Job Discussion Forums

[johnslat]

Dear Colleagues,

I'm going to be teaching a "pilot course" called "Transition to College" this fall for Santa Fe Community College (14 weeks, six hours a week.) As the name implies, it's intended as a kind of "bridge course" for "top-level" ESL students (and perhaps students that have gotten their GEDs.) I'll be creating the text, but I wonder if I could impose upon any of you to look over the areas I'm thinking about covering.

Have I left out anything you think is important?
Am I covering too much (probably, but if so, what should get dropped?)

Or any other suggestions, comments, etc.

Thanks

Course Description
The primary purpose of this course is to help students understand and prepare for the writing, reading, listening, and speaking demands of college. The requirements of college-level reading, writing, and grammar, in particular, are generally more challenging than many anticipate. The intent of this class is to act as a bridge between studying in an ESL program and taking college courses. Students will work on improving vocabulary and reading comprehension, taking effective notes, honing grammar skills, making short classroom presentations, and crafting various sentence types, paragraphs, essays, and a short research project.
The class will include whole group, small group, pair, and individual work.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
� Practice effective pre-reading strategies
� Identify the elements of a writing selection, including main idea, supporting details, and transition words and phrases
� Take effective notes on readings and class discussions
� Make valid inferences; distinguish fact from opinion
� Identify purpose and tone; practice critical reading/thinking
� Describe and practice the steps in the writing process
� Form grammatically correct sentences
� Write a well-organized paragraph
� Write a one-paragraph summary of a reading
� Write an outline
� Write well-organized essays, using various types of organization (e.g. time, comparison and contrast, cause and effect, process, etc.
� Show evidence of critical reading and thinking through questions and analysis
� Complete a short research project using and citing 2-4 references
� Deliver short class presentations summarizing research projects

Covered in this course:

I. WRITING:
A. Kinds of writing expected of college students:

1.Short answers on tests
2. Short essay writing for homework assignments (writing thesis statements, topic sentences, supporting details, and conclusions)
3. Essays on tests
4. Research and report writing
5. Writing for an audience

B. Review/practice of common grammar and writing problems:
1. Word usage
2. Spelling
3. Grammatical forms
4. Sentence structure and sentence combining

C. Understanding the writing assignment:
1. Outlines (traditional and mind-mapping/cluster)
2. Summarize
3. Compare and contrast
4. Persuade
5. Explain by cause and effect
6. Research

D. Basic writing form, from brief responses to whole reports:
1. Demonstrate the ability to brainstorm, organize, draft and revise paragraphs:
a. Pre-writing, outlining, drafting, revising and editing, final draft
2. Recognize features of a good topic sentence:
a. Correct and incorrect topic sentences and the differences between them
3. Demonstrate the ability to develop supporting details:
a. Definition and qualities of major and minor supporting details
b. Relevance of major and minor details to topic sentences
4. Demonstrate the ability to produce simple, compound and complex sentences:
a. Features of simple, compound, and complex sentences
b. Techniques for connecting clauses to form compound and complex sentences
5. Produce a well-developed and well-organize paragraph:
a. Correct topic sentences
b. Relevant and adequate supporting details
c. Coherence through transitions
d. Correct grammar and punctuation
6. Opening thesis paragraph (going from general to specific)
7. Three main points (using either direct quotations, paraphrases/summary, statistics, and research examples)
8. Closing thesis paragraph (going from specific back to general)

E. Discuss research:
1. Uses
2. Sources
3. Examples of citation
4. Paraphrasing versus Plagiarism

II. READING

1. Dictionary Use
2. Vocabulary in Context (Context Clues)
3. Pre-reading DR/TA (directed reading/thinking activity) K-W-L-H (know, want, learn, how to learn), SQ4R (survey, question, read, recite, relate, and review)
4. Recognizing and finding the topic and main idea (Thesis statements and topic sentences)
5. Comprehension (finding specific major and minor supporting details)
6. Patterns of organization (recognizing/identifying patterns used to organize essays)
7. Inference/implication (including implied main ideas)
8. Argument (finding the main point)
9. Fact versus Opinion
10. Purpose and tone.
11. Critical reading

