Events
- Annual Convention
- Great Teaching round-up
- Leading from the middle
- fall conference for faculty leaders
- Webinars
"I think there is something more important than believing: Action! The world is full of dreamers, there aren't enough who will move ahead and begin to take concrete steps to actualize their vision."
Events: 2008 Developmental Education Schedule
Developmental Education Summary
Friday, 11:15 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
"Using Affective Domain Writing Assignments and Activities to Improve Academic Performance"
Speaker: Mitchel T. Burchfield, Director of the Academic Center for Excellence, Southwest Texas Junior College
Saturday, 9:00 - 10:15 a.m.
"Integrating ESL Students in English Courses: Communicative Techniques to Help Nonnative English Speaking Students in Basic Writing Courses
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Speaker: Lynne Gaetz, Instructor of English,
Lionel Groulx College, St. Therese, Quebec
Friday, February 22nd, 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
The TCCTA Developmental Education Section has two important meetings slated, each featuring an impressive authority.
On Friday, the group will learn about "Using Affective Domain Writing Assignments and Activities to Improve Academic Performance," with Mitchel T. Burchfield, director of the Academic Center for Excellence at Southwest Texas Junior College.
Dr. Burchfield says: "Recent findings support the idea that students might profit at the beginning of the semester by writing about topics related to personal and family values. This presentation reports on the significance of recent research about improving students' academic performance through a judicious combination of reading and writing assignments that emphasize self-integrity, coupled with classroom organization strategies that focus on teamwork. Audience participation and discussion will generate additional resources that can be used in the classroom."
Dr. Burchfield has taught English composition for over 18 years. He also teaches developmental mathematics, reading, and education courses. He is the coauthor of Insightful Writing: A Rhetoric and Reader (with David Sabrio), and a developmental writing textbook, scheduled to be released by Houghton Mifflin in 2008. He has published articles and made numerous presentations on a variety of subjects including: attitude formation, classical rhetoric theory, curriculum theory, and composition. After spending two decades in a variety of businesses, Dr. Burchfield returned to college and earned a master's degree in English from Texas A&M University-Kingsville and a doctorate in education from Grambling State University in Louisiana.
Saturday, February 23rd, 9:00-10:15 a.m.
Saturday's presentation features "Integrating ESL Students in English Courses: Communicative Techniques to Help Nonnative English Speaking Students in Basic Writing Courses," with Lynne Gaetz, instructor of English at Lionel Groulx College, St. Therese, Quebec.
The speaker says, "There are a growing number of nonnative English speakers in basic writing courses. This trend presents a unique challenge to instructors. How can professors reach nonnative English students and native speakers within the same class? In my extensive experience teaching developmental writing to both native and nonnative speakers of English, I have learned that both groups learn best when not distracted by ESL labels.
"With this seamless approach, non-native speakers do not feel self-conscious and segregated, and native speakers do not tune out to detailed explanations that may also benefit them.
"In this workshop, instructors will participate in activities that will help students improve their writing skills. Activities will include icebreakers, grammar links, cooperative writing exercises, and individual writing practices. In addition, through group discussions, participants will generate useful ideas that will help them in the classroom."
Developmental Education Section Chair:
Rebecca A. Goosen, San Jacinto College - North