Breakout 03, Panel 03: Multi-literacies in the FYW Classroom

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    Inspiring Persistence: Building theme-based units to engage and challenge first-year composition students handout
    (Honolulu: 2017 UH First-Year Writing Symposium, 2017-04-08) Alexander, Mary
    One of the biggest challenges I face in my ENG 100 classes is engaging students.  In the past, no matter how hard I worked to choose current, real-world, Hawaii-relevant topics, most of my efforts fell short. These problems appeared to be compounded with the advent of the UHCC acceleration mandate, as more first-year composition students would be entering our classes with weaker reading and writing skills. Last Fall, inspired by a unit from the Baltimore CC ALP program shared with me by Windward CC’s Jenny Webster, I tried teaching first-year composition by creating a theme-based unit comprised of a diverse collection of instructor-selected texts, from classic peer-reviewed articles to rap poetry, all centered around one or more guiding questions.  Not only did this method interest students, it increased students’ opportunities to write from sources from semester start, practice critical reading comprehension skills, and practice writing skills in low-stakes ways; modeled real-world research and non-genre-specific response; eliminated textbook cost; and engaged students in such a way that many --including ALP students--chose to rise to the challenge.  In this presentation, I will share my experience building a successful theme-based unit to inspire students to persist and succeed.
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    Inspiring Persistence: Building theme-based units to engage and challenge first-year composition students presentation notes
    (Honolulu: 2017 UH First-Year Writing Symposium, 2017-04-08) Alexander, Mary
    One of the biggest challenges I face in my ENG 100 classes is engaging students.  In the past, no matter how hard I worked to choose current, real-world, Hawaii-relevant topics, most of my efforts fell short. These problems appeared to be compounded with the advent of the UHCC acceleration mandate, as more first-year composition students would be entering our classes with weaker reading and writing skills. Last Fall, inspired by a unit from the Baltimore CC ALP program shared with me by Windward CC’s Jenny Webster, I tried teaching first-year composition by creating a theme-based unit comprised of a diverse collection of instructor-selected texts, from classic peer-reviewed articles to rap poetry, all centered around one or more guiding questions.  Not only did this method interest students, it increased students’ opportunities to write from sources from semester start, practice critical reading comprehension skills, and practice writing skills in low-stakes ways; modeled real-world research and non-genre-specific response; eliminated textbook cost; and engaged students in such a way that many --including ALP students--chose to rise to the challenge.  In this presentation, I will share my experience building a successful theme-based unit to inspire students to persist and succeed.
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    The Politics of Language Presentation Notes and Handouts
    (Honolulu: 2017 UH First-Year Writing Symposium, 2017-04-08) Webster, Jenny
    In this assignment presentation, I’ll share how I modified curriculum from a colleague in Baltimore (and with the help of Mary Alexander) to “Introduce students to different forms of college-level writing” (FYW Hallmark #1).  In this assignment, The Politics of Language, students are introduced to the texts of Kai Davis (slam poetry), bell hooks (academic essay), Gloria Anzaldua (narrative essay) and Michael Tsai (news report), as they discuss the multiple languages, Englishes, vernaculars and slangs used in America today.  Students are asked to consider how these different ways of communicating are tied to identity.  They’re also asked to consider how language has been used to oppress and discriminate.  Finally, they are asked to explain whether or not teachers should allow various languages, Englishes and vernaculars to be used in the classroom.