III. LISTENING AND NOTE-TAKING

1. The Three Steps: hearing (attention), understanding (focus), and judging importance (discrimination)
2. Focus, listen for main ideas, use body language cues
3. Choose or develop a method that works for you. The following methods will be discussed:
1. The Cornell Method
2. The Outline Method
3. The Mapping Method
4. The Charting Method
5. The Sentence Method

!V: ORAL PRESENTATION

1. Introduction: Tell the audience what you're going to tell them. Grab the audience's attention

2. Body: Tell them. Offer facts, opinions, and reasons to support your main idea

3. Conclusion: Tell them what you told them. Restate the main points without giving examples


Regards,
John

[sauditeacher]

[Kornan DeKobb]

In Section IC4 Persuade, might you want to include documenting claims? Perhaps you cover that under Sources.

Anyway, thanks. I am afraid you are helping me more than I can you.

[TeresaLopez]

Looks great, very comprehensive! Would actually be a good course for ALL students to take before starting college! Good luck with the course, I'd enjoy teaching something like that myself, I think.

[spiral78]

Beware! Disorganised post follows


Make valid inferences; distinguish fact from opinion
� Identify purpose and tone; practice critical reading/thinking

You mention these in the goals, but you didn't describe when/how they will occur. I'm interested! My courses do this (have described briefly below). I'd be interested in swapping ideas on this one.

� Describe and practice the steps in the writing process

What exactly is that? I think it can vary quite a lot....

� Show evidence of critical reading and thinking through questions and analysis
Related to point above...I think


� Complete a short research project using and citing 2-4 references

Perhaps with a focus on explaining why the references used were chosen?



Hi, John. I kinda feel as though I'm butting in - perhaps you were primarily seeking input from the Saudi regulars. However, I have written, piloted, and taught a similar course on multiple occasions (I've a professional focus on course/curriculum design and work part-time for Cambridge).
I'm impressed with your overall description, but I would query a couple of points that might possibly be useful. I hasten to add that I think you've hit a few highlights that I've forgotten in my own work! Short answers on tests is one item I'd never considered - thanks for the insight.

Under writing, I would add Consideration of Purpose and Audience. In my experience, students studying English are often directed to 'imagine' that they are 'experts in the field of....'. In REAL academic writing, the primary purpose of the work is to demonstrate the student's understanding of the content and his/her skill in getting information across in relatively formal English. This can be an interesting transition...I've seen thesis/purpose statements like 'the purpose of this paper is to deepen the reader's understanding of.....' - clearly lifted from a textbook. We often need to point out that textbooks are written by experts for students...rather than the other way 'round - and therefore the points of view and language used are not necessarily appropriate for student work.

We also add (this fits under 'critical reading and detecting opinion and bias') 'evaluating sources.' I have a unit featuring a google page on 'feminism.' Students are asked to review the list of possible sources and to identify the ones they think would be reliable and why - and the ones they would not use and why. I expand this lesson with a unit on detecting bias and opinion....we use propoganda, drug adverts and political ads to 'biased' academic texts to move from the more obvious to the less obvious on the spectrum. (this is rather fun:))

Under 'demonstrate ability to develop supporting details: we do this through debates, in which students are assigned a topic and must write both sides of the debate (irregardless of their actual positions on the topic). I find that divorcing the ideas and language from real feelings/opinions allows them to focus more effectively on the process.

Connectors? Direct practice?
We use the same structures you state, and re-inforce them through presentations, which also generally reflect the same patterns of general-specific except in conclusions.

Regarding plagiarism, I have also a bank of 'real life' plagiarism stories with their consequences:) Always fun.

SQ4 these days!! I'm behind the times...It was SQ3R when I was hooked in:)
You might consider adding 'guessing vocab in context' to reading. We move from macro reading strategies to micro. Macro at its ultimate includes analysis of how students might apply information from a text to the real world, or expressions of their opinion of it. Micro is figuring which words/phrases might not really be important to understanding a text (substitute, guess in context, deconstruct the word, make an educated guess for words that recur infrequently).

I also make the clear link between presentation and writing patterns. Will be doing this tomorrow, hurrah!

[lazycomputerkids]

[veiledsentiments]

John,

That is certainly a very good summary of what they need... BUT... depending on the level and background of the students, there is probably too much to cover in 14 weeks/6 hours a week.

Some of this may already have been covered in the previous ESL courses.

