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Projects for Spring 2018:

Project

Activities & Accomplishments


Getting all our Literature Courses through Curriculum during Spring 2018:


(1) English Program Review officially begins Fall 2018 but we have a lot of course outlines to get through Curriculum before we present in March 2019, so the department voted on when to begin.  Here is a detailed description of the pros-cons of start dates as well as the faculty vote outcome.  The faculty voted to putting our Literature course outlines through Curriculum in Spring 2018.

(2) Below is the Spring 2018 sign-up by Curriculum meeting and contains all the directions and deadlines:

                SPRING 2018 CURRICULUM SIGN-UPS AND DEADLINES

DEADLINES & GUIDELINES

Feb 21st Curriculum meeting

March 7th Curriculum meeting

March 21st Curriculum meeting

May 2nd Curriculum meeting


Literature Course Sign-ups by Curriculum meeting date with list of deadlines and guidelines below.

Lit course 1: LIT. 154 Queer Literature – John and Rob

Lit course 2: LIT. 231 Survey of British Literature I – Monique and Lucia

Lit course 3: LIT. 370 Readings in Literature of the Latino in the United States – Lucia

Lit course 4: LIT. 220 Introduction to World Literature I – Chris

Lit course 5: LIT. 221 Introduction to World Literature II – Chris

Lit course 6:
LIT. 251 Women in Literature – Kathleen

Lit course 7:
LIT. 156 Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature – John

Lit course 8:
LIT. 201 American Literature I – John

Lit course 9:
LIT. 432 Folklore – John

Lit course 10:
LIT. 101 Contemporary Literature - Michael

Lit course 11:
LIT. 191 Children's Literature – Michael

Lit course 12:
LIT. 155 The Graphic Novel – Liza

Lit course 13:
LIT. 267 Filipino American Literature – Liza

Lit course 14:
LIT. 232 Survey of British Literature II – Jim

Lit course 15:
LIT. 266 Black Literature – Nathan

Lit course 16:
LIT. 277 Film and Literature - Jarrod

Lit course 17:
LIT. 151 Introduction to Shakespeare – Nina

Lit course 18:
LIT. 265 Asian American Literature – Nina

Lit course 19:
LIT. 202 American Literature II – Jessica

DEADLINE 1: Proposals Submitted to Division Representative’s Queue by 4pm.  Before this deadline, go into CurriCUNET and download a word version of the outline you signed up to revise. Use the Literature Template to revise your course outline to fit the template (our goal is to create literature course outline consistency), and when you are finished, forward to Kathleen (feinblumks@smccd.edu)

1/19/18

2/2/18

2/15/18

3/23/18

DEADLINE 2: Division Representative Reviews and Takes Action by 4pm.  Once Kathleen says the outline is approved, put the revised outline on CurriCUNET. Make yourself the “author.” Make Kathleen the “co-contributor.”  See Curriculum Committee Handbook for instructions.

1/24/18

2/7/18

2/21/18

4/4/18

DEADLINE 3: Proposals Submitted to Dean’s Queue by 12pm.  Once the revised course is uploaded on CurriCUNET, email Mary (gutierrezm@smccd.edu) and give her the name of the Literature course you revised and that it is now on the Dean’s cue and ready for her approval and let her know the deadline as listed in the chart.  When the dean has approved the outlines, they will be sent to Maria Norris and be put on the Curriculum Committee agenda.

1/29/18

2/12/18

2/26/16

4/9/18

DEADLINE 4: Dean Reviews and Takes Action by 4pm

1/31/18

2/14/18

2/28/18

4/11/18

DEADLINE 5: Proposals Submitted to Technical Review by 12pm

2/5/18

2/20/18

3/5/18

4/16/18

DEADLINE 6: Technical Review Completed by 9am

2/9/18

2/26/18

3/12/18

4/23/18

DEADLINE 7: Technical Review Comments to Faculty by 4:30pm

2/9/18

2/26/18

3/12/18

4/23/18

DEADLINE 8: Faculty Completes Technical Review Corrections (by 10:00am) / Proposals Placed on Agenda

2/15/18

3/2/18

3/16/18

4/27/18



(3) Over email we discussed and selected clear reading and writing page requirements to add to our literature courses and agreed to add the following section:

8.     REPRESENTATIVE ASSIGNMENTS
Representative assignments in this course may include but are not limited to the following:

Reading Assignments:

Students must read level-appropriate academic literary texts with a cumulative page count of 500 to 600 pages for the semester.

