|
Projects for Fall 2017:
|
Project
|
Activities
& Accomplishments
|
|
Team Adjunct & Colleague Connections:
Members:
Nathan, Rob, John, Jim, Jarrod, Denise, Nina, Monique, and Rachel
Initial projects: Strengthening the English Department mentor program and
instituting the informal class visits Division-wide.
|
(1) On 8/12, Jarrod and Denise presented the new Language Arts Orientation
(available in .pdf and PowerPoint) at Orientation day to the new
division hires.
(2) On 8/21, sent an email to all members of the Language Arts Division
inviting them to participate in the “Informal Class Visits” with a means to
sign up on a Google doc: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xtkYiDKAX-dZzI2onvJf3UWUUXYYd0f6l_FyTHw7iTY/edit#gid=0
(3) Sent an email and passed around a sign-up sheet at the 9/1/17 English
Meeting to form the Spring 2017 “Team Adjunct & Colleague Connections.”
(4) Sent a Doodle poll to the team on 9/2/17 to set up the first meeting.
(5) On 9/1/17 in the Division Meeting,
sent around a sign-up sheet to include more participants in the “Informal
Class Visits.” Sixteen Division
members so far have signed up.
(6) On 9/1/17, Rachel presented the “Division-Wide Best Practices” section
in the Language Arts Orientation and
distributed hard copies to everyone.
We went over the different sections of the Best Practices:
retention, first-day class activities, syllabi and students first. There was a lot of interest and
discussion around syllabi best practices, so we decided to devote part of
the next Language Arts Division meeting to a hands-on activity centering on
syllabi.
(7) On 9/2/17, sent an email to the Division with the updated Google doc
listing all the people and classes that are open for informal visits, and I
asked everyone to take a look at the options and email me which class(es)
they were interested in attending. I
will then connect visitors to classes and help facilitate scheduling visit
dates.
(8) On 9/2/17, I typed up all the meeting notes from the 9/1/17 English
meeting on “Prompt Writing” and then incorporated the Best Practices we
arrived at into the English Best Practices in the Language Arts
Orientation. I also added all the
best practices we arrived at our 5/5/17 English meeting on providing
quality feedback for students.
(9) On 9/2/17, sent an email to all English adjunct asking what needs I can
help meet: what they would like
assistance with and changes/improvements that could be made. I also invited them to join “Team Adjunct
& Colleague Connections.”
(10) The group chose its first meeting date: Tues, Sept 12th
2-3pm in room 8116. Only Nina and
Rob have schedule conflicts so cannot attend but we’ll share the meeting
notes with them and get their contributions via email.
(11) At our Tues 9/12 meeting, we decided to focus on these projects this
semester: (1) Revisit establishing a dedicated adjunct space; (2)
Strengthen our English Mentor Program (most
recent Mentor List); (3) Keep English meetings focused on “hands-on”
best practices work and keep adjunct updated and included; (4) revise
English course outlines. Here are
the detailed notes from the 9-12-17
meeting.
(12) On 9/14, I emailed each person on the Informal Class Visits sign-up (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xtkYiDKAX-dZzI2onvJf3UWUUXYYd0f6l_FyTHw7iTY/edit#gid=0)
and suggested a good class match that fit
with their visit preference and did not conflict with their own
classes. At the end of each email I
included these instructions:
WHAT'S
NEXT?
(1) CONFRIM: Let me know if
attending this class once this semester works for you.
(2) SCHEDULE A DATE: Look out
for an email from me connecting you and the instructor of the class to help
find a visit date that works for you both.
(3) VISIT: Check out
your colleague's class--borrow ideas, enjoy seeing a talented teacher in
action, see possibilities of new teaching approaches/ideas.
(4) FLEX CREDIT: Be sure
to record your time in your flex hours.
(5) THANKS: Afterwards,
send a quick thank you to the instructor and share some of the positive
things about the experience.
(6) SHARE: I'll set
up a Google doc where we can compile the positive feedback of the
participants and the cool things/ideas we gained.
Once each visitor approved the suggested class, I sent another email
connecting the visitor with the instructor for the class and included this
message:
|
Thank
you for opening your classroom doors this semester! (visitor
name) is excited to visit your (class
title and meeting dates).
WHAT'S NEXT?
(1) CONFIRM A VISIT DATE: Let your visitor know
what would be a good date to come to one of your classes. Please
also let me (Rachel) know the visit date, so I can help with reminders
and follow ups.
