1. Announcements
--The Human Resources Department requires that all adjunct faculty re-apply for their positions on an annual basis. This year, you need to re-apply before May 15. This process should be fairly easy for you to do. On the UVU Job website, go to the job posting for: Adjunct Instructor – English and Literature. Click the button that says “Apply for this Posting” and login to the UVU website. You should have created a username and password already when you first applied to be an adjunct instructor. This process shouldn’t take very long because your Curriculum Vita (CV) and other documents should still be on file in the system and you can just re-attach them during the application. However, it’s generally a good idea to update your CV if you have the time.
--Fall Schedule teaching assignments should be available mid-April. The process has been delayed from previous years, so please be patient.
--The WPAs receive complaints from students from time to time. Whenever they receive a complaint, they will always contact you as an instructor to let you know about it. Many times the complaint can easily be resolved by scheduling a brief meeting with the WPA, the instructor and the student. That being said, there are a number of things you could possibly do to help prevent student complaints early on. We brainstormed some of the ways that we as instructors could help prevent complaints. One of the suggestions was that you could consider including a statement in your syllabus about the importance of coming to you first to resolve any concerns you might have. You could also make an effort to respectfully respond to any emails you receive from students and make a genuine effort to listen to students when they come to you with a concern. Sometimes students complain about class being cancelled too frequently, so it could help to keep class cancellations to a minimum.
2. Strategies for Teaching the Synthesis Paper
Heather Tolen gave a presentation about an object lesson she uses to teach her students the basic concepts needed to complete the Synthesis paper. For this object lesson, she brings two purses with different items in each purse. The students analyze the objects in the two purses and then talk about what these objects say about the lifestyle, beliefs, and values of the person who owns them. They compare and contrast the two purses with each other. They then talk about how these same tasks are involved in writing the Synthesis paper. For a complete description of the activity, please see this handout.
Aleta Breakwell gave a presentation about how she uses a deck of Uno cards to teach her students about the Synthesis paper. One color represents the student’s discussion in their paper about Author A’s essay. Another color represents the student’s discussion about Author B. The last color represents the students own insights and analysis on the topic. Aleta talks about how she sees too many papers where the different colors are just “stacked up” on top of each other. She then has a student shuffle the deck and fan the deck out. She talks about how this is the ideal way to organize a Synthesis paper: mixing all the different ideas from the two authors and the student’s insights altogether.
3. Strategies for Encouraging Self-Reflective Writing
Catherine Ashton gave a presentation about how she uses Canvas to have her students post their Final Portfolios in an e-Portfolio format. For those of you who were not able to attend the professional development meeting, she’s posted her sample e-Portfolio online.
Alyssa Rock gave a presentation about how she does Self-Reflective Writing in her classes. She talked about how the value in self-reflective writing is that it helps students to meta-cognitively think about the actual process of writing and begin figuring out how they can make that process more efficient. It also teaches students how to analyze and criticize their own writing, which is an important step in the revision process. Lastly, it builds students’ skills in introspection (what Howard Gardner calls “intra-personal intelligence”), which is a valuable life skill that is necessary for cooperative problem-solving and for developing a sense of self. Alyssa has her students write a self-reflective piece as the first assignment of the semester. Then she has them write small, in-class self-reflective essays whenever a major paper is due. Lastly, she has them include one final self-reflective writing piece in the Final Portfolio. To read her specific prompts for these essays, you can view her handout on Self-Reflective Writing.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
Announcement from Val Merit
This is posted on behalf of Val Merit.
Today, March 23, at 3:00 p.m. in SC 206 I am giving a paper entitled “From Homer to Shakespeare and the Moderns: Transmitting our Classical Heritage across the Disciplines.” It’s the last paper of the entire conference and late in the day on a Friday, so I am having anxiety attacks about there even being an audience. Aside from that, after having run into Grant today, who though some of you might be interested in the topic, I decided to post it here. The thrust of the paper is what we can do to help restore classical texts to their proper place in academia. If you’re interested, it would be great to see you there.
