Meetings

2008-2009

Wednesday, August 20

Meeting in Library Room 241 to discuss English 1101 library visits with Gary Austin and the team of research librarians.

students take 30 min tutorial/quiz before visiting library link: Access! 1101: http://www2.gcsu.edu/library/instruct/access/
have research topic ready for librarians
general topic better so students can learn how to narrow

Wednesday, September 3

Meeting in A&S 254 to demonstrate and discuss GeorgiaVIEW Vista.

Issues/Concerns for clarification/discussion?
Syllabi: general descriptions of papers/lengths
showcase Harmony and Meredith's course descriptions
Assignments: while all have met the syllabus policy for assignment grade distribution in the letter of the law, I encourage you to put brief paper descriptions on your syllabi to meet the policy in spirit (students deserve to know general paper topics/lengths; “4 papers, 20% each” is vague, but a 4-6 page comparison/contrast paper gives them an idea of what to expect).
Honors Options: new policy from Honors Director Steve Elliott-Gower: to ensure instructor continuity for Honors students as well as ensure that new instructors develop their courses without the demands of differentiating students and assignments, only tenured and tenure-track faculty can teach Honors Options classes.
ESL students: while GCSU does not have a program for ESL students (or a prerequisite for 1101), admissions does mandate a minimum TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score; students with a minimum score can take a course with Jason Wynn, International Admissions Counselor; if you have an ESL student in your class, you may decide, depending on her fluency, to focus your assessment on content while making allowances on grammar and usage.
Textbooks in 1101/1102
- Teaching Fellows who have previously taught 1101 at GCSU must have their textbook list approved by the Coordinator prior to ordering texts at the Bookstore. A typical order will consist of a composition anthology, a rhetoric, and a style manual; it may have supplemental reading as well. Similarly, Teaching Fellows who have previously taught 1102 at GCSU must have their textbook list approved by the Coordinator. A typical order will consist of a composition-centered literature anthology and a style manual.
- Teaching Fellows who have not taught 1101 at GCSU must adopt the textbooks chosen by the Composition Textbook Committee, to be comprised of the Chair, the Coordinator, and an experienced Teaching Fellow (to be determined by election, selection, or volunteering). Teaching Fellows who have not taught 1102 at GCSU must adopt the textbooks chosen by the Composition Textbook Committee.
GeorgiaVIEW Vista 3 (update to Vista 8 in the spring)
1. manual/demos: Library home page > Web Enabled Resources (left menu) > Services tab > Courseware...Vista > Sign up for training > GeorgiaView Vista registration gives access to manual + demos (recommend Assignments demo) in Bobcat Den
  - Vista Community home > Learning Materials > GeorgiaView Vista Documentation > Course Section Designer and Instructor Reference Manual
  - Vista Community home > Learning Materials > Learning Modules > Vista Tools = demos
2. link > Build tab
3. organizer > Build tab (course documents, assignments)
  - the library only uses offers print reserves:
    http://www2.gcsu.edu/library/forms/reserveform.html
  - you can use Vista organizer to create your own electronic reserves
    follow Fair Use and the TEACH Act: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TEACH_Act
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use
  - rule of thumb: one chapter or essay from a book, and you may use that essay only once (if you’re using the same essay in more than one course and more than one semester, you must get copyright clearance or pay)
4. learning module > Build tab
5. assignment creation > Build tab
6. group manager > Teach tab
7. discussion board > Build > Basic > Discussions
8. discuss pedagogical advantages/disadvantages of courseware
  - Fellows are encouraged to try out Vista to see if it helps them to achieve their course goals.
Next Meeting: dealing with plagiarism and using TurnItIn.com: all expected to attend, even if you don’t plan to use TurnItIn.com. Let me know if you have other issues you want put on the agenda.

Wednesday, September 17

Meet in A&S 315 to discuss dealing with plagiarism, classroom visits, textbook committee, and constructing effective paper prompts.

Schedule Online
Vista course coming: Syllabus and Assignment Bank
Classroom Visits: Alex will visit the new instructors’ classes
and experienced instructors will visit each others’ classes
Textbook Committee meeting week of Sept. 29
Make suggestions to Nathan and Harmony
1101: composition reader, rhetoric, style manual
1102: composition-centered literature anthology and style manual
TurnItIn (Safe Assign module in Vista 8)
Assignment Workshop
- As a result of the workshop, we determined that a good paper prompt commences with or incorporates in-class writing.
- Moreover, it includes the structure of the writing process.
- Finally, assignments that connect with and build on one another build writing and argumentative skills.

