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: 2009 Developmental Education Schedule
Developmental Education Summary
Friday, 9:30 - 11:00 a.m.
"Applying Student Engagement Research in Developmental Writing, Reading, and Mathematics Classrooms"
Speakers: David Sabrio, Professor of English, Texas A&M University-Kingsville; and Mitchel Burchfield, Director of the Academic Center of Excellence, Southwest Texas Junior College
Saturday, 10:30 - 11:45 a.m.
"Using the New College Readiness Standards to Prepare Students for Freshman Writing and College Algebra: A Practical Approach"
Speakers: David Sabrio and Mitchel Burchfield
Friday, February 20th, 9:30-11:00 a.m.
"Applying Student Engagement Research in Developmental Writing, Reading, and Mathematics Classrooms"
Speakers: David Sabrio, Professor of English, Texas A&M University-Kingsville; and Mitchel Burchfield, Director of the Academic Center of Excellence, Southwest Texas Junior College
The purpose of this presentation is to show how college instructors and students can use the research findings about student engagement to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning. The presenters will define student engagement and present a brief summary of three major studies of college student engagement:
1. George Kuh’s research on the National Survey of Student Engagement and his five “benchmarks of effective educational practice” (2005). These benchmarks are related to students’ ways of learning and personal development. One of his benchmarks is that students learn more when they work actively and collaboratively.
2. Arthur Chickering and Zelda Gamson’s article “Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education” (1987). One of their principles is that “good practice respects diverse talents and ways of learning.”
3. Ken Bain’s What the Best College Teachers Do (2004), based on years of studying some of the most successful college teachers. One of Bain’s conclusions is that the best teachers create a “critical learning environment” in which students are challenged to rethink their assumptions.
The presenters will then model an engagement practice by asking participants to team up and brainstorm a list of activities that they use or could use, in or out of the classroom, as ways of putting into practice various activities that help foster engagement. These lists will include both teacher behaviors and student behaviors. Elements of these lists will be shared as time permits, and the facilitators will compile the lists and email them to all participants.
Biographies:
David Sabrio is a Professor of English in the Department of Language and Literature at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. He received his B.A. degree in English from the University of New Orleans, and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in English from the University of South Carolina. He has taught at Texas A&M University-Kingsville since 1984, serving at various times as coordinator of first-year composition, graduate English coordinator, and chair of the Language and Literature Department. He has published articles in the fields of rhetoric/composition and English Renaissance studies; has directed twenty master’s theses; and has made over forty presentations at international, national, regional, and state conferences in the fields of rhetoric/composition, English Renaissance studies, and pedagogy. He has studied at Folger Shakespeare Library institutes and is a certified trainer in cooperative learning. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in rhetoric/composition, literature, English Renaissance studies, Shakespeare, and research methods. He is coauthor, with Mitchel Burchfield, of Insightful Writing (Houghton Mifflin (Cengage), 2009), a rhetoric/reader textbook suitable for either the highest developmental writing course, or the first semester college writing course.
Dr. Mitchel Burchfield has taught English composition for over 19 years at Southwest Texas Junior College. After spending two decades in a variety of businesses, he returned to college and earned a masters degree in English from Texas A & M University – Kingsville and a doctorate in education from Grambling State University in Louisiana. As the Director of the Academic Center for Excellence, he helped develop and now supervises the learning assistance efforts at Southwest Texas Junior College. He also teaches developmental mathematics and reading as well as education courses for prospective teachers. Dr. Burchfield has published articles and made numerous presentations on a variety of subjects including: attitude formation, classical rhetoric theory, curriculum theory, and composition. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Association for the Advancement of Educational Research and is president of that organization’s National Academy of Educational Researchers. He is coauthor, with David Sabrio, of Insightful Writing (Houghton Mifflin (Cengage), 2009), a rhetoric/reader textbook suitable for either the highest developmental writing course, or the first semester college writing course.
Saturday, February 21st, 10:30-11:45 a.m.
Saturday, 10:30 - 11:45 a.m.
"Using the New College Readiness Standards to Prepare Students for Freshman Writing and College Algebra: A Practical Approach"
Speakers: David Sabrio and Mitchel Burchfield
The purpose of this presentation is to inform the participants about the new College Readiness Standards developed jointly by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Texas Education Agency. The presenters will provide an overview of the history and development of the standards. Presenters will provide practical strategies and useful resource links that will help participants align their course content and student learning outcomes with the new standards.
The presenters will facilitate a group activity by asking participants to team up and brainstorm a list of strategies that they use or could use to build relationships with universities and high schools. These lists will include both faculty driven strategies and administrator driven strategies. Elements of these lists will be shared as time permits, and the facilitators will compile the lists and email them to all participants.
Developmental Education Section Chair: Mitch Burchfield, Southwest Texas Junior College