Sustainability Across the Curriculum: Chesapeake Project and PWP Classes SHEA 2009

English Department Professional Writing core classes taught by Mb Shea

393 (Technical Writing) taught in Summer I and II sessions

398v (Writing about the Environment) taught Spring and Fall, and

390 (Science Writing) taught Spring and Fall

I have revised two major assignments to reflect environmental concerns. The first assignment is a problem-solution memo based on a workplace scenario. The second assignment is a book review with two components.

I am also adapting materials about definitions for use in my courses. This third emphasis allows for the teaching of definition techniques with environmental content.

Assignment 1: the problem –solution memo

Version a) The boss of a consulting firm requests a memo on the best coffee cups to use in the office. The boss wants an environmental analysis of paper vs. Styrofoam disposable options and the re-useable option of ceramic, “hard” plastic, or aluminum. Cost is a factor, but the boss wants the environmental analysis to take center stage.

Version b) The boss of the same consulting firm read about rain gardens in the UMCP alumni magazine. What are they? Can we install them around the under-renovation parking lot? How are the environmental remediation benefits quantified? Are rain gardens cost effective?

Comments: The coffee-cup memo involves these skills:

  1. research on reliable and credible sources
  1. exploration of unclear environmental policy option
  1. recommendation of option plus support
  1. definition of related environmental criteria including life cycle analysis, embodied energy, waste streams, limits of recycling, etc.

The coffee cup memo will work across the entire spectrum of PWP classes, including those traditionally populated by humanities and other non-technical majors. This memo also serves as a strong writing sample that, again, will work for a number of job searches. What office does NOT drink coffee? One goal in PWP classes is to help students produce documents appropriate for their job searchs. This problem-solution memo would be a good writing sample for many students.

The rain garden memo features a locally-derived environmental innovation. Rain gardens, also known as bioretention ponds, were developed in the 1990s by the Prince George’s Department of the Environment. Allen Davis, UMCP civil engineering professor, continues to quantify the bioremediation abilities of bioretention ponds. We also have bioretetion ponds on campus (field trip!) This memo works better for the technical writing series of courses, including ENGL 393, which typically seats about 1/3 of professional writing students in a year.

Key skills in the rain garden memo include 1,2,3 from the coffee cup memo. The definition concepts include bioremediation, phytoremediation, low impact development, impervious surfaces management, run-off, and tad ah, the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Assignment 2: the book reviewThis assignment requires that students read and evaluate a book for colleagues. The scenario is a workplace newsletter with a regular book review column. Students select from a list of environmentally-themed books. Phase two of the assignment involves a re-written and re-formatted review in newsletter style.

Authors chosen by students in Spring 2009/Summer 2009 included

Mike Tidwell, Bill McGibben, Dianne Ackerman, Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Herman Daly, Gus Speth, Malcom Gladwell, Black Elk., and Michael Pollan.

Comments: The process mimics the workplace: submit a text to an editor colleague and rewrite/reformat the piece for a printed company publication. Students practice

  1. tone, and voice,
  2. paragraphing
  3. transitions between paragraphs
  4. responding to editor/peer critique
  5. document design
  6. evaluation and persuasion (Should this audience read this book?)

The environmental themes are broad and depend on the book. Class discussion and peer review of drafts mean that students explore environmental themes from books read by other students in the class.

The book review assignment is particularly adaptable to PWP courses populated by humanities students. However, engineering and technical instructors can suggest books fitting the technical aspects of broadly-based environmental problems. The books of John McPhee and Henry Petroski come to mind.

Curriculum material: definition samples. I adapted materials this summer based on these environmental concepts:

  • Strong sustainability, sustainability, sustainable development
  • Internationalism vs. globalism (Herman Daly)
  • Growth economy vs. steady state economy (Herman Daly)
  • Carbon footprints and calculators
  • Life cycle analysis/cradle to grave process
  • Watershed (many campus resources)
  • Low impact development/green architecture/LEED standards

Defining is a core concept in rhetoric. “What is this?” is the first stasis in argument evaluation. This focus on definition is very much like the rule in debate: first, let us define our terms.