Wednesday, October 1

While the Teaching Fellows will not meet so that we can focus on class observations, the Textbook Committee meets in A&S 330 (Alex’s office) to adopt books for 1101 and 1102.

Wednesday, October 15

English 1102 Course Descriptions
Park has generously offered to be the point person for compiling 1102 course descriptions to be distributed to students via photocopy and URL. If you wish to participate, email Park (by Friday, October 24) a paragraph describing course goals, potential topics, significant texts, assignment distribution, and other expectations. Describe your particular course, as opposed to the generic catalogue description. Please include your section number, CRN, meeting times, and location.
Regents’ Test Preparation
http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwrtp/
While you are required to include a test preparation period in which a practice test is involved, you can do so in a way that benefits all of our students, both the ones who have waived the test and the ones who have to take it. For instance, I'm going to discuss on-demand essay exam writing (a portable skill), and then give the students who have to take the test a practice test and the students who have the test waived an informal writing assignment tied to a formal paper.
Self-Assessment
1. what’s working well?
2. what’s needs work?
No meeting on October 29th. We will meet November 12th to discuss constructing 1102 syllabi and assignments. Please familiarize yourselves with the following documents:
Aim and Scope of English 1102 (scroll down to 1102):
http://www2.gcsu.edu/writing/guidelines.html
SACS Profile:
http://rome.gcsu.edu:8090/4DCGI/SACS/CourseDetail/ENGL1102

Wednesday, November 12

Class Observations
This semester, I still need to observe Zach, Leah, Will, and Nathan, so set up time today.
Next semester, I’m going to use an observation sign-up sheet.
English 1102 Course Descriptions
Park collected 28 of 44 course descriptions which are currently available at
http://faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~ablazer/1102.doc
Constructing 1102 syllabi and assignments
- Aim and Scope of English 1102 (scroll down to 1102):
  http://www2.gcsu.edu/writing/guidelines.html
  SACS Profile:
  http://rome.gcsu.edu:8090/4DCGI/SACS/CourseDetail/ENGL1102
- Consider 1102 a composition course first and foremost, but using literature as the subject of papers instead of 1101's personal reflection and composition anthology essays.
- Whereas the dual goals of 1101 are to practice the writing process and appreciate ideas, the two goals of 1102 are to practice the writing process and appreciate literature. Thus, half roughly your class should be devoted to academic writing, specifically writing about literature, and half to analyzing and appreciating literature.
- Spend roughly equal amounts of time on each of the three major genres──fiction, poetry, and drama──and teach the basic elements of each. It’s also a good idea to diversify authors in terms of gender, race, and time period.
  1102 may also introduce film and/or the literary essay
- Experienced Teaching Fellows have organized their syllabi thematically (for instance, doing a unit on relationships that includes work from the three genres, then a unit on family that includes the three genres, and so forth) while others have structured it by genre (for example, spending one-third of the class on fiction, then one-third on drama, then one-third on poetry). Many instructors have invested their students in the course by allowing them to choose texts or perform scenes from plays.
- According to the Aim and Scope Statement, “Students are expected to write about six essays (three to six pages in length) during the semester, one researched essay (six to eight pages), and ungraded writing equal to about 25% of the writing total for the course. These requirements equal about 9,000 words of student writing, including rough drafts and in-class work.”
  more specifically (and perhaps realistically), Teaching Fellows are required to assign at least four papers, two of which must be revised and peer reviewed (just as in 1101), and one of which must be a research paper.
  here’s a sample assignment distribution
  3000-3000 words 10 one page informal/ungraded writing
  900-1200 words 1 three-four page formal/graded paper
  1200-1500 words 1 four-five page formal/graded paper
  1500-1800 words 1 five-six page formal/graded paper
  1800-2400 words 1 six-eight page formal/graded research pap.
  8400-9900 words total
- Assignments may include informal responses to literary elements of the genres, a reading journal, a personal relevance paper, a close reading, a comparison/contrast paper, an interpretive debate paper, and whatever assignments you can think of that will help students practice academic writing based in appreciation of literary texts.
- You should submit your syllabi to me electronically.

