Past Teachers' Experiences
Faith Kurtyka and Liz Denbo
UA teacher Faith Kurtyka worked with Liz Denbo, a Desert View instructor who taught senior English. In order to make the partnership relevant for her students, Faith used texts like Mike Rose’s “I Just Wanna Be Average” and Jay M. Rochlin’s “Social Class and the University” to encourage her students to consider various factors that influence the choice (or lack of choice) to attend college. Most of the Liz's Desert View students were college bound but were lacking important information about university life. Together, Faith and Liz designed the email interchange with several goals in mind: (1) to give the high schoolers an idea of the writing that would be expected of them at the university (2) to help the high schoolers feel ready to be a college student and (3) to help the college students see the larger social and cultural forces that deny people access to higher education. Faith's students emailed the high schoolers about their own experiences in high school, gave them advice for what to expect in college, and sent a draft of an annotated bibliography for feedback. Liz's students sent the college students their personal statements for college, and a literacy narrative assignment for response. The partnership culminated with the high school students hosting four of the college students. While there, one college student gave a research presentation, and all of them answered the high school students’ questions about college.
Aja Martinez and Shawna Rodriguez
Aja and Shawna paired college students in a pilot version of English 101+ that focused on Latina/o literature, rhetoric, social issues and experience, with students from Cholla high school. Since many students from this special section of English 101+ were able to remain with her for English 102, Aja’s partnership was essentially a full academic year commitment. She finds that Wildcat Writers works best when the overall course theme deals with the issues that the students at the partnership school are faced with: educational disparity and (in)access to higher education. She carefully planned her semester to deal with this theme, including readings, songs, films, journal assignments, and essay assignments that reflect issues in education. During the writing partnerships, field trips to Cholla, and work on a creative final exam her college students became aware of and concerned about the educational barriers that the Cholla students deal with. Her students returned their final portfolios (a peer review and reflection regarding Cholla students’ personal statements) in UA brand folders. After the end of the semester she and a few of her students returned to Cholla to present the personal statement reviews to the Cholla students. She even worked hard to get certificates of appreciation to include in the folders along with other UA “goodies.” She proudly shares that all of the college students who returned with her to Cholla volunteered to do so because they desired to interact with the students one last time. Aja and Shawna say that this semester has been very successful and enriching for all involved. You can download Aja's syllabus.
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Laurie Morrison and Liz Denbo
Laurie Morrison and Liz Denbo paired UA students with Desert View High School students who were participating in a dual-enrollment program through Pima Community College. Many of the high school students were college-bound, so these teachers chose to focus on deconstructing the university. Their course outlines offered both high school and college students the opportunity to question and critique schooling at various levels through carefully chosen readings, films, and writing assignments. Laurie and Liz report that their students were enthusiastic about the partnership, and if they were to do this again, they would begin the partnership as soon as possible, rather than waiting until unit two of spring semester so that the students would be able to begin collaborating even sooner. Laurie’s full daily syllabus can be downloaded.
Jenna Vinson and Sarah Berger
Jenna and Sarah paired UA students with AP English students at Sunnyside High School. They began the partnership during the fall semester. In order to give the UA students adequate time to adjust to college life, and college-level writing, the teachers waited until unit 3 of English 101 to ask students to communicate with their partners. Jenna focused unit 3, the contextual analysis unit, around issues in higher education. Jenna and Sarah assigned their students to close read essays about education, such as Malcolm X’s “Learning to Read” and Sherman Alexie’s “Superman and Me,” and share their responses to the authors’ arguments. The unit concluded with a contextual analysis assignment that required that the UA students analyze their college experience, thus far, within the context of arguments about higher education. Jenna's students then shared this assignment with Sarah's as a way of showing them a glimpse of college life. In the spring, Jenna’s students changed and so did the teachers' approach to the partnership. Sarah asked for constructive feedback on her students’ very important final persuasive paper early on in the semester. Thus, Jenna created a rhetorical analysis/peer review assignment that asked her English 102 students to apply their rhetorical analysis skills while helping their high school partners succeed on their persuasive essay assignment. The partnerships ended with the high school students visiting the UA campus to meet their partners face-to-face and to discuss obstacles to success in higher education. You can download Jenna's syllabus.
Anna Varley and Liz Denbo
Anna Varley and Liz Denbo paired English 102 students with two high school classes from Desert View High School for consecutive semesters. A syllabus may be found athttp://www.u.arizona.edu/~varley. Anna made a point to take students to the high school for a visit at least once per semester, and Liz brought students to the UA campus for a tour, guest speakers, and peer workshops of papers. Anna's students were encouraged to use the mentoring experience as a context from which to develop research questions in unit 2. The reflective essay was an opportunity for students to think about their own backgrounds and assumptions about schooling, culture, social issues, and subjectivity, and students often report gaining interesting new perspectives through the partnership with their high school counterparts. You can download Anna's unit schedule and assignment sheets.
