SLW-IS Steering Committee Minutes

April 2, 2008New York, NY

Present: Deborah Crusan, Jessie Moore, Margi Wald, Gigi Taylor, Tony Silva, Charles Nelson, Christine Tardy, Allison Petro, Cate Crosby

Current Leadership Topics/Issues

  • Deborah Crusan opened the meeting by reviewing the current leadership slate and the objectives for the SLW-IS Business Meeting, which was held on April 3, 2008 in New York, NY. This included reviewing the agenda.
  • Christine Tardy may not be able to continue as webmaster. We discussed possibilities for moving the site if Christine needs to give up the webmaster position. Charles Nelson volunteered to look into the possibility of moving the website from its current location to his site.
  • Deborah Crusan pointed out that there was a full schedule of volunteers for the SLW-IS booth at TESOL 2008, including several “stars” in the field. Deborah said that she would continue to ask them to participate in this.
  • In addition to time to talk with the “stars” at the SLW-IS booth, Deborah Crusan noted that this would be the second year for SLW-IS to host a networking event, where those interested would have the opportunity to talk with “stars” in the field. This year the networking event was endorsed by Tony Silva and the Journal of Second Language Writing (JSLW).
  • Chris Tardy, Gigi Taylor, Allison Petro, and Cate Crosby will be working on contacting the TESOL Central Office regarding designing a survey with the use of Survey Monkey for members of other TESOL ISs to determine what their interests in SLW are.

Team Member Responsibilities for the Coming Year

  • Tony Silva will be soliciting support from the University of Michigan Press and Parlor Press for the continuation of the networking event at TESOL 2009 in Denver, CO.
  • Margi Wald requested that members of the steering committee submit conference presentation session reports for inclusion in the newsletter.
  • Members of 4Cs will be asked to contribute session reports to the newsletter as well. Cate Crosby will take care of this.
  • Tony Silva will check with 4Cs regarding ways which both this organization and TESOL can be supported, such as through the use of technology. Deborah Crusan and Jessie Moore will also be working on ways to build bridges between the SLW-IS and 4Cs. One idea that was discussed during the meeting in regard to this is how to incorporate the SLW-IS (TESOL) and the committee on SLW (4Cs) into each other.

TESOL Resource Center

  • With regard to contributions to this, it was recommended that each member bring a syllabus on writing, for a teacher education class, and/or a bibliography for SLW sources.

“An Evening with the Second Language Writing IS”

  • “An Evening with the Second Language Writing IS” will be held Thursday night from 6:00-8:00 PM. Deborah Crusan has contacted a number of L2 writing scholars who have agreed to talk with people about their areas of specialization.

Membership & Involvement

  • Committee members discussed ways to increase involvement of PK-12 members and focus on their interests as they relate to SLW. It was suggested to first discover what their interests are by talking with members of the Elementary Education and Secondary Education ISs. It was suggested to identify TESOL 2008 conference presentation in these ISs to see who the presenters were and contact them about their interests and how these relate to SLW.
  • With regard to increasing involvement, it was also suggested to design a survey to find out interests of those in other ISs, such as Elementary and Secondary Education. It was recommended to ask the TESOL Central Office about the possibility of creating and administering this with the use of Survey Monkey. Chris Tardy, Gigi Taylor, Allison Petro, and Cate Crosby volunteered to work on this.

Technology

  • Charles Nelson presented the idea of having a blog for the IS that would provide IS members the opportunity to discuss topics related to SLW, possibly from conference presentations. In response to this, members of the steering committee agreed that there needs to be a clear purpose for the blog.
  • It was also recommended that a wiki be established as another means for members to discuss topics and issues related to SLW. The steering committee agreed that it would be best to choose an established wiki, such as PB Wiki.
  • With regard to the idea of establishing a blog and/or a wiki, the possibility of these mediums supporting both TESOL and 4Cs was discussed, which brought up the point that it’s possible for members to be on the listserv for both organizations – TESOL and 4Cs – without necessarily being a member of the organizations.

Ideas for Business Meeting

  • Gigi Taylor will be leading a brainstorming session for ideas for presentation at TESOL 2009, contributions to the TRC, and input on the steering committee report.
  • Charles Nelson will facilitate discussion of the idea of setting up a blog for the IS.
  • Information related to the IS will be distributed at the meeting, including the form for proposal readers and IS officers.

Future TESOL Preparation

  • It was pointed out that presentation proposals for discussion groups will be adjudicated beginning for TESOL 2009.
  • The three-day conference model which was introduced at TESOL 2008 in New York will be continued until TESOL 2013. At that time, discussion regarding the continuation of the model will take place.