Wednesday, January 21

Budget Assurance: Chair says good position, SoLAS cuts don’t include us
Tentative Schedule of Meetings on website
Class Observation Schedule: so we don’t let the semester slip away from us, sign-up for a day of your choosing w/i the two-week period
Office Hour Schedule: corrections?
Alex or Marty: Alex first for teaching issues like illness and need substitute, Marty first for MFA Program issues
Syllabi Oversight: sent email regarding
- minor adjustments like meeting room and office hours
  http://info.gcsu.edu/intranet/handbooks/academic_affairs/aahandbook/21003.html
  as well as special notice for classes in A&S
  http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~ablazer/
  TeachingFellows/FireDrillNotice-08-FA.doc
- major adjustment like adding genre if neglected to include the three genres (poetry, fiction, drama) specified in SAC profile:
  http://rome.gcsu.edu:8090/4DCGI/SACS/CourseDetail/ENGL1102
Textbook Committee: Since Harmony left, space open for third volunteers email me; if more than one, then vote.

According to the Aim & Scope, the following texts are required for all sections of Composition 1101:
1. Hacker, Diana. A writer's Reference. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford-St. Martin's 1998.
2. Individual instructors may use the following workbook for A Writer's Reference (either the large or compact format) for grammar and punctuation instruction:
Hacker, Diana. Exercises to Accompany A Writer=s Reference. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford-St. Martin=s, 1998.
3. A reader of essays to use as models for student writing, such as the following:
Hall, Donald and D.L. Emblen. A Writer's Reader. 8th ed. New York: Longman, 1997.
Thus, the Textbook Committee needs to choose a handbook, like we did for 1102 since we couldn’t teach the 1998 edition of the Beford. We could stay with the current edition of Hacker; and Pearson is sending its new handbook (updated with 7th ed. MLA formatting) for our evaluation.
Since a particular “reader of essays” is not required, and since I’m still requiring you to teach a rhetoric of your choice (thus three books: a. a composition essay anthology, a writing rhetoric, and a handbook) later this semester, after the textbook fair(s) but before book orders, I’d like each of you to write two recommendations, one paragraph for an essay anthology and one for a rhetoric by Wednesday, 3-18. And I’ll give the incoming Teaching Fellows your recommendations to help them decide what to teach.

Discussion: From Teaching Essays to Teaching Literature
For instance, I differentiate between essay thesis and literary theme, between essay arguments and literary elements/techniques.
What do you do to preserve what learned in 1101 but move to 1102?
- Andrew asks his students what literature is, and distinguishes between popular genre fiction that follows social conventions and literature that questions those conventions.
- Meredith emphasizes the portability of writing about literature. Close reading and analysis of evidence is a faculty that students will use in history papers and humanities papers.
- Ashleigh moves her students from the personal reflective analysis of 1101 to the worldly and literary analysis of 1102.
- Carrie Anne incorporates literary theory into her course.
- John emphasizes the process of gathering info and creating ideas by assigning short assignments that ask students to select three important sentences from a work of literature and then explain why those sentences are important.
- Park assigns students response papers that the rest of the class comments on.
- Will reads and analyzes poems line by line, encouraging his students to generate ideas and ask questions.

Wednesday, February 5

Textbook Committee: handbooks
no meetings: two Textbook Fairs (print)
W, 3-4 Pearson Textbook Fair: 12:30-3:30 in A&S 349
W, 3-11 Bedford/St. Martin's: 12:30-4:30 in A&S 349
Course Evaluations
Course Evaluations are available in Dr. Whitaker’s office.
Discussion: Grade Distribution

pressures leading to possible grade inflation: new teacher anxiety, revision, Hope Scholarship
strategies for grade distribution:
- papers in piles across floor (A, B, C, D)
- first pass: grade ranges, second pass: final grade
- spreadsheet in which you input grades as grades,

Discussion: Grading Rubric for Literature-Based Essays vs Comp Essays
How do you grade 1102 essays the same as 1101 essays?
Differently?

