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Well, actually, the fall semester wasn’t delayed at all. Only my post to this blog 
.
Welcome back everyone! I have to say that it was pretty incredible coming back this semester and having seven–SEVEN– comp/rhet faculty at our first meeting. We’ve come a long way in terms of faculty hiring and program development in a very short time. When I took over the Coordinator position, we had three comp/rhet faculty members.
There has also been a pretty rapid increase in student interest in upper-level composition courses. ENG 430 Rhetorical Traditions/Contemporary Renditions, went live in the Spring 2007 semester and this coming Spring, my new course ENG 316 Rhetoric, Democracy, Advocacy will be offered for the first time. Amy Lynch-Biniek authored a new course, ENG XXX Composition and Rhetoric Studies which is making its way through the curricular process and will be one of the key courses for our proposed concentration in Composition, Rhetoric, and Literacy Studies. Linda Cullum will be submitting her new course, ENG XXX Women, Writing, Rhetoric to the curriculum committees this semester. In addition, our ENU 405 Teaching of Writing, continues to fill every semester with graduate and undergraduate students. Needless to say, we are excited about the direction our program is headed!
This semester I hope to get all our comp/rhet faculty up and running on this blog too. This way you can hear from all of us…of different approaches to teaching, latest scholarship, thoughts on writing and rhetoric, musings, and random contributions to this little space.
I am going to leave for now…but will return soon! Thanks for taking the time to check in.
So, at today’s meeting of PaSSHE College Ready and Placement Work Group we’re hearing from Kathleen Howley, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Academic and Student Affairs. At the moment, we’re talking about course numbering. Yes, course numbering. We were just given a handout showing course equivalencies and course numbers across the State System. As it turns out, Kutztown is the only campus that has Gen Ed courses–like composition–that begin with a zero (0) (ENG 022, 023, 025, etc.). According to Howley and Ira Blake (also Assistant Vice Chancellor of Academic and Student Affairs), it is Board of Governor policy that all introductory courses should be listed as 100 level courses. Apparently, 0-level courses are supposed to be “remedial” classes. So, despite the fact that equivalencies/transferability has already been established by a State organization TAOC (Transfer Articulation Oversight Committee), the assumption is being made by legislators and PaSSHE administration that we (KU) are giving college credit for remedial courses.
This just gets more and more amazing each day.
Late morning/lunch work “writing group” was interesting. Lots of discussion at the way placement happens at all 14 State System universities. Some have tests, but a couple institutions do variations of directed self-placement. Other universities do a portfolio system. There seems to be a general agreement in the writing group that it might be possible to lay out some consistencies across the 14 as to what we expect in college level writing, which is DIFFERENT from what you might find in a placement test. For example, flexibility in responding to different audiences; writing in different genres; incorporating research.
Yet, there is a wide range in the preparation of students across the State System schools. Jim Moran in clear that some universities WILL HAVE TO change the way they do placement…although he is not being specific as to which universities. Everything, however, points to directed self-placement as a “problem” that is not assessable in a way that will be consistent across all 14.
There seems to be a general “sense” at the table that we can distinguish between what we expect in college-level writing and what are some of the barriers students face (at least that’s how I am trying to argue the case). What comes up consistently is the lack of funding from the the State System to support best practices–such as required portfolios from all new students, or even the kind of directed self-placement we do at Kutztown.
Moran seems to be genuinely invested in the process, but is non-committal to guarantee funding to support best practices.
Just moments ago, we had a pretty heated debate over the question of “remediation” and what kind of courses we are talking about.
Hey all…I’m back from San Francisco and getting ready for next week’s Composition Conference for Student Writers. And now…the latest vlog:
As we get closer to the beginning of the semester, I expect that many faculty members–new AND returning–will be looking for ideas for their college composition courses. Those of you who have been around for a while might remember the faculty/student/grad student resources pages that I had on our old web site. Well, I am slowly but surely rebuilding them on our new site.
Early today I posted a “Resources @ KU” page which contains a link to “Faculty Resources.” Over the next several weeks I will be (re)building resources pages for students and grad students. But, given that faculty are beginning to think about their fall courses I wanted to post some sample syllabi asap.
So, if you are looking to switch up your composition classes this fall, or you are one of our new faculty members who will be teaching composition here in the fall, please check out our Faculty Resources Page!
