Teaching Writing in High School and College: Conversations and Collaborations
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 471 408 CS 511 321 AUTHOR Thompson, Thomas C., Ed. TITLE Teaching Writing in High School and College: Conversations and Collaborations. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL. ISBN ISBN-0-8141-0975-6 PUB DATE 2002-00-00 NOTE 248p. AVAILABLE FROM National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock no. 09756-1659: $24.95 NCTE members; $33.95 nonmembers). Tel: 800-369-6283 (Toll Free); Web Site: http://www.ncte.org. PUB TYPE Books (010) -- Guides - Classroom Teacher (052) EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF01/PC10 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *College Bound Students; College School Cooperation; *High Schools; *Higher Education; Mentors; Preservice Teacher Education; *Teacher Collaboration; Teacher Exchange Programs; *Writing Instruction ABSTRACT Addressing what teachers can do to prepare high school students to write effectively in college, this book presents15 narratives and studies suggesting that secondary-postsecondarypartnerships and exchanges can significantly improve students' ability to succeedat college- level writing tasks. Essays in section I, Trading Places, are: (1) "Scriptless in High School: Teaching Dreams of a CollegeProfessor" (Don Daiker); and (2)"A Teacher Exchange That Changed Teachers" (Ron Fortune, Claire Lamonica, Janice Neuleib). Essays in Section II,Modeling Collaboration for Preservice Teachers, are: (3) "It Takes More Than a Consortium" (Marguerite Quintelli-Neary); (4) "You've Got Priority Mail: 'The Single Most Valuable Activity of Our Semester'" (Nancy S.Tucker and Leah A. Zuidema); and (5)"High School Students Meet 'College Standards'" (Thomas C. Thompson, Betsy Wilson, and the Students in Education101). Essays in Section III, What Is "College Writing" Anyway?, are:(6) "What We Talk about When We Talk about College Writing" (Herb Budden, Mary B. Nicolini,Stephen L. Fox, and Stuart Greene); and (7) "Productively ContentiousDiscussions: Teachers Talk about the Teaching of Writing" (Stephen Lafer, LauniGardner, Richard Hoadley, Terry DeBarger, and April Sawyer). Essays inSection IV, High School to College: How Smooth a Transition?, are: (8) "The Fantasy of the 'Seamless Transition'" (Janet Alsup and Michael Bernard-Donals); and(9) "Talking about the Transition: Dialogues between High School and UniversityTeachers" (Wendy Strachan). Essays in Section V, Starting College in HighSchool, are: (10) "The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and Area High Schools Strike a Partnership" (Susan Kapanke and Melissa Westemeier);(11) "Creating a Connected Space: Mentoring in the Zone of Proximal Development"(Kim Jaxon); and (12) "'Why Do I Have to Take Remedial English?' A CollaborativeModel to Solve a National Problem" (Chris Jennings and Jane Hunn). Essaysin Section VI, Conversations about Collaboration, are:(13) "Crossing Levels: The Dynamics of K-16 Teachers' Collaboration" (Diana Callahan, Charles Moran, Mary-Ann DeVita Palmieri, and Bruce M. Penniman);(14) "Sl,eeping with the Enemy: Communiques from a Pedagogical Marriage" (Richard E. Brantleyand Diana R. Brantley); and (15) "Getting Out of the Way" (Mary Baronand Denise Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the on inal document Rambach) .(RS) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. THOMAS C.7:1"HOMPSON OF EDUCATION U S DEPARTMENTResearch and Improvement Office of Educational INFORMATION EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES CENTER (ERIC) as 0 This documenthas been reproduced received from the personor organization originating it have been made to O Minor changes improve reproductionquality this Points of view oropinions stated in document do notnecessarily represent official OERI position orpolicy in PERMISSION TO REPRODUCEANL) DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIALHAS BEEN GRANTED BY High School 'H. 4. 12(s TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES and Colloge INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) o versa to s flollaorato s Teaching Writing in High School and College NCTE Editorial Board: Jacqueline Bryant, Kermit Campbell, Willie Mae Crews, Colleen Fairbanks, Andrea Lunsford, Gerald R. Og lan, Jackie Swensson, Gail Wood, Zarina M. Hock, Chair,ex officio, Kent Williamson, ex officio, Peter Feely, ex officio (I Teaching Writing in High School and College Conversations and Collaborations Edited by Thomas C. Thompson The Citadel, Charleston, South Carolina National Council of Teachers of English 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1096 Staff Editor: Bonny Graham Interior Design: Doug Burnett Cover Design: Evelyn C. Shapiro Cover Photograph: Karen De Wig NCTE Stock Number: 09756-3050 ©2002 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or trans- mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including pho- tocopy, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the copyright holder. Printed in the United States of America. It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a fo- rum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Teaching writing in high school and college: conversations and collaborations / edited by Thomas C. Thompson. