College Readiness And The Teaching Of Writing

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This Saturday I participated in the first meeting of the Connecticut College Readiness Project, run by the Center for Academic Excellence (CAE) at the University of Saint Joseph.  This year’s focus is on The Teaching of Writing.

CAE Director Jess Skoppetta and Writing Center Administrator Amanda Greenwell organized the program, which included writing aktivitas administrators from USJ, UConn, Central, and Manchester Community College, as well as high school English teachers from Hartford, Manchester, Rocky Hill, and Avon. There were sixteen of us, and for the middle part of the day we were joined by nine college students from our schools.

In short, we had a great day—six solid hours of discussion about writing instruction and how to help high school students be better prepared for college-level writing. 

Our two discussion points were the reading/writing connection and the role of research in the writing classroom.  Our discussions were great, but as much as we learned from one another, I found the mid-day student panel to be the most insightful.

Essentially, we asked the students to respond to three questions:  What is different between writing in high school and writing in college?  What did your high school teachers do that was effective in preparing you for college-level writing?  And, What needs to happen to improve high school students’ readiness for college-level writing?

To generalize, I’d say we heard a lot about independence and choice, writing as a process, the teacher as a writer, and the need to make the high school classroom look more like the college classroom.  The students also talked quite a bit about bridge programs and other support services.

In terms of independence, students said thing like, in college they were “given the reins” to their own writing or told that “this is your canvas.”  And while this was exciting to be given so much independence, it was also frightening, especially because they were used to much more hand-holding in high school.  One student said that “too much was done for us,” and gave the example of teachers providing students with the sources to be used in a paper rather than teaching the students how to locate and effectively use sources to further an argument.

Students said they should be given more choice in terms of what they read, what they write, and how they write.  This would better prepare them for “the openness that is going to be experienced in college.”  Other students added that, since they did understand there are many “institutional pressures” on K-12 teachers that preclude them from “doing some of the things they know they should do,” assignments should be structured to appeal to both student interests and curricular needs.

Some of the most effective things students said their high school teachers did were provide them with one-on-one feedback, teach them how to work collaboratively in writing groups (“don’t just assume our previous teachers have taught it to us”), allow them to critique the shitty first drafts of more skilled writers, and provide an audience that is “beyond just the teacher.” 

One student said that most effective teachers work to create a “space where your [instructor] works with you and yet you have that freedom” to explore your own ideas.  Another said that more teachers should write with their students because students need to “see a skilled writer struggle.”  Another student echoed this, saying that teachers should “help dispel the notion of the perfect writer.”

There was so much more, but I will mention just one last thing.  Many students said that the biggest aids in making the transition from high school to college were summer bridge programs and support services provided in the first fall semester. These included “the right advisor,” a good First Year Experience course, or a welcoming writing center.  But the students said that such bridge programs and support services should begin in high school. 

I asked if dual enrollment courses like UConn’s ECE classes or the new MCC English 101 classes might provide this kind of support for readiness and effective transition, and I got a qualified yes.  One student felt that these courses provided content alignment but did not actually prepare her for how a college class would function, nor would they help students not enrolled in these courses.
 
In general, the students felt that there needs to be much more collaboration and communication among high school and college instructors, including opportunities for high school students and teachers to visit colleges and college professors to visit high school classes.

We meet again in February.  In the mean time, we have all given one another blanket invitations to visit one another’s classes.

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