CCCC Position Statement on Second Language Writing and Writers

Hello, All!
I recently attended the Conference on College Composition and Communication ("Cs") in Atlanta. In addition to conducting a workshop and presenting a talk on the learning needs of culturally and linguistically diverse writers, I attended the annual meeting of the Committee on Second Language Writing. (This year I invited to become a member of the committee.) It was a stimulating discussion and there is much work ahead. This committee is charged with the following:

1. To serve as an official liaison between CCCC and TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages),
2. To develop a position statement concerning second language writing issues,
3. To identify, develop and provide resources for CCCC members,
4. To put forth recommendations for the Executive Committee on issues related to second language writing,
5. To develop an official policy on second language writing and writers with recommendations from the Executive Committee.

In fact, the position statement concerning second language writing issues was revised in 2009 and I will distribute copies at our department meeting tomorrow. You may also access it online here! 

It is clear that our ELA Department, with its considerable history of working with a complex population of second language writers, is well situated to add valuably to this good work. If you have any comments, ideas, or questions concerning the statement in particular or the Cs Committee on Second Language Writers--please add your comments here or stop by for a chat!

This is particularly interesting in terms of how the CATW encouraged our curriculum toward "deeper thought."

New national core curriculum?

by Fernanda Santos

Until this year, Ena Baxter, an English teacher at Hillcrest High School in Queens, would often have her 10th graders compose papers by summarizing a single piece of reading material.

Last month, for a paper on the influence of media on teenagers, she had them read a survey on the effects of cellphones and computers on young people’s lives, a newspaper column on the role of social media in the Tunisian uprising and a 4,200-word magazine article titled “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”

ePortfolio/Digication Professional Development Workshop - 3/16/11

ELA Professional Development Blog Workshop*3/3, 1:30-3pm, E228!!

ELA Pix

Setting up a blog in Blogger

Dear ELA Faculty,

This is where we can post announcements, articles, ideas, exchanges, etc. If you would like to become an author, please post a comment below with you email address.

To create your own class blog in Blogger, you'll see that there are many formats you can choose from. The main thing you'll want to do is:

1. Create an account.

2. Create a blog and give it a title that has your name or the name of your course in it. 

3. Copy your blog's complete URL. 

4. Submit your full name and the URL as a Comment to this post so I can add it to our own blog list. This will give you an idea of how you can create your own blog list in your class!