Dear Jeanette, I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to ask that you consider me as a corequisite partner. You have the qualities I am looking for in a partner. You are knowledgeable in your discipline, open-minded, equity-minded, flexible and optimist. But, most of all, you have one of the best reputations at SAC among students. Even after the semester ends, students are seeking you out to stay connected to you. They recognize that you genuinely care about them. Your attitude is always one of how can you best help students. You go above and beyond to give them your time outside of class. This is not a superficial popularity among students but a deep affection that comes from your giving spirit. I hope that you will consider partnering with me since I am only as good as my corequisite partner. Sincerely, Laurie

I am looking for someone with the qualities of students-first, open-mindedness, equity-mindedness, flexibility and optimism. Of course, the person must be knowledgeable in their discipline.

I would want to work with SDEV professor Jeanette Bunch. Although she is an adjunct professor, she engages in the campus as if she were full-time faculty.

Moving forward, we need to have more honest conversations about the real challenges students face in Math, Reading and Writing. We need to genuinely understand why our students struggle in our courses so that we can best strategize our approaches and methods. We have to ensure that we have the best faculty in place to help us move students toward college-level coursework, so accountability is key. Finally, we have to create an environment in our classes and on our campus that students feel connected to both academically and socially.

My institution can provide full-time staff to oversee our developmental co-requisite learning communities. Without a dedicated director and support staff, our efforts may lose direction or go unfulfilled. The staff would facilitate our course scheduling, student recruitment, faculty professional development, student engagement, and community building. We would need funding to offer our students tutors in the classroom as supplemental instruction, especially for English Language Learners and students with significant cognitive disabilities. We would need the support from our administration to keep classes smaller than traditional class sizes and to avoid scheduling co-requisite classes during 8-week flex or 5-week summer sessions. We would also need to be included in conversations where decisions are being made about our co-requisite model so that we can share what is and isn’t working and what we observe as our students’ greatest needs.

My partner can support my work by reviewing my syllabus and the student learning outcomes for my course. I would need to review the same documents of my partner. The more we understand each other’s course goals and objectives, the more we can plan for any content overlap, connections for shared assignments or a common read. I would want my partner to learn how I deliver my course content, such as through the use of multimedia, collaborative learning, or short lectures, so that we can discuss ways to help our students see them in practice in both our classes. In addition, I would want my partner to understand how I assess students for the work in my course, including the due dates for major assignments/projects so that we can try not to schedule these on the same days for each of our courses. We also want to understand our individual student expectations established in our course policies so that we don’t inadvertently undermine each other. For example, if my late policy is to not accept any late work but my partner’s policy is to accept late work up until the last day of class, our students may feel like there are incongruent expectations—one instructor is ”strict” and the other “easy”. I would want to support my partner’s policy and discover her/his rationale to better align it to my own—or at least communicate with our students that the rationale for each of us having dissimilar late work policies. Overall, the goal is to make logical connections between our courses so that students appreciate the interdisciplinary relationships that foster meaningful, deeper learning.My partner must also be willing to meet weekly to discuss our student needs and progress to make any necessary adjustments in our collaboration.

From what I have been able to gather about the “inner” and “outer” landscapes as presented by Parker Palmer, Laura Rendon and the AACU suggests to me that good teachers are genuinely motivated by not only passion for their field and for the reward reflected in the academic successes of their students, but also the personal growth of their students.  Teaching isn’t something they happen to do but something they must do in order to facilitate students’ social consciousness and empowerment. When we encounter students who may be perceived as unmotivated or lazy, we kick it into gear and get creative with approaches to engaging students where they are. Instead of seeing our students from a deficit perspective, we look for their assets—the qualities of our students that can help them learn, such as their bilingualism, creative interests, hobbies or talents outside of our discipline. What we value in our students isn’t a reflection of what we want them to be, but what they want for themselves. We trust our students’ innate capacity to learn and to acquire confidence in being a college student.

