What's the difference?

At the college where I teach, there are five levels of writing courses.

1. Eng 8 -- Reading and Writing Basics A credit course in building basic reading, writing, and study skills needed to succeed in college. Through continual practice and engagement in the reading and writing processes, students gain fluency and self- confidence in their ability to comprehend and create simple texts. Reading like a writer and writing like a reader, students expand their vocabulary, identify main points, and locate supporting details in what they read and write. They produce paragraphs and short essays based on personal experiences and assigned readings. Students study sentence structure and address common grammar and usage problems in the context of their own reading and writing. They use computers and word processing programs to produce their compositions.
2. English 19 -- Writing Essentials--Provides practice in improving essential college writing skills. Students engage in writing as a process and produce paragraphs and short essays based on personal experiences and the experiences of others. They pay attention to content, organization, and sentence structure as they complete their writing assignments. Students interact with a variety of sources to become familiar with a range of topics, purposes, and audiences. They use computers and word processing programs to produce their compositions. Students improve their language skills and learn writing strategies to help them succeed in college and the workplace. 
3. English 22 -- Introduction to Composition --Provides practice in writing clear, effective, well-developed compositions using various modes of development. Students follow a recursive writing process and consider topic, purpose, and audience as they write. They read from a variety of texts to generate ideas for essays and to learn effective methods of drafting, revising, editing, proofreading, and publishing their compositions. Students write essays that have clear ideas, adequate support, logical organization, and correct sentence structure. They learn the principles of expository writing and refine their language skills. Students become efficient readers, effective writers, and critical thinkers.
4. English 100 -- Composition 1 (aka Freshmen comp) -- Provides practice in producing substantial compositions at the college transfer level for courses across the curriculum. Engaging in research activities, students evaluate and integrate sources into their compositions. Following a recursive writing process, they analyze the rhetorical, conceptual, and stylistic demands of writing for various purposes and audiences. Students apply the principles of expository writing and produce compositions that have clear ideas, adequate support, logical organization, and correct sentence structure. Students become proficient language users, independent learners, and thoughtful members of an academic community. (FW)
5. English 200 -- Composition 2 (Advanced comp) -- Students learn how to plan, develop, organize, and edit various writing projects with clarity and precision. Students write various kinds of papers, including a research project, using general practices within specific areas of concentration.

In my 20 years at my college, I've taught Levels 1, 3, and 4.  On more than one occasion, I've commented to colleagues that I'd be hard-pressed to differentiate between Level 1 (which I've taught regularly for the past 7 to 8 years) and Level 2 (which I've never taught).  

Some of my colleagues are of the mind that Level 1 writing (Eng 8) should focus on sentence- and paragraph-level writing.  Many texts, which are geared toward Basic Writers, adhere to this sentence land paragraph level ilk.  

What's been happening is that in Level 1, I have students in my classes write essays.  Yes, we deal with sentence and paragraph issues, but we write essays--five of them, plus an in-class essay which they have 30 minutes to produce (this is a final exam and we practice a lot prior).  

What's also been happening is that some of my colleagues who teach Level 2 are assigning only paragraph-length assignments.  No essays to speak of.  There's something amiss with that.  Obviously, we'e got to get our "stuff" together in our department

I've had some of my former students tell me that Level 2 writing was "easier" and less-demanding than Level 1.  While that's not necessarily a discrepancy, it may point to some reconciliation needed.  We'll see.

Goals for 2011

I'm still pondering my goals for the coming year.  Sixth grade teacher and tech guy Josh Stumpenhorst (@stumpteacher on Twitter) has his goals all laid out, and they are

Josh Stumpenhorst

1. Getting more of his colleagues on Twitter.
2. Spend less time plugged in
3. Create more tutorials
4. Run a half marathon
5. Become a recognized Jedi
6. Email or call five students' parents a week
7. Start writing a book
8. Expand his Personal Learning Network
9. Writing more grants
10. Read more than he writes, listen more than he talks, and solve more problems than he complains about.

For his complete post, read here.

Writing and Living with Flair

Very interesting blog post about a college writing teacher who not only encourages her students to write with flair but has resolved to live with flair.

Read more...