Susan Meyers
Susan Meyers, a UA teacher, worked with a high school teacher who taught five sections of 9th grade English. During Susan's second unit, her students primarily helped the 9th graders workshop personal narrative essays in preparation for a city-wide essay contest. Susan invited her students to visit the high school to offer workshops on three occasions, and she awarded extra credit points to those who were able to attend. She reported that most students were eager to participate in these visits, and that they seemed to benefit from the partnership in several ways. The most significant gain for the college students was a renewed sense of the importance of peer workshopping, which improved subsequent workshops of their own papers. The partnership also gave the college students a context for class readings and discussions of schooling and literacy. The high school students served as resources to the college students in some cases. Susan carefully crafted unit 2 around the theme of literacy, helping students connect readings and writing assignments directly to the mentoring experience. You can download Susan's unit two schedule and assignment sheet.
Kelly Myers
Kelly Myers and her high school teacher partner paired two college classes and two sections of 9th grade English. They focused the partnership on personal writing. High school students chose partners based on the college students’ autobiographies. After initial email correspondence, Kelly took her students to the high school, which is within walking distance of campus. There, they led peer workshop of the high schoolers’ drafts, which they read ahead of time. They reflected on these workshops in short essays, which served as their final exam. Kelly reported that her students’ final exams were particularly strong, in that the students were able to connect the value of workshopping and of process writing in becoming stronger writers themselves. You can download Kelly's unit three schedule.
Amy Parziale
Amy Parziale and her teacher partner paired two classes of English 102 with students at Cholla High School. Amy's goals for the partnership were to increase her students’ sense of community in Tucson, their confidence in their writing skills, and to get them thinking metacognitively about their own transition from high school to college. Amy's partner hoped the college students would help the high school students better understand how to transition to college, the opportunities at the University of Arizona, and strategies for improving their writing and rhetoric. During the semester Amy's students received, and commented on, the Cholla students’ potential persuasive essay topics, outlines, and first drafts. Amy was amazed that although complications arose, her students remained positive and enthusiastic about the partnerships. She was impressed by her students’ thoughtful and constructive critiques of their partners’ essay outlines and drafts. During the semester, she took 18 of her students to visit the school the week before Spring Break and was happy to report that the students enjoyed meeting their partners and discussing their paper ideas. The partnership culminated with a pizza party at Cholla High School on Dead Day, thanks to Amy’s application for the Writing Program’s Funding for Collaboration. You can download Amy's syllabus.
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UA teacher Faith Kurtyka worked with Liz Denbo, a Desert View instructor who taught senior English. In order to make the partnership relevant for her students, Faith used texts like Mike Rose’s “I Just Wanna Be Average” and Jay M. Rochlin’s “Social Class and the University” to encourage her students to consider various factors that influence the choice (or lack of choice) to attend college. Most of the Liz's Desert View students were college bound but were lacking important information about university life. Together, Faith and Liz designed the email interchange with several goals in mind: (1) to give the high schoolers an idea of the writing that would be expected of them at the university (2) to help the high schoolers feel ready to be a college student and (3) to help the college students see the larger social and cultural forces that deny people access to higher education. Faith's students emailed the high schoolers about their own experiences in high school, gave them advice for what to expect in college, and sent a draft of an annotated bibliography for feedback. Liz's students sent the college students their personal statements for college, and a literacy narrative assignment for response. The partnership culminated with the high school students hosting four of the college students. While there, one college student gave a research presentation, and all of them answered the high school students’ questions about college.
Aja Martinez and Shawna Rodriguez
Aja and Shawna paired college students in a pilot version of English 101+ that focused on Latina/o literature, rhetoric, social issues and experience, with students from Cholla high school. Since many students from this special section of English 101+ were able to remain with her for English 102, Aja’s partnership was essentially a full academic year commitment. She finds that Wildcat Writers works best when the overall course theme deals with the issues that the students at the partnership school are faced with: educational disparity and (in)access to higher education. She carefully planned her semester to deal with this theme, including readings, songs, films, journal assignments, and essay assignments that reflect issues in education. During the writing partnerships, field trips to Cholla, and work on a creative final exam her college students became aware of and concerned about the educational barriers that the Cholla students deal with. Her students returned their final portfolios (a peer review and reflection regarding Cholla students’ personal statements) in UA brand folders. After the end of the semester she and a few of her students returned to Cholla to present the personal statement reviews to the Cholla students. She even worked hard to get certificates of appreciation to include in the folders along with other UA “goodies.” She proudly shares that all of the college students who returned with her to Cholla volunteered to do so because they desired to interact with the students one last time. Aja and Shawna say that this semester has been very successful and enriching for all involved. You can download Aja's syllabus.
.
