if anyone could work hard and thrive academically despite some staunch language barriers, so could my ESL students. And yet, the ex-public school teacher and "good liberal" inside of me doesn't totally buy the everyone-can-pull-themselves-up-by-the-bootstraps schtick. The language barrier is a very real impediment to a student's success and cannot be totally ignored.

So, with all those conflicted thoughts bubbling in the background, today I decided to allow them to write an essay for extra credit. I rather liked the assignment I came up with and I might possibly consider using it again if any students approach me about extra credit in the future. Here's the assignment directions:

English 1010 Extra Credit Essay

The purpose of English 1010 is to teach you how to compose effective written arguments. As the Allyn and Bacon Guide to Writing (5th ed.) states:

The study of argumentation involves two components: truth seeking and persuasion. By truth-seeking, we mean a diligent, open-minded, and responsible search for the best course of action or solution to a problem, taking into account all the available information and alternative points of view. By persuasion, we mean the art of making a claim on an issue and justifying it convincingly so that the audience's initial resistance to your position is overcome and they are moved toward your position. (377)

With that in mind, your task is to compose an essay in which you try to convince me (your instructor) why I should give you extra credit for this class. In this essay, you should tell me 1) how much extra credit you would like to receive---would you like 20 points, 40 points, more?---and 2) the reasons why you should receive that amount of extra credit. If I find your argument persuasive, I will award you the extra credit points that you request in your essay. If I do not find your argument persuasive, you may possibly receive no extra points for writing this essay.

In order to write an effective essay, it helps to know a little bit about your audience and which rhetorical appeals he or she will find persuasive. You should assume that I am of the same mindset as Dr. Kurt Wiesenfeld (see the essay entitled "Making the Grade" that I gave out the third week of class). That is to say, you should assume that I feel somewhat opposed to the idea of extra credit because it potentially rewards students for unprofessional behavior and erodes our university's academic standards.

So, based on what you know about me as an instructor, should you appeal to logic (logos)? To emotion (pathos)? To your personal character (ethos)? The choice is yours. (For a helpful review of these three persuasive appeals, see http://www.figarospeech.com/teach-a-kid-to-argue/.)

There is no minimum length for this essay, but your essay should not be any longer than 3 pages, single-spaced in Times New Roman font. Please submit it to me via email on Thursday or earlier. Please remember this essay is purely optional. You do not have to write the essay if you do not choose to.


***

I'm interested to see how my students respond to this assignment. I figure if they really are able to persuade me to give them extra credit (especially when I'm so resistant to it), they will have met the objectives of my course and they will have earned the extra points fair and square.

If anything interesting comes as a result of this assignment, I'll let you know. :)