Meeting the Needs of Generation 1.5 in Learning Communities
Joan Blankmann Janet Giannotti Northern Virginia Community College
Alexandria, Virginia
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Northern Virginia Community College NOVA
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Located in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., NOVA is the largest
educational institution in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
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About NOVA More than 75,000 students (32,000 FTEs) and 2,600
faculty and staff members. Students from more than 180
countries.
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The Alexandria Campus The Alexandria Campus offers a variety of
academic programs, continuing education classes, events and campus
facilities to more than 17,000 students each year. Located seven
miles south of Washington, D.C., the campus sits on 51.4 acres and
includes three classroom buildings and a concert hall.
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ESL at NOVA In the College ESL Program, we teach more than 4500
students per semester (duplicated headcount) in more than 250
classes. On the Alexandria Campus, we offer more than 90 classes,
filling nearly 2,000 seats a semester. Students may take four
levels of ESL before entering English 111.
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Developmental English at NOVA In the Developmental Reading and
Writing Program, we teach roughly 3,500 students per semester
across 5 campuses (duplicated headcount). Fall semester is always
bigger than spring. On the Alexandria Campus, we offer more than 25
classes, filling 400 seats a semester. Students may take four
courses in Developmental English at two levels before entering
English 111.
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Who Are Our ESL Students? Recent immigrants Generation 1.5
students F-1 international students at our higher levels
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Who Are Our Developmental English Students? Recent high school
graduates Returning students Generation 1.5 students
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Sorting Generation 1.5 Students Students are screened when they
take our placement test. We generally want Generation 1.5 students
to take Developmental English. The questions with desired answers
follow.
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In order to place out of ESL: 1. How long have you lived
CONTINUOUSLY in the United States? desired response: 6+ years 2.
How old were you when you moved to the U.S. permanently? desired
response: No older than 12 years old
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3. Have you attended school in the United States? If so, which
grades? Desired response: Yes, 6 th through 12 th grades. 4. If you
finished high school in the United States, what high school did you
graduate from? When? Desired response: Within the last 2 to 3
years. 5. (If the student went to high school in the U.S.) What was
the last English course you took in high school? Desired response:
English 12.
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6. Which languages do you speak with your family at home? Which
one do you use the most? Desired response: English. 7. In what
language do you read and write the best? Desired response:
English.
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Dedicated to making the student success agenda a priority at
community colleges and with state and national policymakers and
stakeholders. Seeks to improve retention and graduation rate at
community colleges. Data driven.
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AtD Colleges
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Achieving the Dream: March 2011 From the AtD website: 30
Community Colleges, including Entire L.A. Community College
District, Commit to Rigorous Student Success and Completion
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NOVAs AtD Strategies Focus on First Year Experience,
Developmental Education, Gatekeeper Classes New Student Orientation
Learning Communities for Developmental English On-line Modular
Learning Units for Developmental Math Data Driven
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Learning Communities: 3 Models Model #1: Developmental and ESL
Reading and Psychology 201 (8 hours per week, two instructors)
Model #2: Developmental English Reading and Writing (10 hours per
week, two instructors) Model #3: ESL Reading and Writing (10 hours
per week, two instructors)
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Model #1: Psychology and Reading Psychology 201: Introduction
to Psychology PLUS ENG 5: Critical Reading OR ESL 52: Reading
III
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Psychology 201 Required for many majors or social science
elective. Transfers well. Our campus: 20+ sections, enrolling 30-35
students in each section. Lecture format, four multiple-choice +
short answer tests, a final, and occasionally a project or
paper.
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ENG 5 and ESL 52: Reading Courses use a similar syllabus. Exit
level Developmental or ESL reading course. Students may or may not
be in a composition class as well.
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Reading Class Design Our reading classes generally Use a
textbook for reading skills, vocabulary, etc. Have a summarizing
component. Use a novel for journaling, vocabulary, and writing
prompts. Major assignment is an essay connected to the novel.
Students write an in-class summary to pass the class. We use the
Nelson Denny Test of Reading for pre- and post-testing.
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Learning Community Course Design Psychology 201 Follow regular
syllabus. Change assignment #1 to a group PowerPoint project. Add
an essay. Reading Adjust regular syllabus. No reading textbook.
Growing Up by Russell Baker. Bookmarks, a Companion Text for
Growing Up, by Janet Giannotti. Summarizing of articles with psych
themes. PowerPoint and essay.
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Enrollment: Capped at 22 19 students enrolled. Jeannette,
heritage speaker, Spanish Dayana, recent immigrant, Spanish Webit,
Gen. 1.5, Amharic Marina, recent immigrant, Spanish Eun Jin, F-1
international student, Korean Erica, Gen. 1.5, Spanish Yelli,
recent immigrant, French (Africa) Shatonia, HS grad., English
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Adam, H.S. grad., English Nebiyu, recent immigrant, Amharic
Cory, H.S. grad., army reserves, English Alima, F-1 international
student, Mongolian Megan, H. S. grad., English Daniel, heritage
speaker, Spanish Su Hyun, F-1 international student, Korean Ricky,
retired navy, English Wendy, Gen. 1.5, Spanish Genet, Gen. 1.5,
Amharic Phyo, Gen. 1.5, Burmese
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Enrollment Overview Native speakers of English, recent high
school graduates = 3 Native speaker of English, returning to school
= 1 Heritage speakers, recent high school graduates = 2 Generation
1.5, recent high school graduates = 5 Recent immigrants or F-1,
recent high school or university graduates = 7
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My Learning Community
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First Day Handout You will receive a syllabus for each course.