(2) TELL YOUR CLASS: Sometimes
students can feel nervous when there is a visitor in the
classroom. Let them know that you are not being evaluated but
rather this semester instructors throughout our division are opening
their classroom doors to let other teachers see new ways of
teaching and to get ideas to improve and enhance their own
teaching. Just like them, teachers are always learning as
well and this is an opportunity for our teachers to learn from one
another.
|
I update the class visits sign up as I hear back from people confirming
visits.
(13) On 9/20, I set up a Google doc where both visitors and instructors who
had someone visit can post positive feedback on the experience:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d4SKuXFIGNlrET7EojST5g2_gvUmXiinHGzuIM1lXbs/edit?usp=sharing
(14) On 9/20, I sent an email to Chris and Mary with the
questions the group Adjunct & Colleague Connections ask me to pursue
and Mary responded. I also emailed the group letting them
know I asked their questions, I shared the meeting notes, and I set up a
Doodle poll so we can set up our next meeting to create the “Mentor Best
Practices Guide,” to decide how to better pair mentors and mentees, and to
design a dedicated “Mentor Support Team”: https://beta.doodle.com/poll/dacc3w4e4kzzvm57
(15) Also, this group asked about
providing materials and advice on getting hired full-time. I emailed Nina Floro who has presented on
this through the CTTL and she made
available the PowerPoint: “Unraveling the
Mystery of the Full-Time Faculty Job Application Process” and I also
posted this in our online Language Arts Canvas space.
(16) On 9/22, I checked back in with
those who signed up to visit a class but have not yet responded to the
suggested class visit match.
(17) The group selected Tues, October 17th
2-4pm in 8116 to do the following: (1) Create a Mentor Best
Practices Guide and (2) Create a dedicated group of faculty to be Mentor
Support.
(18) On 10/2, an email was sent to all of Language Arts reminding everyone
to book their informal class visits.
(19) On 10/17/17, John, Jim, Monique, Jarrod and I all met and created a
Mentor Guide that created two things: (1) a team of Mentor Advisors who
would lead group gatherings and pairings and (2) We created a Best
Practices guide including: a mentor menu (mentees can choose from);
guidance on “making the match”; getting started; and suggested meeting
topics for mentors/mentees.
(2) On 10/18/17, I used the outline we created and fleshed out a complete Guide and Support for English Mentors and Mentees. I then emailed the English Department
asking: Please take a look and let us know:
(1) Would you like to be part of the Mentor Advisers
group? We welcome both full-time as well as our adjunct
who have been with us a while and would serve as excellent resources.
Take a look at the attached document for more descriptions of this group.
(2) Full-timers: I made what we're calling a "Mentor Menu" which
lists all the full-time English folks along with their pictures and blurbs
from the "Meet Us" page in our Canvas space. We're using
this as a "menu" that adjunct can select mentors from.
Please let me know if your picture is ok (I took pictures from District
Directory portal page or googled pics if there were none there). Let
me know if you'd like to change or revise your information. Please also let me
know the year you started at Skyline.
(3) Let us know if you have any other advice on how
to strengthen our English Mentor program. The attached guide is a
first draft and can be added to and revised.
|
|
Revise the Rhetoric:
Fix all typos throughout the 442 pages in the .doc files, .pdf files and
PowerPoint slides; strengthen the Literature chapter and add sample
literary essays; create live linked pages to all contents on the main menu.
|
(1) Worked with ITS for a month to regain access to the Rhetoric as I could
not log on or upload pages. Finally,
Chris Smith was able to move the Rhetoric to a different server in order to
restore access.
(2) In September, I started at the beginning of the 442-page Rhetoric and
started scanning for typos and errors and corrected them. Each change has to be made in the .doc
version, Powerpoint version, and the individual chapter breakdowns.
(3) Completed many revisions to the Rhetoric Nov 2017 and made it more
“click-able.”
|
|
Team English Course Outlines:
Members: Kathleen, Liza, Chris, Karen and
Rachel
Take the templates we made for the core English courses and literature
courses and do the following for Program Review:
(1) Vet the two templates with the English Department
(2) Form groups to divide the work of transferring all the core English
courses and Literature course outlines into the new templates.
(3) Take all the revised course outlines through the Curriculum Committee
before the Program Review is due Fall 2018.
(4) Write up Program Review and present it.
|
(1) Summer 2017, we created a template
for the core English classes and a template
for the Literature courses.
(2) We designated the English meetings on Fri, Oct 6th
3:30-5pm and Fri, Nov 3rd 3:30-5pm to this task.