How to Develop Questioning and Curious Learners

Ever hear of College Unbound?  Touted as a program "designed to harness the passion of students," College Unbound connects "students with live-learning (internship) experiences that are rich with working knowledge and building skills, students become immersed in their learning.


Read more...

Time for a new approach for training community college writing teachers?

Interesting piece in USA Today by Inside Higher Ed's Scott Jaschik regarding university programs that are supposed to prepare teachers to teach writing at community colleges

In the piece, it's pointed out that regarding hiring writing instructors, community colleges

• aren't content to hire literature doctorates who are applying for composition jobs at community colleges because of the tough job market for new humanities Ph.D.'s.  (Note: Having been on many hiring committees, I've seen a goodly number of candidates like these).
• are looking for someone who has actually been in a community college classroom.

Read more...

Of completion rates, pass rates and grades...

I taught two classes of Eng 8 (6 credits each) in the Fall 2010 semester at Leeward CC.  BTW, Eng 8 is the first in a sequence of courses offered at my college.  Though a basic reading and writing class, Eng 8 is quite rigorous, at least that's my opinion and that's the way I designed it to be.

Here's the semester recap:

Section 1 -- 26 enrolled

• N* = 12 (of these, 3 were no-shows; 4 completed the class [i.e. they were still attending class up to the last day and took the final exam; the other 5 dropped out at varying points in the semester.) (*N is our college's equivalent of F for remedial/development courses; however, an N grade does not bear upon a student's GPA).

• D = 0
• C = 5
• B = 8
• A = 1

Section 2 -- 25 enrolled

• N = 8  (of these,  2 completed the class ; the other 6 dropped out at varying points in the semester).
• D = 4  (all 4 completed the class)
• C = 8
• B = 4
• A = 1

Overall:

• 51 enrolled
• 37 of 51 completed the class = 72% completion rate
• 27 of 51 passed (C or higher grade) the class = 53% pass rate

Overall Grades for the two sections of Eng 8

• N = 20
• D = 4
• C = 13
• B = 12
• A = 2

When  I did some poking around to find out about pass rates for community college courses, I discovered a plethora of material about pass rates for nursing exams and the like but not much else except a discussion of how the pass rates might too high by a community college dean.  As for completion rates, the discussion focuses on the rate of completion to earn a degree rather than completing a specific class, though to earn a degree, one will have to complete (and pass) a slew of classes to do so.  Speaking of which, the national goal is a degree-earned completion rate of 50% by 2020.

Well, I have seen 27 students in my classes this semester heading in that direction.

Distance Ed. classes for Basic Readers and Writers?

H.R Boylan (2002), Director of the National Center for Developmental Education, says that distance learning for developmental students has yet to proven effective because it requires what development students lack, namely

• independent learning skills,
• study discipline, 
• time management skills, 
• a high degree of motivation‖ (p. 82). 

At my college, where there are three levels of  development reading and writing (which some refer to as pre-college courses), there are distance ed (i.e. online) classes for the uppermost developmental writing class (Eng 22--Intro to Expository Writing) but none (so far!) for the lower two writing levels and none at all for the three developmental writing levels.

A quick perusal of developmental writing course offerings for the six community colleges in Hawaii indicated that there were 153 sections offered with just five of these sections being offered via distance ed/online.

Perhaps I will look further into what the distance ed. situation for developmental reading and writing courses is like for community colleges elsewhere.  Anyone know?

Boylan, H. R. (2002). What works: Research-based practices in developmental education. Boone, NC: National Center for Developmental Education.

Diigo: New help for students (and yourself) with research

I read here for the first time about diigo, a social bookmarking site which allows users to not only add bookmarks, but to also add sticky notes on the website to track thinking or quotes for a research paper or some other piece of writing  With Diigo there is no need for note cards while researching.

Before you dismiss  diigo as just another techie bell-and-whistle-thingee,  check it out for it will make researching and compiling notes easier for your students (and you, too). In less than 30 minutes, you can be set up and on your way.

Reading Plus, a Plus?

Reading instructors at our college have been using the ReadingPlus program for courses they teach.  Except for this semester, I, too, have used ReadingPlus.

