When I came to Baruch College’s First-Year Writing (FYW) program as an adjunct instructor, I was told that the program, in addition to its “regular” classes, offered T-sections for English Language Learners (ELLs; see Lacelle Peterson & Rivera, 1994). I didn’t immediately grasp the conceptual and pedagogical complexity of these courses. With a background in English as a Second Language (ESL), language teaching, and (applied) linguistics, I mistook them to be more or less FYW courses for ESL or ELL students, a type of course I had encountered early on in my training and practice as a graduate student and then lecturer at Ball State University, a Midwestern university where at the time an influx in international students had caused the English Department to develop such classes. Because the six-credit course load is challenging to fit into a schedule for adjuncts, it was not until I became a full-time lecturer at Baruch that I taught a T-section, and that is when I realized that these were not classes filled with traditional ESL students, leaving me with questions and challenges and a desire to develop my teaching to this day.…
Continue reading Beyond ELLs: Reconceptualizing T-Sections and Consequences for Teaching by Constantin Schreiber →
I walked by my colleague’s desk at 7:40 AM last week and decided to interrupt his early morning ritual of quiet work with a loud “Good morning!” After some brief chit-chat and inquiries into how our respective semesters were going, his voice dropped: “Some of my students are just…lost. And I’m not sure what I can do to reach them.” “That is a topic,” I said, appreciating his honesty while making a mental note to pick up the thread again later when I had more time. Since then, I have pondered my colleague’s concern for his students and our brief exchange has inspired me to share with you an activity that I call “The Mindful Freewrite.” The in-class writings that punctuate my classes most days is the secret step—the last leg of a commute to class that encourages my students to be more engaged and present than they would be otherwise.… Continue reading The Mindful Freewrite by Safia Jama
When I came to Baruch College’s First-Year Writing (FYW) program as an adjunct instructor, I was told that the program, in addition to its “regular” classes, offered T-sections for English Language Learners (ELLs; see Lacelle Peterson & Rivera, 1994). I didn’t immediately grasp the conceptual and pedagogical complexity of these courses. With a background in English as a Second Language (ESL), language teaching, and (applied) linguistics, I mistook them to be more or less FYW courses for ESL or ELL students, a type of course I had encountered early on in my training and practice as a graduate student and then lecturer at Ball State University, a Midwestern university where at the time an influx in international students had caused the English Department to develop such classes. Because the six-credit course load is challenging to fit into a schedule for adjuncts, it was not until I became a full-time lecturer at Baruch that I taught a T-section, and that is when I realized that these were not classes filled with traditional ESL students, leaving me with questions and challenges and a desire to develop my teaching to this day.… Continue reading Beyond ELLs: Reconceptualizing T-Sections and Consequences for Teaching by Constantin Schreiber