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Session / Author / Subject / Applications / Value / Pg / Handouts
Writing Programs
Golson / Comp and Math / 90,101 / Low / 1 / X
Crane / Use of Film in Comp / 101, 102, 126 / Med. High / 1
Rustick / WAC and Developmental Comp / 090-102 / High / 1 / X
Strnad / Philosophy and Comp / 101, 102 / Med / 2 / X
Cooper / Humor and Comp / 090-102 / Med. Low / 2
Runyon / American West and Comp / 102 / Low / 2
Innovative Solutions
Hogge / Faulkner / 200+ / Med. high / 3
Somers / Native Americans and Comp / 090-101 / Med high / 3 / X
Sheridan / Pop Culture and Comp / 101-201 / Med high / 4
Schweibert / Walt Whitman / 200+ / Med. / 4
Technical and Professional Communication (ATTW Meeting)
Carnegie / 202 / High / 4
Teaching English in the Two-YearCollege
Whitman / ParagraphBuilding / 011-090 / Med / 4 / X
Auerbach / At-Risk Students / 011-102 / Med. High / 5
Larsen / Non-Traditionals / 011-102 / High / 5
Technical and Professional Communication in the Classroom
Zimmerman / Reflection in Tech Writing / OA, 202 / Med / 6
Subbiah / OA, 202 / Med / 6
Deming / Ethnography / 202 / Low / 6
Boysen / Portfolio / 101, 202 / High for 202 / 6 / X
Practical Approaches to Teaching Film
Sellen / Helping Students Analyze Film / 011? / Low / 7 / X
Brians / Ripping Technology / All / med low / 7 / x
Antosh / 126, 200+ / Lowest / 7
Teaching English: Integrating Artistic Elements
Genetti / Using Paintings in Class / 090-101 / Med High / 7 / X
Doney / Using Music in Class / 090-102 / Med High / 8 / X
Fay / Disabilities and Biographies / 090-102 / Med High / 8 / X
Forces of Change in Technical Communication
McDowell / Survey of Curricula / 202 / Low / 9
Hoover, Nardone / Impact of Technology on Writing / 202, 101, 102 / Med. / 9
Shirk / Gender and Tech Comm / 202 / Low / 10 / X
Literary Criticism: Tragedy and Desire
Broder / Strindberg and Wilde / 126, 200+ / Low / 11
Appler / Mamet / 126, 200+ / Low / 11
DeVos / Tragic Hero and Post-Humanism / 126, 200+ / Low / 11

Writing Programs

When the Other Discipline Nourishes Comp

Emily Golson, University of Northern Colorado. “Mathematics and Composition.”

A historical comparison of the two fields. More informative than helpful, although a handout on common terminology between the two might help some students look differently at composition or at math. (INCLUDES HANDOUT)

Katheryn Crane, WesternOregon University. “Comparing Cinematic and

Composition Types.”

An interesting approach that uses film to stress the idea that the ‘process’ we teach is not just for writing, but for composing any communication. She looks at both the misc-en-scene and the industry of film, arguing that “nothing in film is an accident, because film is not real.” In scene analysis, she asks her students to look at lighting, angles, editing and so on as they discuss the director’s purpose. In addition to the director, an examination of the industry of film from hiring and firing of screen-writers, consulting with casting directors, and reviewing with producers shows how seriously the film industry, er, goes beyond the first draft. In addition, she has used videos such as Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” to demonstrate how an audience can miss the communicator’s message, which should encourage students to reconsider how they treat their audiences.

Margaret Tomlinson Rustick, CaliforniaStateUniversity, EastBay. “Thinking

Critically about Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines.”

Rustick teaches at an urban university that relies on teaching assistants to help with the composition load and deals with large percentage of undereducated students. Cal State-East Bay, near Oakland, uses a Writing Across the Curriculum system that, as I understand it, enrolls a student in a writing class designed to focus on their particular discipline (Rustick uses the term “Learning Communities” instead). Here, a student stays with the same teacher for three quarters – even in the developmental level classes, although Rustick makes it clear that analysis is clearly the focus of their developmental classroom.

Among the ideas that an examination of this system uncovers:

  • Use of modes is okay, but they must be seen and taught in a different light than usual. Too often, argues Rustick, we teach modes as WRITING modes, when in reality, we should be suggesting to our students that these modes are more of thinking, analytical, or problem-solving strategies students will use beyond the essay.
  • Because composition and another discipline are linked together, students are often willing to discuss in the composition classroom what they are learning in the other classrooms – although the students’ motives lean more toward doing better on their papers – and that allows teachers to become more like facilitators than dictators.
  • Teaching assistants in composition often have very little experience in these other disciplines, and often find themselves relearning these fields – giving them a better grasp on how important the concept of audience is. A handout offers, among many items, a list of prompts T.A.s have attempted in the past.
  • Assignments have been geared to help students move more from the public to the specialized.
  • Cooperation with other departments is still limited. Although composition has been able to help other professors with issues such as plagiarism, there is still a sense of “let’s dump all writing off on the English department.”