Writing Assignments:
Students must write 2-3 essays per semester, totaling 10-15 pages (2500-3750 words). The essays must be analytical, unified, literature-based, use the conventions of literary analysis and criticism, and effectively integrate and document sources according to MLA guidelines.

Additional Assignments can include (but are not limited to):

·                      Weekly written responses, such as reflective journals that raise or address questions on course content, including the readings, short videos, feature-length films, lectures, etc. (1-2 pages).

·                     In-class writing and timed formal expository writing based on students’ responses to the texts (one per week, length ranging from one paragraph to a couple of pages).

·                     Quizzes or exams that demonstrate comprehension or allow students to explore their own interpretations of the texts (one to 10 times a semester).

·                     Individual and collaborative projects that present research and analysis related to the course content. Research must include a works cited page using MLA documentation. (1-3 pages).


(4) For those doing the Literature course revisions, here is the Literature course template (link also included in the above chart) to use which contains the above addition as well as the new distance learning piece: Revised Literature Template 2.1.18. 

(5) Other documents Kathleen emailed the English Department regarding revising course outlines:
Informational letter from Nancy Purcille Transfer Articulation Coordinator
Reading and Composition Curricular Goals and Guidelines 1

Preparing to get all our English Courses through Curriculum during Fall 2018:

(1) I emailed the chairs of the Curriculum Committee with an SLO question pertaining to our CORE English courses.  On 1/15/18, I emailed the English Department with the response:

In the past year or so I’ve kept hearing at different times in our English meetings that our Core English course SLOs were “too similar” and that we needed to change them.  Since we are currently in the process of revising them, I decided to investigate this further, so I contacted the Curriculum chairs and we now have a clear answer to this question which is that having the same SLOs but distinguishing by level is acceptable and appropriate.  See the attached for more details on the SLO question.  Here are our current SLOs for our Core English courses.

(2) Currently we have sign-ups to revise our CORE English courses for Fall 2018:
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

(3) We need to also make a list of all our other English courses and do a sign-up for people to revise the remaining English courses to be put through Curriculum during Fall 2018. 

(4) We also need to decide on the reading and writing page counts for all of the CORE English courses.  Here is the proposal:
English writing and reading page counts. 

(5) On 2/26, I sent an email to the English Department about finalizing the CORE English page counts:

Hello English,

I had hoped we could finalize the Core English course writing and reading page count requirements at our Friday English meeting, but the agenda looks pretty full.  Please take a look at the explanations and proposals below and share your feedback:
(body of email with page count proposals attached here in a Word .doc).


(6) Here is the April 6th English meeting focused entirely on the Core English course outlines:

Agenda for April 6th English meeting:
3:30-5pm in 4301
Facilitators: Lucia Lachmayr, Michael Cross, and Rachel Bell


(1) PAGE COUNTS:  (15 min)
Finalize the reading and writing page counts for the Core English classes 
We need to look at all the numbers highlighted in yellow and revise/confirm them.
Here is the updated proposal:
http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/PageRequirementsRev.doc

(2) SLOs:  (15 min)
Review the current SLOs on the Core English course outlines
Here are all the current SLOs for each level of English.  We can revise/confirm them:
http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/SLOscurrent.doc

And here is the Curriculum Committee response to the SLO question that the SLOs at each level can be the same but we just need to distinguish by level:
http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/SLOsanswer.docx

(3) CORE ENGLISH TEMPLATE  (30 min)
Here is the English template Kathleen, Liza, Chris, and I trimmed and streamlined spring 2017: 
http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/CoreEnglishCourseRevisions.doc
Revise the "generic" template to fit Curriculum requirements and our own desires for the core English courses.  Then all revision groups can start with this template as they revise each of the individual courses.  We will be submitting all core English classes through Curriculum during Fall 2018.