Two students I admire and got to know while teaching 7th and 8th grade Language Arts in my first four years of teaching are Daniel and Margaret. They would become close to me over two years since the junior high was using team teaching, and I was able to move up to the eighth grade with their cohort. By the second year, both would eat lunch in my classroom during my conference period. They were close friends and stood out from their peers by having a clear sense of their future goals. Daniel wanted to become an artist and Margaret wanted to go into accounting—her parents were managers of a neighborhood storage facility. They knew the neighborhood they grew up in was crime-riddled and suffered from the scares of poverty and neglect. Their attitudes were always optimistic and hopeful for their futures, despite their families‘ humble economic circumstances. They were not the most popular among their peers, derogatorily labeled “school boy” and “school girl” because they always turned in their homework and were respectful to their teachers. I recognized the pain they experienced when  the “popular” students rejected and made fun of their studious reputations. Yet, Daniel and Margaret held their heads high with a confidence that they knew they would prove to be winners in the long run. 

On the first day of my Composition I course, students write about their “Personal Writing History”. On the first day of my Composition II course, students write about their “Personal Reading History”. Both exercises walk students through the positive and not-so-positive experiences they have had with reading and writing, identifying who and what supported them along the way. The last question I ask them to reflect on is what they would like to work on during the semester to improve. The exercise concludes with voluntary sharing of the students.I use my own experiences as an example of someone who struggled with both when I became a college student. I try to reassure them that they have control over their future with reading and writing if their prior experiences with both have not been positive. In my Composition I course, students write their research paper on a problem / solution topic that is personal in nature. They get to research how to get out of debt, how to overcome a learning disability, how to fix a relationship or any other area of their lives they want to improve through research. I often have students thank me for the opportunity to research a topic they can actually use to improve their lives. At the mid-point of every semester, I do an exercise of “mid-term mindfulness” and ask them to reflect on the goals they had at the beginning of the semester in terms of how far along they believe they are or what areas they still need to work on. Throughout the semester, I always begin with a few minutes at the beginning of class to ask them what they did on the weekend, what interesting activities they experienced or what concerns they have for the week. When giving feedback on their written work or group work, I always give them specific examples of where their writing is strong. When I offer feedback for improvement, I always frame it around the fact that I couldn’t understand something they wrote instead of stating that they were writing unclearly. With feedback on the first essay, I also try to tell remind that they are where they should be as first or second semester college writers if there are three or more areas needing improvement. I try to limit my specific feedback to no more than three areas that need improvement with the first essay look for areas of improvement to confirm that they have improved. Overall, I try to approach my students the way I would want to be approached, working as a coach on the sidelines cheering them on. 

The most significant time I can remember feeling like an outsider to a subject was in graduate school when we studied Mikhail Bakhtin’s theories of polyglossia and heteroglossia. My head hurts just thinking about the struggle I had understanding the two books we were assigned to read in the course, The Dialogic Imagination and The Problems of Dostoyevsky’s Poetics. It was as if I was reading a foreign language. Try as I could, I could never articulate in my own words what Bakhtin’s theories meant or how to apply them to literary theory. I so hated every time we had to discuss the books in class and always felt incompetent, especially when I could see my peers got it and even relished our class discussions. To this day, I have those two books on my bookshelf. Some years ago, I opened them and found it striking that there were no marginal notes on any of the pages. I looked through five other books from graduate school that were on the same bookshelf and every one had marginal notes. I can’t explain why the books were so difficult for me to grasp, but to this day I have absolutely no interest in those books. And, I can’t think of a way anyone could interest me in them. Realizing this makes me understand what happens when some of my students struggle with the literature I ask them to read, like Shakespeare and poetry. It also makes me think of students who struggle with math, chemistry or the various subjects they struggle with. We have to find ways to help students like this reconnect to these subjects in positive and supportive ways.

The one and only barrier that has hindered my reading is my short and long-term memory. I can read something one day and forget what I read the next day. I have had this difficulty all my life, and it has only gotten worse over time. I have books on my bookshelf that I enjoyed reading, but when I test my memory of the details I come up short. This happened recently when a colleague was reading The Professor and the Mad Man and posted a comment about it on Facebook. I wanted to reply with an intelligent comment, but I couldn’t even remember the names of the main characters. I felt so frustrated and incompetent. This also happens when I have read scholarly articles or books within my discipline, like those about literary periods or  authors‘ biographies. I wish I could remember to share what I have read from these works with my students when we study them in class. Now, I try to always keep digital notes when I have read an important book so that I can go back to them quickly if I need to. But, I wonder if this has actually become a crutch that puts me even further at a disadvantage since I don’t have to remember details if I know I can just look them up on my iPad in OneNote where I keep these notes.  