This sheet explains some special advantages and rules about our
learning community. 1. We are a community. All students are
enrolled in both classes. We hope to have some out-of-class time
together, including lunch, coffee, and study groups. Research has
shown that students who work together do better in their classes.
Regular class attendance is very important! 2. Youll save some
money. In ENG 5 and ESL 52, well use the Psych 201 textbook instead
of a reading textbook.
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3. Some assignments count for both classes. Youll have two big
assignments that will be graded by both instructors. The first is a
PowerPoint presentation that will be presented in the reading class
with slides turned in for a grade in psychology. The second is an
essay: early drafts will be graded by the reading professor with a
final letter grade given by the psychology professor. Other
assignments for your reading class, such as text mapping and
vocabulary, will be helpful in studying for your psychology tests.
4. Youll save some time. In the reading classes, well work
intensively with the Psych 201 textbook, trying out a variety of
strategies for approaching difficult text. This may cut down the
time you need to study for psychology. In addition, while other ENG
5 and ESL 52 classes are working on their literary criticism
essays, youll be working on the essay for your psychology
class.
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5. Youll still get the benefits of being in both classes. Your
Psych 201 syllabus (assignments, tests) is exactly the same as the
syllabus for the other Psych 201 classes. Your ENG/ESL syllabus is
parallel to the other reading classes as well. You will do all of
the journaling, summarizing, and vocabulary development that the
other classes do, just with a twist toward psychology content. 6.
Please understand that since this is a community, you may not
withdraw from just one class. If you think you may need to withdraw
for any reason, please talk to one or both professors immediately
so that we can try to work something out. Our goal is for everyone
to complete both courses with passing grades and to send you on to
PSY 202 and ENG 111.
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Reading the Textbook
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Mapping
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More Note Taking
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First Major Assignment Chapter 2 has a great deal of anatomy to
memorize. Research shows that if you relate new information to
yourself, it helps you to remember it. In this assignment, you will
relate several areas of the nervous system to an activity in your
own life. You will work with a partner and select one of the
activities below. Create a PowerPoint presentation to explain what
each area of the nervous system is doing while you are doing your
chosen activity. You need to explain the general function of that
area and the specific function during the activity.
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PowerPoint Assignment Playing soccer Riding a bike Having
coffee with a friend Going on a first date Painting a room Playing
a musical instrument Driving a car Playing tennis Mowing the lawn
Playing a musical instrument Somatic nervous system Sympathetic
nervous system Parasympathetic nervous system Brainstem Cerebellum
Hypothalamus Thalamus Amygdala Occipital lobe of cerebral cortex
Temporal lobe of cerebral cortex Corpus callosum Right
hemisphere....
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Friday Study Session
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Essay Assignment A theme in PSY 201 is the issue of nature and
nurture. We study how our human development is a product of our
genes and our environment, and the interaction between the two. In
Growing Up, Russell Baker describes various influences on his own
growth and development. We see evidence of both his genetics and
his environment affecting his development. Your assignment is to
write a 3- to 4-page paper in which you identify three
environmental influences on Bakers development.
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Paper Requirement: Intro Your paper will begin with a
background paragraph that summarizes the nature/nurture issue. You
may integrate one quote from Psychology. Do not do any outside
research for this paragraph. Your second paragraph will be the
introduction to your paper. Set the context by describing Russell
Bakers upbringing as hes reported it in Growing Up. You may want to
point out that you have seen both nature and nurture shaping his
development, but your thesis should clearly show that you are going
to describe environmental influences on Russells development.
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Paper Requirement: Body You should then have three body
paragraphs. For each element, you need to identify it (including
the page number where he describes it). Then use examples from the
book (include page numbers) that show how that particular element
influenced his life and his development. A strong paper will
include references from two or more chapters in each body
paragraph. You may integrate one quote into each body paragraph,
but please keep it to less than one sentence. Instead of extensive
quoting, paraphrase Bakers ideas into your own words. Use your own
words and understanding to show how that part of his environment
influenced his development into an adult. Your conclusion (final
paragraph) should tie back to the beginning of your paper.
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Course Results ESL students did the best, with F-1 students at
the top of the class. Native speakers did the worst overall, with
several F grades in PSY (with the exception of Ricky). Gen. 1.5 and
heritage speakers had mixed results.
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Course Evaluation More time with psychology textbook. Less
homework in the reading class. Tell more people about the Learning
Community!
