TYCA-SW 2010 Conference, Connecting the Dots: Teaching Traditional Writing in this Anything Goes World

I recently attended the 45th Annual TYCA-SW Conference in Laredo, Texas. The Two-Year College English Association is one of the constituent groups of NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English). I've been attending the regional conferences for several years, but this was my first trip to the Southwest's Regional Conference (I formerly taught in the Midwest, so I attended their conferences). Like my past experiences with TYCA regional events, this one proved to be well worth the time and energy. Not only did I get the chance to meet and converse with two-year college English faculty from across the southwest, but I also was inspired by the great work my colleagues are doing.

On the national level, TYCA representatives are advocating for people like me and institutions like CMC. Sandie McGill Barnhouse, the current TYCA National Chair, and David Lydic, TYCA National Regional Chair, shared many great ways for us to get involved. The National Gallery of Writing is one way that we can make our voices heard. Perhaps you are working with a writing project in your classes, and you'd like to have your students' voices resonate outside the classroom walls. You can start your own gallery!

If you are a member of NCTE or want to know what's happening in the English discipline, you may want to check out the newly developed Connected Community. And, having checked it out myself, I can tell you that you don't have to be an English teacher to find valuable teaching resources here. Subscribe to one of the discussion forums, read an article about bullying in schools, share a teaching resource. We're all connected!

One of the other valuable insights from the conference came from Marlea Trevino of Grayson County College, who presented on her research into the composition backgrounds of non-native students. Trevino reminded us that many of our non-native students come into our classes with little to no knowledge of rhetorical concepts we practice in composition, little to no practice in critical thinking, little to no practice in using technology to compose and research. They also may be disconcerted by the level of informality in our classes as well as with discussions that require opinions on issues or peer critiques. Instructors need to be mindful not to make assumptions about what our non-native (and native) students have already learned. We need to have patience and give our students opportunities to share differences rather than demand assimilation. Trevino recommended the works of Jeffra Flaitz, who has written widely on working with non-native students.

Thank you to the CMC College-Wide Professional Development Committee for taking the time to review my application for funds and then granting me the opportunity to participate in this conference.

What I'm doing...

Hi, again, everyone!

Since I'm new to the blog, I figured that I'd show you what I'm doing in one of my classes. This is for a math class that I'm teaching online this fall (I've taught five years online, but this is the first time I've had an opportunity to teach an online class for CMC). I'd love to have any feedback that you would care to give me, as I'm determined to keep improving my work!

Here's the link: http://web.me.com/stevendeb1/online_college_algebra_at_CMC/Home_Page.html

Have a great day!

Steve

New to this Blog...

Hello, Colleagues!

While I've been doing work online with my own website and blogs for a long time, this is my first connection with the CMC blog... I have to thank Suzanne Thompson for inviting me to participate! I'm going to check out what my learned colleagues have already contributed, and then I'll try to add a contribution from my meager skills to the mix.

I hope you all had a great summer, and are looking forward to the Fall term as much as I!

Steve

57th Annual American College of Sports Medicine annual meeting and the Inaugural World Congress on Exercise is Medicine

The above long title actually represents two meetings combined, held in Baltimore during the first week of June. Thank you, Roaring Fork Campus, for making it possible to attend. How does a meeting about sportsmedicine and exercise affect CMC? At CMC, the wellness requirement of at least two credits for graduation is a quiet, yet persistent program staffed by adjunct faculty. Are we addressing students’ lifestyles in a meaningful way through these efforts? What are current national fitness norms and trends? At this meeting, national and international health organizations were represented, to report the state of affairs, along with new developments and research are on the horizon. The meeting encompassed a large and diverse group ─ addressing health and fitness from all viewpoints, ranging from scientists and physicians, to national leaders and the Surgeon General, and even a consultant from reality TV.
During the keynote lecture, Jeffrey Koplan of the Emory Global Health Institute spoke about “Physical Activity, Health, Health Care Reform and Lifestyle Reform Revisited.” He set the stage by talking about how lifestyle reform begins with changing social norms. If we don’t take physical activity seriously, we won’t invest in it. New health care legislation is being enacted: translating it into practice is needed for us to find out the wellness and prevention services that will be reimbursed. He pointed out that a doctor’s personal habits are most influential factor in shaping patients’ habits.
Surgeon general Regina Benjamin also talked about behavior change in the context of a social and lifestyle network. In recognition of the importance of social support, she told the audience about her goal to hike the Grand Canyon within the coming year.
Dr. Miriam Nelson, a fellow of ACSM, spoke about the factors of both genetics and lifestyle in determining an individual’s health and fitness. With personal factors in the center of a sphere, other lifestyle influences surround an individual, with the outer layers successively including social environment, micro-environment, and macro-environment. A persistent theme is that we cannot look at health practices in isolation. Behavioral and health choices emanate from a complex system, in which one’s environmental setting is a key component.
Many Americans are not aware of the U.S. National Physical Activity Plan, from the National Coalition to Promote Physical Activity . Issued in 2008, it includes certain strategies that apply to schools. Most pertinent to CMC are Strategy 6, “Encourage post-secondary institutions to provide access to physical activity opportunities, including physical activity courses, robust club and intramural programs, and adequate physical activity and recreation facilities;” and Strategy 7, which reads, “Encourage post-secondary institutions to incorporate population-focused physical activity promotion training in a range of disciplinary degree and certificate programs.”
Another document that may not be well known is the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans issued by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. It addresses scientific evidence for the health benefits of physical activity, recognizes a dose-response curve of fitness improvement, and includes the minimum amounts of regular activity needed to obtain these benefits. For adults aged 18-64, the benefit threshold is 2 hours and 30 minutes per week of moderate intensity, or 1 hour and 15 minutes per week of vigorous intensity, aerobic exercise. Episodes should be at least 10 minutes long and dispersed throughout the week. Additional health benefits are gained by increasing up to 5 hours per week of aerobic exercise of moderate intensity, or up to 2 hours and 30 minutes of vigorous intensity, or some combination thereof. Adults also need two or more days per week of muscle strengthening activities. For those reaching these thresholds, strong evidence is available for improved cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness, decreased risk of specific syndromes and chronic diseases, better weight control , fall prevention, and depression reduction.
Many speakers addressed the frustrating observation that fitness in the U.S. shows little or no improvement over the past ten years of concerted national effort, despite increased information and initiatives directed toward change. Among other things, speakers stated that 65% of American children have a television in their bedroom and that modern man spends more that 91% of waking hours sitting.
The purpose of the paired World Congress on Exercise is Fitness was to bring together representatives from major regions of the world to share information and dedicate their support for a global health forum, including the “science, policy, practice, and public health aspects of physical activity and its impact on disease prevention and health promotion.” The “Exercise is Medicine” charter encourages physicians and health care providers to include exercise in a patient’s treatment plan, as a part of regular medical care. It complements the World Health Organization’s global strategy on diet, physical activity, and health, and was endorsed by the international representatives.