Today, March 23, at 3:00 p.m. in SC 206 I am giving a paper entitled “From Homer to Shakespeare and the Moderns: Transmitting our Classical Heritage across the Disciplines.” It’s the last paper of the entire conference and late in the day on a Friday, so I am having anxiety attacks about there even being an audience. Aside from that, after having run into Grant today, who though some of you might be interested in the topic, I decided to post it here. The thrust of the paper is what we can do to help restore classical texts to their proper place in academia. If you’re interested, it would be great to see you there.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Professional Development Meeting Notes from February 21-22
1. Announcements
--Although we have lost FA 742 as a meeting place, there is now space available for adjunct faculty to meet with students. You may use the two designated carrels between the GT and CS building.
--If you have requested to teach in the Summer, the Summer Schedules should be going out in the next day or two.
--The WPAs will continue to observe classes in February and March. New adjunct faculty have a higher chance of receiving a class visit from a WPA.
--If you would like to have a particular topic addressed in our March Professional Development meeting, please let one of the WPAs or Alyssa know.
--The General Education Committee may hold an e-portfolio workshop during the Summer Attendees would be paid a stipend for attending. Which month would be the most convenient for you? (Most people present at the meeting said that May would be the best month.)
--There will be three new lectureship positions opening for the Fall semester. These are composition teaching positions and will require teaching 4 classes a semester. These positions have been officially opened on the Human Resources website. Please see the email that Grant Moss sent out about this position.
--The English and Literature department is planning to sponsor a Writing for Social Change conference at UVU during the Fall semester. If your students are interested in conducting research on a Utah issue or other social change issue, you may want to work with them and encourage them to prepare for this conference. More details about the conference will be forthcoming.
--A question was raised about whether adjunct faculty will have to re-apply for their positions on an annual basis. It is our understanding that this will be a yearly requirement. Gae Lyn will confirm this with Human Resources and let all of us know.
2. Edward Martinelli from the Accessibility Services Department
We were pleased to welcome Dr. Martinelli from the Accessibility Services Department (ASD). Dr. Martinelli spoke to us about the policies and procedures for granting academic accommodations to students with disabilities. Here are some highlights from the meeting:
--The main responsibility of the ASD is to review documentation of learning disabilities provided by students and then determine what academic accommodations should be given to each student. These accommodations are written up in a letter and are delivered to the teacher by the student.
--The letter will never tell you what the specific disability is. It is up to the student’s discretion whether he or she wants to disclose the nature of the disability to you. It is not appropriate to ask the student about the specific disability because that is a violation of the student’s privacy. You can call the ASD if you have a question about their accommodations.
--It is also inappropriate to suggest to a student that they have a learning disability. However, if you can see that a student is struggling, you can point out that there are many resources on campus for students who are struggling such as the Student Health Center, the Writing Center (for individual tutoring) and the ASD. If a student suspects they have a disability that has not been diagnosed, they can see the Student Health Center for testing. Other centers may be able to give them a diagnosis more quickly, but it usually costs more money.
--As a faculty member, you do not need to apply the accommodations retroactively. You only need to begin giving the accommodations from the time that you receive the letter. If you ever have a question about the accommodations or if you feel that the student is abusing the accommodations in some way, you are welcome to call the ASD and discuss your concerns with a member of the department. You can also call if you feel that the specific accommodations will be too difficult for you to provide.
--Students are strongly encouraged to visit the ASD at the beginning of the semester so that accommodations can be given as soon as possible. You should include something in your syllabus that encourages students to visit the ASD if they are eligible.
--The official law governing disabilities for college campuses is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Please be aware that speaking English as a Second Language is not considered a disability under the ADA.
--Although we have lost FA 742 as a meeting place, there is now space available for adjunct faculty to meet with students. You may use the two designated carrels between the GT and CS building.
--If you have requested to teach in the Summer, the Summer Schedules should be going out in the next day or two.
--The WPAs will continue to observe classes in February and March. New adjunct faculty have a higher chance of receiving a class visit from a WPA.
--If you would like to have a particular topic addressed in our March Professional Development meeting, please let one of the WPAs or Alyssa know.
--The General Education Committee may hold an e-portfolio workshop during the Summer Attendees would be paid a stipend for attending. Which month would be the most convenient for you? (Most people present at the meeting said that May would be the best month.)