(4) BOOKS  (30 min)
We need to make sure there is no duplication of representative texts for each level with the exception of  the English Department Rhetoric.  We need to confirm 5-10 texts per level.  Current booklists for the Core English classes:
http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/CoreEnglishBooklists.doc

CORE English Course Revision Groups: 
English 828: Jarrod, Jessica and Chris
English 846: Jessica B., Susan, Rachel 
English 100: Chris, Lucia, Andrew, Nathan
English 105: Michael, Liza, Lucia, Chris, Erin
English 110: Jim, Michael, John, Liza, Rob
English 165: Kathleen


(6) After the 4/6 meeting, we incorporated all the changes to the template that the revisions groups will start from to build the revisions of the core English outlines.  This template also includes instructions and links to important materials to include:
http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/CoreEnglishTemplate.doc

(7) On 4/10, I sent the following reminder emails to each group.  I will check back in on each group on 4/23:

Hello English (course number) group,

At the last English meeting, we agreed to get the first revision of the core English course outlines completed by our next meeting on Friday, May 4th.  

This is a friendly reminder that you might want to set up a meeting in the next few weeks to complete the work.

Just download the template to begin with, and you'll see directions within as well as links to important materials to include:
http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/CoreEnglishTemplate.doc 

English Course Revision Groups: 
English 828: Jarrod, Jessica and Chris:  course has been banked
English 846: Jessica B., Susan, Rachel: http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/Eng846revisedApril2018.doc
English 100: Chris, Lucia, Andrew, Nathan: http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/Eng100revisedMay2018.doc
English 105: Michael, Liza, Lucia, Chris, Erin: http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/Eng105revisedMay2018.doc
English 110: Jim, Michael, John, Liza, Rob: http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/Eng110revisedMay2018.doc
English 165: Kathleen and Jim: http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/Eng165revisedApril2018.doc

Next English meeting in May:
We decided to focus on the Fall assessment and the final revisions on the English outlines 
(facilitators: Kathleen, Chris, Lucia and Rachel) 

(8) Since we set the writing and reading page counts at our 4-6 English meeting, I created an English-Literature Book Order form that contains the page count guidelines at the top.  This will help ensure book orders are complete and the review process is easy:

English-Literature Book Order (.doc)
English-Literature Book Order (.pdf)


Adding Model “A” papers examples/models to the Rhetoric:


In Fall 2018, I added 2 sample “A” student papers to Rhetoric, Chapter 12.  One student paper was written on poetry and the other analyzing a short story.  We are going to build on the repository of sample “A” papers to help students see clear models of the essay writing we are asking them to create.  During Spring 2018, I will be asking faculty to submit anonymous “A” student papers for the following levels:

* English 828
* English 846
* English 105/100
* English 110 (need papers analyzing plays and novels)
* English 165

Once the departments vets the papers as representative “A” papers, I will add them to Chapter 6: Evaluating Writing:
http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/6EvaluatingWriting.htm


Joint Projects Between English and the Writing and Reading Lab in the TLC:


(1) Chanel Daniels, coordinator of the Writing and Reading Lab (WRL), contacted me 1/22/18 and asked to get some projects going between the WRL and the TLC for Spring 2018. 

(2) On 2/2/18, Chanel, Christina and the new manager of the TLC met with Chris, Erinn, and I and we designed a flex opportunity for English and ESOL faculty to work with the tutors. 

(3) On 2/5/18, I sent the following email to all members of the English department and the TLC staff involved in the event:

Hello English,

The TLC reached out to us this semester to include us in their tutor training as our participation during the last March flex day was so beneficial and they received very positive feedback from the tutors.  Since this invite is just for English and ESOL faculty, this won't be included in the March Flex listings, so please mark this opportunity to meet and work with our current group of English and ESOL tutors on your calendars!  

Chris, Erinn and I met with Chanel, Christina and the new TLC manager Chelssee, and together we designed a portion of their March 8th tutor training to include English and ESOL faculty...