AND

One crucial thing is missing... (or did I miss it?) Teaching them to proofread. It was the bane of my existence as a writing teacher. Convincing them that it is truly the difference between their passing and failing on an academic writing assignment is the key.

VS

[johnslat]

Dear Colleagues,

First, let me thank everyone who took the time and trouble to respond. As I mentioned, this is a "pilot program," so the first session should reveal a lot about what needs to be altered.
My estimation - one shared by some others who posted - is that fitting all this in will be virtually impossible. But figuring out what to cut isn't so easy.
I suppose I'll start with the simpler areas and move along as fast as the students' ability allows (and the students are all at what I'd call an "advanced level," which should help.)
The problem there is that I also think it's very important for the students to attempt the "research project," which, ideally, would be the culmination of the course. So, I suppose that I'm going to have to take it week-by-week and do whatever pruning seems necessary along the way.

Addressing your individual comments/suggestions:

Dear sauditeacher,
Thanks for your complimentary comment.

Dear Kornan DeKobb,
Thanks for the suggestion. I think I'll be including documenting claims under "Research" (as you mentioned - providing I have the time to do so.)

Dear spiral78,

"You mention these in the goals, but you didn't describe when/how they will occur."

True, but this is intended only as a kind of "overview" of the course (to give the ESL coordinator and the ABE director here some idea of my plans.)
Thanks to the cutbacks, we can no longer give students their textbooks, or perhaps I should say we can give books to them ONLY while they're in the classroom. They can't write in the books, take them home (we pick them up at the end of each class) or, of course, keep them after the class is finished (and, in the past, they could do all of the things mentioned above.)
So, when the coordinator called me in to look over some textbooks for the course to decide which one I wanted to use, I ended up telling her, "None of them." I mean, why spend about $45 on each book when all the students can do it look at them during class time?
However, over the years, I've created a LOT of materials that deal with all the areas that are covered in those textbooks. So, I suggested to the coordinator that I put together a text myself using those materials and that she see about getting the "textbook budget" changed to a "copying budget."
I think my "textbook" will end up at about 70 or 80 pages (maybe more) of handouts with explanations and practices. The students will be able to write in their books, take them home, and, what's probably most important, KEEP them when the class is finished and use them as "reference material" in college.
The coordinator liked the idea, and so I managed to get myself into "textbook-producing," and, to tell you the truth, I underestimated just how much extra work I was taking on. But I definitely think that it's a much better situation for the students this way.

"Describe and practice the steps in the writing process."

Nothing revolutionary - just the usual (and at each step, I'll review the students' production to make sure they're headed in the right direction): research to decide on the topic (not too narrow or too general); brainstorm; write an outline; write a thesis statement; write an introduction; write a body; write a conclusion; proofread (Thanks VS - how in heaven's name did I forget THAT one?), and edit/revise.

"Show evidence of critical reading and thinking through questions and analysis ."

This would take place during their research - and also (time permitting) when I let the students read/analyze/comment on other students' papers.

"Perhaps with a focus on explaining why the references used were chosen?"

Well, I'd sort of hope that would be fairly self-evident (but, one never knows.)

" Under writing, I would add Consideration of Purpose and Audience."

Well, I have "audience" covered, I think:

5. Writing for an audience

And purpose is mentioned under reading:

10. Purpose and tone.

One of the nice aspects is the way everything really does tie together. What's important is writing is equally important in all the other areas: reading, listening, and speaking.

"We also add (this fits under 'critical reading and detecting opinion and bias') 'evaluating sources.'"

I agree - evaluating sources IS very important (especially in the Age of the Internet), and I intend to touch on that under "Research," including the usual suspects: publisher, credentials, accuracy, currency, bias, and (once again) audience.

"Under 'demonstrate ability to develop supporting details: we do this through debates, in which students are assigned a topic and must write both sides of the debate (irregardless of their actual positions on the topic)."

A very nice idea - and if I can, I'll try to incorporate it into the class. But again, I strongly suspect that (unfortunately) I'm going to need to REDUCE the areas rather than add to them.
Many thanks for all your comments

Dear LCK,

"Given your time constraints, I predict the achievement of more presentation than generation. Extensive, comprehensive...you cover pretty much every lever, pulley and inclined plane a student needs in college.:

Ay, there's the rub: TIME. I do NOT want to rush through it all just to cover everything. But I DO want to try to give the students the MOST ESSENTIAL tools they're going to need in college. The problem? What's "essential" for many/some may not be for all, And how do I decide what gets "cut?"