--There will be three new lectureship positions opening for the Fall semester. These are composition teaching positions and will require teaching 4 classes a semester. These positions have been officially opened on the Human Resources website. Please see the email that Grant Moss sent out about this position.
--The English and Literature department is planning to sponsor a Writing for Social Change conference at UVU during the Fall semester. If your students are interested in conducting research on a Utah issue or other social change issue, you may want to work with them and encourage them to prepare for this conference. More details about the conference will be forthcoming.
--A question was raised about whether adjunct faculty will have to re-apply for their positions on an annual basis. It is our understanding that this will be a yearly requirement. Gae Lyn will confirm this with Human Resources and let all of us know.
2. Edward Martinelli from the Accessibility Services Department
We were pleased to welcome Dr. Martinelli from the Accessibility Services Department (ASD). Dr. Martinelli spoke to us about the policies and procedures for granting academic accommodations to students with disabilities. Here are some highlights from the meeting:
--The main responsibility of the ASD is to review documentation of learning disabilities provided by students and then determine what academic accommodations should be given to each student. These accommodations are written up in a letter and are delivered to the teacher by the student.
--The letter will never tell you what the specific disability is. It is up to the student’s discretion whether he or she wants to disclose the nature of the disability to you. It is not appropriate to ask the student about the specific disability because that is a violation of the student’s privacy. You can call the ASD if you have a question about their accommodations.
--It is also inappropriate to suggest to a student that they have a learning disability. However, if you can see that a student is struggling, you can point out that there are many resources on campus for students who are struggling such as the Student Health Center, the Writing Center (for individual tutoring) and the ASD. If a student suspects they have a disability that has not been diagnosed, they can see the Student Health Center for testing. Other centers may be able to give them a diagnosis more quickly, but it usually costs more money.
--As a faculty member, you do not need to apply the accommodations retroactively. You only need to begin giving the accommodations from the time that you receive the letter. If you ever have a question about the accommodations or if you feel that the student is abusing the accommodations in some way, you are welcome to call the ASD and discuss your concerns with a member of the department. You can also call if you feel that the specific accommodations will be too difficult for you to provide.
--Students are strongly encouraged to visit the ASD at the beginning of the semester so that accommodations can be given as soon as possible. You should include something in your syllabus that encourages students to visit the ASD if they are eligible.
--The official law governing disabilities for college campuses is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Please be aware that speaking English as a Second Language is not considered a disability under the ADA.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Professional Development Meeting Notes from November 8-9, 2011
1. Announcements
--If you are using FA 742 to meet with students, please let us know so that we can ensure that office space is being utilized for its intended purpose.
--We possibly may be piloting John Goshert's text Entering the Academic Conversation: Strategies for Research Writing for English 2010 and 2020 next semester. If you are interested in participating in the pilot, please let us know.
--The Faculty Center for Teaching Excellence have recently made some funds available to help adjunct faculty pay for travel expenses to give presentations at conferences. (NOTE: This does not apply if you are merely chairing a session.) These funds might not be available next year and they are probably only available on a first-come-first-serve basis so it's best to get your application in to the Faculty Center soon.
--In that same vein, if in the future the English Department offers lecturer positions, all adjuncts are eligible to apply. It will look especially good on your CV if you have recently read a paper at a conference.
--The English Department has added a new Writing Studies emphasis to the English major (in addition to the emphases on Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and English Education that are currently offered). This major will focus on rhetorical theory, preparation for grad school, etc. Please encourage any students in your classes who seem like good candidates to talk to an adviser and pick up brochures in the front office. As part of this new emphasis, next semester the Department be offering Intro to Writing Studies (which requires 1010 and 2010/2020 as a prerequisite).
2. Norming our Grading Criteria
For the remainder of the meeting, we participated in an activity that would help us engage in a discussion about how to evaluate student papers. Gae Lyn handed out a copy of the AACU's rubrics for Written Communication and Critical Thinking. We briefly skimmed through these rubrics. Then we each read 3 different papers: one that was an excellent paper, one that was an average paper, and one that was a poor paper (but we weren't told which was which right away). Working in groups, we discussed which papers were better than others, applying the AACU rubrics to the papers.