SAVE THE DATE:  Faculty Working with the WRL & ESOL Tutors 
Thursday, March 8th 1-3pm in the Learning Center:

(1) Initiating the session: breaking down the prompt (30 minutes of breaking down an actual prompt and discussing challenges and strategies)

(2) Best Practices for breaking down prompts: based on the discussion, we'll create a set of clear best practices in helping students understand and respond to writing prompts in a tutoring session (15 minutes)

(3) Responding to a student essay: using an actual student essay written from the prompt we just analyzed, we'll work together looking at ways we could give advice to a student in a tutoring session (30 minutes)

(4) Best Practices for responding to a student essay: based on the discussion, we'll create a set of clear best practices of setting priorities and using successful approaches in giving writing/revising advice to students during tutoring sessions (15 minutes)

If you have any questions or additional ideas, please let us know!

Rachel


(4) On 3/2/18, Erinn, Chris, and I will meet again with Chanel, Christina and Chelssee from 1-2pm in the TLC to examine potential students essays and prompts we can use for the 3/8/18 tutor training session.

(5) On 3/2, a special invitation flex flyer was put in all the mailboxes in Language Arts and also distributed at the Friday English meeting.

(6) On 3/8, we held the Flex Event which was well-attended, and later it was written up in Skyline Shines: The Learning Commons and Language Arts Collaborate to Flex for Student Success!


Create Public and “Clickable” Webpage for the Language Arts Orientation:


(1) During Spring 2017, we worked with the other departments in the Language Arts Division and created an Orientation (in .pdf format and PowerPoint) for new hires which also contains Division and Department “Best Practices” that are being constantly updated, revised and improved. 

(2) During Spring 2018, I will turn the Orientation into more accessible and “click-friendly” web pages (similar to the Rhetoric). This will also make it easier to revise the documents and because I will house it on the same web site as the Rhetoric, anyone in English with the password can access the documents for updates and revisions.

(3) On 4/25 I completed the website for the Orientation: http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/Orientation.htm

(4) In the Language Arts Canvas space under the “Skyline & Language Arts” section, I added a clickable table of contents for the entire Orientation.

(5) Also in the Language Arts space, within each department page for English, ESOL, Communication Studies, and World Languages, I added a link to the section in the orientation that contains their “Department Philosophies, Program Student Learning Outcomes (PSLOs) & Best Practices.”


Getting Faculty Feedback on Designing Back and Inside Covers of the Rhetoric :


(1) Email sent to the English faculty on 1/26/18:

 

Kevin in the bookstore just let me know that they now have new machines that can bind larger books, so after they sell the current stock of the Rhetoric with the spiral binding, all future copies will be bound (as seen in the picture).  The benefit?  More durable but also a bound copy can be sold back and now students can buy cheaper used versions as well as rent the book.  

Here are the approximate prices for the bound version of the Rhetoric which will most likely start being sold Fall 2018:

New $40

Used $30

Rent $15-20

Of course the Rhetoric is free online (http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/), but for students and teachers who prefer a print version, this will help with costs.  Those of you currently using the print version just received print copies in your mailboxes with the spiral binding.  This version will be the same (same contents and page numbers) as the upcoming bound version.

Also, we have a blank back cover as well as blank pages inside the front and back covers.  If anyone has any ideas of what they would like to see in those easily accessible spaces, let me know.




(2) On 4/24, I emailed the English Department with this suggestion for the back cover:
Back cover of Rhetoric (.doc format)
Back cover of Rhetoric (.pdf format)


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/


The Department decided on the following spring meetings and facilitators/planners:

February 2nd meeting (3:30-5pm): Working with the Librarians on the Information Literacy workshops for English 100 (facilitators/planners: Chris, Rob, Rachel, Kathleen, John, Jarrod, Nathan, Eric Brenner)

Met with the librarians on 1/24/18 and we creating the following agenda for the 2/2 meeting:

Friday Feb 2nd 3:30-5pm in electronic classroom in Library (2nd floor, building 5)
Meeting Organizers/Facilitators:  Eric, Kim, Rob, Rachel, Kathleen, Jim and Chris

Meeting Topic/Activity:  Revising the Information Literacy Workshops

OUTCOMES:  To have a concrete plan for revisions to the Information Literacy workshops for English 105/100 to be implemented in Fall 2018

AGENDA:
I. (30 mins)   All-group brainstorm: Likes and Suggested Improvements
                       What is working well with the workshops?  
                       What could be improved/revisited? 
II. (30 mins)  In small groups: make concrete plans for revisions/workshop structuring
III. (30 mins) Share out with the whole group and narrow down the Fall 2018 
                        implementation plan.