My mother supported my literary development when she took me to the thrift store and allowed me to purchase any book I wanted—even what was clearly an advanced book of mathematics bound in a khaki green cover with no writing except on the spine. The calculations that were made of symbols looked so interesting interwoven between the passages. I took it home and pretended that I understood what it all meant.  I don’t actually remember being read to, but we always had books in the house and a bookshelf. My mother also signed my siblings and I up for a book series collection called Sweet Pickles with pages of life lessons—like not being greedy or having patience. These stories were delivered by the animal characters who personified various human characteristics, such as Jealous Jackal and Vain Vulture. Then, of course, there were my elementary school teachers who took us to the school library so that we could select a book we liked. We would complete monthly book reports from these books and the best reports were posted on the classroom bulletin board. I reveled when my book report was one of those posted on the board. My middle school and high school English teachers introduced me to a love of fiction, like the Nancy Drew mystery series, drama of Shakespeare and Arthur Miller, as well as poetry of Walt Whitman and Robert Frost. My high school English teacher validated my writing when she had me read one of my essays aloud to the class. All together, I was so fortunate to have rich literary support from my home and school. 

Reflection 1. My previous experience of team teaching has been positive and sought out. I came to my profession with no training on team teaching, but was thrust into it like a trial by fire right out of college as a first-time public high school teacher. The high school was practicing team teaching on a school-wide basis. But, I never met with the other teachers my students took as part of our team and I did not coordinate any of my curriculum with teachers on my team. All grade levels were grouped into teams. I only spent one year at this high school before joining a new team at a junior high school of seventh and eighth graders—and where I would remain for four years. My students were seventh graders, and the administration encouraged us to name our teams. Our team took on the name of the Voyagers. We were faculty made up of a teachers of History, Reading, Language Arts (that’s me), Math and Science. We met every day during our shared team conference period. We would what was working and not working with our students and supported each other with our individual relationships with students. We planned every semester around a theme—often focusing on a historical period. We moved up with our students to the eighth grade, so we taught these students for two years. It was the best four years of my early teaching career. I credit my experiences working on this academic team with creating my professional foundation as an educator. I learned in one academic year from seasoned veteran teachers on my team what would have taken me three times as long, specifically classroom management and the importance of student feedback. When I became a full-time community college faculty, I took advantage of my institution’s first go at learning communities; it was the closest thing to team teaching that I longed for. I taught multiple semesters with faculty across the college. I worked with an Art instructor for two years before she retired. My students read the autobiography of Frida Khalo one semester, the next the novel Girl with a Pearl Earring. I was also part of several learning communities with psychology professors. But, it wasn’t until 2012 that I hit the jackpot and joined a team of faculty from Student Development, Reading, Sociology and Math as part of a grant with Gateway to College National Network, Project Degree—now overseen by Achieving the Dream. I worked with that team for two years before the grant ended and not institutionalized. It was just like my junior high school days, and I was devastated when the program didn’t continue. After this time, I only participated in two additional learning community pairings—once with a Criminal Justice professor wherein our students read Jimmy Santiago Baca’s autobiography A Place to Stand, and another with History professor wherein our students read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Both of these LCs were with the Honors Academy Program.

Reflection 2. In order to facilitate collaboration and partnership, I need my institution to hire a full-time director who will oversee learning communities. Having dedicated leadership to oversee, plan and develop learning communities on my campus is sorely needed to scale up our course offerings and secure more specialized resources, like tutors in the classroom, for our students. This leadership will also facilitate sustaining and growing the Catch the Next Ascender program on my campus. In addition, my institution needs to consider becoming a Gateway to College National Network partner again.

The only thing I will not negotiate with a team of colleagues is veering away from my course’s student learning outcomes. I would insist that we link one or more of our assignments—if not around a theme, then around specific readings. Lastly, I would insist that we meet at least once a week to share our experiences, concerns and successes. 

I have never forgot my high school and college English teachers. I am a lover of books and reading—not necessarily poetry, though. These teachers show up in my teaching practices when I consider how my lessons will engage students, and how will my feedback on students’ writing impact their confidence and growth.