(3) On 9/18, I emailed Kathleen, Chris, and Liza so we could design the
agendas for the 2 meetings devoted to presenting the new templates to the
English Department, inviting feedback, agreeing on changes/revisions, and
then having a sign up for who would like to transfer which course into the
new templates.
|
|
Organize, Co-Facilitate and Take/Post all
Meeting Notes for English Meetings:
The
agendas, notes and outcomes for the Language Arts Division meetings and for
the English Department Meetings are all posted in the online Language Arts
Canvas space:
http://smccd.instructure.com/
|
|
Upcoming English Meetings for Fall 2017
|
|
Meetings
& Location
|
Topic
|
Co-Facilitators
|
|
Fri, Sept 1st 3:30-5pm 6202
|
Prompt Writing
|
Karen, Jarrod, Rachel
|
|
Fri, Oct 6th 3:30-5pm 6202
|
Program Review: vetting course templates and dividing the work of transferring
core English and Literature courses into the templates.
|
Liza, Kathleen, Chris, Rachel
|
|
Fri, Nov 3rd 3:30-5pm 6202
|
Program Review: vetting course templates and dividing the work of
transferring core English and Literature courses into the templates.
|
Liza, Kathleen, Chris, Rachel
|
|
Fri, Dec 1st 3:30-5pm 6202
|
Assessment
|
Kathleen, Rachel, Michael
|
(1) On 9/6/17, sent an email to the Nov 3rd
LA Meeting Co-Facilitators Luciana Castro and Nathan Jones, asking for 30
minutes of that meeting to be devoted to creating shared best practices in
regard to syllabi. The outcome will
be incorporated in the Language Arts Orientation and will be used in
creating improved templates for division syllabi.
(2) On 10/16/17, I followed up with Nathan and Luciana and again requested
30 minutes for the hands-on Division syllabus activity for the Nov 3rd
Division meeting and they both confirmed.
(3) On 10/18/17, I emailed Mary and Chris
questions about the current Division
syllabus template as well as their opinions on how we should spend the
30-minute session. I shared this
correspondence with meeting facilitators Nathan and Luciana.
|
|
English Department
Accomplishments Summary—Fall 2017
|
|
Team Adjunct & Colleague Connections:
Members:
Nathan, Rob, John, Jim, Jarrod, Denise, Nina, Monique, and Rachel
|
(1) The first ever all-division informal class
visits were instituted!
There were 16 participants from nearly every department in the
Language Arts:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xtkYiDKAX-dZzI2onvJf3UWUUXYYd0f6l_FyTHw7iTY/edit#gid=0
(2) At the September 2017 Language Arts Division meeting, we shared the “Division-Wide Best Practices”
section from the Language Arts Orientation that
this group created during summer 2017.
We went over the different sections of the Best Practices:
retention, first-day class activities, syllabi and students first. There was a lot of interest and
discussion around syllabi best practices, so we decided to devote part of
the next Language Arts Division meeting to a hands-on activity centering on
syllabi.
(3) We revised the “Prompt Writing” and “Providing
Quality Feedback” sections of
the “English Best-Practices” section in the Language Arts Orientation based on hands-on
work done in two different English meetings.
(4) We strengthened our English Mentor Program
and John, Jim, Monique, Jarrod and Rachel all met and created a Mentor
Guide that created two things: (a) a team of Mentor Advisors who would lead
group gatherings and pairings and (b) We created a Best Practices guide
including: a mentor menu (mentees can choose from); guidance on “making the
match”; getting started; and suggested meeting topics for mentors/mentees: English Department Mentor Guide.
(5) At the November 2017 Language Arts meeting, we had a 30-minute hands-on activity to revise the Division
syllabus template, and the work was carried on in the online
Canvas Language Arts space and a new
revised Division Syllabus Template was created.
(6) Also, this group asked about
providing materials and advice on getting hired
full-time. Nina Floro,
who has presented on this through the CTTL, made available a helpful
PowerPoint: “Unraveling the Mystery of the
Full-Time Faculty Job Application Process” and I also posted this in
our online Language Arts Canvas space.
|
|
Revising the Rhetoric:
|
IMPROVEMENTS/REVISIONS MADE TO THE RHETORIC DURING
FALL 2017:
(1)
It is now more click-friendly!
On the main Rhetoric menu page, you can now click directly on any section,
specific page, or PowerPoint:
http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/
You’ll also find that within the Rhetoric .pdf, the table of contents is
“clickable” as are the contents on each individual chapter.