Why not this semester?  While I had ReadingPlus slotted into my course, when it came time to introduce it and assign it to my students, I didn't think they were ready for the added load of coursework, which would probably amount to and hour or two a week.  Consequently, I kept putting off ReadingPlus until I felt they were ready.

Well, I never felt they were ready and now the end of the semester has arrived.  So I'll do a comparative study of students this semester with students of past semesters using the Nelson-Denny Form H results which I give as a post-test at the conclusion of the course.

I will report the results at a future date.

Meanwhile, I'd like to know about others' experiences with ReadingPlus.  What went well?  Not well?  Best practices?

Google books?

Interesting thread on the Chronicle about the use (and misuse) of Google Books for research.

I've used GB for research of my own and have encouraged students to use it as well.  Now whether students are using GB well, well that is another issue and something I need to pay closer attention to.

2010 NCTE award winners

Which teachers, authors, and researchers  received awards at last month's NCTE's Annual Convention? 

Reading Course Sequence at Leeward CC

There are four reading courses offered at Leeward CC where I teach and they are

• English 8  -- Reading and Writing Basics
• English 18 -- Reading Essentials
• English 21 -- Introduction to College Reading
• English 102 -- College Reading

For descriptions of these courses, read more here.

For the past five years or so, I've been teaching English 8, which is six-credit reading and writing class.

Regarding English 21, there was a study done in 2006 to answer these two research questions:

1. Is successful completion of English 21 essential to successful completion of English 22 (Intro to College Writing)?
2. Is successful completion of English 21 essential to successful completion of English 100 (College Writing)?

Interesting questions to which I will report the answers in future post.

Another semester under my belt

Today marked the end of the fall 2010 semester at Leeward Community College where I teach.  For the past sixteen weeks, I've taught two sections of English 8, also known as Basic Reading and Writing, a six-credit course.

Where to get grants

Need funding for a program you are involved with or are planning?  Here's a  list of 251 possible grants for Hawaii Higher Ed teachers/institutions.

If you are not affiliated with Hawaii higher ed, check here for sources.  Lots of money to be granted.

Clickers in Basic Reading/Writing Class

For the past couple semesters, I've used clickers aka Student Response Systems in my basic reading and writing classes.  Clickers "are touted as giving both students and faculty quick feedback about 'mastery of content.'" (1)  I can attest to this.

For example, using  a setup as illustrated in the image to the right,  I can determine if students can identify the main idea/topic sentence in a paragraph.  I have done this by having students read a paragraph from a text, handout, or a screen projection such as in the image below (I have an LCD projector mounted in the classroom I teach in).  Then, I ask students to identify the main idea in the paragraph by clicking.

Very quickly, I can see how the class at large was able to identify the main idea.  If the majority do not, then I'll invest time in explaining the hows and whys of pinpointing the main idea in the particular paragraph we were looking at and for all paragraphs. I can also assess which students are having trouble with a skill or concept and assist them as needed.

Miller (2009) did a study of basic writers using clickers. Full-text of the article:   Basic Writers Using Clickers: A Case Study

Exit criteria from reading and writing remediation at community college

What practices are used to determine student readiness to advance in or exit from remediation at community colleges in the U.S?

These are the criteria at Leeward Community College where I teach:

Reading--

• Appropriate placement test score (LCC uses the Compass test).  Also, students can retake the Compass test after 60 days have elapsed from the initial administration of the test.  However, once a student has earned a grade in a reading class at LCC, he or she cannot take the Compass test again.
• Passing (defined as receiving a grade of C or better) a developmental reading course, in the case of our college English 21.  It should be noted that at LCC, there are three levels of pre-college (i.e. developmental) reading:  Eng 8, Eng 18, and Eng 21.  (click on the links to see approved core outlines for each course).
• Approval from the Language Arts Division.  Note: reading faculty are given the approval authority to allow students to advance to a specific reading level course.  For example, I, based on evidence I have (e.g. course work, test scores, reading portfolio) can approve the promotion of a student from Eng 8 to Eng 21.