[INCLUDES HANDOUT]

Jill Strnad, University of Northern Colorado. “Finding Philosophy in the Composition

Classroom.”

Offering a proposal for a theme-based composition classroom, Strnad incorporates the content of basic philosophy into readings and essay assignments, although she is quick to add that she focuses on the practical aspect of philosophy, logic and critical thinking. (Her goal, she constantly emphasized, was to teach ‘how to think, not what to think.’)

Strnad suggests the activities and benefits of such a program include:

  • Using the Socratic method.
  • A freewrite example that asks students to go back and look at how they got to B from A, as part of a Linear Thinking Exercise. (Whether you use the philosophy focus or not, the student example she gave out – I have a copy – is both absolutely hilarious and illuminating).
  • Helps them see how logic is used in their everyday lives. For example, she never or rarely uses the word ‘syllogism’, but does teach it to them in practical terms.
  • Use of philosophers’ writing enables students to understand issues such as reductivism, audience, and language and word choice.
  • Teaching existentialism can often help students see and deal with the problems of circular reasoning.

I plan on getting a syllabus from her, and do have copies of other activities and assignments. [INCLUDES HANDOUTS]

Karin Cooper, University of California, Santa Barbara. “Laughter and Composition.”

A former theater teacher and TV comedy writer, Cooper, recently returned to the classroom, argues for the use of more humor in the classroom, although her essay was somewhat embryonic. As expected, humor during the lecture and discussion did cover a good chunk of the work, but Cooper did offer a couple of ideas:

  • When students crack a joke during class discussion, she often stops and discusses why the joke worked.
  • One freewrite invited students to consider what would happen if they received letter grades for activities outside of the classroom. (One student joked about getting a C+ for naming his son “John,” while another student suggested that instead of asking each other “How ya doin’?”, we’d ask, “how’s your GPA today?”)
  • Ad analysis could include the use of humorous ads.

[I thought Cooper could have gone farther. For example, the freewrite opens up an opportunity to discuss the educational system. I know it’s tricky, but how about prompts that invite humorous responses?]

Jeffrey A. Runyon, University of Northern Colorado. “The American West and College

Composition.”

A rather vague, generalized essay that offered only a little, sadly. After dwelling several minutes on a rehash of the writing process, Runyon offers his proposal about using the American West as a theme for the composition classroom. Undeveloped angles include mythology, the American dream of the West, cultural criticism of the west, and the connotations of the word “West.’

[Sorry, there just wasn’t much there, even though he says students were doing well.]

Recommended texts and authors: John and Marjorie Ford, Greg Lyons (Literature of the American West), Jane Tompkins (“VisitingBuffaloBillMuseum”)

Teaching English

(Reaching Today’s Students – Innovative Solutions)

Robert M. Hogge, WeberStateUniversity. “Teaching William Faulkner’s The Sound and

the Fury.”

Hogge opens with an interesting premise – that success in teaching the novel, and in general any complicated work, depends on know when to ‘overteach’ and when to ‘underteach.’ In other words, when to frontload/introduce a work with several filters, keys, and background information, and when to simply let the students loose, directing them with questions. He recommends this particularly at the end of the semester, when one has had time to evaluate the strength of the class. A class filled with self-starters, he notes, often jump into the work (“The work teaches you how to read it”) and come up with deeper insights than in the past.

(Hogge concluded his presentation with the reading of a Faux Faulkner piece, essentially setting the Sound and Fury inside the Oval Office with President Bush as the protagonist; he argues that he’s thinking this is one way to get his students into the work.)

Recommended texts: Norton Critical Edition of Sound and the Fury; Hahn and Kinney’s Teaching the Sound and the Fury (part of an MLA series; to no one’s surprise, I have the volume on Heart of Darkness – it appears to be a quality series)

Robin Somers, San JoseStateUniversity. “An All-American Indian Pedagogy for

Teaching English 1a: Native-American Learning Strategies to Help Other Marginalized Groups.”

Somers’ main issue is the problem minority students face when coming to college – how do they handle the fact that they are involved in two cultures? Do they leave one behind? Somers tries to techniques called Warrior Shield and Talking Story to address the needs of Native Americans, although she has noted success with more than just Native Americans.

What follows are the simplistic summaries of the two activities (I have copies of her examples):

  • A Warrior shield is similar to a coat of arms; designing one can help students better develop essays about themselves. Somers says she uses it in the equivalent of 101, although it feels more appropriate for 011 and 090. Students, as I understand it, also write about the shield
  • A Talking Story appears to be an introduction to a transcript of an interview. Somers focuses the task on subjects that allow students to talk to others about self- and cultural-identity, particular family members. It appears to be more of a data-gathering activity which students have identified as very helpful in preparing for their research essays.

[INCLUDES HANDOUT]

Other Authors to look at: Terry Huffman, Dick Littlebear

Debi Sheridan. “U2 Can Take the Sting Out of English!”

