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Projects
for Spring 2021:
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Project
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Activities
&Accomplishments
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Plan, co-facilitate and take notes for all English meetings:
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The individual meeting notes, outcomes and materials
produced are all posted on our Division Canvas site:
https://smccd.instructure.com/courses/8220/discussion_topics/19827
Spring 2021 English
meetings: all spring meetings will be held online via Zoom
Here
is the spring schedule for meeting as decided at the 2/19/21 meeting:
All spring meetings are being held on Fridays 2-3:30pm:
February 19th: Norming
& Assessment led by Michael Cross and selecting the spring meeting
content. Afterwards, Michael, Rob, Nina and I met to create a English 100-105 Survey.docx for
the Spring 2021 affective domain assessment of English 100 and 105. The
survey was given to students with a completion deadline of 3-15-21. At the
end of Spring 2021, we will ask our students to take the same survey again.
March 19th: Resource
requests (updating the APP), Finalizing core reading and writing
requirements: Revision
notes from 12-7-20.docx, Coordinator position discussion (continue it?
Rotate it? Transform it? Who would be a good fit? Redesign it?)
April 16th: Making
English department equity statements, creating a united shared mission/purpose,
and sharing assignment prompts and projects (through an equity lens).
Afterwards, add the new statements to the English Department website.
May 21st: SWOT
(Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis at the end of
the semester.
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Revise and Submit Reading & Writing Requirements on CORE Course
Outlines:
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(1) Revisit the proposed reading and writing
requirement changes that the English Department made at the December
2020 meeting.
(2) Confirm the proposed changes at
the 3-19-21 English meeting.
(3) Make the changes in Curricunet and set up for Curriculum Committee
review.
Background from Fall 2020:
On 7/29/20, Katie brought to my and
Chris’s attention that the IGETC word requirements have changed, so we need
to revisit what we require on our course outlines for: English 846, 105,
100, 110 and 165:
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Hern, Katie
Wed 7/29/2020 12:18 PMMore actions
To: Bell, Rachel
K.; Gibson, Chris
Sounds good.
As I look at the language
Rachel quoted from our course outlines, I think we may also want to talk
about the specification that the required word count be comprised of
"formal typed pages." I believe the IGETC materials only
specify 5,000 words of writing, without reference to all of them being
"formal."
As I read the longer description of IGETC expectations for
freshman comp (p. 16), it seems that a lot of the smaller kinds of
writing we require -- such as discussion board posts in response to
course readings, annotated bibliography entries -- could also be included
in the 5,000 word count.
Katie
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(4) At March 19th,
2021 English meeting, we reviewed the writing and reading revisions.
(5) I made all approved changes in Curricunet, made the revisions requested
by the Curriculum Committee review process and the changes were approved at
the 5/5/21 meeting. The changes will
be reflected in the official course outlines in time to be adapted into
syllabi for Fall 2021.
(6) I sent the email below to the English Department announcing the
changes:
Hello English,
As you work on your Fall 2021 syllabi due on
5/14, I wanted to let you know that at the 5/5 Curriculum Committee
meeting, they approved our changes to the page count and text requirements
that we worked on last semester and then revisited and approved at our
3/19/21 English meeting. Below are the changes highlighted in yellow
so please adjust your Fall syllabi accordingly:
CHANGE: The IGETC standards for word count in transfer-level
comp have been decreased from 6,000 to 5,000 words (IGETC policies cover
courses transferring to UC and CSU systems):
https://icas-ca.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Summary-IGETC-Standards-2.1-Edits-June-3-2020.pdf
English 100/105/110: Writing Assignments Must Include:
• 3-6 formal
text-based essays focused around a thesis statement, organized logically
and coherently, developed with specific evidence and analysis, and
proofread/edited on the sentence and formatting levels.
• The majority of non-timed writing should effectively incorporate outside
research applying the skills taught by the librarians in the Information
Literacy component.
• In addition to formal writing, less formal expository
writing practice should be assigned i.e. drafts, reading journals,
freewriting, discussion posts, etc.
• English reading and written composition
must include substantial instruction and practice in expository essay
writing at the college level with a minimum of 20 to 24 page (5,000 words)
including practice in timed writing. (IGETC and CID
language—justification for Curriculum Committee)
English 165: Writing Assignments Must Include;
• 3-6 formal text-based essays
focused around a thesis statement, organized logically and coherently,
developed with specific evidence and analysis, and proofread/edited on the
sentence and formatting levels.
• In addition to formal writing, less formal expository
writing practice should be assigned i.e. drafts, reading journals,
freewriting, discussion posts, etc.