National Family Literacy Convention

Last April 10-14th, I attended the National Family Literacy Conference in San Antonio, Texas. Thank you! I came back with more enthusiasm, commitment and realized what a good job we are doing here at CMC. I will highlight information from several speakers, share some new books, and teaching strategies.


Sir Ken Robinson, who wrote The Element was not only hilarious, but most importantly, thought provoking. He pointed out that No Child Left Behind left millions of students behind and warned that if we are not careful, current policies may also. We must help students find their brilliance and passions. Sometimes the well intentioned goal of raising standards uses incorrect methods. Robinson reminds us that we can't run education as if it was a manufacturing process. While autos are indifferent to process, humans are not for we have feelings and emotions. According to Robinson, human life can not be standardized. We must reach each child, one at a time, to find out his story. A child does not jump out of bed and run to school to raise a standard score. Every child, every adult, has a personal, compelling story. He encouraged educators to use our imaginations to create new models and processes. An example of a innovative approach was a partnership in Tulsa, Oklahoma where children attended school in the same building as Grace Living Retirement Home. Several positive interactions resulted. One was the Reading Buddies Program where seniors learned about ipods and technology while students improved their reading skills. Both seniors and the children found a new energy as their lives expanded beyond themselves. Robinson said it was almost a spiritual process for both groups. I find Robinson's message important. In the Glenwood Learning Lab and in our classroom teaching, we first try to identify goals and passions and teach our classes mindful of each student's story.


Byron Pitts, 60 Minutes Correspondent, and author of Step Out On Nothing was also an inspiring speaker. In his book and speech, Pitts traces the angels in his life who helped him grow from an functionally illiterate, inner city kid to the nationally known correspondent he is today. Pitt the youngest of three children overcame many obstacles on his journey. His parents separated, he could not speak without stuttering, and he could not read in elementary school. Byron was so embarrassed by his lack of reading ability that he would spend endless hours with his older brother completing homework. No one knew he could not read because he was smart enough to hide his disability. At night his brother would read and re read sections of his textbook, and Bryon would memorize word for word passages so he could volunteer the practiced pieces the next day. In third grade, Bryon was tested in math and failed so dramatically that the psychologist told his mother that he was either retarded or mentally ill. His mother, a lady of incredible faith and personal strength, finally discovered Bryon could not read and she, with tutors and caring teachers, helped Bryon unlock the mysteries of the written word starting with the alphabet. Other angels helped along the way-- his coach who was like a father , his college roommate who practiced vocabulary with him daily,and a college professor, Dr.Ulle Lewis, who dedicated four extra hours a week to Bryon's studies.

Bryon Pitts' message to the audience was that we must believe in something greater than self and that aggressive literacy training was necessary in many places he has visited. In Afghanistan, many of the soldiers can not read a manual and are taught by show and tell. In Haiti, only 1 in 4 can read. In a Baltimore charter school where Bryon volunteers, 67% are from no parent households and are raised by grandparents, friends or foster parents. He mentioned a little girl who is 11 but looks 7 who asked him, "Where did you hide when the world hurts too much." In closing, Pitts asked us all to recognize the stuggles students face and step out to become the safety net that is necessary.

8th Annual National Career Clusters Institute Conference

I recently attended the Career Clusters Institute annual conference in Denver. Part of my duties as Instructional Chair of the West Garfield Campus are to implement certain career and technical education programs. Although I have heard the terms career clusters, pathways and other terms, I did not have a good understanding of what they meant. I thought this conference would provide me with a good framework.

I was not disappointed. I signed up for a pre-conference workshop to receive a Career Pathways Leadership Certification. This workshop began with emphasizing the economic consequences for the US if our students do not acquire the 21st century skills needed. India and China, as we’ve heard so often, are not only leading in population but students are eagerly seeking the skills needed to fill these jobs. The US is the only industrialized country today where young people are less likely than their parents to earn a diploma. Using career pathways, we can engage students at an early age helping them with the direction they need to stay in school and realize their dreams.

My first “ah ha” moment came when we started talking in more detail about the Career Pathways System. It is a philosophy of connecting and coordinating all education systems – K-12, postsecondary and adult systems while embedding economic development and labor market demand considerations. It is about a student’s entire educational experience from pre-school on through whatever level of attainment they choose, e.g. certificate, associate degree, 4-year degree, masters, doctorate, etc. Before coming to this conference, I thought it was about post secondary education.