Ideas from planning meeting:
>Make workshops even more hands-on, balance content delivery with activities and tangible outcomes.
>Better ensure all students and instructors come to the workshops prepared i.e. tasks in workshop are directly related to the writing assignment the instructor has shared with the students and librarians ahead of time.
>Consider alternative approaches to scheduling workshops i.e. the instructor teaches one of the workshops in class and a librarian teaches the other workshop in the library, of the two workshops one is taught online, embed a librarian in the class with multiple class visits (give librarians laptops for class visits), individual/group projects rather than all-class workshops, pilot different approaches in fall.
>Have an end product for all classes after completing the workshops that is part of the student's grade i.e an annotated bibliography focused on their writing assignment. 

Here are the notes and outcomes from the meeting with the Librarians.

March 2nd meeting (3:30-5pm): Course Outlines: reading and writing page counts, completed Lit outline reviews, SLOs for Core English classes, discuss literature courses (facilitators/planners: Nathan, Kathleen, Rachel)

April 6th meeting (3:30-5pm): Norming and Assessment (Lucia, Michael, Rachel)

May 4th meeting (3:30-5pm): To be determined (John, Rachel)



Accomplishments for Spring 2018:

English Department Accomplishments Summary—Spring 2018


Revised and Submitted all our Literature Courses through Curriculum during Spring 2018:


At the beginning of Spring 2018, the English Department voted to revise all 19 of the Literature course outlines and submit them to Curriculum for approval in preparation for English Program Review which officially begins Fall 2018 and should be completed and ready for our campus presentation early Spring 2019.

First we created, vetted and revised the Literature Template and added reading and writing page counts for all of our literature courses:

              Reading Assignments: Students must read level-appropriate academic literary texts with a
                                                     cumulative page count of 500 to 600 pages for the semester.

              Writing Assignments: Students must write 2-3 essays per semester, totaling 10-15 pages (2500-3750 words) altogether. 
                                                     The essays must be analytical, unified, literature-based, use the conventions of literary analysis
                                                     and criticism, and effectively integrate and document sources according to MLA guidelines.

Then we used the template to revise all the literature course outlines and submitted them to the Curriculum Committee over the four spring meetings (3 were tabled for review for fall as they were “non-emergency”):

Lit course 1:   LIT. 154 Queer Literature – John and Rob
Lit course 2:   LIT. 231 Survey of British Literature I – Monique and Lucia
Lit course 3:   LIT. 370 Readings in Literature of the Latino in the United States – Lucia
Lit course 4:   LIT. 220 Introduction to World Literature I – Chris
Lit course 5:   LIT. 221 Introduction to World Literature II – Chris
Lit course 6:   LIT. 251 Women in Literature – Kathleen
Lit course 7:   LIT. 156 Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature – John
Lit course 8:   LIT. 201 American Literature I – John
Lit course 9:   LIT. 432 Folklore – John
Lit course 10: LIT. 101 Contemporary Literature - Michael
Lit course 11: LIT. 191 Children's Literature – Michael
Lit course 12: LIT. 155 The Graphic Novel – Liza
Lit course 13: LIT. 267 Filipino American Literature – Liza
Lit course 14: LIT. 232 Survey of British Literature II – Jim
Lit course 15: LIT. 266 Black Literature – Nathan
Lit course 16: LIT. 277 Film and Literature – Jarrod
Lit course 17: LIT. 151 Introduction to Shakespeare – Nina
Lit course 18: LIT. 265 Asian American Literature – Nina
Lit course 19: LIT. 202 American Literature II – Jessica


Revised our English Courses in preparation to submit them to Curriculum during Fall 2018:


We also created, vetted and revised the English course outline template: http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/CoreEnglishCourseRevisions.doc and we created reading and writing page counts for each course level: http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/PageRequirementsRev.doc. 

