Sumner’s chapter was a bit of a bummer to read, but I also can really relate to many of the ideas he was making in his chapter. I felt like he was arguing that we, as instructors, need to be more generalized, so that we can better teach our students. BUT, then when he was discussing the composition classroom, it appeared there might not be very much room for creativity if we followed some of his more traditional methods.
Curriculum design for composition seems very tricky. While I have four years experience teaching composition, I don’t really have a scholarly background in composition, so I don’t feel like I can contribute as much to the argument of curriculum design. I can understand making models to keep administrators and the big ‘U’ University happy, but I also think that creativity in the classroom where students can explore writing in their field is a much more beneficial approach — quick shoutout to those WAC groups! You rock!
I am still processing a lot of Sumner’s article, and I am not really sure where I fall on some of the issues he presented…but I have a lot of ideas/opinions about A First-Year Sustainability Cohort by Taylor, House, and Minster. So, I mentioned this in a previous blog post, but I LOVE Living-Learning Communities. I lived on one, I was a Residential Programming Assistant for one, and honestly, if it wasn’t for an awful Organic Chemistry lab, I would have probably stayed a cellular and molecular biology major because of the Living-Learning Community I was a part of my first year of college. I was a part of the biomedical sciences floor, and we all took three or four class together, and for our intro biomedical sciences class, our instructor would come to our floor and perform experiments, help us prep for tests, ask questions about assignments, or really just help connect us to the discipline more. We had a programming assistant (later I would assume this role) that would create programs/events based on biomedical science topics or we would bring in guest speakers, or volunteer at medical places. It was great. But, to be clear, LLC’s do have issues, and I think the authors were very honest about some of them (especially getting students to sign up for specialized floors), but I think they have the opportunity to do more good and help students. From my experience, no matter how much work you do publicizing an LLC, incoming freshman are still a little confused about them. Additionally, they most likely aren’t looking at the newspaper while they are attending high school and making mental notes of where they want to live (at a school they may or may not go to) at a future date. I would say half of the students on my floor declared a BMS-related degree; the others were selected to live on the floor at the last moment to fill the floor.
In the article, the authors mostly discussed how these students were all interested in sustainability and sustainable engineering so they would take three classes together. Again, the faculty worked closely with these students, but for the most part, faculty were on their own. The HERE floor wasn’t attached to any department (which is both a pro/con); the university didn’t support them very much (which I was familiar with). But, I think they were focusing a bit too much on the negative side of the program. …Or I am just really reminiscing about my time on an LLC.
From my limited time working in residence life, I found that LLC’s are usually created as a way to increase retention numbers, and sometimes to recruit students to new programs/elite programs. The retention part is what gets administrators on board, especially since LLCs tend to require more funds/resources than typical floors. While the authors mentioned they they didn’t have very many resources/funds, I wondered how this was idea was pitched to the administration. I don’t think the authors did anything wrong, but I would have been really interested to be in the room where they asked for funds/resources. I know they applied to grants, but I would think there would be other options before going straight to outside funding, especially since sustainability in engineering is such a hot topic. For example, LEAN principles and becoming a certified GREEN engineer is one of the big advantages on the marketplace. But again, I really don’t know about their university, but LLC’s continue to really interest me, and this is a actually a group I really want to work with once I find a job after graduating.
Katie Rieger, Portfolio 