A Career Pathway Program of Study is a roadmap that is jointly developed by educators and employers. It shows the connections between education and training programs and jobs in a given sector at different levels, e.g. Health Science could be anything from a CNA to a surgeon. It is for all students and provides multiple entry and exit points throughout one’s lifetime. The Career Clusters are the curriculum foundation for the Program of Study.
The US Department of Education has defined 16 Career Clusters . These have been grouped under broader categories by Colorado and other States, as noted below. Under each of these 16 Career Clusters there are currently 79 pathways. The categories have been broadly framed so that as new occupations emerge, they can be embedded into the 16 Career Cluster framework.

Business, Marketing & Public Administration:

• Management and Administration
• Finance
• Marketing
• Government and Public Administration

Hospitality, Human Services & Education

• Hospitality and Tourism
• Human Services
• Education and Training

Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy

• Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources
• Energy

STEM, Arts, Design & Information Technology

• STEM
• Arts, A/V Technology and Communication
• Information Technology

Skilled Trades and Technical Sciences

• Architecture and Construction
• Manufacturing
• Transportation, Distribution and Logistics

Health Science, Criminal Justice and Public Safety

• Health Science
• Law, Public Safety, Corrections and Security

These clusters are a grouping of career and broad industries based on common knowledge skills – both academic and technical. The core of this model embeds essential knowledge and skills including academic content knowledge, civic responsibility, collaboration, communication, creativity and innovation, critical thinking/problem solving, finding and using information technology, global and cultural awareness, personal responsibility and work ethics. The Career Clusters model serves as an organizing tool for educators and provides a framework for seamless transition throughout the student’s educational path. It is an instructional and guidance model and connects education to economic development. Each State is developing its own “Plan of Study” templates for these sectors. Here is a quote from the Colorado Community College System regarding Career Cluster and Plans of Study implementation:

“Colorado Career & Technical Education (CTE) believes that every student should be on a path that leads to career success, through seamless plans of study fostering academic and technical achievement, to develop a globally competitive workforce for Colorado. Use of this model will enhance Colorado’s ability to grow a globally competitive workforce.”

See http://www.coloradostateplan.com/default_cluster.htm for more information.

My second “ah ha” moment came when I realized that Career Technical Education (CTE) is not “vocational education” with a new label. The National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) notes that “CTE programs at the secondary, postsecondary and adult levels prepare individuals for a wide range of careers such as health care/bio-medical, renewable energy, hospitality … CTE reflects the modern workplace. And since the majority of careers require a postsecondary credential, high-waulity CTE programs incorporate rigorous academic and technical standards, as well as critical workplace skills such as problem solving, communication and teamwork, to ensure career and college success for its students.” Their vision for CTE are formed from five principles:

1. CTE is critical to ensuring that the United States lead in global competitiveness.
2. CTE prepares student to success in further education and careers.
3. CTE is a results-driven system that demonstrates a positive return on investment.
4. CTE is delivered through comprehensive programs of study aligned to The National Career Clusters framework.
5. CTE actively partners with employers to design and provide high-quality, dynamic programs.

Throughout the conference and the workshops I attended, there was a consistent theme that to be effective programs of study must be developed through collaboration among all levels of education and industry. In addition, curriculum must include activities that allow students to see the applicability to their chosen pathway. Cross educational opportunities, e.g. the building geometry courses, insure that students not only grasp the material but learn how it is applied in the workplace. Using portfolios and demonstration projects for grading rather than the routine testing practices is again a great ways to validate that the students not only know the material but are able to apply it.

Association of Writers & Writing Programs, 2010 Annual Conference -- Denver

With professional development funds from the Roaring Fork Campus, I was able to attend the 2010 Annual AWP Conference. Thank you! This conference is always packed full with educational and inspiring sessions. Below are just a few of the highlights of my experience:

The Joy of Assessment: Romancing Narratives of Student Success from Outcomes and Rubrics. This session was presented by Kendall Dunkelberg, Anna Leahy, Stephanie Vanderslice, Mary Cantrell, Aileen Murphy, and Judith Baumel. The focus here was on assessment of creative writing programs; however, as a teacher of primarily composition courses, I found most of their comments relevant for any course that involves writing. Key points addressed in the session included: (A) There is value in creating curriculum maps. (B) More faculty need to be present at the HLC Annual Conference to keep our voices part of the mix. (C) "Closing the loop" doesn't often happen (e.g., that assessment data can change programs) because immediate needs usually trump data (e.g., class size). (D) The real purpose of assessment is making ourselves accountable to our stakeholders, and while this may have some faculty frustrated, meeting the demands of accountability will not go away. Faculty need to take a role in assessment processes in order to continue to have a say in what it is that we do. (E) As writers, we know our central task is to create a narrative out of our data, and while we must remain transparent in how we are "doing" assessment, our ability as writers affords us the opportunity to tell the grand tale of what we do. (F) E-portfolios are a great way to track student performance and skill beyond the scope of one's individual classroom. With this type of assessment tool, we can begin to see if students are meeting the general education goals. (G) Assessment isn't a science; it is about paying attention, giving us the power to see what needs to be done. At Virginia Tech, faculty within the discipline choose one outcome to assess each year, and they pay faculty readers to examine outcomes from students' e-portfolios. [Examples of English ePortfolios can be found in their gallery at http://eportfolio.vt.edu/englishgallery.html.] The panelists created a wiki on the "Joy of Assessment" for further discussion post-conference. It is available at http://joyofassessment.wikidot.com/. Other assessment resources highlighted in this session include:

• http://www.aacu.org/
• http://openedpractices.org/
• http://www.teaglefoundation.org/learning/resources.aspx#assessment
• www.msche.org/publications/SLA_Book_0808080728085320.pdf

The Western Landscape in Contemporary American Poetry. This session was presented by Haines Eason, Oliver de la Paz, Alison Hawthorne Deming, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, C. Dale Young, and Paisley Rekdal. Poets read from their work and discussed the nature of the western landscape as it relates to their poetry as well as the people of "the west." Other aspects highlighted in the discussion included the military use of the land, geological time, landscape as image, landscape as character, and the disembodied speakers in lyric poetry.