Not easy.

Dear VS,

As mentioned above, thanks for "proofreading" - that IS essential, for sure.

Regards,
John

[cmp45]

John,

Just a few other ideas to ponder...

Your course outline is extensive and covers alot...for a 14 week course as mentioned by other posters...however, I would still aim to include it all since the various sections could be covered or omitted depending on the overall level of the students in a class/group...since it is assumed that this text will be used in the future and possibly by other teachers...

If your main aim of the course is for the students to understand how to do a research project...then all your objectives must reflect that aim...be brutal in cutting out anything that does not move students towards that aim...within your 14 week time frame... However, what you have is good and maybe just a matter of prioritizing rearranging the sections/ re-labeling some of them into a review section???

I think you have already come to this conclusion

Just for fun I played around with your course outline a bit

COURSE DESCRIPTION:The primary aim of this course is to further develop writing, reading, listening and speaking skills that will enable advanced ESL students to complete a college level research project. The course will also include a comprehensive review/ reference section. By the end of this course, students will be able to:

� Complete a short research project using and citing 2-4 references
� Deliver a short class presentation summarizing their research project


WRITING OBJECTIVES:
� Identify the elements of a writing selection, including main idea, supporting details, and transition words and phrases
� Describe and practice the steps in the writing process
� Take effective notes on readings and class discussions
� Make valid inferences; distinguish fact from opinion � Write a well-organized paragraph
� Write a one-paragraph summary of a reading
� Write an outline
� Write well-organized essays, using various types of organization (e.g. time, comparison and contrast, cause and effect, process, etc.



I. WRITING:

A. Understanding the writing assignment:
1. Outlines (traditional and mind-mapping/cluster)
2. Summarize
3. Compare and contrast
4. Persuade
5. Explain by cause and effect
6. Research

B. Basic writing form, from brief responses to whole reports:
1. Demonstrate the ability to brainstorm, organize, draft and revise paragraphs:
a. Pre-writing, outlining, drafting, revising and editing, final draft
2. Recognize features of a good topic sentence:
a. Correct and incorrect topic sentences and the differences between them
3. Demonstrate the ability to develop supporting details:
a. Definition and qualities of major and minor supporting details
b. Relevance of major and minor details to topic sentences
4. Demonstrate the ability to produce simple, compound and complex sentences:
a. Features of simple, compound, and complex sentences
b. Techniques for connecting clauses to form compound and complex sentences
5. Produce a well-developed and well-organize paragraph:
a. Correct topic sentences
b. Relevant and adequate supporting details
c. Coherence through transitions
d. Correct grammar and punctuation
6. Opening thesis paragraph (going from general to specific)
7. Three main points (using either direct quotations, paraphrases/summary, statistics, and research examples)
8. Closing thesis paragraph (going from specific back to general)

C. Discuss research:
1. Uses
2. Sources
3. Examples of citation
4. Paraphrasing versus Plagiarism

READING OBJECTIVES:
� Practice effective pre-reading strategies
� Identify purpose and tone; practice critical reading/thinking
� Show evidence of critical reading and thinking through questions and analysis

II. READING

1. Recognizing and finding the topic and main idea (Thesis statements and topic sentences)
2. Comprehension (finding specific major and minor supporting details)
3. Patterns of organization (recognizing/identifying patterns used to organize essays)
4. Inference/implication (including implied main ideas)
5. Argument (finding the main point)
6. Fact versus Opinion
7. Purpose and tone.
8. Critical reading


III. LISTENING AND NOTE-TAKING

1. The Three Steps: hearing (attention), understanding (focus), and judging importance (discrimination)
2. Focus, listen for main ideas, use body language cues
3. Choose or develop a method that works for you. The following methods will be discussed:
1. The Cornell Method
2. The Outline Method
3. The Mapping Method
4. The Charting Method
5. The Sentence Method

!V: ORAL PRESENTATION

1. Introduction: Tell the audience what you're going to tell them. Grab the audience's attention

2. Body: Tell them. Offer facts, opinions, and reasons to support your main idea

3. Conclusion: Tell them what you told them. Restate the main points without giving examples

V: Review/ Reference Section:

Writing:

A. Kinds of writing expected of college students:

1.Short answers on tests
2. Short essay writing for homework assignments (writing thesis statements, topic sentences, supporting details, and conclusions)
3. Essays on tests
4. Research and report writing
5. Writing for an audience

B. Review/practice of common grammar and writing problems:

1. Word usage
2. Spelling
3. Grammatical forms
4. Sentence structure and sentence combining
(If your students are advanced you could probably omit this section or include it as a review -refresher homework assignment)


Reading:

1. Dictionary Use
2. Vocabulary in Context (Context Clues)
3. Pre-reading DR/TA (directed reading/thinking activity) K-W-L-H (know, want, learn, how to learn), SQ4R (survey, question, read, recite, relate, and review)

[007]

John, how do you assess your students? Is it only through report writing/group projetcs/presentations/etc? Is there any end exam for your course?

[johnslat]

Dear 007,

Oh, they'll be assessed all throughout the course. I've got literally dozens of quizzes/tests on most of the areas covered.

But this may come as something of a surprise: I give all the students 100% on ALL my quizzes/tests (although I do indicate where any errors are.) I use them ONLY to find out where the individual problems are.

There really is NO "standard assessment" for this course - although I think I WILL give an actual "letter grade" with comments on the research project. The students here don't pay any tuition and are all taking the ESL classes only because they want to improve their English. In most of the classes, the CASA test given near the end of the session is the only one that really matters. A student's score on that indicates whether they should move up, stay at the same level, or go down. Then, the teacher gives his/her "recommendation," based on such matters as attendance, participation, homework, classwork, and whatever quizzes/tests he/she may administer. However, even if a student gets a "low" CASA score and the teacher recommends taking the level over or even going down a level, if the student want to go up despite all that, well, he/she can.
It works, though - I've never had - or even heard of - a student who wanted to go up when the teacher recommended a retake or going down.
They're not here for a grade; they're here to learn English.
Moreover, this is "the top of the line" class; there will be no CASA test and there is no level above it in the ESL program. From here, they go on to college.
So, a grade is really irrelevant. If they want, they could take the course again or they could even go back to a lower ESL level. But they get to decide if they're "ready" for the college courses. I can give them my recommendations, but they're the ones who make the choice, not I.

And you know - I really like it that way.

Regards,
John

[TeresaLopez]

John, you sound like a great teacher, and I am sure your students will learn from you. I also am not a big fan of tests, and while I am required to give them by my employer, I don't announce them in advance, I don't want my students to study for them, and I don't base a large part of their grade on their results. The first time I calmly announced at the beginning of a class that there was going to be a test that day there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, until I explained that it was a test of what they really KNOW, not what they can quickly "learn" (and promptly forget in most cases) and that I would use the results to help me teach them better. I also give very detailed comments on mistakes, I don't just correct them, I explain why as much as possible.

[cmp45]

[johnslat]

Dear TeresaLopez,

Thanks, but it's actually my students that are great. They're always surprised when I tell them (about an "assessment" or homework)

"If all your answers are right, you get 100%, BUT if all your answers are wrong, you get . . . . . 100%."

It's not always so easy to overcome the "grade mentality," but I'm very lucky to be working in a program in which grades aren't important and in which the students are mature enough to cope with that.
As mentioned, I've never had (or heard of) a student here who elected to go to the next level despite getting a poor CASA score and a recommendation from her/his teacher against doing so.
But I have very occasionally had a student elect to take the level again, despite my recommendation that he/she was ready for the next level.

And I respect that decision - after all, who would know better about her/his readiness than the student? What's important is that the student feel comfortable and ready/able/willing to learn at whatever level he/she may be.

Most teachers, I'm well aware, don't have this luxury of being able to disregard grades, but we do. And I love it.

Regards,
John

Dear cmp45,

Oh, do I ever know that luxury (like so much else) is unavailable in the Kingdom.

[killthebuddha]

For the writing portion, I'd at least provide them with Strunk's Elements of Style, which they can download on the internet and have as a resource or reference even if you don't incorporate it into the class per se. They'll appreciate its brevity, conciseness and manageability.

I also think it's important to provide students with all the free internet resources of which I'm aware, and I'm always finding more. Great work BTW.

--ktb