Preview this article: Editorial: Writing Centers, Two-Year Colleges, and the Common Good, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/tetyc/33/3/teachingenglishinthetwo-yearcollege5120-1.gif

The history of the writing-center movement at two-year colleges appears to be a fairly brief one. Evidence suggests that it may be time to reconsider that notion.

This position statement was inspired by the “Position Statement on Graduate Students in Writing Center Administration” (endorsed by the International Writing Center Association on November 17, 2001). A purpose of the document, to borrow language from the graduate student position statement, is to “[suggest] an ideal set of conditions,” and it is written with the “intention of improving working conditions” within the two-year college writing center. Ultimately, though, its main purpose is to help community college writing centers establish a collective argument in defense of what we do.

Faculty resistance to Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) is an issue that has been recognized by WAC program directors and practitioners for decades, yet it remains unresolved. Perhaps the problem is not resistance per se, but how we interpret and react to it. Faculty resistance is typically viewed as an impediment to the pedagogical change WAC programs hope to achieve. Moreover, the label of "resistance" is often used without further examination of the underlying causes. Based on research and experience as doctoral Writing Fellows in the Borough of Manhattan Community College WAC Program, we argue that so-called resistances are often justified concerns in regard to implementing WAC under given institutional, disciplinary, departmental, and personal constraints. We also suggest that if we listen and respond to these concerns, they become means to facilitate faculty engagement with WAC. By working through their concerns and adapting WAC to their context, faculty can take ownership of WAC and further develop the practice. Thus, what at first appears to be an impediment to deep-rooted pedagogical change ”resistance” can be used to encourage faculty to make WAC their own.

This article discusses employment of part-time faculty at the community college level, including historical reasons for their current status, alternatives to this status, and specific steps to change it.

Preview this article: Editorial: The Invisible "C": Class and the Community College, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/tetyc/33/2/teachingenglishinthetwo-yearcollege4638-1.gif

We in the community college must advocate for practices, programs, and legislation that will help the least advantaged among us, and create narratives about the material conditions of our students’ lives that recognize the real complexity of their situations.

Given the war that has been waged for several decades now against working students and their families, as well as against teachers, community college faculty are called upon to invent creative, local, and evolving knowledges of social class with their students.

This essay examines the contradictory role of the community college historically, reflecting its function in preserving the American class system.

This article describes the development of a community writing and publishing program, the DiverseCity Writing Series, from 1998 to 2005. Starting as a one-time workshop between a community college English service-learning course and a local women’s advocacy organization, the DiverseCity Writing Series has grown into a year-round partnership between the SLCC Community Writing Center and multiple organizations throughout the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. This mutually beneficial collaboration for the college and the community has been achieved through critical inquiry regarding issues of ownership and discourse as well as the dedication of community members and organizational partners.

This study follows the progress of 238,032 students who enrolled in either an ESL composition, a developmental composition, or a college composition course at one of nine community colleges for a minimum of three and a maximum of eleven years.

This essay examines the internal and external challenges two-year college English faculty face in gaining recognition for the work they do in the field of composition.

“The first thing I want to say to you who are students is that you cannot afford to think of being here to receive an education: you will do much better to think of being here to claim one. ” —Adrienne Rich (1979, p. 231) It may seem odd to begin a discussion of academic research by quoting Adrienne Rich’s well-known 1977 speech, “Claiming an Education. ” But, if one substitutes “research ” for “an education, ” the sentiment more or less de-scribes the situation faced by most first-year students assigned research in com-position. Completing the monumental academic “Research Paper ” in first-year writing courses is considered a rite of passage for students in many universities (including my own, Auburn University), and is one often performed with grim resignation and uncertain purpose by many of those involved (Schwegler & Shamoon, 1982). Such was the case when I began teaching English Composi-tion II, a second-semester, first-year writing course that makes up one of sev-eral humanities core courses within Auburn’s curriculum. These core courses, including a two-semester sequence of composition, are mandated by our state articulation agreement, and many curricular guidelines are predetermined by that agreement. Our department has molded this curriculum somewhat, but any innovations must be implemented cautiously and creatively. Drawing on previous WAC research about disciplinary writing as well as classical rhetoric and critical pedagogy, I will describe my response to this mandate, theorizing a new critical space for WAC, one that promotes students ’ civic engagement while they are researching an academic discipline. Operating at the nexus of rhetoric, critical theory, and WAC scholarship, I will discuss ways that a criti-cal WAC pedagogy encourages students ’ investment in their own research and encourages students to become responsible “citizen-experts ” within their com-munities. Though the purpose of Auburn’s research paper in English Composi-tion II is to prepare students for academic research, I also strive to include a strong critical component, highlighting moral and ethical concerns within academic discourse much like that described by John Pennington and Robert Boyer (2003), wherein students are conscious of the responsibility they have

