The English/ESL Peer Conference is fast appraoching--it begins tomorrow, Oct 30th--and J. Sargeant Reynolds is fortunate to have multiple presenters representing our college! If you can attend any of these fine sessions and support our colleagues, it will be well worth your time.
On Thursday:
Brian Arnold 1:45-2:45, The FLOW Approach to Teaching Advanced ESL Composition
Bill Ziegler & Steve Brandon 3:15-4:15, English Program Head Roundtable
Glends Potts, 3:15-4:15, Contract Grading
Miles MCCrimmon, Steve Brandon, & Jena Morrison 3:15-4:15, Using Learning Communities as Bridge to Writing Across the Curriculum
Steve Brandon 4:30-5:30, New Faculty Roundtable
On Friday:
Ghazala Hashmi & Beth Bensen-Barber 9:15-10:15, Moral Education in the English Classroom
Miles McCrimmon 10:45-11:45, Composition and Politics: Using the 2008 Election to Teach Rhetoric and Writing
Congratualtions to all our presenters!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
English Faculty-Adjunct Mentoring Program Proposal
The English Department sub-committee on Adjunct Mentoring (Eric Hibbison, Steve Brandon, Ashley Bourne) met and discussed a plan to develop a "buddy"system which would pair adjuncts adn full-time instructors with a focus on fostering collboration, exchanging information (pedagogical and protocol), and strengthening communication within our department. Here is a draft of the plan we came up with:
PROPOSAL: ENG Dept. Faculty Buddy System
TOPICS for course improvements
First-Year Topics
· Uses of (new) textbooks & ancillaries & websites
· Dept. procedures—copying, exam copies, paper, stuff, [parking], questions?
· Reviewing syllabuses & praising best feature
· Assignments, e.g. portfolio review at midsem.
· Visits
Second-Year Topics (Prof. Dev.)
· Outcomes/outlines: course purposes/content
· Course formats: on-campus, online, hybrid, learning communities, dual-enrollment
· Conferencing & teaching methods
LOGISTICS
Ø Partner new with experienced (new f-t with exper. adj., new adj. with exper. f-t)
Ø Partner by course taught
Ø Cross-pollination across buddy groups within courses and across formats
SCHEDULE: 2 meetings per semester, plus classroom visit
Ø 1st meeting: syllabus review, discuss assignments, design issues, schedule visits, textbooks, procedures
Ø Visit each other’s classrooms
Ø Last meeting: how it went (sem. in review); share best practices
Questions: How to communicate best practices, information gathered to department as a whole? How to assess the viability/ success/ critiques of this program?
PROPOSAL: ENG Dept. Faculty Buddy System
TOPICS for course improvements
First-Year Topics
· Uses of (new) textbooks & ancillaries & websites
· Dept. procedures—copying, exam copies, paper, stuff, [parking], questions?
· Reviewing syllabuses & praising best feature
· Assignments, e.g. portfolio review at midsem.
· Visits
Second-Year Topics (Prof. Dev.)
· Outcomes/outlines: course purposes/content
· Course formats: on-campus, online, hybrid, learning communities, dual-enrollment
· Conferencing & teaching methods
LOGISTICS
Ø Partner new with experienced (new f-t with exper. adj., new adj. with exper. f-t)
Ø Partner by course taught
Ø Cross-pollination across buddy groups within courses and across formats
SCHEDULE: 2 meetings per semester, plus classroom visit
Ø 1st meeting: syllabus review, discuss assignments, design issues, schedule visits, textbooks, procedures
Ø Visit each other’s classrooms
Ø Last meeting: how it went (sem. in review); share best practices
Questions: How to communicate best practices, information gathered to department as a whole? How to assess the viability/ success/ critiques of this program?
Welcome to JSRCC English Focus
Welcome colleagues!
When Steve came up with the idea for creating a blog to serve the department, my immediate reaction was complete cognitive dossonance, realzing both that blogging would be a great way to reach people on their own terms and timetable, but also cringing at the idea of grappling with technology. But I am glad to report that, in fact, the technology and I are getting along just fine, and I am hopeful that this blog will become a way for all our collegaues--part time and full time alike--to contribute to departmental discussions, ask questions, exchange ideas and pedigogical methods, and generally stay informed about the issues, events and trends that shape our department, divsion, college and world. Which I realize is a pretty tall order. But, as Bill Murray says--so often and so neurotically--in What About Bob?, baby steps....
The blog will be a place where we can conduct discussions, with weekly queries sent in by collegaues, and investigate issues and trends in teaching, with brief posts solicited from you all, describing assignments, resources, tips, and anything else worth talking about. There is a calandar of events pertaining to our department which I will update--please send me events that you would like to have included on the calendar! I want to encourage everything to think about questions and information that you would like to see posted, and be thinking about what you might contribute!
When Steve came up with the idea for creating a blog to serve the department, my immediate reaction was complete cognitive dossonance, realzing both that blogging would be a great way to reach people on their own terms and timetable, but also cringing at the idea of grappling with technology. But I am glad to report that, in fact, the technology and I are getting along just fine, and I am hopeful that this blog will become a way for all our collegaues--part time and full time alike--to contribute to departmental discussions, ask questions, exchange ideas and pedigogical methods, and generally stay informed about the issues, events and trends that shape our department, divsion, college and world. Which I realize is a pretty tall order. But, as Bill Murray says--so often and so neurotically--in What About Bob?, baby steps....
The blog will be a place where we can conduct discussions, with weekly queries sent in by collegaues, and investigate issues and trends in teaching, with brief posts solicited from you all, describing assignments, resources, tips, and anything else worth talking about. There is a calandar of events pertaining to our department which I will update--please send me events that you would like to have included on the calendar! I want to encourage everything to think about questions and information that you would like to see posted, and be thinking about what you might contribute!
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