Then we used the template to revise the main English courses:

Revisions to English courses: 
English 828: Jarrod, Jessica and Chris:  course has been banked
English 846: Jessica B., Susan, Rachel: http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/Eng846revisedApril2018.doc
English 100: Chris, Lucia, Andrew, Nathan: http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/Eng100revisedMay2018.doc
English 105: Michael, Liza, Lucia, Chris, Erin: http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/Eng105revisedMay2018.doc
English 110: Jim, Michael, John, Liza, Rob: http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/Eng110revisedMay2018.doc
English 165: Kathleen and Jim: http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/Eng165revisedApril2018.doc

Still to do:
> Confirm/revise the booklists for each course: http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/CoreEnglishBooklists.doc
> Once all the booklists are confirmed, list all book titles using MLA formatting.
> English 105 group: create and add the “Affective Domain” SLO, continue the process to officially change the course name to “Composition with Support,” and look at Kathleen’s booklist suggestion highlighted in blue.
> English 100 group: look at Kathleen’s booklist suggestion highlighted in blue.
> English 110 group: look at the suggestions from Kathleen highlighted in blue and make decisions on potential revisions.
> Jim B. will take a look at the English 165 course outline with Kathleen to tighten/trim the additions highlighted in yellow.
> Make final revisions to the outlines and then submit them to Curriculum in Fall 2018
> In Fall 2018, make a plan to write up the Program Review document.
> In Fall 2018, create our English Program Review presentation and select an English teacher to present it to the school in Spring 2019.


New Book Order form for English-Literature:


To put the revisions to the reading page counts for our Literature and English courses into effect, I created a new book order form that captures all the new guidelines making it easier to place and review book orders:

English-Literature Book Order (.doc)
English-Literature Book Order (.pdf)


Added 12 Model “A” student papers examples to the Rhetoric:


During Fall 2017, we added two model student literature papers to Chapter 12: Literature in the Rhetoric.  During Spring 2018, we expanded the examples of model papers in the Rhetoric to better help students conceptualize A-level writing when analyzing fiction and non-fiction.  During Fall 2018, we will be doing more focused sessions on norming so we can use this work to add to/vet/revise these samples:

Model Student Papers Analyzing Non-Fiction:
      Model paper analyzing non-fiction: essay 1
      Model paper analyzing non-fiction: essay 2
      Model paper analyzing non-fiction: essay 3
      Model paper analyzing non-fiction: essay 4
      Model timed essay-75 min midterm exam on non-fiction
      Model timed essay-2.5 hour final exam on non-fiction

Model Student Papers Analyzing Fiction:
      Model paper analyzing a poem
      Model paper analyzing a short story
      Model paper analyzing a play
      Model paper analyzing a novel
      Model paper analyzing a graphic novel
      Model timed essay-75 min midterm exam on fiction
      Model timed essay-2.5 hour final exam on fiction


Joint Project Between English and the Writing and Reading Lab in the TLC:


Chanel Daniels, Christina Trujillo, and the new manager of the TLC Chelssee DeBarra met with Chris Gibson, Erinn Strauss, and I and we designed a flex opportunity for English and ESOL faculty to work with the tutors.  We designed the session together and sent out invitations via email and flyers.

On Thursday, March 8th 1-3pm we held “Faculty Working with the WRL & ESOL Tutors” session in the Learning Center. Here is the agenda and materials for the session. 


The event which was well-attended, and later it was written up in Skyline Shines: The Learning Commons and Language Arts Collaborate to Flex for Student Success!


Created a Public and “Clickable” Webpage for the Language Arts Orientation:


I took the Language Arts Division Orientation that English created with ESOL, Communication Studies, and World Languages and turned it into a more click-friendly and easily accessible webpage.  On the new website, the orientation is also available in PowerPoint, .doc and .pdf formats.   Additionally, the orientation contains division best practices as well as department specific PSLOs and best practices:

http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/Orientation.htm

Also in the Language Arts space, within each department page for English, ESOL, Communication Studies, and World Languages, I added a link to the section in the orientation that contains their “Department Philosophies, Program Student Learning Outcomes (PSLOs) & Best Practices.”


