Writing Help at Passaic This Fall

During the Fall 2011 semester, a Writing Consultant will be available at the Passaic Academic Center (PAC) during the following days:

Tuesdays 11:30 - 2:30

Wednesdays 1:00 - 4:00

Unfortunately, due to scheduling difficulties, we are unable to accept walk-ins. Students need to make an appointment prior to coming. If you need an appointment, please contact either Martha Brozyna or Elizabeth Nesius

Writing and Critical Thinking

There seem to be as many definitions of critical thinking as there are courses that include it. We have a writing intensive section of our critical thinking class, CT 101, here at PCCC. I have taught one of those sections since last spring.

There is at least general agreement in what I read about using critical thinking (CT) that these components are part of what using critical thinking in an academic setting includes:

• Mindful, conscious, reflective thinking about the task before making decisions about what to believe or do.
• Being able to assess the authenticity, accuracy, and the value of information (evidence) and arguments.
• Self-directed inquiry, analysis and critique.

The reason why critical thinking fits so well into a writing initiative is fairly obvious when you look at those elements. They already look very much like what we are teaching in traditional writing classes when we teach the essay or research writing. By that, I mean writing/critical thinking elements such as:

1. Using a process to evaluate a thesis (proposition, hypotheses, judgment) and then supply well-supported evidence. 
2. Determine if the evidence found is valid
3. In that process (of decision-making, research, problem-solving) generate options, looking at opposing viewpoints and make discriminating judgments.
4. Arrive at a conclusion(s) that is the most reasonable based on the evidence.

In our own Initiative faculty development, we have now trained more than 50 full-time and part-time instructors in teaching WI courses which includes writing pedagogy, critical thinking and information literacy. It is sometimes surprising to instructors how well those three areas work together,

Perhaps the biggest myth we have to dispel is that "every course already has critical thinking."  Though certainly every course has the potential for CT and students are always "thinking", unless the teacher and the students are aware that they are using CT techniques and are asked to reflect on that process, there is little resulting improvement in those skills.

One aspect of this that we have found in our analysis of the Initiative is that our students are better at finding evidence than they are at discriminating appropriate evidence and being able to accurately interpret it. This is no new finding. The use if the Internet has made all of us better at finding information, but has no positive effect (possibly a negative effect) on evaluating and interpreting what we find. Those two latter skills need to be consciously taught. They are not learned by simply being asked to find information or "do research."

There are many sites online that deal with critical thinking and also CT and writing. Our CT101 course site and sites like criticalthinking.org are good starting places. There are other colleges working on these initiative. We have crossed paths at several conferences with the folks at Georgia State who are doing a CT and writing program.

Writing Center in Paterson Fall Hours

The Writing Center has officially opened!

On the main campus, we are open Monday-Friday with the following hours.

Monday
10:00 AM - 8:00 PM

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
9:00 AM - 8:00 PM

Friday
10:00 AM - 5:30 PM

The Writing Center provides help to students who are taking or have taken a writing-intensive course and students preparing to take the CWE. We accept both walk-ins and appointments, although we get busy starting around midterms!

For more information about hours, workshops, and making appointments, go to the Writing Center LibGuide.

Welcome Back

Today is the first day of the fall 2011 semester at PCCC. The Writing Center staff wishes you a successful semester!

We remind those of you that are taking your first Writing Intensive course section this semester that you are now encouraged to come to the Center for help with your writing in that class and in any writing tasks from your classes.

Taking a WI course is you entry into the Center's database (which allows you to make appointments easily online). WI courses require the use of tutoring - eTutoring or the Writing Center - and your instructor may require using our services.

The Writing Center can help you at any stage of the writing process - topic formation, first drafts, revision and bibliographies.

The Center can also help you in starting out using your WI electronic portfolio, eTutoring and using the online appointment program.

We hope to see you in the Center this semester!

Achieving the Dream at PCCC

Today was scheduled to be the college convocation, but Hurricane Irene and a record flood stage on the Passaic River and the Great Falls here in Paterson has cancelled that.

One of the main topics for convocation was to be discussion on our participation in Achieving the Dream. Achieving the Dream is a national nonprofit dedicated to helping more community college students succeed, particularly students of color and low-income students. 

Achieving the Dream advances community college student success through work on four fronts: 

1. Transforming community colleges 
2. Influencing policy 
3. Developing new knowledge 
4. Engaging the public  

Passaic County Community College (PCCC) opened in 1971 with a few hundred students. Today, PCCC enrolls more than 8,000 students a year in over 60 associate degree, certificate, and diploma programs. The college is also home to an extensive program of ESL, continuing education, and customized training. The college operates four campus locations including the main campus in Paterson, academic centers in Passaic and Wanaque, and a public safety academy in Wayne, New Jersey. 

PCCC is federally-defined as a Hispanic-Serving Institution, one of approximately 230 such colleges and universities nationwide, and is among the most diverse colleges in the state and the nation. The Writing Initiative grant which we work on here is a Title V federal grant for Hispanic-Serving Institutions. 

The most recent graduating class of PCCC included students from 54 different nations. Serving a largely at-risk, disadvantaged student population, PCCC has students attending the college at varying levels of academic, social, and financial need. The total student enrollment for Fall 2009 was comprised of 48% Hispanic and Latino students and 17% were African American students. 

Improving student success is a goal of the college’s Strategic Plan, which is linked to PCCC's seven institutional goals. Passaic County also envisions the improvement of teaching and learning for diverse students, and the re-engineering of tutorial laboratory services for ESL and developmental students.

With the help and guidance of Achieving the Dream, the college seeks to:

• Provide a learner-centered environment focused on student success
• Make higher education accessible to the community they serve
• Develop interventions targeting specific groups of at-risk students

Within the past seven years, PCCC has undertaken a comprehensive effort to improve student writing skills. In 2004, the college gathered data that indicated that poor student writing was prevalent throughout the institution and was therefore eroding the quality of academic programs. The college has since been able to establish a College Writing Center on its main campus, therefore providing students enrolled in writing intensive courses with access to writing support from trained tutors. PCCC leaders hope that Achieving the Dream will assist them in reallocating resources for their initiatives as well as help them to expand more promising programs and services.

http://www.achievingthedream.org

PCCC Poetry Center Receives NEA Grant

The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College (PCCC) has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

The Poetry Center will use the funding to provide free poetry workshops to seniors in Passaic County and publish an anthology of their work.

The Poetry Center was founded in 1980 by Executive Director Maria Mazziotti Gillan. For over 30 years, it has organized quality programs that have brought it to national attention, such as the Paterson Literary Review, four poetry contests, and a cable TV show.

The Center reaches more than one million people annually, and is unique not only because of the number and variety of services it offers, but because of its connection with an urban, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic community. It brings national attention to our college.

The Poetry Center at PCCC is one of 1,145 not-for-profit national, regional, state, and local organizations recommended for a grant as part of the federal agency's second round of fiscal year 2011 grants. In total, the NEA will distribute more than $88 million to support projects nationwide.

Maria Gillan with then U.S.Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz
at a Poetry Center reading in 2001.