The Contemporary American Indian Prose Poem: When Form Invents Function. This session was presented by Dean Rader, LeAnne Howe, Janet McAdams, Janice Gould, Eric Gansworth, and Allison Hedge Coke. All of these poets were featured in a recent issue of Sentence: A Journal of Prose Poetics, and all read from their work as well as participated in a discussion on the semiotics of prose poetry.

CMC Faculty Professional Development Fund for 2010-2011 for 4 Campuses

Faculty Professional Development Fund Overview

View more presentations from Coloradomtn

Faculty from Alpine, Summit, West Garfield, and Virtual Campuses:

Greetings! Are you thinking about attending conferences or workshops scheduled for 2010 - 2011? You may qualify to apply for the Faculty Professional Development Fund. Proposals next due September 15th.

Remember the place to begin is with your campus representative in August :).

Submission Checklist:
Submission Checklist

Application:
Current Application

Committee Members' Rubric for Application Review:
FPDCevaluation%20rubric0809.doc

fb 4 n @ CMC

I went to Roy Brandt's three-hour workshop "Facebook for Businesses and Non-Profits" at the Aspen CMC campus recently--it was standing room only--we had to keep getting more chairs and in the end a several people had to sit on the floor! I found the seminar very useful for two reasons:

1. I may start using a Facebook page for each of my CMC classes in the fall--Composition I and II, Humanities, and Intro to Lit. I'll try to be good and post some course materials on Blackboard, but honestly, BB is a pain. I change my courses so much from term to term that revising a BB shell is a black hole in terms of time. So fb will be better for updates for students and stuff like that. PLUS, students actually USE fb daily, which cannot generally be said for BB. You can be sure that most students will get a message posted there.

2. I have started a fb page for the Aspen Choral Society, of which I am a new Board member. Roy's class helped with that, too, and got me up to speed to add video and YouTube links, streams of the concert CDs and DVDs, and also frequent updates. It turns out that frequent updates are key to getting return hits to a Web site.

Christie Smith, RF Campus

Learning Never Ends

She has 5 cigarettes in the ashtray at one time and then in the evening can't remember how to use her lighter.

That's an email I received this morning from a CMC faculty friend describing his visit with his mother who has Alzheimer's. She is a sundowner, he explains. In the morning she can accomplish routine tasks, but by late afternoon her memory fails her.

I am imagining him now, re-teaching his mother patiently every evening how to use the cigarette lighter.

Learning may be difficult for us in the end,

but it never ends.

And learning is often uncomfortable for us as adults.

In CMC's Beginning Kayaking course in May, there were three young couples, all in their fit 20s, and me, 43 years old and out of shape.

I thought if I never learned how to roll (being upside down underwater in your kayak and having to right yourself), that would confirm that I could never learn anything again.

At the end of Tuesday night's class in the Hot Springs Pool after some of my classmates had gotten a roll and the rest of us had only frustration, our instructors Charlie and Conner made us end on a good note. We had to finish the evening doing any maneuver we could do well.

And when we were leaving, Conner said to me,

Good job, Suzanne--you're almost there. You're going to get a roll on Thursday.

There I was, a moderately well-adjusted adult, clutching onto those words of encouragement like they were a life vest.

I continued to visualize the roll night and day and watched YouTube videos over and over of kayakers explaining rolling.

At that Thursday night's class in the Hot Springs Pool with Conner and Charlie and their patience and encouragement, I finally got my roll.

All the awkwardness of being an adult student and the flashbacks of being a dork in school were worth it.

I was a learner. I had learned.

When the Office of Innovations in Teaching and Learning offers technology workshops at CMC, the faculty and staff who attend appear confident and secure in their identities.

But now I wonder if any of them feel as insecure about technology in our workshops as I felt in the kayak.

(And how many of our traditional students, with their advantages of youth or hipness or athleticism, may be hiding pangs of insecurity and may be starving for any words of encouragement we can toss their way.)

Yesterday at an administrative meeting of the E-Learning Consortium of Colorado (ELCC), we were discussing the importance of offering training opportunities for faculty. Cheryl Comstock of CCC-Online summed it up:

Our faculty are also our students.

As our students, please let us know how our office can improve your learning opportunities at CMC.

You can visit our faculty/staff technology workshop schedule at any time here:

http://coloradomtn.edu/training 

My friend who is visiting his mother with Alzheimer's just emailed me back about her daily struggle with knowing, forgetting, and re-learning how to use the cigarette lighter:

When mom can figure out the lighter, she chain-smokes.

May we all be chain smokers today.

Reading in Many Languages Conference

Hi everyone,

I was fortunate to attend the Reading in Many Languages conference in Chicago on April 26-28, 2010. There were over 12,000 attendees and an abundance of specialized literacy seminars and workshops available. The days started off with the keynote speakers, Al Gore and Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordon, who are both sensational speakers and strong advocates for global education. Every presenter emphasized the importance of developing a “staircase” curriculum, which enables students to develop academically throughout their education. By creating “I can” learning targets, students are able to clearly identify their goals for each class. This International Reading Association hosted conference was filled with many “ah-ha” moments for me; however, I wanted to share some strategies to teach reading and summarizing non-fiction and fictional text.