• English reading and written composition
must include substantial instruction and practice in expository essay
writing at the college level with a minimum of 20 to 24 page (5,000 words)
including practice in timed writing.
• The majority of non-timed writing should effectively incorporate outside
research.
REVISIONS TO READING REQUIREMENTS
English 100/105: Reading Assignments should be principally non-fiction
and must include:
• Level-appropriate academic reading that totals 500 to 600 pages outside
of the writing/reading instruction.
• A minimum of one non-fiction full-length
book (64 pages or more).
• Readings must be assigned in addition to the full-length text, and could include other
full-length texts, anthologies/collections of readings, multimedia texts, creative
non-fiction, graphic texts, academic journals, podcasts, etc.
• Rhetoric is required. The English Department Rhetoric What, Why and How
is free and available online. http://accounts.smccd.edu/skyenglish/
English 165: Reading Assignments should be principally non-fiction and
must include:
• Level-appropriate academic reading that totals 500 to 600 pages outside of the
writing/reading instruction.
• A minimum of one non-fiction full-length
book (64 pages or more).
• Texts which address concerns facing our society and reflects diversity in
our national and global population. Types of reading can include: academic
texts and serious trade publications which explore commentary, politics,
culture, finance, and the arts.
• Primary sources are required.
• Additional readings could include other full-length texts,
anthologies/collections of readings, multimedia texts,
academic journals, podcasts,
etc.
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Coordinate Literature Rotation with Sister Colleges:
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(1) On 2/2/21, Doniella Maher from Canada contacted
Teeka James from CSM and I about coordinating our literature rotations. I
responded and added David Lau from CSM and Teeka responded and said she forwarded
the message to David Lau, Daniel Keller and Tim Maxwell (who is leading
their literature committee.
(2) On 2/23/21, I emailed everyone listed above with Skyline’s literature rotation along with CSM’s literature rotation. I also asked if they all wanted to set up
a zoom meeting to discuss coordinating our literature offerings in the
district:
Coordinating Literature Offerings Across Our Campuses
Bell,
Rachel K.
Tue 2/23/2021 10:18 AM
To: James, Katherine "Teeka”; Maher,
Doniella; Lau, David; Gibson, Chris; Keller, Daniel; Maxwell, Timothy
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to circle back to our earlier discussion that Doniella
started about coordinating our literature offerings within the
district. I am adding the folks at CSM that Teeka indicated are on
their Literature committee. I have also attached here the current
literature rotations for Skyline and CSM.
Next steps?
Should we set up a Zoom meeting to put our heads together about how to best
coordinate our literature offerings? If that works. I am happy to set
it up on Zoom. Let me know your thoughts.
Rachel Bell
(3)
On 3/1/21, Doniella, Tim and I met and we joined our course offerings into
one document to be able to eliminate conflicts of course offerings. We also
discussed better and continued coordination between the 3 colleges
regarding the Literature rotation.
And we discussed how to better design and maintain our literature
classes and encourage English majors. Here are the notes: LitRotation 3-1-21 notes.docx
(4) On 3/15/21, Doniella, Tim and I met again after sharing our Literature
rotation suggestions with our deans.
We also discussed how to eliminate the survey course conflicts
between CSM and Skyline. Lastly, we created a shared google doc listing all
our Literature Rotations: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VRRsIxBiZQrCOtjDLWFUqYyyLM0Avb07ocNYseeF_PU/edit?usp=sharing
CSM offers their survey courses using this rotation:
CSM offers their required surveys courses in
this rotation:
Fall 2021: Brit
I
Spring 2022:
Brit II
Fall 2022:
American I
Spring 2023:
American II
Repeat above
rotation
And here is Skyline’s revised Literature rotation with the CSM conflicts
removed: Literature
Rotation Skyline revised 3-17-21.doc
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Consolidating Literature Courses:
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(1) I will consolidate two-part courses of World
Literature and America Literature, and submit in Curricunet and to the
Curriculum Committee.
(2) Here is some history and advice on this from Kathleen from Nov 2019:
From: Feinblum, Kathleen <feinblumk@smccd.edu>
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2019 10:34 AM
We’ve been hit with a lot of questions regarding the Lit rotation.
Here is the information I have. I’ve been trying to dig out from a stack of
“to dos” so here it is:
LIT ROTATION:
The English Department voted to consolidate American Lit and World
Literature into one class respectively. This means I have to “create” the
single classes and re-submit to the Curriculum Committee. We have several
choices (See attached CO):
1. If I create one American Literature course, we can adopt Canada’s Course Outline for LIT 200 and call it
LIT 200.