This article describes the initiatives of one community college district and its individual colleges to engage faculty in the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Four members of a community college English faculty respond to the question of the appropriateness of advanced graduate training for a community college teaching career

The Community College Education program at George Mason University is committed to Ernest Boyer’s philosophy of integration; it encourages better pedagogy and it revitalizes the two-year college classroom.

Many two-year English faculty are already engaged in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Community college students, especially those classified as nontraditional, often have a vested interest in their own communities, and instructors can both strengthen and take advantage of this interest by reaching out to the community through the composition curriculum.1

A new textbook designed for first- or second-year courses in mythology as an introduction to literature shows that a community college faculty member who writes a textbook adds teaching experience to scholarship.

The author offers basic suggestions for faculty to become active teacher-scholars within the two-year college professional community.

The premiere professional organization for those who teach business communication has long neglected the needs of teachers at two-year institutions.

Contrastive rhetoric provides tools that community college teachers need in order to understand the rhetorical forms that students from other cultures employ. Greater understanding of contrastive rhetoric can change the way that teachers interpret the difficulty linguistically different students may have in using conventional American academic writing patterns and can provide new avenues for teaching those patterns.

Reviews of 2 professional books: Honored but Invisible: An Inside Look at Teaching in Community Colleges by W. Norton Grubb and Associates reviewed by Lawrence J. McDoniel; Radical Departures: Composition and Progressive Pedagogy by Chris W. Gallagher reviewed by Alexis Nelson.

Is service-learning of value for community college students who have very limited time and who do not need to “be exposed” to the neighborhoods in which they live? Yes. Service-learning can be a vital bridge connecting community and college for students who frequently are the first of their family or friends to go to college, who have more confidence in their street skills than in their academic skills, and who see real needs in their communities. However, service learning will only benefit these students if it evolves from and responds to the realities of their lives.

This article describes how the author became critically aware of the dynamics of literacy and race in a composition classroom.

As the Faculty-in-Training Program at Guilford Technical Community College continues in its fourth year, the authors examine the program’s implementation and processes. They recognize the aspects of the program that have proved successful and identify changes that have been made based upon what their experience has taught them.

When two-year college students take time to write at length, paying more attention to their own feelings and those of their readers through regular response and revision, they write better, according to the results of a three-year project funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

Notes that asynchronous online discussion forums can enhance community college students’ education. Focuses on how online discussion forums uniquely contribute to the teaching and learning of community college students. Discusses benefits of the online discussion forum. Concludes that educators must continue identifying who students are, how they learn, and how they want and need to be educated, and then look for ways that technology can help.

Reviews briefly the literature associated with the Conference on College Composition and Communication’s "Students’ Right to Their Own Language" statement. Explores the status of standard English at community colleges in Michigan, as expressed in first–year composition course objectives and descriptions. Considers the history of the standard written English objective at Delta College, a community college in mid–Michigan.

Describes a successful practice for incorporating more novels into community college literature courses and for sparking student interest in reading. Presents a book club assignment that includes both collaborative activities and a group presentation. Considers how a book club assignment offers an effective way to include more writers into the course while maintaining a reasonable reading load.

Beginning in 1999, City University of New York (CUNY), significantly increased its commitment to Writing-Across-theCurriculum (WAC) by funding faculty development, Writing Fellows, and Writing Intensive courses on the majority of its 18 campuses. With this renewed interest in WAC, administrators and faculty across the disciplines are increasingly taking responsibility for using writing processes to foster learning and thinking as well as teaching writing in the disciplines. As teachers use writing more as a communicative tool in the content areas, how they respond to students’ writing becomes increasingly important. As a WAC Coordinator at Bronx Community College (BCC), I have had the opportunity to work with faculty in professional development seminars. A common concern teachers often raise is how best to respond to students’ writing. In turn, I, too, have often wondered how students in my classes react to my feedback on their written texts. Careful consideration of what we say and how we say it is an important part of good teaching practice. Teachers typically invest much time and effort in responding to students’ texts with the assumption that their feedback will help improve students’ writing. Teacher feedback takes on greater significance when students are revising their writing through multiple drafts. But what do students really think about our comments? Do our words help students move their thinking and writing forward on subsequent drafts?