Teaching comprehension is one of the most difficult to teach because the reading process is such a private process between the reader and the text. As teachers, we help guide the student to make the reading process more visible. By taking notes and annotating text, the student is able to capture his/her thinking and understanding. Attached is a document used to monitor students’ comprehension. The document identifies various targets for different ways of thinking while reading, such as: predicting, connecting, creating opinions, asking questions, summarizing, identifying author’s craft, and reflecting/evaluating text. Also, attached is an annotating text document that can help students while reading fictional text. Once the teacher models how to take notes in the margins and throughout the text, the student will be able to use this document throughout their classes.

There are many definitions written to describe a summary. Gerald Duffy stated, “The creation of a brief retelling of a text. While it may include the main idea or theme, the focus is on describing in brief form the text’s major points.” Some students struggle with summarizing text, making the summary too long or too vague. The basic summarizing formula states, “topic + what is said about the topic+ purpose = main idea” (Zwiers, 2004). Before reading a non-fiction text, readers can use the THIEVERY approach to preview the text. Please see the THIEVERY attachment.

Overall, the conference was inspiring and educational. Many presenters affirmed what I was doing as a reading teacher, and then other educators shared effective strategies that would be useful in the classroom. Hopefully you will be able to take something from this summary of the conference and make it your own. If you are interested in learning more about these topics, I will be presenting to a small group of educators at the end of June. Please let me know if you would like to attend, and I will let you know the exact meeting time and place.

Thank you,

Audrey Valiton

file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/avaliton/Desktop/reading/Annotation/annotating%20sheet.pdf

file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/avaliton/Desktop/Reading%20In%20Many%20Languages2.ppt

file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/avaliton/Desktop/reading/Nonfiction/thieves.pdf

Come celebrate the Power of Adult Learning! 2010 Rendezvous Conference
Denver, CO at the Marriott Denver Tech Center - October 22 & 23

Mark your calendar for the 2010 CAEPA Rendezvous Conference! Sessions topics range from a panel discussion about SPL 6 bridge & transition classes; GED test changes; current research on how to enrich our capabilities for learning and memory and much, much more! Featured speakers include authors Helen Thorpe - Denver’s First Lady - (Just Like Us) and Laura Resau (The Indigo Notebook, Star in the Forest, Red Glass).

For more information on registration and hotel accommodations.We are still accepting proposals for the 2010 Rendezvous - visit our website at http://www.caepa.org/ for more information. See you in October!

Jolene GoerendCAEPA President
Adult Education Director, Focus Points Family Resource Center http://www.focuspoints.org/
303-292-0770 (main line) 303-468-3472 (direct line)

Adventures in Technology: E-LCC Conference

Last month it was a pleasure to attend and present at The E-Learning Consortium of Colorado Conference in Vail, Colorado. The conference is one of the best regional conferences providing opportunities for colleagues to share new techniques, delivery modes and technologies for teaching and learning in the classroom. Susan Herman and I had the added pleasure of presenting a new technology we have implemented in my classes and tutorials for Blackboard training on the student Early Alert Feature. Our joint session was presented using VoiceThread, an interactive technology for student interaction online. Instead of doing a welcome to this course power point I developed a VoiceThread introduction for my Interpersonal Communications and Humanities courses in which the syllabus and assignments were reviewed and each student had the opportunity to ask questions as well as introduce themselves on-line. I have provided the PowerPoint below for any interested in viewing the presentation. VoiceThread has provided many interactive opportunities for students, especially those who are attending the virtual campus courses. The session was so well received that The University of Denver has asked us to help them in training and guidance with VoiceThread technology. The opportunity to lead a webinar or face to face session for DU faculty is a possibility for the coming year.

VoiceThread presentation

View more presentations from Coloradomtn.

I also presented two other times at the conference with fellow Colorado Mountain College colleagues in a live performance of poetry and open house for Coloradoedu Island in Second Life. In the Second Life virtual presentations I was joined by Alice Bedard-Voorhees, Suzanne Thompson, and Margaret Maxwell. Despite technology problems with reliable Internet availability and a few wardrobe problems, (Alice kept losing her hair), it was a fun and exciting experience. Lindsey Royce was kind and brave enough to allow me to perform an oral interpretation of her poetry. Performing Lindsey’s poetry reminded me how appreciative I am of poets and their use of language and images through words and punctuation. Many years ago I performed poetry live with Actors Theatre of Louisville. One of my favorites was a tour that combined the poetry of e.e. cummings with several original poetry interpretations. I had forgotten how exciting it is to bring such focused work to life. We had a poet from Scotland arrive for the Second Life performance who shared his poetry as well, which I found to be very rewarding. He gave my avatar a line reader, which as the voice is interpreting the poetry the words flash across the screen. This is certainly nothing you have with real life poetry interpretations which makes it truly a multimedia experience.
The E-Learning Consortium Conference is one of those conference I will attend every year because of the learning, sharing and generally good time provided by the organizers and attendees. Plus, on top of all the learning, I won one of the trivia contests. I got lucky with questions that fell into one of my areas of expertise, a specialist in general information and mostly useless information!

"CMC Moving Ahead": Assessment In-Service 2010

Check out this SlideShare Presentation: Linda Suskie was a keynote presenter at the Spring Faculty In-Service May 4 and 5th, 2010.

Discipline groups accomplished pivotal work during this time, selecting two courses and outcomes for college-wide assessments.