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Model #2: Developmental Reading and Writing ENG 5: Preparing
for College Reading II (5 credit hours) PLUS ENG 3: Preparing for
College Writing II (5 credit hours)
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Common Denominators Both ENG 5 and ENG 3 are the exit-level
courses in the Developmental English program. have a standardized
curriculum for all sections. The standard ENG 5 reading syllabus
includes writing assignments and a research project. The standard
Eng 3 syllabus includes reading assignments and a research
paper.
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Background on the Learning Community Fall 2010 was the third
time my colleague, Barry Selinger, and I had co-taught an ENG 5 +
ENG 3 learning community. A feature of the Fall 2010 learning
community was that both courses were hybrid courses with a 1/3
online component. The courses met twice a week back to back in the
same classroom for 6 hours of traditional class time. The choice of
a novel or other fictional work determined the theme of each
learning community. In Fall 2010 the choice was a book of Greek
myths for a theme of mythology.
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Why Mythology? Timeless appeal of tales of adventure Quests and
trials, combats and battles, heroes and monsters Video games and
IMAX: Mortal Kombat and Prince of Persia Trilogy; Twelve Rounds and
I Am Number Four
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Why Mythology? Cultural literacy Ive always wanted to know what
Pandoras Box means? The Clash of the Titans
Course Materials READINGJOINTWRITING Textbook: Master Reader
Online: MyReadingLab Online: Blackboard forums (reading journals)
Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton
(originally published in 1942) Textbook: A Writers Reference
Online: Companion interactive site Online: Blackboard forums
(writing journals)
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ENG 5 (COLLEGE READING) The Great Heroes before the Trojan War:
Perseus, Theseus, Hercules, Atalanta Introduction to dictionary and
vocabulary skills reading strategies learning strategies stated
main ideas of paragraphs BB forums (reading journals) ANALYSIS 1-2
OF HEROES
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ENG 3: College Writing The Gods: Titans and Olympians, Lesser
Gods, Gods of the Waters, Underworld, Lesser Gods of Earth
Introduction to paragraph writing essay writing the writing process
MLA BB forums (writing journals) REVISED ESSAY ON SUCCESS
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Enrollment: 16 Students Justin, 1.5, Spanish Kais, 1.5 gen,
Urdu Stacey, American English, home-schooled Yordanos, recent
immigrant, Amharic Siomara, 1.5 gen, Spanish Jennifer, American
English, home-schooled Lidia, 1.5 gen, Spanish Kewania, American
English Brian, 1.5 gen, French
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Enrollment (cont.) Nelson, 1.5 gen, Spanish Ingrid, 1.5 gen,
Spanish John, American English Christian, 1.5 gen, Spanish Ahmed,
1.5 gen, Arabic Truc, recent immigrant, Vietnamese Brandon,
American English
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Enrollment Overview Native speakers of English, recent high
school graduates=5 Generation 1.5, recent high school graduates=7
Generation 1.5, returning to school after military service=2 Recent
immigrants=2
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Learning Environment Assignment Discussion of sign posted in
classrooms. How do you act in college? (handout)
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Discussion Board Forums The Greek Gods (About You, Part 4):
Enter the world of the ancient Greeks. If you were an ancient
Greek, which of the gods would you choose as a patron god and why?
I am a person of action; Ares is the Greek God after my own heart.
Ares reflects me in my youth, as a young kid I have always been one
that wasnt afraid of anything, and I used to believe that the only
way to solve a problem was through conflict, hand to hand.
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Other Discussion Forums Hero or Anti-Hero? (About You, Part 5):
If you did your homework, you now know the difference between a
hero and an anti- hero. How would you describe yourself? Are you a
hero or an anti-hero in your own life story?
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Revised Summary Response Essay Write a thesis statement that
responds to the main idea of the myth. This should basically tell
the lesson or lessons learned from the myth about love and how this
lesson or lessons apply to modern-day lovers. A lesson could be
summed up by a well-known saying like It is better to have loved
and lost than to have never loved at all.
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Revised Argument Essay Topics: 1. Did the right side win the
Trojan War? Why or why not? 2. Who is the greatest hero of the
Trojan War? Why?
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Documented Argument Essay Topics suggested by the dysfunctional
families of Greek mythology. The topics ask you to examine
questions related to dysfunction in contemporary family life,
particularly in the U.S. TOPIC 1: Should parents try to work on
their marital problems and stay together for the sake of their
children? TOPIC 2: In cases of divorce, the court system favors
giving mothers custody of the children. Do mothers make the best
custodial parent?
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Course Results 4 could not keep up with the work and failed
both courses. 3 passed ENG 3 (College Writing) but did not pass ENG
5 (College Reading). 9 passed both courses.
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Final thoughts: Student Reflection The one piece of academic
writing I am happy and satisfied with just might have to be my
essay on Cupid and Psyche, the summary response essay, I like this
piece of academic writing because of how it has a huge piece of me
in it. It has my experience and view on how relationships in my
life in the Marine Corps were. Christian Alberto Romero, born in
Copaipo, Chile, immigrated to Maryland in 1994, returned to Chile,
then back to the U.S for high school.