PCCC Making A Writing Connection With Area High School Teachers

A component of the Writing Initiative this year is to make connections with the area high schools that send students to the college.

The Writing Initiative's Connections involves collaborating with area schools to share the best practices in teaching writing across disciplines.

This connection to other schools should help PCCC increase student success by providing coordination prior to and after their PCCC experiences. We also hope to provide faculty and staff development opportunities that support student success.

Research shows that integration of critical thinking and writing skills into all classrooms helps student performance and understanding of the discipline being taught. The Initiative has created Faculty Institutes for PCCC faculty that offer hands-on, collaborative activities designed to strengthen the integration of critical thinking and writing skills in general educations courses. Teachers earn classroom action-research activities and strategies for gaining immediate feedback on student learning.

The Initiative team will hold two 2-day seminars for area high school teachers in any discipline who are interested in fostering writing across the disciplines.

The first of these will be next week - June 28 & 29 - with a second event on August 23 & 24.

During the 2010-2011 academic year, we plan to spread those connections to to the 4-year colleges where our students often matriculate after completing their Associate degrees.

For more on the Connections program, go to http://pccc.libguides.com/connection

Seventh Faculty Institute Event Held

Professors Griedanus and Risher bonding during the June Institute.
They are preparing Biology II and Public Speaking respectively
as WI offerings for this fall.

The Writing Initiative team held its seventh Faculty Institute this month for instructors preparing courses as Writing Intensive for fall 2010.

This four-day Institute was held June 1-4, 2010.

The topics addressed during the 4 days of seminar-style sessions included:

• The Course Development Handbook
• Defining a Writing-Intensive Course
• Faculty Professional Development
• Goals: Initiative goals and alignment with discipline-specific goals
• Requirements of a WI Course
• WI Courses Syllabi
• Formal and informal writing
• Creating formal writing assignments
• Responding to student writing
• The Writing Center and Support for Students and Faculty

• Creating LibGuides and using media
• Critical thinking through writing – assignment creation and rubric use
• Information literacy – creating assignments, rubric and template
• Assessment of WI Courses and the Writing Initiative
• Portfolios – structuring student use, tech support, use by the instructor, student reflections, and Initiative assessment
• The PCCC Task Force