We should also consider how the TSI scores impact accurate placement of students in corequisite courses. Some students may not take the TSI exam seriously and end up not testing into college-level Math and English. Other students may have test anxiety and the TSI doesn’t accurately measure their preparedness. Since students are allowed to retake the TSI to achieve a higher score, some students with scores on the margins of DE-cutoff scores may need ABE or ESL courses before being placed in corequisite English courses. We should also consider the specific needs of English Language Learners who end up In corequisite courses.

My institution has not experienced challenges with limited preparation/support for model design and instruction by faculty who teach the corequisites. Many of the faculty who teach the corequisite courses have taught DE for years and are passionate about the mission and purpose of DE.

Many faculty teaching the corequisite courses have been concerned with the rapid speed of and uncertainty around policymaking, such as the scant input from faculty on the course Student Learning Outcomes.

My institution has not experienced difficulties with faculty course loads.

In the English department of my institution, we have experienced a good amount of interest by faculty to teach corequisites. But, these faculty often feel that they are asked to do so much in a short amount of time. That all students will meet the minimum standards of the course Student Learning Outcomes is sometimes an unrealistic goal when some students have irreparable comprehension limits.

We must ensure the benefits of corequisites for students by faculty who teach in the disciplines buying into the approach. We must also ensure that students and advisors buy in to the way corequisites deviate from degree plans. I would add that we need to help students feel less of a stigma about being enrolled in corequisite course. We must also ensure that the focus on reading comprehension strategies aren’t lost. Finally, we must ensure that faculty are included within the policy-making process.

Corequisites benefit students by accelerating their completion toward a degree.

We could do better with a dedicated director of Learning Communities to grow course offerings for students. We could better train faculty in providing students with high-quality feedback. We could play a greater role in training and vetting students for specific positions in their communities, such as through job shadowing and internships.

We provide faculty teaching online courses professional development in Quality Matters course design and training in numerous educational technologies through the work of our Teaching with Technology committee and Instructional Innovation Center.

We offer level one certificates made up of competency-based courses for quick acquisition of marketable skills in computer programming, court reporting, dental assisting, fire science, early childhood studies and real estate management, to name a few.

I see my institution addressing these forces in multiple ways. We shine in addressing the high cost of publisher textbooks for our students by supporting faculty to transition to OER or low-cost instructional materials. We have an OER Task Force that helps faculty with the transition and annually recognizes those who have done so. We have saved our students over $1 million dollars in textbook savings. Our District has created an initiative to ram up offering universal access to materials for students with buy-in from my college.

This trend excites me. I began my teaching career in the mid 1990’s when team-teaching was all the rage. I was fortunate to experience collaborative team-teaching for all five years that I taught in public school—high school and junior high levels. As a new teacher, I benefitted from the close working relationships with veteran teachers on my team. We pooled our knowledge—mine from recent educational pedagogy, and my teammates from years of practical experience—that allowed us to be creative and targeted with our approaches to meet our students’ needs. I learned how a Math instructor used meaningful feedback to motivate our students. I collaborated with the Reading teacher through common readings. When I began teaching at the community college, I jumped at the opportunity to be a part of learning communities. The professional growth I experienced and the successes I saw in our students as part of a team of faculty from various disciplines sealed my belief in multidisciplinary approaches to teaching.

The trend in the high cost of HE concerns me. As someone in an upper middle-class income household, my husband and I have been challenged to cover the HE expenses of our four children while still paying off thousands of dollars in our student loan debt. My husband and I are first generation college graduates, so our parents could not afford to pay for our college expenses. We ended up with thousands of dollars in student loan debt. And, our student loan debt was, in a sense, passed on to our children as they prepared to enter college. We had to limit their options to local universities and they took some courses through my community college employer to take advantage of a tuition discount. I can’t imagine how daunting it is for middle-class families who want better for their children through a college education but find the cost of tuition, fees, books and housing out of their reach. Some 7-8 year programs, like medicine and law, are out of reach for so many students from middle-class families since they don’t qualify for free state or federal aid. If these students still pursue these costly degrees, they end up with outrageous student loan debt.