Our ad for a tenure-track position in Composition and Rhetoric for fall 2009 is now posted on Kutztown University’s web site:
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Kutztown University of Pennsylvania enrolls approximately 10,000 students in graduate and undergraduate programs. The University is located in the borough of Kutztown in a charming rural setting, and is within 20 minutes driving time of the diverse metropolitan areas Allentown/Bethlehem and Reading, and within 60 minutes of the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The University is very interested in hiring employees who have had extensive experience with diverse populations.
The English Department invites applications for a tenure-track position in Composition and Rhetoric beginning Fall 2009. Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric preferred, ABD accepted with completion of dissertation before second year of appointment. Demonstrated experience and research in one or more of the following areas a plus: History of Composition and Rhetoric, Classical Rhetorics, Multicultural Rhetorics, Visual Rhetorics, Writing Program Administration, Assessment of First-Year Writing, or WAC. Strong applicants will also be committed to a “stretch model” approach to introductory composition courses.
The 4/4 teaching load will include College Composition, Introduction to College Composition, Honors Composition, and Advanced Composition with opportunities to develop and teach upper-level and graduate courses in Composition, Rhetoric, and Literacy Studies. Three (3) years of college-level teaching experience required with significant experience teaching Composition. Successful interview and demonstration of teaching abilities required.
Send a letter of application, vita, three current letters of reference, and all official college-level transcripts to Dr. Kevin Mahoney, Chair, Composition Faculty Search Committee, 241 Lytle Hall, English Department, Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA 19530. Only complete application packets will be considered. Review of applications will begin November 14, 2008 for MLA interviews and will continue until the position is filled. For more information on our program, visit our website at: http://kucomprhet.wordpress.com or contact the Committee Chair at Mahoney@kutztown.edu.
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer and actively solicits applications from women and minority candidates. Kutztown University of Pennsylvania is a member of the State System of Higher Education.
Well, we’re just about at the end of the semester. Saturday’s graduation ceremonies will bring the semester to a symbolic close, while the deadline to turn in grades by Tuesday will mark THE END. While these moments tend to send me into a deep reflective space–thinking about all that has happened over the course of the academic year–I find myself looking forward instead.
In many ways this year brought a lot into focus for me about our composition program. I think the success of this year’s Composition Conference for First-Year Student Writers helped frame the incredible work that faculty and students are doing here. It also helped me focus on further developing our program over the next several years. In the fall we will begin a search for our fifth tenure-track composition hire. We also began to circulate a draft of a new concentration in the department: Composition, Rhetoric, and Literacy Studies (CRLS). I’m just about done with a proposal for a new course called “Rhetoric, Democracy, Advocacy.” It feels like we are turning a corner–what lies around that corner is still a bit of a mystery.
In any case, I’d like to thank all the faculty who teach composition in our department–especially those faculty who participated in our weekly Composition Conversations, (quasi) monthly meetings of the CRG, and who made the fourth Composition Conference such a success. I would also like to put in a special thanks to the faculty who have taught the majority of our composition courses: our non-tenure track (aka “temporary”) faculty. I know I am not alone in noting their tremendous commitment to their students despite sub-par working conditions. I am hoping that the new offices coming on-line over the summer will be a step toward equity and recognition.
Some things to look for:
- Summer I: An on-line survey on teaching composition at KU
- Suggestions for next year’s CRG
- Planning for a “Composition Fair” in August
- Early planning for next year’s Composition Conference (April 3, 2009)
- More blog ramblings from our composition faculty!
Have a great summer!
Toward A Definition of 21st-Century Literacies
Adopted by the NCTE Executive Committee
February 15, 2008
Literacy has always been a collection of cultural and communicative practices shared among members of particular groups. As society and technology change, so does literacy. Because technology has increased the intensity and complexity of literate environments, the twenty-first century demands that a literate person possess a wide range of abilities and competencies, many literacies. These literacies—from reading online newspapers to participating in virtual classrooms—are multiple, dynamic, and malleable. As in the past, they are inextricably linked with particular histories, life possibilities and social trajectories of individuals and groups. Twenty-first century readers and writers need to
• Develop proficiency with the tools of technology
• Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and
cross-culturally
• Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of
purposes
• Manage, analyze and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous
information
• Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts
• Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments
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