Writing--

• Appropriate placement test score (LCC uses the Compass test).  It should be noted that students can challenge a writing placement test score by providing a sample of their writing, written in a lab setting at our college's Learning Resource Center.  Also, students can retake the Compass test after 60 days have elapsed from the initial administration of the test.  However, once a student has earned a grade in a writing class at LCC, he or she cannot take the Compass test again.
  
• Passing (defined as receiving a grade of C or better) the highest level developmental reading course, in the case of our college, English 22.  It should be noted that at LCC, there are three levels of pre-college (i.e. developmental) writing:  Eng 8, Eng 19, and Eng 22.  (click on the links to see approved core outlines for each course).
  
• Approval from the Language Arts Division.  Note: writing faculty are given the approval authority to allow students to advance to a specific writing level course.  For example, I, based on evidence I have (e.g. course work, test scores, writing portfolio) can approve the promotion of a student from Eng 8 to Eng 22. 

Comments are welcome regarding exit criteria at other community colleges in the U.S.

Five Instructional Goals for Struggling College Basic Readers

Read an article today titled "Effective Reading Instruction for Struggling Readers: The Role of Direct/Explicit Teaching" (Rupley et al 2009) that mentioned the five instructional goals for reading acquisition:

1. Phonemic awareness
2. Phonics
3. Fluency
4. Vocabulary
5. Comprehension

I will admit that I instruct students in my community college basic writing classes in goals 3 through 5 but not much (if at all) in the first two.  My first impression is that phonemic awareness and phonics instruction are for elementary educators.  But there is evidence that phonemic awareness and phonics instruction are being taught to college basic readers.  One of the things I gleaned from the latter article, is that "assessments that test word recognition, phonics, and fluency are equally as important as those that assess comprehension and vocabulary."

I'll be looking for such an assessment.  Comments are welcome from anyone who knows of assessments for word recognitionk, phonics, and fluency.

Responding to Student Writing--What role do you play?

In a 1989 article, “Response Styles and Ways of Knowing” Writing and Response: Theory, Practice, and Research, Chris M. Anson identified three kinds of responders to student writing:

• Dualistic responders  are often guided by a clear-cut concept of right and wrong, focus mostly on surface features, and assume the tone of critical judges or evaluators. 
• Relativistic responders provide feedback almost exclusively to the ideas expressed in the writing, often ignoring significant linguistic and rhetorical aspects.
• Reflective responders attend to both ideas and stylistic devices while attempting to offer options for revision without being controlling.

While I hope to be a reflective responder, in practice I often resort to the dualistic response role.   I can say that at times I embrace the relativistic role and ignore (or attempt to ignore) surface features in student writing. 

Comments?

Nelson-Denny as a pre- and post test for a Basic Reading Class

For the past several semesters, I, along with reading faculty colleagues at Leeward Community College, have been using the Nelson-Denny as a pre- (Form G) and post-test (Form H)  for the students enrolled in remedial and developmental reading courses. Some include the Nelson-Denny as part of the course grade, with points given to students who have demonstrated improvement from pre- to post-test.

What I have been doing is giving full credit (100%) on the post-test for students who score at the 8.5 grade level or higher.  For those who test out at a lower grade level, they earn a lower percentage. For my classes (Eng 8 --Basic Reading and Writing), the Nelson-Denny (Form H) is worth 5% of the final grade for the class.

One question that may come to mind is Why grade level 8.5?  What I can say is that in doing a search for the appropriate exit level for students in Eng 8, I found nothing conclusive.  However, what I did find is that at least one instructor at another CC in the University of Hawaii system is using the Nelson-Denny score (grade level 10.5) as part of the exit criteria for his course, and this course (Eng 21) is two  levels above Eng 8 (with Eng 18 being the course in between).  So I surmised that 8.5 would be an appropriate grade level for exit from Eng 8, and 9.5 would be appropriate for Eng 18, and 10.5 for Eng 21.

Any comments?  Suggestions?

Student Writing Samples

What is acceptable college-level writing? 

The faculty at Middlesex Community College (Mass.) provide a variety of samples of student writing to provide some context for its students.  Community college students, some who may have been out of school for a number of years, are curious about the expectations for writing as they enter a college environment.  MCC provides links to writing samples from students at a variety of academic levels in college as well as samples from high school, middle school, and elementary school students.