English Cadres Forming!

As discussed in the August orientation and on the Cadre tab on the English Faculty webpage (jsrccenglishfaculty.weebly.com password: englishprof), this semester we will be forming cadres of English faculty. As we form these cadres, we need some information from you about who you might want to work with, what issues you want to discuss in your cadre, when you can meet, etc.

Find the link to the survey below. Depending on where and how you access this form, you may be asked to enter a password. It is "englishprof." Note the lower case. http://jsrccenglishfaculty.weebly.com/cadre-survey-form.htmlThanks for you time.

Please take the survey prior to Tuesday, 20 October. If you have any questions, contact Steve Brandon at prof.brandon@gmail.com or sbrandon@reynolds.edu.

October Events

The semester is flying by! Three events on our horizon:

1) Poetry Reading and Creative Writing workshop with visiting poet John Hoppenthaler. Tuesday October 13th. These events are open to all faculty, staff and students. The Workshop will be held on the DTC from 1-2:15pm, in the Auditorium. The Reading will take place at PRC, in Burnette room 248 form 4-5pm. The bookstore will have books on sale at both events! Come out and support poetry at JSRCC!!

2) SACS visit OCT 19-22. The much-hyped SACS team will be visiting our campuses later this month! They will be touring DTC, Western and Hanover locations on Monday, and will concentrate on PRC Tuesday and Wednesday. Remember to be aware of the QEP project and our college mission! Let's put our best foot forward.

3) English Department meeting. Hands down, the most fun you can have at a department meeting! Details TBA.

Other English-related events that we should be discussing? Please email and let me know!

New Semester, New English Website

Hello and welcome back all! It was great to see so many new and familiar English-teacher faces at the adjunct convocation Wednesday night! It was so nice to actually all sit down together, so I want to extend thanks to Bill and Steve for inviting everyone!

First, as everyone gears up for the semester, be aware of an exciting new development: the English Faculty Webpage!! This is a great resource for "one-stop shopping" if you will, with links for you to submit syllabus and office hours, reminders about important deadlines and forms, information on syllabus content, description of the cadre project and much more! Please check out this website, which is SOOOO delightfully easy to navigate and use, as we'll be using it to submit syllabi, office hours, and course scheduling preferences. A huge pat on the back to Steve Brandon for putting this together! The link is: http://jsrccenglishfaculty.weebly.com and the password is "englishprof"

Other important news: for teachers of ENG 111 make sure you get details about the mandatory VCCS writing diagnostic you'll need to do in the first two weeks of classes. Melissa Feeley is working with Bill and Steve to get computer labs reserved for this project, so please contact her or Steve Brandon for details.

Finally, I hope to use the blog this year as a discussion and exchange space where the English faculty can share their questions, ideas, strategies, and solutions over the course of the semester! Please email me (aboure@reynolds.edu) regarding activities that should be added to our calendar. If there are discussion threads you'd like to see, let me know. This should be a great space for exchange, given the conflicting and busy schedules of our faculty, since it is often difficult for folks to meet in person--so let's meet on-line!! Looking forward to a great semester!!

April 7th Assessment Day

April 7th will be our first JSRCCAssessment Day. To that end, the English Department has mutiple acitvities planned. Be sure to make tiem for some of these thought-provoking groups! Contact Steve Brandon with questions.

We will meet at 1:15 p.m. in Burnette 250, Parham Road, for two assessment activities:

1. From 1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.: Grading calibration of entrance exams and a discussion of what students need to know to be placed in ENG 111, ENG 01, or ENG 09/ENG 111.  Part of this conversation will focus on the possibility of reintroducing a two-level developmental writing curriculum (ENG 01 + 03); part will focus on what skills we expect students to demonstrate before they are placed in ENG 111; part will be mutual calibration of grading; and part will focus on the use of a grading rubric developed to evaluate ESL 18 writing for placement in 111.  The ESL faculty will join the ENG faculty for this activity.

2. From 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.: Assessment of ENG 111.  This set of assessment activities will look at a set of essays given to a represenative sample of entering ENG 112 students this semester.  In these essays, the students discuss their experience in ENG 111, what they valued learning, and their assessment of the experience.  Assessment activities will have several foci: a) looking at what our students think of their 111 experience, discussing insights gained, and identifying differences between what they value and what faculty value;

b) assessing the quality of the essays themselves and determining if we're doing what we promise in our 111 Learning Outcomes Statment;

c) getting a handle on how our grading practices contrast and compare with each other’s. All English and ESL faculty are invited.

3. From 4:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.: Group meet up and follow-up discussion.  (If the discussion looks like it's yielding significant insights, we may continue until 5:30).

Faculty Symposium

The Third Annual Faculty Symposium
contribute, participate, learn

Friday, April 17
J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College
Sponsored by the School of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences

All Full-time, Adjunct and Administrative Faculty are invited to participate in the Third Annual Faculty Symposium.

The Faculty Symposium features conference-length presentations by fellow faculty members at JSRCC and other local community colleges. Faculty are invited to share their personal research interests and academic projects in a dynamic, professional forum.

The Forum has all the benefits of an academic conference without the hassle of travel and registration costs! Additionally, presenters receive double PDO credit for their time, while attendees also receive PDO credit!

Abstracts are due by February 20th--350 words, please email abstracts and/or questions to abourne@reynolds.edu.