"CMC Moving Ahead": Assessment In-Service 2010

View more presentations from Coloradomtn.

Please welcome the inaugural issue of the CMC’s very own literature and art journal, Rocky Mountain Reflections. The first issue features both written and visual art work, submitted by students, faculty, and staff.

Print copies are making their way to each campus. The journal is also available online at http://coloradomtn.edu/library/rmr. If you are interested in printing it out yourself, please see attached information.

It is our hope that the journal will become a home for all facets of creative arts, providing a forum for the Colorado Mountain College community to share fresh ideas, extraordinary stories, and unique visions. Rocky Mountain Reflections addresses and fulfills many of CMC’s college-wide learning outcomes and adds another program to our growing roster of measures to increase our students’ personal and academic success.

Rocky Mountain Reflections will be published twice a year, at the end of spring and fall semesters. The success of the journal will greatly depend on your continuous support. Please encourage students to submit their work for publication. We are accepting submissions year-round: http://coloradomtn.edu/library/rmr/submit/.

TESOL Conference

Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL)

April 5th, 2010.

We are all busy at CMC and finding time to attend a conference can be a challenge. Having just returned from the national TESOL conference in Boston, I am reminded of the value. Learning new approaches, getting new ideas and networking with colleagues in my field is invaluable for my work in both ESL and pre college English classes. Here is a glimpse of what I gained by attending.

First, from “Beyond This I Believe” presented by Kate Spike, Director of Bowling Green State University, I learned how students are using StoryCorps, NPR, AARP and Frontline to enhance speaking and listening skills and learn about the culture of the United States. This particular project was on Aging. Students first did research using the following websites. Next, they visited the local senior center where they were matched with a partner whom they interviewed and recorded. They then created a story which they presented.



Useful Websites
StoryCorps http://www.storycorps.org/
National Public Radio http://www.npr.org/
NPR StoryCorps: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4516989
AARP: http://www.aarp.org/
List of resources on Aging http://www.fanlight.com/webresources.php
Frontline Living Old http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/livingold/view/
Do you Speak American? http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/map/map.html/

Second, along with other CMC instructors, I visited Harvard’s Bridge program. Each section of the program was described in detail and we each learned of a different aspect. This flowchart outlines this progressive and forward thinking program Harvard has in place for its employees.


Besides three days of conferencing, I had a chance to see why Bostonians are so proud of their city.

I am so thankful to CMC for allowing me the opportunity to attend this conference.
Jennifer le Roux
Professor Adult Basic and Developmental Education, Alpine Campus.

E-Learning Consortium of Colorado Conference

 Keynoter: Rovy Branon from ADL Co-Lab

Hi All,

I attended the ELCC Conference on April 14 - 16 in Vail with several CMC colleagues: Daryl Yarrow, Susan Herman, Gabe Aguilar, Suzanne Thompson, Kathy-Kiser Miller,our Emeritus Peter J, and Louis Beatty (one of the two elite technoraties with an Ipad). This remains my favorite Rocky Mountain conference because it is by and for two and four-year colleagues for peer-teaching sessions by both the tech support and instructional side of the house.

Our own college was active in those contributions. Susan and Kathy gave a great session Friday morning on the the use of Voicethread to create a faculty tutorial and for use by learners in two of Kathy's classes.

One inviting aspect of this conference is that it is a safety net for presenting teaching and learning technologies in progress. Hotel networks are notorious for their lack of dependability, especially with hands-on lab sesssions. Kathy, Suzanne, and I were involved in two presentations in Second Life that had big challenges, but the celebration of poetry month in Second Life out did the challenges. We had readers both in-world and from the conference lab.

Thank you, Margaret Maxwell, for reading your wonderful work from Aspen in-world. Thank you, Kathy Kizer-Miller for bringing Lindsey Royce's work to the world, and thank you Suzanne for sharing your talent. As I tweeted that day at elcc#10: "The poets are reading. Good medicine :)."

And a little about the poetry event at Colorado EduIsland. The community colleges of Colorado have been meeting for about a year on this shared virtual space to determine policy, practice, appearance and events by single schools or across schools. Rhonda Dove (ProCo Clarity) is an extraordinary builder and has given a lion's share to helping the community come into practice. Cheryl Comstock (Ize Messmer) has given an enormous amount of time to leadership and communication. Kathy Kizer-Miller (Miranda Menjou) has been one or our invaluable participants as a faculty member who is has quite a bit of experience using Second Life as one aspect of classes she teaches. I have not included all steering committee members here, but this collaborative experience is a hopeful one, and we think we are just starting to see it taking off as another opportunity to meeting and learning across the miles.

The next celebration of poetry month is this week on Colorado EduIsland at 10 MDT on Wed. This group will be already attending a global online conference and the celebration is one of the sessions. Again, there will be scheduled poets and an open mic. Please let me know if you would like to be listed as a scheduled poet.

As a last note, I tend to listen to the keynoters at this conference to talk about the cutting edge. I came away with a couple concepts: Faculty Entrepreneurialism and "The University of One" and more talk about augmented reality and the use of phone to read compacted information in QR (scanner) codes through the phone cameras. I spent Saturday playing with the QR and wrote about it here With many students having camera phones, they could be used to construct a campus scavenger hunt :).

So there you have it, loved this conference. Stay tuned to more about it from our various attendees :).

This blog has moved

This blog is now located at http://cmcteachingandlearning.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://cmcteachingandlearning.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

Adjunct Faculty News!

