This Instructional Note elaborates on how weekly anonymous wellness check-in surveys can be designed and implemented in English courses to support students’ purposeful awareness of their well-being and to create a sense of supportive community in the composition classroom.

The “TYCA Guidelines for Preparing Teachers of English in the Two-Year College” neglects to mention portfolios or eportfolios as a best practice with which two-year faculty should be prepared; the authors argue that eportfolio pedagogy and practice should be part of two-year faculty preparation to best serve both students and faculty at two-year colleges.

Research suggests that many students placed in the lowest level developmental writing courses do not make it to first-year composition and never graduate. The authors explain how they redesigned the lowest level writing course with scaffolded writing assignments to allow students to work at an accelerated pace.  Instructors and tutors work with students individually and in small groups as they complete the assignments. To facilitate real-time feedback, the authors created a Google Drive folder for class use so that students would have access to planning materials and prompt writing feedback. Students have individual folders for their work, and process writing is easily accessible to students, tutors, and instructors. More students from this lowest level course are moving directly into the required first-year English composition course. This new course design effectively supports students at an open-access two-year college.

The authors report on three case studies of ESL students who are taking courses to enter professional programs. Their experiences suggest learning strategies that may help students in professional programs and may offer ways for teachers of composition to support and prepare these students.