2. If I create one Global Lit Course we can adopt CSM’s
Introduction to World Lit or Canada’s
New Voices in World Literature and call it LIT 220 and LIT 205
respectively.
3. We can keep the Course Outline that we created for CPR and I would
need to request new course numbers, alter the title and make sure the
pre-req’s match.
(3) Chris said to check with Marianne Beck regarding
any literature course changes to make sure articulation is not affected.
(4) Email received from Marianne on 4/1/21:
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Hi Rachel,
Yes, I remember this conversation around the time of CPR,
to refresh my memory I put together the attached spreadsheet: Literature Courses
Articulation.xlsx that shows
the articulation for English Majors at our top transfer partners, take a
look and see what you think.
To me it looks like consolidating World Literature is fine
since now it tends to be a single course at the four-years. Canada, LIT.
205, is articulated, so it doesn’t seem like offering only one course
will affect articulation negatively.
However, I’m a little less sure about consolidating
American Literature because that series still seems to be required (at
least in part) at most of these schools, and our articulation is pretty
solid. We can look at Cañada’s articulation of LIT. 200 and you will see
it is not articulated everywhere Skyline’s series is articulated, that
gives us an idea of what would happen, if we were to consolidate, there
would be a loss of articulation at some schools.
The most consequential impact I see is at UCB, UCD, CSUCI,
CSUC, and Sac State (if we articulated those courses, which we should; I
believe was waiting for a decision to be made before trying to articulate
them).
Something to note is that CSM offers all of the same
courses as we do, I wonder if, instead of consolidating LIT. 201/202, the
two departments could get together and develop a rotating schedule? That
would lessen the impact on both departments while still making the
courses available for students majoring in English.
One last thing, for the courses you decide to consolidate,
we cannot offer the new course(s) until we have all the new UC and GE
designations, and have replaced all the articulation, that will take
around 18 months.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Marianne
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(5) My response:
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Thank you so
much for all this information and background Marianne!
As timing would have it, I have been working with folks
from CSM and Canada this semester to coordinate our literature courses,
so I think you are right, with better communication with the other
schools, we won't have those class repeats anymore. Chris, I don't
remember why we wanted to do the other consolidations. When you get
a chance, can you take a look at Marianne's notes and let me know what
(if any) action you'd like me to take regarding literature course
revisions or consolidations.
Rachel
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Continue Collaboration between ESOL & English started Spring 2020:
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(1) On Flex day, March 5, 2020, we held a collaborative workshop with the
English and ESOL Departments. Here
was the agenda: ESOL-ENGLFlex2020.pdf and here
are the notes listing future collaborative projects: Flex workshop notes 3-5-20.docx
(2) On 2/23/21, I emailed Erinn in ESOL checking in on past and future
ESOL-English Collaborations:
ESOL-English Connections
Bell,
Rachel K.
Tue 2/23/2021 10:29 AM
Hi Erinn!
I hope your semester is going well and that your new hire Felicia is
transitioning to well to full-time life 🙂.
So I wanted to check back in with you about our on-going ESL-English
Connections (although this has been a little suspended with being 100% online).
Below are my notes from last semester. As the English Coordinator,
would you like me to follow up on any of these? Are there other
projects or collaborations you guys in ESOL are interested in regarding
connecting with English?
On 8/28/20, Erinn contacted Jarrod, Michael and Katie to
follow up on these items:
Item 1: Erinn and Katie met to discuss:
English and ESOL can work together to help guide students make the decision
of placement and make the course differences very
clear and transparent (ESOL created a chart for counselors with the course
differences so perhaps we could add this to the English
Department website—we could add hyperlinks, essays, texts, assignments to
better clarify).
Erinn said to wait on this item as ESOL is still awaiting guidance from the
state in terms of placement and AB705.
Item 2: Erinn contacted Michael and I told her we could also
address this at the 10/7 English meeting:
a. We could flag certain Engl 105 courses with added ESOL support or having
embedded support from an ESOL expert
(grad student).
b. Have ESOL faculty with English min quals teach sections of
Engl 105 with enhanced language support.
c. English through curriculum committee can create a course that
assigns ESOL as one of the disciplines that can teach particular
English courses.
Item 3: Erinn contacted Jarrod about this item and I said I
would also bring this up at the 10/7 English meeting:
Could design ways for ESOL students to feel more confident speaking in a
“mainstream” class. Maybe design “field trips” to English
classes or TLC.
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Revise English Placement Information:
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(1) On 2-23-21, Chris asked that I review and revise the English placement
information:
https://skylinecollege.edu/placement/englishplacement.php
(2) Chris said he will update me on this issue after he speaks to Goldie in
the assessment center.
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