Workshop D: Beyond the English Department: Arts and Sciences TAs Teach Writing – RM 117

Kimberly Harrison, Florida International University
Mike Creeden, Florida International University

This presentation reports on a pilot program at Florida International University in which Arts and Sciences teaching assistants outside the English department teach composition and receive hands-on training through our hybrid first-year courses. We will outline our motivations and goals for the program, provide details on our TA training plan, and discuss initial assessments of both the hybrid courses and the TA program.

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Nick's Notes on Kimberly's and Mike's session

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Institutional context:
88 percent of writing courses taught by adjuncts who have MA's in literature with little training in composition or writing studies. Professional development of adjuncts is hard because adjuncts are busy.

Fall 2006, 4,500 students in FYC.
-- 18 sections taught by Full-Time Faculty
-- 158 sections taught by Adjunct Faculty
-- 9 sections taught by TAs (MA and MFA)

Limited classroom space.

Thus having to train TAs from other disciplines (Arts and Sciences TAs). Proposed to increase TA ships as an initiative w/ Dean of A&S who passed proposal to Provost. Unfortunately Provost indicated funds were tight, but money was found just before start of fall and they were able to start the program.

TAs from other departments:

History -- 2
International Relations -- 2
Religious Studies -- 2
Sociology --1
Political Science -- 2

(English also got 2 more.)

1. Hope to have increased number of teachers in writing program
2. Improved mentoring and pedagogical preparation of graduate students (which recent grads said they need).
3. Increase ability to offer field-specific writing and rhetoric courses as program grows
4. Spread responsibility for writing beyond the English department (aka toe-hold for WAC).

TA's commit to two semesters in writing program, hopefully they'll do 4, but when done they go back to their departments trained to teach writing.

Goals:

• complicate distinction between "content" instructor and writing instructor
• increase audiences w/in and w/out the writing program -- program is known better
• increase visibility of and within the writing program
• open our pedagogy: as we work w/ other depts, we also communicate more fully about our goals

TA courses are capped at 40. TAs can't be instructor of record, so they focus on feedback. TAs learning how to respond to writing more fully.

FIU use of A&S TAs looked at other programs:
Rutgers -- Allows all PhD candidates across disc. to teach fyc
Cornell -- teaching fellows
Duke

TA training two pronged:
4 hours of graduate credit in Teaching College Composition -- at same time for assistantship work in hybrid class w/ seasoned instructor

Practicum based on hybrid version of ENC 1101 -- attend to f2f classes per week, review online student writing, conference and grade essays.

Hybrids are by definition writing-intensive:
"Because of the highly text-based nature of websites and email, hybrid courses become de facto writing-intensive courses when teachers work carefully to integrate the online and classroom components," Pete Sands

Hybrid project started last year in response to limited space. Looked at
UWM
Maricopa
ASU
and other places.

• 10 sections
• 40 students, with one or two TAs. 1 - 3 instructors per course.
• 2/1 breakdown: 2 days f2f to 1 day online; better than 50/50 for FIU.
• Consistent curriculum -- Each hybrid shell contains syllabus, unit plans (w/ grading criteria) for all major essays. Instructors can modify as desired.
• Assessment -- Shells also contain three student surveys -- start, middle, end.

Conference every essay -- usually first draft is conferenced. But person who conferences doesn't grade the same essay they conference.

Graded more leniently papers they conferenced.

Curriculum developed w/ instructors who were leading they hybrid; focused on making online/offline activities sync and complement. Collection of units/assignments that start with but instructors can change.

Using BB w/ online component.

Structure immerses TAs in writing process and not focus on grammar.

Two TAs, Shelley Wick, International Relations PhD and Carolina Zumaglini, History are describing their experiences.

Both were initially resistant, but after getting into the program and the training, they're discovering that it is helping them as teachers, scholars and writers. Details are wonderful, but I'm listening intently and can't quite keep up running notes as fully as I'd like.