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-8141-0975-6 (pbk.) 1.English languageComposition and exercisesStudy and teaching (Secondary) 2. English languageRhetoricStudy and teaching. 3. Report writingStudy and teaching (Secondary) 4. Report writingStudy and teaching (Higher)I. Thompson, Thomas C., 1958- PE1404 .T487 2002 808' .042'0711dc21 2002003050 6 In memory of Richard Straub 1956-2002 '7 vii Contents Preface ix I. Trading Places 1 1. Script less in High School: Teaching Dreams of a College Professor 3 Don Daiker 2. A Teacher Exchange That Changed Teachers 13 Ron Fortune, Claire Lamonica, and Janice Neuleib II. Modeling Collaboration for Preservice Teachers 21 3. It Takes More Than a Consortium 23 Marguerite Quintelli-Neary 4. You've Got Priority Mail: "The Single Most Valuable Activity of Our Semester" 40 Nancy S. Tucker and Leah A. Zuidema 5. High School Students Meet "College Standards" 57 Thomas C. Thompson, Betsy Wilson, and the Students in Education 101 III. What Is "College Writing," Anyway? 71 6. What We Talk about When We Talk about College Writing 73 Herb Budden, Mary B. Nicolini, Stephen L. Fox, and Stuart Greene 7. Productively Contentious Discussions: Teachers Talk about the Teaching of Writing 94 Stephen Lafer, Laurie Gardner, Richard Hoadley, Terry De Barger, and April Sawyer IV. High School to College: How Smooth a Transition? 113 8. The Fantasy of the "Seamless Transition" 115 Janet Alsup and Michael Bernard-Donals viii Contents 9. Talking about the Transition: Dialogues between High School and University Teachers 136 Wendy Strachan V. Starting College in High School 151 10. The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and Area High Schools Strike a Partnership 153 Susan Kapanke and Melissa Westemeier 11. Creating a Connected Space: Mentoring in the Zone of Proximal Development 169 Kim Jaxon 12. "Why Do I Have to Take Remedial English?" A Collaborative Model to Solve a National Problem 182 Chris Jennings and Jane Hunn VI. Conversations about Collaboration 201 13. Crossing Levels: The Dynamics of K-16 Teachers' Collaboration 203 Diana Callahan, Charles Moran, Mary-Ann De Vita Palmieri, and Bruce M. Penniman 14. Sleeping with the Enemy: Communiqués from a Pedagogical Marriage 214 Richard E. Brantley and Diana R. Brantley 15. Getting Out of the Way 221 Mary Baron and Denise Rambach Editor 235 Contributors 237 ix Preface Committee meetings. We generally abhor them; when possible, we avoid them. Yet I recently attended a series of committee meet- ings that, though sometimes contentious and even rancorous, ultimately proved usefulboth to the individuals on the committee and to the college as a whole. We came together from our various depart- ments to discuss the college's core curriculum and how best to assess it. Regardless of the specific topics we discussed, however, the fact that the discussion included people from different departmentspeople with different perspectives, different methodologies, and different con- cernsincreased our chances of learning something useful about those topics. By including voices from different disciplines, we increased our knowledge base. Fortunately, the barriers that normally prevent such interdisciplinary discussions are relatively easy to overcome: we need only walk from our various corners of campus to a common room; aside from the physical distance between our departments, we all stand on fairly common ground. When the conversations cross grade levels rather than depart- ments, however, the barriers change. The public seems to accord dif- fering degrees of professionalism to teachers depending on the grade level at which they teach. As Richard Brantley and Diana Brantley note in Chapter 14, "A professor works hard for an initial credential, usu- ally a doctorate, and tenure, but then it is assumed that each professor is a professional who can maintain currency in the field....[High school teachers, however,] must continually update their certification and re- ceive 'inservice' instruction on topics from