Created a Back Cover for the upcoming bound printed version of the Rhetoric:


Kevin Chak in the bookstore let us know that they now have a binding machine that can bind the Rhetoric into a book.  The benefits of this are that it will be more durable, students can now sell it back, students can purchase cheaper used copies, and students can rent copies. 

Kevin asked us to design something to put on the back cover (saving room for the barcode).  After sending out a department email asking for ideas, this is what we sent him:

Back cover of Rhetoric (.doc format)
Back cover of Rhetoric (.pdf format)

The bound copies will be available for purchase in Fall 2018 and here is the approximate pricing:
New $40
Used $30
Rent $15-20

The Rhetoric will still, of course, be entirely free online: http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/


Spring 2018 English Meetings


As English coordinator, I helped to organize, co-facilitate and take/post notes for our English Meetings.  All the notes and full agendas can be found in the English Department notes section in our Language Arts canvas page, but here is an overview of what we accomplished:

(1) Friday Jan 12th Meeting:
Meeting Organizers/Facilitators:  Kathleen and Rachel

Meeting Topic/Activity:  Selecting Meeting Content and Reviewing English Projects:

OUTCOMES:
>We selected the spring English meeting activities and facilitators
>We discussed the Annual Plan 
>We discussed Course outline revisions
>We discussed last semester’s Assessment Outcomes


(2) Friday Feb 2nd Meeting: 
Meeting Organizers/Facilitators (from library and English):  Eric, Kim, Rob, Rachel, Kathleen, Jim and Chris

Meeting Topic/Activity:  Revising the Information Literacy Workshops for English 105/100

OUTCOMES:
>We brainstormed together what works as well as suggested revisions for the library workshops.
>We got in two large groups to make concrete plans/suggestions for revisions to the workshops.
>We shared our new approaches for the library workshops i.e. embedded librarians, more hands-on workshops, clear assignments and tangible outcomes (annotated bibliographies), more student collaboration, library provides a “deli-menu” of different models: instructors can customize by choosing what to include and when.  Here are the notes and outcomes from the meeting with the Librarians.


(3) Friday March 2nd Meeting: 
Meeting Organizer/Facilitator:  Kathleen Feinblum

Meeting Topic/Activity:  Revising Literature and English Course Outlines

OUTCOMES:
>Updated everyone on the progress of revising and putting all the Literature course outlines through Curriculum
>Started process of revising the English course outlines.


(4) Friday April 6th Meeting: 
Meeting Organizer/Facilitator:  Lucia, Kathleen, and Rachel

Meeting Topic/Activity:  Revising English Course Outlines

OUTCOMES:
>We selected writing and reading page counts for our English classes
>We revised/confirmed our SLOs for our English courses
>We revised the English course template
>We set up guidelines for course outline booklists


(4) Friday May 4th Meeting: 
Meeting Organizer/Facilitator:  Lucia Lachmayr, Michael Cross, Chris Gibson, Kathleen Feinblum and Rachel Bell

Meeting Topic/Activity:  Revising English Course Outlines and Revising and Planning Assessment and Norming

OUTCOMES:
>We went over the proposed revisions to each English class and made revisions together.
>We made the following plans regarding Fall Assessment and Norming:

(1) NORMING: On one of the August flex days (8/13 or 8/14), we will meet as a department to Norm.  A number of faculty will come with a norming set: essays they feel represent an A, B, C and not-passing.  The set of papers should all be in response to the same course assignment. We will then work together to come to consensus on the most representative norming sets.

(2) ENGLISH 110 ASSESSMENT:
>During Fall 2018, each instructor teaching Engl 110 will collect a random sample of 8-10 essays from each section s/he is teaching.
>The essays collected should be text-based, all from the same course assignment, include the integration of outside sources, and should be work assigned after the semester midterm.
>We will adapt the English Department rubric to include numbered scoring and add ISLOs so we can also map up to our Institutional level outcomes.  We will then use this as our assessment scoring tool.
>We will mix together the English 110 essays that were collected and give each instructor a set of 8-10 essays to assess.  Instructors will read the essays on their own and Karen Wong will help us set up a NoviSurvey where we can enter in our scores for each paper.
>We will compile the scores from NoviSurvey and set a meeting to discuss the results.