I hope you are all able to remain relatively calm and healthy throughout these difficult times. First of all, I want you to know that we understand that this is extremely stressful and difficult—we know that this is an imperfect solution and that we’re all fumbling. Remember that we’re all in this together—we don’t expect you to be perfect.  I will be available via FaceTime and Skype next week (I’m getting that set up) but for now, if you need to talk to me, please send me an email and we can set up a phone call.

By Monday of next week, I will post some more in-depth tips and suggestions about technologies and assignments on this site (I know many people have sent many handy suggestions, but I would like to have them all in one place.) For now, here are a few important points to keep in mind when modifying your curriculum:

1. The most important thing to keep in mind is access. That is, ALL of your students must be able to access all of the course materials with technologies they possess. Many of our students do not have access to the Internet in their homes.  You may want to take a poll of your students to find out what resources they have access to. Google Forms is a good way to poll students.
2. Please note that your course will not look like a virtual version of your classroom. You don’t have to “meet” at the same time every week that you have been in your face to face classes. Instead, you may decide to have students participate in online discussions, or you may request online video or Power Point presentations by students—more on these types of assignments will be posted on the First Year Writing website on Monday.
3. Don’t feel the need to reinvent the wheel. If your class is on OpenLab, stay on OpenLab. If you use Blackboard, stay there. Remember that this isn’t a traditional online class; this is an emergency procedure. If you have no course website, I do suggest you develop some web presence—even Google Docs will do.  It will be helpful to have a command center where students can check in for information about the week’s activities.
4. Be flexible. Don’t be afraid to modify assignments. It’s important that we all operate within a culture of care—for our students, for each other, and for ourselves. This is a difficult and uncertain time for us all.  Students may be traveling, sick, caring for sick relatives, lacking internet, experiencing financial insecurity, and so on.  They may be confused by the new curricula. When possible, provide multiple access options and flexible deadlines and policies.  And be kind to yourself.

Again, I am here for you—that’s my job!  Please feel free to contact me via email and I’ll be happy to confer with you.

Take good care. More specific recommendations will be posted on Monday.

C

The current draft of the First Year Writing Annual Report is here. Sections on the Professional Development initiatives are to be added soon!

PDF: May 2019 FYW Annual Report

Word File: May 2019 FYW Annual Report

Two invigorating days of pedagogical exchange took place on January 17th and 18th, 2019. Thank you to all who participated. I found our discussions intense, productive, thoughtful, and invigorating. It was a challenge for all of us, and I think we responded pretty darn well. As we continue going through this process you all are going to become experts in this curriculum. Check out the Professional Development website to see what we’ve been up to!

This week the first-year writing program is working on a number of initiatives towards website design, curriculum development and professional development.

The ENG 1101 subcommittee, comprised of Robert Lestón, Carrie Hall, and Jackie Blain, met Tuesday, the morning of Nov. 6th to discuss assignment sequences and Learning Outcomes.  We are revising SLOs, writing unit descriptions, and providing sample assignments and readings for the updated curriculum. We also met with Anmol Kaur, a students designer from the faculty to commons, to discuss the new cover for the handbook and the new banner for the website. Below are the current design drafts which are currently going through revisions.

Also on Tuesday, Robert Leston met with the coordinator of First Year Programs to discuss CUE (Coordinated Undergraduate Education) funds concerning professional development. Robert was asked to provide more detail for the proposal for funds to include updates on curriculum approval by the committee and the department as well as more detail concerning the seminar schedule, deliverables, and assessment practices.

Thursday morning, the 8th, the ENG 1121 Pilot Subcommittee will be meeting again at 10 a.m. in the A517 to discuss SLOs, Units, and Assignments. Members of this committee include Robert Lestón, Colleen Birchett, Leigh Gold, Carrie Hall, Aaron Barlow, and Kim Liao.

Thursday afternoon, at 1 p.m., the FYW Curriculum Committee will meet in A517 to discuss updates on the new curriculum and get feedback from the committee.

Thanks for the great turnout yesterday!