/AdjFacNews7%21.pdf

Joyce Mosher Shares Materials: Student Performance of Texts

Joyce Devlin Mosher, Associate Professor of English Communications at Summit, presented Sound Practices: Performing College Reading and Writing at two conferences recently: the National First Year Experience Conference in Denver in February, 2010, and Teaching English at the Two-Year College Conference in Little Rock in October, 2009. Drawing on current research, Joyce has developed methods that make student voices and performed texts the central learning events in the classroom: Download a Copy of Sound Practices

The booklet contains many sample exercises that can be adapted to any college classroom and faculty training program. Contact Joyce with your ideas and questions, as this pedagogical approach is a work in progress.

Delectable Curriculum Innovation: An Interview with Todd Rymer

Why is Todd Studying a Seed Catalog?

As a food professional, Todd Rymer, Director of Culinary Education at the Vail /Eagle Valley Campus has been following Chefs Collaborative, one of the first organizations to directly connect chefs with food growers, for over a dozen years. Todd helped found a Slow Food convivia (chapter) in the Vail Valley about six years ago. Slow Food is an international organization promoting food that is “good, clean, and fair.” The movement focuses on local food as well as food free of chemicals, and food that provides a fair wage for the agricultural growers.

In addition to these important issues, a sustainable foodservice operation must also consider issues of energy, water consumption, chemicals, equipment, to-go containers, recycling and marketing of “green” practice. About three years ago, CMC added a course in Sustainable Cuisine to the CCCNS. As consumers and foodservice operators have further embraced sustainability, market research provided support to move this knowledge and practice into the CMC curriculum – an academic process that requires patience in the face of curriculum development that can still be timely and competitive.

So starting next fall, CMC will offer a certificate in Sustainable Cuisine Operations. In addition to many of the culinary courses already in the curriculum, the certificate includes: Intro to Sustainable Cuisine, Sustainable Food Operations and a revised course that adds vegan and vegetarian entrees preparation to Center of the Plate courses that formerly focused on beef, pork, poultry, and seafood entrees. As the certificate is expanded, courses will be offered in agro-ecology to help students learn about the environmental impacts of food production for restaurants that not only buy food, but grow it.

As we ended our conversation last week, I noticed a seed catalog on his desk—why was it on his desk? It’s part of his ongoing professional development—he’s taking a Colorado Master Gardner’s Class to forward his own expertise and share that development back with the newest of practices.

Olympic Poetry in Motion and More

Steamboat’s Johnny Spillane (who took classes from CMC) won a silver for USA in the Nordic Combined. This is a new accomplishment for the USA in an event that Europeans have owned for a long time: http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2010/feb/14/silver-spillane-lodwick-fourth/

Other poetry is also on my mind: Here’s a performance from the Olympics opening ceremonies from Canadian Slam/ Spoken Word Poet Shane Koyczn:

What is a poetry slam? What makes that rhythm of Spoken Word and Slam Poetry?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry_slam

Well, some deliveries style after hip-hop, and some from prose poems, according to the entries above.

However, they would still have some commonalities to other types of poetic traditions—and the Kennedy Center provides some exercises to have students compare elements of hip-hop to say, even Shakespeare:
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3656/

This poem uses repetition for rhythm and many metaphors in these lines:

“Let the page be your doctor…”



CMC Upcoming Poetry Events

Poetry Slam at Summit on March 17th

Second Life Poetry Celebration at ColoradoEduIisland in mid April. (More to come)

November, 2009 COTESOL Conference

My main motivation for attending the conference was to gain knowledge about the TOEFLiBT test, or Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-Based Test. I attended one session by Tamara Milbourn of CU Boulder. Tamara explained the differences between TOEFL and IELTS, which is the European version of TOEFL. IELTS stands for International English Language Testing System. Essentially, TOEFL scores are much more widely accepted than IELTS, except for in Europe. TOEFL is a typed test, more academic and analytical with less stress on grammar and spelling. IELTS is a more traditional English test which has easier reading and writing tasks than TOEFL but stresses grammar and spelling.

Dana Harper of the Emily Griffiths School in Denver shared her many years of teaching TOEFL in a very informative workshop. She reviewed all the possible TOEFL textbooks. In addition she pointed out how important note-taking, summarizing, and paraphrasing skill development is for successful TOEFL completion. Harper suggested all activities be timed and offered some wonderful classroom aides and suggestions. I handed out copies of "Word Forms" at the last Basalt meeting. If you would like a copy please contact me.

A very interesting workshop called exploring language ideologies with video presented by Madeleine Adkins highlighted cultural differences for native English speakers worldwide and English language learners. Video can be a powerful learning tool. I like to use the learning English site at bbc.com for podcasts and vocabulary building.

Academic Vocabulary Acquisition by Beth Skelton was packed with attendees. She was a dynamic and eloquent educator who went over all the latest research-based vocabulary acquisition techniques. TPR, Realia, opposites or negatives, drawing pictures, visualizing, affixes (word roots), acting, cognates, repeating abstract words in various contexts, use story or context to explain words, define words used in stories.

Shades of a Word...

Beth also took color samples from paint stores and used a simple word like pretty on the lightest shade, then beautiful on the medium shade, and gorgeous on the darkest shade. That was fun!

Native Speakers + International ESL Students

Rebecca Wasil from Colorado State Pueblo gave a great presentation about a three day mixer between students at an alternative high school and international ESL students. The first day they did many community building activities, the second day a debate, and the third day readers' theatre. The students met at the college campus, at a riverside park, and at the alternative high school. It was an extremely positive experience for both groups since both student populations were marginalized amongst their peers. The high school students started thinking about college and travel. The college students were able to impart their wisdom and gain confidence with their English skills.

