Methods of TETYC

Reading Response #3: Why Teach English at the TYC?

• Straight, “How They Got Here”
• “Higher Education for Democracy”
• “2016 Community College Fast Facts”
• Pickett, “The Two-Year College as Democracy in Action”
• Rothstein, “Social Class, Student Achievement, and the Black-White Achievement Gap”
• Sullivan, “Measuring ‘Success’ at Open Admissions Institutions”

As you read, ask yourself, How do TYC faculty and administrators understand their mission? How might the contexts of the TYC as these writers articulate it make it a different educational space from the four-year college or university? What role(s) might English Studies play at the TYC? Why?

Writing/Inquiry for Next Week

Response #4: Discussion Leaders (Group 2) should email their proposed discussion prompts to Dr. Banks by Monday, Jan 29 @ noon.

Reading Response #3:  What Are the Contexts of TYC Teaching and Learning?

• Lewiecki-Wilson & Sommers, “Professing at the Fault Lines”
• Reynolds, “Two-Year College Teachers as Knowledge Makers”
• Sullivan, “A Lifelong Aversion to Writing”
• Bean, “Using Writing to Promote Thinking”
• Hassel & Giordano, ” Transfer Institutions”

As you read, ask yourself, what connection, if any, you see between writing and thinking? Does one come first and the other follow? Or does one (writing) demonstrate the other (thinking) in practice? What does “writing” look like at the “fault lines” and why do we bother teaching “writing” at all? Can we teach writing without the baggage of racism, sexism, and classism that seem to be built into school-based writing activities?

Writing/Inquiry for Next Week

Response #4: Discussion Leaders (Group 3) should email their proposed discussion prompts to Dr. Banks by Monday, Feb 5 @ noon.

Teaching Statement/Philosophy (Draft 1)

Reading Response #4: What is the connection between TYC students and writing/thinking? How do we imagine writing instruction in the contexts of TYCs?

• White, “My Five-Paragraph Theme”
• Tremmel, “What to Make of the Five-Paragraph Theme”
• Blaaauw-Hara, “Why Our Students Need Grammar”
• NCTE, WPA, & NWP, “Framework of Success in Post-Secondary Writing”
• WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition

As you read, ask yourself, what does it mean to “teach” writing? What role does or can writing play in the lives of the TYC student? Some writing classes at NC TYCs (e.g., 110 – 116) transfer to four-year schools, so their curriculum needs to help students with that transition, but what other kinds of writing can we/should we teach? How much should a TYC curriculum but guided by transfer-guidelines/outcomes?

Writing/Inquiry for Next Week

Response #5: Discussion Leaders (Group 4) should email their proposed discussion prompts to Dr. Banks by Monday, Feb 12 @ noon.

Survey of Teaching English in the Two-Year College

Reading Response #5: What are we teaching when we teach “writing” at the TYC?

• Joliffe, “Learning to Read”
• Keller, “A Framework for Reading”
• Russell, “The Myth of Transience”

The following articles can be found using the Joyner Library databases:

• Brandt, D. & Clinton, K. 2002. “Limits of the Local: Expanding Perspectives on Literacy as a Social Practice.” Journal of Literacy Research 43.3: 337-356
• Banks, W. 2002. “Beginning at the End: Encouraging Literacy by Rethinking the Developmental Model of an Oral Interpretation Course.” TETYC 30: 48-59.

As you read, ask yourself, what is the difference between reading and literacy? How might developmental models of literacy, which are often practiced in elementary school, be problems for adult learners when it comes to reading and writing? How might literacy as an expansive framework for understanding-in-context be a more useful model for TYC teaching than deficit or developmental models of literacy?

Writing/Inquiry for Next Week

Response #6: Discussion Leaders (Group 5) should email their proposed discussion prompts to Dr. Banks by Monday, 19 @ noon.

Course Syllabus #1 (Draft)

Reading Response #6: What does it mean to teach “reading” to adults who can read? How do our understandings of literacy shift what it means to “read” and “write”?