From my own perspective, Lisa’s coming was not only informative but inspirational. She positions herself in the center of rhet/comp in her own research. When you are talking about writing program administration, WAC, WID, writing centers, and CUNY, her disciplinary knowledge and collaborative approach–her rhetorical attunement to the needs of individual people and the program as a whole is invaluable.

On more than one occasion, I heard her say “I find that super interesting” when talking about something that somebody else might see as a chore. That kind of framing, the sense of putting student writing, or programmatic needs, or where funds go, into a  context that makes such work interesting is a lesson we should take to heart.

I want to thank all of those who attended. It was a spirited, interesting, and lively exchange. We have our work cut out for us on assessment, but it’s an opportunity to understand what we do and where we are as a program and a department. If so inclined, drop a  comment about your experience in the meeting.

–Robert

1121 Pilot Meeting 10/18/18

After our meeting on 10/18/18 concerning the new 1121 pilot course, lets use this space for further discussion. Please leave thoughts and comments.

Next meeting November 1, 10 a.m.

Chair’s Brief Overview 

Minutes

The first year writing committee held its inaugural meeting for Fall 2018 on Thursday, September 27 in Namm 522. All committee members attended: Robert Lestón (chair), Aaron Barlow, Patrick Corbett, George Guida, Carrie Hall, Leigh Gold, Anne Leonard (Library), Suzanne Miller, Jody Rosen, Patricia Rudden, and Jennifer Sears.

Leigh Gold, who is an adjunct professor, rescheduled her office hours in order so that she could attend. She attended without pay. Many thanks for her attendance as her contributions were incredibly valuable for helping the committee reflect and deliberate.

Our newest member of the full time faculty, Professor Carrie Hall, was nominated and voted in as Secretary.

Professor Leonard provided an update in how the library is proceeding concerning library orientations for First Year students. A more detailed overview of this discussion is forthcoming.

The chair’s report included a number of items that centered around a more comprehensive development of the writing program. Top priorities included beginning a professional development program for part time faculty in order to create consistency across the first year writing curriculum. Professor Lestón had a productive meeting with Dean Vazquez-Portiz in the potential funding of this initiative. To achieve these goals for the year, a number of action items were discussed:

1. A professional development program for part time faculty that would include pre-semester orientations and ongoing seminars centered on Composition Pedagogy and Practice over the course of both semesters.
2. An online seminar made available for faculty who could not attend face-to-face sessions that would lead towards furthering the goals of creating consistency across the curriculum.
3. Revising the syllabus to include a mixture of common requirements, common readings, and at least one common assignment while still providing flexibility for faculty to design components of their individual sections.
4. An Annual Report conducted by the First Year Writing committee that provides an ongoing self study and evaluation that outlines the profile of the program, activities conducted throughout the year to bolster the efficacy of the program, and an ongoing needs assessment. Such a project would help create programmatic consistency from year to year, aid in the identity formation of the program, and create institutional memory.
5. There was a brief discussion of other related matters, especially the needs for programmatic assessment, the revision of learning outcomes, and workshops to be conducted for professional training. Time ran out before the committee could discuss any of these items in depth, and so they will be moved to agenda items for the next meeting.
6. Professor Lestón and other committee volunteers will be working on drafting a syllabus with common components to present at the next meeting. The committee will discuss the syllabus with the intention of having the committee vote to adopt the curricular changes. The next step would be to bring the matter to the English Department for a vote.
7. Professor Lestón will soon be meeting again with the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences to discuss professional development for part time faculty. He is soliciting input from committee members and all faculty for models and strategies for developing a training program. Please leave your thoughts and ideas below about this or any other items.  

The library has made the following opportunity for converting classes using traditional textbooks towards using Online Educational Resources. The stipend is $1,300 and the application deadline is September 4, 2018. You can apply to the program at the link below. If you are intersted, please contact Robert Lestón at rleston[at]citytech.cuny.edu before applying. 

Fall 2018–Open Educational Resources (OER) Fellowship

Stipend $1,300

Application deadline: September 4, 2018.