Sheridan notes that one major issue students have is understanding how much background material is needed when communicating with others, particularly through a Public Issue essay. She has found that using music videos often provide students with an understanding of what’s needed.

She uses two prime examples, spending more time on U2’s “Sunday, Bloody Sunday.” While she plays the video, she shows the lyrics at the same time, then asks students what event the song appears to be referring to, often showing a list of the several Bloody Sundays described in history and asking students which one the song refers to (a 1970s Ireland incident). The Sting video (“They Dance Alone”) forces students to study the Argentinian governmental-mass-murders.

John E. Schweibert, WeberStateUniversity. “News Flash: Walt Whitman Advises Teens

to ‘Skip Poetry’?”

This appears to be more of a research essay into an interview of Whitman late in his life that seemed to indicate his dissatisfaction with his career in poetry. However, Jette has made contact with Schweibert and has received some teaching hints, ideas, and handouts to help teach Whitman.

Technical and Professional Communication

Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW)

Teena A.M. Carnegie, Eastern WashingtonUniversity. “Gestalt in the Technical Communication

Classroom.”

With three other presenters canceling, Carnegie, in charge of the technical communication program at EasternWashingtonUniversity, discussed what emphases a recent department reexamination of the current program has come up with, particularly that of focusing on the theory of Gestalt. In essence, technical communication classrooms should be focusing on the idea of problem-solving, but actually have become genre-teaching classrooms. Instead of teaching situational/problem analysis to find a way to solve a problem, we simply teach students find a genre/style to appeal to its audience. (Take a look at the Marker textbook we plan on using in 202; many of the examples deal with problems but essentially focus on genre/style). To quote Carnegie: “We’re teaching students to come up with typified responses to place audience or meet social needs.”

Authors to consider: W.Kohler, K.Kafka, Wertheimer.

Teaching English in Two-Year Colleges

Alex Whitman, LowerColumbiaCollege. “Harvey: A Paragraph Template.”

Whitman teaches students a basic, four-step process in constructing the paragraph. While she uses it in 101, it seems far more appropriate for 090 or even 011. (HANDOUT: I will preclude going into detail in favor of the handout she gave.)

Michelle Auerbach, Front RangeCommunity College. “Your Magical Realism is My

Grandmother’s Life.”

Auerbach not only teaches at a two-year college, but is a teacher in a program that involves at-risk high school youth. There seems to be some indecisiveness in how to label the program. She refuses to call it dual-credit, and there seems to be some sense of hedging, although there are certainly elements thereof. A safer description would be college prep and interest – the classes are intended to both prep and get students interested in college. Once at-risk students are attracted to the classes, they seem to both perform better and show better interest in college.

Auerbach prefaces her essay with statistics that show an increase in violence at school in an increasingly-more-dangerous environment (20 percent of students carry weapons to school) and disturbing trends in drop-out rates (30 percent white, 50 African—American, and 85 Latino), then proceeds to examine some ways to deal with these conditions:

  1. Positive education backed up with support – teach them the conditions of possibility
  2. Unconditional presence
  3. Discover their learning style
  4. Never forget you are their student as much as you are theirs. She writes of a moment working on a food essay. Her students, many of them Hispanic, brought in foods from their own culture upon her request. They then turned around and asked her to bring in food from her culture (Jewish).
  5. Accelerate everything – they enjoy the challenge.

While there was much to consider from her essay, the main impact one gets from

Listening is that greater emphasis at reaching at-risk students is still necessary.

Reading to Consider: Crowwitz’s Resilency Theory. [I have emailed her for a copy of her paper and more on Resilency Theory]

Jill Larsen, BrighamYoungUniversity. “Dynamics of the Mixed-Age Classroom: An

Ethnographic Study.”

Larsen examines the impact of non-traditional students on the traditional student through an ethnographic study of a satellite classroom of Salt Lake Community College, and comes up with surprising results. As many of us are aware, the non-traditional student is more likely to respond/participate during the classroom activities. However, while many of us operate on the theory that such a difference has more to do with apathy of the modern generation of high school students, Larsen suggests that it has as much to do with the younger students’ lesser developed analytical skills – that many who are not participating are failing to do because they are still developing their own theories and answers to questions. In essence, they don’t have the experience to know what or how to express themselves.

This has a remarkable implication: it suggests that allowing non-traditionals to “dominate” the conversation can actually hinder development, and some traditionals have even complained to Larsen about the “domination.”

Larsen offered some ideas at dealing with this issue – such as developing ways to allow more time for students to raise their hands, not always accepting the first hand that comes up, and often doing “survey questions,” in which students are asked to signify how they generally feel about a subject [An ESL text I read suggested doing this more with ESL students who are now entering the mainstream – using the “thumbs-up or thumbs-down” gesture].

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Unlike many sessions, the group of attendees gathered in a circle and held a roundtable discussion after the readings – the session was small enough that we were each asked to identify ourselves. While one conference goal is clearly to gain more information, another can clearly be establishing a better sense of academic community unity – which really was present here.]