Teaching for Transfer Helping Composition Students Carry Skills

Teaching for Transfer Helping Composition Students Carry Skills into the Future Assessment, Teaching, and Learning Conference Thursday, May 3, 2018 1: 30 -3: 00 Dr. Sharon Mitchler, Centralia College sharon. mitchler@Centralia. edu

• Initial studies of the Teaching for Transfer (TFT) curriculum indicate that it works to teach students what writing is and how writing functions, and how to transfer that writing knowledge and use into future contexts, at least in limited contexts (see the body of work on on TFT by Yancey, Robertson and Taczak, in particular).

Yancey, K. B. , Robertson, L. , and Taczak, K. (2014). Writing across contexts: Transfer, composition, and sites of writing. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press.

2016 -2017 CCCC Research Initiative, “The Writing Passport Project: Extending the Teaching for Transfer College Writing Curriculum into Nine Sites, Multiple Courses, and Writing Teacher Education” • Bristol Community College, Fall River, MA • Centralia College, Centralia, WA • University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College, Blue Ash, OH • Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL (also administering the grant) • University of California Santa Cruz, CA • University of Denver, CO • William Paterson University of New Jersey, Wayne, NJ • University of Massachusetts Boston, MA

Teaching for Transfer • Drawing upon research in knowledge acquisition and transfer, The Teaching for Transfer (TFT) curriculum aims to give students a knowledge set that they may take with them to varied learning situations. • In the TFT writing class, for example, TFT instruction provides students with critical, rhetorical principles upon which they may draw when asked to compose in novel contexts, whether in the classroom, in the workplace, or their everyday lives. Note that what is being transferred is not a set of reductive, context-free skills (such as editing for grammar and mechanics) but rather a genuine understanding of critical concepts that form the basis of effective composition.

Key Terms audience genre rhetorical situation reflection discourse community purpose context knowledge

source-based definition and synthesis essay inquiry-based research essay composition in three genres theory of writing

• Each major writing assignment includes a reflection action with it, either as an addendum or as a piece of the planning and drafting tasks that help to construct the project. 1. A source-based definition and synthesis essay asks students to define and then apply three key terms--genre, rhetorical situation, and audience--to a series of readings and then to describe the relationship among the terms. This source-based assignment comes early in the semester, thus allowing students to work with others’ perspectives from the start (in contrast with the traditional approach of leaving research writing near the end of a writing course). 2. An inquiry-based research essay encourages students to engage in research driven by large, genuinely interesting questions rather than simplistic thesis-driven answers. Contrary to traditional approaches to research in which students work to narrow their focus, this assignment “flips” the usual script and has students begin with large, broad subjects and asks students to refrain from prematurely and reductively providing answers to research questions. 3. A composition in three genres requires that students communicate important data from their previous research essay in three, distinctly different genres. Rather than confining students to a single genre--the academic essay--this approach asks students to consider how the choice of genre affects writers’ understanding of purpose, message, voice, and audience. 4. A reflective composition, in a genre of the student’s own choosing, has students state a fully developed theory of writing drawn from the course’s key terms and grounded in the course’s readings, a theory upon which students may draw when asked to write in new contexts.

Specific for Centralia College – mid study Alterations to TFT for local context Student data • Added short first assignment • 7 started study (IRB approved) • Shortened length of assignments • 5 have completed study • 5 interviews • Paper 2 – no answering • 2 email surveys questions • Surprises • Reflections in class and • Denver meeting, July described as drafts for paper 4 • Limited number of class readings – returned to several

Suggestions • Be frank and upfront with students about the rigors of the course: the weekly writing and reading assignments, the challenges of working with visual communication, the burden of theory-making • Slow the course down, opting for fewer readings but deeper reading • Settle for small theories rather than a Universal Grand Theory of Writing: modest reflection on how writing and composing work • Continue to offer choices as to modalities and genres, especially for those students who have, through toil, overcome their fears to succeed with the printbased, academic essay, the currency of school-centered writing • Encourage students to work in genres that they know and understand best—for many community college students, whose work and personal lives seem so often in turmoil, stable ground is essential for learning; transfer may more likely occur from a point of stability and familiarity • Be prepared to make these limited adjustments as you go. TFT curriculum is not a one-size-fits-all, so you will need to respond to the needs of your specific location and students.