• Horning & Kraemer, “Reconnecting Reading & Writing”
• Harl, “Historical and Theoretical Review”
• Horning, “Writing & Reading … Best Practices”
• Joliffe, “Common Core Standards for Reading and Writing”

As you read, ask yourself, how did I learn to read? What does it mean to “read”? What role have K-12 educational policies had in impacting  how our current students understand the reading/writing connections? What does it mean to “teach” reading to adults?

Writing/Inquiry for Next Week

Response #7: Discussion Leaders (Group 1) should email their proposed discussion prompts to Dr. Banks by Monday, Feb 26 @ noon.

“Issue” Paper Proposal

• Shafer, “Dialect, Gender, and the Writing Class”
• Cleary, “Anxiety with Newly Returned Adult”
• Leonhardy, “Transformations: Working with Veterans in the Composition Classroom”

The following article can be found by clicking the title link:

• Knoblauch, C. H., and Brannon, L. 1993. “Literacy and the Politics of Nostalgia.” Critical Teaching and the Idea of Literacy. Boynton/Cook: Portsmouth, NH. 99-122.

As you read, ask yourself, how do Knoblauch & Brannon’s ideas about literacy-as-nostalgia impact the way we talk about reading and writing, as well as what “matters” to reading and writing? How do these conversations shift when we consider different student populations and the contributions they make to reading and writing?

Writing/Inquiry for Next Week

Response #8: Discussion Leaders (Group 2) should email their proposed discussion prompts to Dr. Banks by Monday, March 12 @ noon.

Course Syllabus #2 (Draft)

Reading Response #8: How do you values and expectations around reading/writing (literacy) shift when we consider different student populations and the contributions they make to reading and writing?

Writing/Inquiry for Next Week

Response #9: Discussion Leaders (Group 3) should email their proposed discussion prompts to Dr. Banks by Monday, March 19 @ noon.

Reading Response #9: How does Dunn’s book help us to rethink the work of the writing and reading classes we teach? How might we design assignments and projects differently so as to engage a broader range of students?

• Sommers, “Responding to Student Writing”
• Calhoon-Dillahunt & Forrest, “Conversing in the Margins”

Also read the following articles available through Joyner databases OR as a linked PDF:

• Smith, Summer. 1997. “The Genre of the End Comment: Conventions in Teacher Responses to Student Writing.” CCC 48 (2): 249-268.
• Danielewicz, Jane & Peter Elbow. 2009. “A Unilateral Grading Contract to Improve Learning and Teaching.” CCC 61 (2): 244-268.
• Inoue, “Chapter 2: Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies” (PDF)

As you read, ask yourself, how do we design assessment ecologies for our classrooms? How might “assessment” be about more than just grades and comments on individual projects/papers? What are we actually responding to when we respond to student writers and their work?

Writing/Inquiry for Next Week

Response #10: Discussion Leaders (Group 4) should email their proposed discussion prompts to Dr. Banks by Monday, March 26 @ noon.

Reading Response #10: How do we design assessment ecologies for our classrooms? How might “assessment” be about more than just grades and comments on individual projects/papers? What are we actually responding to when we respond to student writers and their work?

• Edgington, Anthony. 2004. “Encouraging Collaboration with Students on Teacher Response.”TETYC 31 (3): 287-296.
• Jeffrey, Howard. 2015. “Students As Storytellers: Teaching Rhetorical Strategies through Folktales.” TETYC 43 (1):
• Kroll, Keith. 2008. “On Paying Attention: Flagpoles, Mindfulness, and Teaching Writing.” TETYC 36 (1): 69-78.
• Kuhne, Michael, and Gill Creel. 2006. “Student Evaluation and an Introduction to Academic Discourse: ‘I Didn’t Like it, and I Don’t Know how to Improve it, because it Works.’” TETYC 33 (3): 279.
• McLaughlin, Frank and Miriam Moore. 2012. “Integrating Critical Thinking into the Assessment of College Writing.” TETYC 40 (2): 145-162.
• Miller-Cochran, Susan. 2012. “Beyond ‘ESL Writing’: Teaching Cross-Cultural Composition at a Community College.” TETYC 40 (1): 20-30.
• Cox, Stephanie, et al. 2014. “Promoting Teacher Presence: Strategies for Effective and Efficient Feedback to Student Writing Online.” TETYC 42 (4):

As you read, ask yourself, how do these pieces connect do or engage the thinking around assessment ecologies from the previous week’s readings?