Using a variety of common forms from first-year composition, this paper examines the purposes of CCCC, transformative experiences at professional conferences, and the elements of my literacy autobiography. I then argue for recognition of the knowledge-building role of writing programs in two-year colleges and for a “write to work” principle, calling for full pay for all who teach required writing courses. Originally, this manuscript was a speech integrated with a PowerPoint® presentation using more than 100 slides (text, photographs, and music), which cannot be fully represented here.

Should instructors in two-year colleges be involved in research? If so, how important is such research in advancing the work of community colleges in a new century?

You write what you, what you understand, what you know, right? About the topic or about the concepts...--Lata, a community college nursing student in a writing-intensive course Still in the relatively early stages of our college’s Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) initiative, we have begun a study to assess its impact. As members of the WAC committee, full-time instructors in two of the college’s career programs (human services and early childhood respec-tively), and qualitative researchers, we were charged with the task of de-veloping and implementing the study. In our urban community college we often conduct interdisciplinary work, and both the WAC program and committee reflect that. The WAC committee has enlisted support for WAC from the variety of career programs and liberal arts departments. Our role as assessors is to look at and learn from the way instructors are imple-menting WAC. Walvoord & Anderson (1998) state that assessors are not external imposers of something brand new but in-vestigators, ethnographers, and facilitators. The assessor’s approach is not to get people to do assessment, but to examine how people teach and assess critical thinking, and to help them improve. (pp.150-

Describes the experiences of the author as she tries to transfigure her students enrolled in freshman writing and college preparatory writing classes at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton, Oregon (located in the “dry side” of the state). Addresses students' racism, homophobia, and distrust of their own skills in writing.

Shafer recalls the process he and his colleagues in a community college writing program experienced in setting out to define their writing program and the theoretical framework upon which it was based. He reviews the literature that led the department to adopt a more process oriented, student centered curriculum.

Waggoner interviews for 2-year college creative writing instructors to find out about the present and future state of creative writing education.

The editor expresses concerns that not enough instructors at the 2-year college level see themselves as researchers and scholars. He challenges readers to show colleagues how to integrate teaching with scholarship and research.

Considers how rhetoric, cognitive awareness, and competing cultures of community college composition students challenge instructors. Discusses issues such as: updating the definition of “student”; historically dynamic biculturalism; collaboration versus negotiated meaning; destabilizing knowledge; inventing the student; and mastering the art of persuasion. Concludes that instructors must be aware that theories, ideologies, and pedagogy influence students and therefore must be current.

Presents a Holocaust literature class that brings new voices to the community college literature curriculum. Describes a course that involves reading five survivors' autobiographies, hearing four survivor speakers, one of whom was one of the authors, and hearing a speaker who had researched the murder and victimization of her family during the Holocaust.

Offers a critical distinction between scholarship and research. Notes how George Vaughan urges community colleges to support and reward scholarship. Comments that excellence in teaching and therefore excellence in learning happen only when faculty and staff are engaged in their fields and supported in their daily work.

Describes an internship program at a two-year college in which graduate students from 13 participating area graduate programs teach in the two-year college and receive training addressing pedagogical issues unique to community colleges, thus being immersed in a world of higher within which the rest of their training occurs.

Offers reflections and descriptions of three teaching associates on their experiences in the pilot year of the Guilford Technical Community College Faculty-in-Training Program. Discusses beginning the program, the varied student populations, faculty involvement, and program components (including the observation process, writing center, distance learning, conferences, weekly seminars, and camaraderie).

Describes the ongoing problem of graduate level preparation for community college teaching, and the need for such faculty. Describes a program in which two-year college and university faculty collaborate to train graduate students as community college faculty. Discusses getting the program started, implementing it, and taking stock.

Offers an interview with Robert Wylie, a distinguished two-year college English teacher for almost 50 years. Discusses how important it is for an English teacher to write, important issues in the profession, his views on the best ways to help students improve as writers, his observations about writing assignments, liking students, teaching standards, and his observations as a writer.

Describes the National Center for Community College Education (NCCCE) at George Mason University, which links courses about the history, philosophy, and doctoral student's teaching discipline to prepare community mission of the American Community College with courses within the college professionals. Discusses the university environment, the faculty of NCCCE, the English department and NCCCE, and scholarship and NCCCE graduates.