--If you are using FA 742 to meet with students, please let us know so that we can ensure that office space is being utilized for its intended purpose.
--We possibly may be piloting John Goshert's text Entering the Academic Conversation: Strategies for Research Writing for English 2010 and 2020 next semester. If you are interested in participating in the pilot, please let us know.
--The Faculty Center for Teaching Excellence have recently made some funds available to help adjunct faculty pay for travel expenses to give presentations at conferences. (NOTE: This does not apply if you are merely chairing a session.) These funds might not be available next year and they are probably only available on a first-come-first-serve basis so it's best to get your application in to the Faculty Center soon.
--In that same vein, if in the future the English Department offers lecturer positions, all adjuncts are eligible to apply. It will look especially good on your CV if you have recently read a paper at a conference.
--The English Department has added a new Writing Studies emphasis to the English major (in addition to the emphases on Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and English Education that are currently offered). This major will focus on rhetorical theory, preparation for grad school, etc. Please encourage any students in your classes who seem like good candidates to talk to an adviser and pick up brochures in the front office. As part of this new emphasis, next semester the Department be offering Intro to Writing Studies (which requires 1010 and 2010/2020 as a prerequisite).
2. Norming our Grading Criteria
For the remainder of the meeting, we participated in an activity that would help us engage in a discussion about how to evaluate student papers. Gae Lyn handed out a copy of the AACU's rubrics for Written Communication and Critical Thinking. We briefly skimmed through these rubrics. Then we each read 3 different papers: one that was an excellent paper, one that was an average paper, and one that was a poor paper (but we weren't told which was which right away). Working in groups, we discussed which papers were better than others, applying the AACU rubrics to the papers.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Professional Development Meeting Notes from October 12-13
1. Announcements
Please don't forget to submit your schedule preferences as soon as possible. It will probably take approximately a month to get the schedule ironed out.
2. Introduction to Portfolio Assessment
Gae Lyn began by explaining the history of the 2 year portfolio assessment that ran from 2009-2011. The University had pushed each department to assess how well they were meeting their program's Essential Learning Outcomes (ELOs) for all their courses, but especially their General Education courses. The English Department created the 1010/2010/2020 assessment program in response. 350 portfolios were selected at random from 1010/2010/2020 over the 2 year period and were evaluated by the WPAs to assess student's progress from the beginning of the classes to the end.
3. Overview of the Portfolio Assessment Criteria
John Goshert, the previous program administrator, joined us to discuss the criteria that was used to evaluate the portfolios. The criteria were adapted from the National Council of Writing Program Administrators' Outcomes for First Year-Composition. The portfolios were examined to determine how well they were able to engage in critical thinking (were they able to transition from uninformed opinions to looking at the topic from complex, multiple perspectives), did they use evidence to support and develop their ideas, did they pose research problems (rather than mere topics), did they engage in an academic conversation (did they use scholarly texts as source material), and could they produce mechanically sound writing.
4. Overview of the Findings from the Portfolio Assessment
The results for 1010 were quite positive. Students seemed to experience profound progress in terms of the program's basic writing expectations and intellectual growth. All of the students tended to perform above the average from what the WPAs had expected. Unfortunately, the results from 2010 were not quite as positive in terms of its added value. In some papers, the level of sophistication that the students exhibited toward their source material seemed to weaken in comparison to 1010. The students either tended to use more journalistic sources or, when they used scholarly sources, they only valued scholarly texts for their informational content alone (as opposed to engaging with them as arguments). Furthermore, students who started out in 2010 with weak skills tended to remain weak and students who started out with strong skills didn't seem to improve as much as had been hoped.
5. Discussion of the Assessment Findings
The discussion was then opened up to everyone to brainstorm how to keep the momentum going from 1010 into 2010. John felt that the course textbooks should be taken seriously by all instructors because they help to connect the assignment sequences with the scholarly mindset we want the students to develop. Gae Lyn mentioned that we have pretty high expectations for our students in comparison to other open enrollment colleges. At least one open-enrollment school that she knows of does not focus on the critical thinking component of first-year writing. Rather they focus only on helping students understand and summarize source material. We ask our students to do considerably more. Grant mentioned that the portfolio assessments possibly cannot account for the delay in timing between when students take 1010 and when they take 2010/2020.