Writing/Inquiry for Next Week

Response #11: Discussion Leaders (Group 5) should email their proposed discussion prompts to Dr. Banks by Monday, April 2 @ noon.

Issue Project Draft Due April 2 for peer review. Remember to post your Writer’s Memo and Issue Project draft by noon.

Reading Response #11: How do these pieces connect to or engage the thinking around assessment ecologies from the previous week’s readings?

• Baker, Tracey. 2003. “Boredom in the First-Year Composition Classroom” TETYC 30 (4):
• Launspach, Sonja, and Angela Petit. 2017. “Making the Case: The Case Method, Motivation, and the Teaching of Argument.” TETYC 44 (4): 403–419.
• Shafer, Gregory. 2011. “Conferencing and Compassion for an Exceptional Student.” TETYC3:
• Sirc, Geoffrey. 2006. “Proust, Hip-Hop, and Death in First-Year Composition.” TETYC 33 (4): 392.
• Stewart, R. 2001. “Teaching Critical Thinking in First-Year Composition: Sometimes More is More.” TETYC 29 (2): 162-171.
• Dennihy, Melissa. 2015. “Forget What You Learned in High School: Bridging the Space Between High School and College.” TETYC 43 (1):

ESL/L2 Writing & Reading

• Carroll, Julia, and Helene Dunkelblau. 2011. “Preparing ESL Students for ‘Real’ College Writing.” TETYC 38 (3): 271-81.
  • Finn, Heather B. 2017. “Linking the Past to the Present: Using Literacy Narratives to Raise ESL Students’ Awareness about Reading and Writing Relationships.” TETYC 44 (3): 276-88.

Technical / Professional Writing

• Cotugno, Marianne. 2014. “Using Google Drive to Prepare Students for Workplace Writing and to Encourage Student Responsibility, Collaboration, and Review.” TETYC 42 (1):
• Tichenor, Stuart. 2007. “Supplementing Tribal Culture Using Technical Writing Basics.” TETYC 35 (3): 169-178.

Writing Centers @ TYCs

• Gordon, Barbara Lynn. 2008. “Requiring First-Year Writing Classes to Visit the Writing Center: Bad Attitudes or Positive Results?” TETYC 36 (2): 154-163.
• Missakian, Ilona, et al. 2016. “Writing Center Efficacy at the Community College: How Students, Tutors, and Instructors Concur and Diverge in Their Perceptions of Service.” TETYC 44 (1): 57–78.

Teaching Literatures

• Jones, Ed. 2007. “The Rules of the Game in an Introductory Literature Class. TETYC 35 (3):
• Wender, Emily. 2013. “Blogging in the Literature Survey Course: Making Relevance, Not Waiting for It.” TETYC 41 (2):
• Pruitt, John. 2013. “Honors Student Perceptions of Self-Directed Learning: When Teacher Becomes Facilitator.” TETYC 40 (3): 274-287.

As you read, ask yourself, how these readings pick up and connect to the other things we’ve read this semester? How are TYC teachers connecting specific teaching practices to TYC contexts? What do they continue to struggle with? Have we read anything that might help address those struggles?

Writing/Inquiry for Next Week

Response #12: Last week marks the end of discussion leaders from class so that you can spend more time revising your Issue Projects and the materials for your Teaching Portfolios. Dr. Banks will provide three discussion topics from the readings for your consideration.

Draft Curriculum Vita due Monday, April 9 @ noon in your Teaching Portfolios.

Reading Response #12: How do these readings pick up and connect to the other things we’ve read this semester? How are TYC teachers connecting specific teaching practices to TYC contexts? What do they continue to struggle with? Have we read anything that might help address those struggles?

Writing/Inquiry for Next Week

Next week, once Issue Projects are posted for class members to read, we will use the week to read/view and respond to each other’s projects. Remember to post your Writer’s Memo and Issue Project draft by Wednesday, April 18 @ noon.

Classmates should read and respond to two projects that they did not read previously during peer review. Responses should be in the “Comments” box on the Writer’s Memo.

LINK: Final Cover Memos and Teaching Portfolios