Wednesday, March 18

Grade Distribution Follow Up
Plagiarism
From orientation policies:
Include a policy on how plagiarism will be dealt with: According to the Honor Code and the Academic Affairs Handbook, GCSU does not tolerate plagiarism. Fellows should fail willfully and substantially plagiarized assignments──and fail the students in the course as well. If you plan to use TurnItIn.com, you must inform your students in the syllabus.
http://www.gcsu.edu/studentlife/ handbook/honorcode.html
http://info.gcsu.edu/intranet/handbooks/academic_affairs/aahandbook/301.html
New handout for procedures is on the Teaching Fellows website
Textbook Adoption Committee
chose the handbook for next year:
Lunsford, Andrea A. EasyWriter: A Pocket Reference. 3rd ed. Boston: Bedford-St. Martin's, 2006. ISBN-13: 978-0-312-59459-6
Use this ISBN for the July EasyWriter update, which will include the new MLA style guidelines.
Textbook Fairs and 1101 Book Recommendations
Fall Book Orders are due April 16, 2009
Web Page of Textbook Information and Recommendations: http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~ablazer/TeachingFellows/Textbooks-09-SP.html
Coordinator’s Library on Teaching Fellows Page also books free to take in Department Office
Fall 2009 book orders: email/confer with Coordinator prior to placing order
required books:
1. Reader of Essays: selected by instructor and approved by Coordinator,
2. Rhetoric of the Writing Process: selected by instructor and approved by Coordinator
3. Handbook: EasyWriter selected by Textbook Adoption Committee
Next meeting: 1101 Assignment and 1102 Assignment
Syllabus and Assignment Bank: on GeorgiaView now, but I could put it on Teaching Fellows page with or without password protection if that would be okay and/or easier.

Wednesday, April 8

Meetings
Just to be clear, and I think/hope everyone understands this, I believe my duty as Coordinator in group meetings is to make you aware of policy and guide us to best practices to comport with that policy. Since we’re all teachers, my way is to prompt discussion and punctuate points made by you. I ask that everyone be mindful of tone and time, so everyone can participate in the best practices discussions.
Aim & Scope Statement - Teaching Fellows Supplement
http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~ablazer/TeachingFellows/
AimScopeSupplement.pdf
passed by faculty on April 6
no changes for current Teaching Fellows
1101 book orders: reader of essays, rhetoric of the writing process; or combined reader/rhetoric due next week; let me know your selection now
recommendations on web, only half have provided
rationale for doing recommendations:
1) practice evaluating textbooks
2) recommend textbooks to fellow Tfs
change for new Teaching Fellows: 1101 book order selected by
Textbook Adoption Committee, now by policy composed of Coordinator, first-year TF, and second year TF, selected by Tfs
recommended reading for current Teaching Fellows;
required reading for new Teaching Fellows:
Glenn and Goldthwaite, The St. Martin’s Guide to
Teaching Writing, 6th ed., 2008
http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/newcatalog.aspx?
search=guide+to+teaching+writing&isbn=0312451334
Assignments
Syllabus and Assignment Bank: on GeorgiaView now, but I could put it on Teaching Fellows page with or without password protection if that would be okay and/or easier
Final Meeting / Final Thoughts
No more meetings because thesis defenses and finals
What is the most important thing you’ve learned about teaching this year?
me: class observations...

Ardith: round robin and movie title to determine groups
Zach: creativity injected into informal writing activity of writing from opposite gender, expose stereotypes
Meredith: structure 1102 around themes
Ashleigh: decentered class in which she asks “why”
Marie: critically testing the boundaries of genre
Joey: poise and balance between busy lesson plan and fielding questions
Angela: coherent lesson plan like a reading, and Oedipal complex in story that I had just taught but not seen!
Andrew: tease out from (ornery) students and then juggle five different interpretations of a single poem
Adam: the method of poetry explication that starts with form moves to theme but concludes with “Why does this poem exist?”
Leah: discussion of new poetry as collaborative process of meaning making in which everyone (she included) was equal participant
Park: creativity injected into writing: tell family story as warm up for Sedaris and Vowell
Shawnsey: creativity injected into writing: reality tv show pitch (moving from analysis to application)
John: lecture/discussion/round robin about the research process
Carrie Anne: self-to-self, self-to-text, and self-to-world in one class period via discussion of personal anecdotes, article defining issue, and op ed about issue
Will: read four poems in 75 minutes via eliciting response, validating response, pushing (without seeming to push) reading forward
Nathan: from students’ general impression to literary analysis (subtle move to show the ability for all students to analyze)