***
Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions about the findings from the portfolio assessment in the comments to this blog.
Please don't forget to submit your schedule preferences as soon as possible. It will probably take approximately a month to get the schedule ironed out.
2. Introduction to Portfolio Assessment
Gae Lyn began by explaining the history of the 2 year portfolio assessment that ran from 2009-2011. The University had pushed each department to assess how well they were meeting their program's Essential Learning Outcomes (ELOs) for all their courses, but especially their General Education courses. The English Department created the 1010/2010/2020 assessment program in response. 350 portfolios were selected at random from 1010/2010/2020 over the 2 year period and were evaluated by the WPAs to assess student's progress from the beginning of the classes to the end.
3. Overview of the Portfolio Assessment Criteria
John Goshert, the previous program administrator, joined us to discuss the criteria that was used to evaluate the portfolios. The criteria were adapted from the National Council of Writing Program Administrators' Outcomes for First Year-Composition. The portfolios were examined to determine how well they were able to engage in critical thinking (were they able to transition from uninformed opinions to looking at the topic from complex, multiple perspectives), did they use evidence to support and develop their ideas, did they pose research problems (rather than mere topics), did they engage in an academic conversation (did they use scholarly texts as source material), and could they produce mechanically sound writing.
4. Overview of the Findings from the Portfolio Assessment
The results for 1010 were quite positive. Students seemed to experience profound progress in terms of the program's basic writing expectations and intellectual growth. All of the students tended to perform above the average from what the WPAs had expected. Unfortunately, the results from 2010 were not quite as positive in terms of its added value. In some papers, the level of sophistication that the students exhibited toward their source material seemed to weaken in comparison to 1010. The students either tended to use more journalistic sources or, when they used scholarly sources, they only valued scholarly texts for their informational content alone (as opposed to engaging with them as arguments). Furthermore, students who started out in 2010 with weak skills tended to remain weak and students who started out with strong skills didn't seem to improve as much as had been hoped.
5. Discussion of the Assessment Findings
The discussion was then opened up to everyone to brainstorm how to keep the momentum going from 1010 into 2010. John felt that the course textbooks should be taken seriously by all instructors because they help to connect the assignment sequences with the scholarly mindset we want the students to develop. Gae Lyn mentioned that we have pretty high expectations for our students in comparison to other open enrollment colleges. At least one open-enrollment school that she knows of does not focus on the critical thinking component of first-year writing. Rather they focus only on helping students understand and summarize source material. We ask our students to do considerably more. Grant mentioned that the portfolio assessments possibly cannot account for the delay in timing between when students take 1010 and when they take 2010/2020.
***
Feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions about the findings from the portfolio assessment in the comments to this blog.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Starter Activity for Problematizing a Topic Essay (Essay #1, 1010)
My students enjoyed this short activity to prep their heads for the concept of "problematizing."
1. Take three volunteers and have them choose which side of the topic they will represent (pro, con, neutral) without telling them the topic.
2. Have the volunteers come up to the board. Give them the topic and two minutes to see who can generate the most examples/reasons for their side.
3. Alternately, divide the class into the three groups (pro, con, neutral) and have them fire answers up to the their representative at the board.
4. Possible topics: Is graffiti art? White lies. Joining the military. Road construction in Utah.
Stephenie Swindle
1. Take three volunteers and have them choose which side of the topic they will represent (pro, con, neutral) without telling them the topic.
2. Have the volunteers come up to the board. Give them the topic and two minutes to see who can generate the most examples/reasons for their side.
3. Alternately, divide the class into the three groups (pro, con, neutral) and have them fire answers up to the their representative at the board.
4. Possible topics: Is graffiti art? White lies. Joining the military. Road construction in Utah.
Stephenie Swindle
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Laptops in the Classroom?
The comments on this blog post are very interesting, regarding different ways of looking at laptop use in the classroom. What are your thoughts and policies on laptops?
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