(2)
Easy to bookmark, send assignment links, and download blank forms:
Link to a specific page—replace
the yellow highlighted section ??
below with the target page number:
http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/rhetoric.pdf#page=??
Link to a specific chapter—from
the main menu, click on any of the colored
number-squares
 to
go to chapter sub-menus and downloadable forms students can complete, save
and turn in. For example, you can
give your students a link to the chapter on Outlining and from this
sub-menu there are 2 forms students can download and complete: http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/4Outlining.htm
(3)
Updated MLA Guidelines to reflect the new 8th edition Work Cited
changes:
How to cite texts has changed significantly in the new 8th MLA
style guidelines. The current system
is based on a few principles, rather than an extensive list of specific
rules. There is now a list of 9 core
elements to consult to create a text citation. You can go over this with students using
the .pdf or the PowerPoint:
http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/5MLA.htm.
(4)
Thesis chapter now has 16 text-based student thesis examples:
There is now
an interactive exercise you can assign students or work on together in
class that has students examine actual text-based student thesis statements
(8 in response to non-fiction and 8 is response to fiction: poetry, short
stories, plays and novels). Students
can use these as models and also to identify the elements of a complex
thesis: TOPIC + OPINION + SO WHAT?
http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/rhetoric.pdf#page=203
(5)
Literature essay examples now included
The Rhetoric has an example of an essay based on non-fiction, but now it
also has two model student essays based on fiction. In each of these essays, the thesis
statements are underlined and the topic sentences are in bold, so it is
visually easy to see how the essays are unified, and each body paragraph
models the PIE paragraph approach.
Sample student paper analyzing a short story:
http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/rhetoric.pdf#page=302
Sample student paper analyzing a poem:
http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/rhetoric.pdf#page=312
(6)
Be sure to order your new desk-copy
For spring 2018, only the updated version of the Rhetoric will be available
for purchase, so if you are using a print version, be sure to ask Kevin
Chak in the bookstore for a desk-copy: chak@smccd.edu
|
|
Team English Course Outlines:
Members: Kathleen, Liza, Chris, and Rachel
|
We dedicated two of the Fall English
meetings to vetting the core English and Literature course outline
templates and then organizing sign-ups to revise all these course outlines
based on the more streamlined and revised templates.
LITERATURE COURSE REVISIONS:
Before Spring 2018, we plan to revise the Literature courses based on the
template we created as a department.
Here are directions,
sign-ups and the template being used.
Literature
Course Revisions Sign-Up
|
1.
LIT. 101 Contemporary Literature - Michael C.
|
|
2.
LIT. 151 Introduction to Shakespeare – Nina F.
|
|
3.
LIT. 154 Queer Literature – John C. and Rob W.
|
|
4.
LIT. 155 The Graphic Novel – Liza E
|
|
5.
LIT. 156 Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature – John C.
|
|
6. LIT. 191 Children's Literature – Michael C.
|
|
7.
LIT. 201 American Literature I – John C.
|
8. LIT.
202 American Literature II - Jessica
|
9. LIT.
220 Introduction to World Literature I – Chris G Note: I can help with world lit. I designed
the first world lit course outline and I teach a lot of international
lit. – Kathleen F.
|
10. LIT. 221 Introduction to World Literature II
– Chris G.
|
11. LIT. 231 Survey of British Literature I - Monique I. and Lucia L.
|
12. LIT. 232 Survey of British Literature II – Jim B.
|
13. LIT. 251 Women in Literature – Kathleen F.
|
14. LIT. 265 Asian American Literature – Nina F.
|
15. LIT. 266 Black Literature – Nathan J.
|
16. LIT. 267 Filipino American Literature – Liza E.
|
17. LIT. 277 Film and Literature - Jarrod F.
|
18. LIT. 370 Readings in Literature of the
Latino in the United States – Lucia L.
|
19. LIT. 432 Folklore – John C.
|
CORE ENGLISH COURSE REVISIONS:
Before Fall 2018, we plan to revise the Core English courses based on the
template we created as a department.
Here are directions,
sign-ups and the template being used.
We also found out we can revise the writing page count and that we
should add a reading page count for each course. See this
document for more detailed breakdowns on proposed writing and reading page
counts. It was also suggested
that we create reading and writing page counts for our Literature courses.
Core English Course Revisions Sign-Up:
English
828: Jarrod and Rachel
English
846: Jessica B. and Liza
English
100/105: Chris, Lucia, Andrew, Nathan, Rob
English
110: Jim, Michael, John
English
165: Kathleen
|
|