Laurie Morrison and Liz Denbo
Laurie Morrison and Liz Denbo paired UA students with Desert View High School students who were participating in a dual-enrollment program through Pima Community College. Many of the high school students were college-bound, so these teachers chose to focus on deconstructing the university. Their course outlines offered both high school and college students the opportunity to question and critique schooling at various levels through carefully chosen readings, films, and writing assignments. Laurie and Liz report that their students were enthusiastic about the partnership, and if they were to do this again, they would begin the partnership as soon as possible, rather than waiting until unit two of spring semester so that the students would be able to begin collaborating even sooner. Laurie’s full daily syllabus can be downloaded.
Jenna Vinson and Sarah Berger
Jenna and Sarah paired UA students with AP English students at Sunnyside High School. They began the partnership during the fall semester. In order to give the UA students adequate time to adjust to college life, and college-level writing, the teachers waited until unit 3 of English 101 to ask students to communicate with their partners. Jenna focused unit 3, the contextual analysis unit, around issues in higher education. Jenna and Sarah assigned their students to close read essays about education, such as Malcolm X’s “Learning to Read” and Sherman Alexie’s “Superman and Me,” and share their responses to the authors’ arguments. The unit concluded with a contextual analysis assignment that required that the UA students analyze their college experience, thus far, within the context of arguments about higher education. Jenna's students then shared this assignment with Sarah's as a way of showing them a glimpse of college life. In the spring, Jenna’s students changed and so did the teachers' approach to the partnership. Sarah asked for constructive feedback on her students’ very important final persuasive paper early on in the semester. Thus, Jenna created a rhetorical analysis/peer review assignment that asked her English 102 students to apply their rhetorical analysis skills while helping their high school partners succeed on their persuasive essay assignment. The partnerships ended with the high school students visiting the UA campus to meet their partners face-to-face and to discuss obstacles to success in higher education. You can download Jenna's syllabus.
Anna Varley and Liz Denbo
Anna Varley and Liz Denbo paired English 102 students with two high school classes from Desert View High School for consecutive semesters. A syllabus may be found athttp://www.u.arizona.edu/~varley. Anna made a point to take students to the high school for a visit at least once per semester, and Liz brought students to the UA campus for a tour, guest speakers, and peer workshops of papers. Anna's students were encouraged to use the mentoring experience as a context from which to develop research questions in unit 2. The reflective essay was an opportunity for students to think about their own backgrounds and assumptions about schooling, culture, social issues, and subjectivity, and students often report gaining interesting new perspectives through the partnership with their high school counterparts. You can download Anna's unit schedule and assignment sheets.
Susan Meyers
Susan Meyers, a UA teacher, worked with a high school teacher who taught five sections of 9th grade English. During Susan's second unit, her students primarily helped the 9th graders workshop personal narrative essays in preparation for a city-wide essay contest. Susan invited her students to visit the high school to offer workshops on three occasions, and she awarded extra credit points to those who were able to attend. She reported that most students were eager to participate in these visits, and that they seemed to benefit from the partnership in several ways. The most significant gain for the college students was a renewed sense of the importance of peer workshopping, which improved subsequent workshops of their own papers. The partnership also gave the college students a context for class readings and discussions of schooling and literacy. The high school students served as resources to the college students in some cases. Susan carefully crafted unit 2 around the theme of literacy, helping students connect readings and writing assignments directly to the mentoring experience. You can download Susan's unit two schedule and assignment sheet.
Kelly Myers
Kelly Myers and her high school teacher partner paired two college classes and two sections of 9th grade English. They focused the partnership on personal writing. High school students chose partners based on the college students’ autobiographies. After initial email correspondence, Kelly took her students to the high school, which is within walking distance of campus. There, they led peer workshop of the high schoolers’ drafts, which they read ahead of time. They reflected on these workshops in short essays, which served as their final exam. Kelly reported that her students’ final exams were particularly strong, in that the students were able to connect the value of workshopping and of process writing in becoming stronger writers themselves. You can download Kelly's unit three schedule.
Amy Parziale
Amy Parziale and her teacher partner paired two classes of English 102 with students at Cholla High School. Amy's goals for the partnership were to increase her students’ sense of community in Tucson, their confidence in their writing skills, and to get them thinking metacognitively about their own transition from high school to college. Amy's partner hoped the college students would help the high school students better understand how to transition to college, the opportunities at the University of Arizona, and strategies for improving their writing and rhetoric. During the semester Amy's students received, and commented on, the Cholla students’ potential persuasive essay topics, outlines, and first drafts. Amy was amazed that although complications arose, her students remained positive and enthusiastic about the partnerships. She was impressed by her students’ thoughtful and constructive critiques of their partners’ essay outlines and drafts. During the semester, she took 18 of her students to visit the school the week before Spring Break and was happy to report that the students enjoyed meeting their partners and discussing their paper ideas. The partnership culminated with a pizza party at Cholla High School on Dead Day, thanks to Amy’s application for the Writing Program’s Funding for Collaboration. You can download Amy's syllabus.
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