The most beneficial session that I have ever attended at CoTESOL has been "Improv" Your ESL Classroom given by Jon Wilkerson. The session gives teachers the tools to help students feel safe and committed to speaking and supporting classmates through graded group exercises. They are forced to use authentic language as the very engaging exercises get progressively more difficult.

The five principles of improv are to: Commit, Accept Offers, Listen, Support Others and Have Fun.

Guidelines for the teacher are: Unconditional positive regard, the teacher must not be critical of students decisions; Failure is okay, praise students for courage and effort; First into the breach, teacher must be over-the-top in word and action; Small steps, simple warm up exercises through strenuous exercises increase student's confidence and empowerment; Explain and demonstrate clearly, show students the activity to erase any doubt as to expectations.

After using this in my classroom, students often comment that it was the bestl class ever. Contact me for more information pollyvr@rof.net

Language Study and Global Perspectives

While attending the ACTFL conference (Foreign Language!) in November, I had some interesting experiences and learned about some new trends in foreign language instruction, but I would like to share just a bit about a day-long workshop in which I participated. It was a Spanish immersion session put on by the Spanish Embassy. We, as Spanish faculty, knew a lot about Spanish culture, language and history, but found that we had quite a bit to learn about contemporary Spain. We did several activities related to Spain’s current government and its work in sustainability. This was a great study of language, science and culture alike.

Since I regularly take students abroad, conservation and sustainability are often discussed in Costa Rica for example, but in a country like Spain which was mostly deforested many centuries before, it was interesting to learn about efforts to support and sustain this population in semi-arid southern Spain. Indeed, we in the U.S. have a long way to go in this area and can learn much from what is being done abroad. Europe has a longer industrial history than we do and they have perhaps a shorter time to correct their environmental woes.

While in Andalucía, Spain I’ve stood at the base of the huge wind turbines that produce electricity for vast sections of southern Spain. I’ve also seen the great invernaderos (greenhouses) that produce the rich varieties of fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers sold all over Spain and Europe. Beyond the agricultural richness, the Almeria province houses Europe´s largest solar energy plant, and stages an important EU solar energy research center.

In the workshop, I also learned that Spain has some beautiful national parks that I've somehow missed in my study of language, history, art and their monuments. I will add some of these parks to my itinerary on future trips. I'm glad for the fresh perspectives I gained at the conference that I will share with my students along with the challenge to study everything with an interdisciplinary approach.

Global thinking -global perspectives - global skills, our planet's future will require them. Language study opens the door to many other disciplines. Open your eyes to our world and your potential in studies abroad.

Mary Ebuna
Timberline Campus

CMC Student Dylan Derryberry will Blog at 2010 Winter Olympics

If you have not seen this on eNews, check it out. Dylan Derryberry is a CMC student who won a contest to blog at the 2010 Winter Olympics. He's an aspiring journalism/ed major and a CMC campus blogger. http://enews.coloradomtn.edu/2010/01/26/microsoft-announces-office-winter-games-contest-winners/#more-1033

Facilitating a Conversational Class

In November, I attended the annual American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) conference in San Diego. The conference was invaluable, and I am grateful to CMC for the opportunity. I could write for days to process all that I learned and saw, but for you I will sum it up! I teach Conversational Spanish in Carbondale, but the following tips could be used in any class where dynamic discussion is a goal.


Strategies for Facilitating Discussion (from a workshop with Dr. B. Rifkin from The College of New Jersey)

Activity Frameworks:

• Discussion contribution coupons: each student has 3 (or any number) of coupons or tickets for the discussion. Each person must use one ticket to make one comment in the discussion. No one may make more comments than the tickets they have until all tickets have been used. This engages the students in the discussion (they are plotting when to speak) and forces the more vocal students to wait and the quieter ones know they must contribute.
• Image without sound: Show a video- a film, a clip from Youtube, etc., but turn off the sound. The possibilities are endless: write the script, make a vocab list, write the ending, guess the country. When the sound is removed, the students really focus on the visual clues.
• Provocative image or statement: Show a photo or a quote, something that engages the students. Allow conversation. It's that easy!

When facilitating a conversational class, certain things are important for the instructor to remember, including:

• Create a safe environment with ground rules for respect
• Use open-ended questions
• Don't look students in the eye when they are speaking (this forces them to address the class instead of just to the instructor)
• Ask students to respond to each other, each comment doesn't need a teacher validation
• Paraphrase what the students say, write it on the board, attach their name to their idea

Please contact me if you would like any further information about facilitating discussions or ACTFL! ldeare@coloradomtn.edu

CoTESOL 2009

Several ESL faculty attended CoTESOL November 13th and 14, 2009. Please read faculty comments on what they learned and brought back to us.

At CoTESOL 2009, Keith Folse's presentation "The Least You Should Know About ELL Grammar," offered interesting research based principals for pedagogy. Folse researched numerous college preparation ESL writing and grammar courses and found that instructor error correction on student writing made no difference in improving student performance. In other words, the practice of "the student writes and teacher corrects" in order to improve writing outcomes is not effective.

Rather, Folse suggests that in order to best prepare ESL writers for college level writing courses, instructors should focus only on the worst ESL grammatical problems and teach the same kinds of writing skills that native speakers need to know. Folse also notes that ESL writers benefit from having their papers evaluated one category at at time, for instance vocabulary or organization. Finally, he encourages writing instructors to collect student papers and then return them to students to edit themselves one week later.

These practical principals based on research of numerous ESL writing and grammar courses, help ESL students take the leap to college level courses. For further information about Folse's research, please visit kfolse@mail.ucf.edu or view his Great Writing

text series 1-5, Heinle Cengage Learning.