Georgia Southern UniversityDigital Commons@Georgia Southern

Student Success in Writing Conference

Apr 6th, 9:00 AM - 9:50 AM

Where Do I Start? Introducing College-LevelWriting to Non-Traditional Students in a SummerBridge ProgramMichelle AlbertUniversity of Colorado, Boulder

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Recommended CitationAlbert, Michelle, "Where Do I Start? Introducing College-Level Writing to Non-Traditional Students in a Summer Bridge Program"(2018). Student Success in Writing Conference. 1.https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/sswc/2018/2018/1

“Where D

o I Start?”IN

TRO

DU

CIN

G C

OL

LE

GE

WR

ITING

& R

ESE

AR

CH

TO

NE

W STU

DE

NTS IN

A SU

MM

ER

BR

IDG

E PR

OG

RA

M

Mich

elle Alb

ertP

rogram

for W

riting an

d R

heto

ricU

niversity o

f Co

lorad

o B

ou

lder

Ap

ril 6, 2

01

8

Ve

teran

Brid

ge

Pro

gram

Ve

teran

Brid

ge

Pro

gram

assist student veterans in acclimating to the C

U B

oulder campus,

while enhancing m

ath, writing, and research skills in an intensive

and supportive academic environm

ent

CU

Boulder O

ffice of Veteran Services, Sum

mer B

ridge Program

Ve

teran

Brid

ge

Pro

gram

18

stud

ents w

ith w

idely varyin

g b

ackgrou

nd

s and

abilities

two

weeks

80

min

utes p

er dayP

hoto by Chris B

arbalis on Unsplash

Wh

ere

do

I start?

Go

als

raise stud

ent co

nfid

ence an

d lo

wer an

xiety abo

ut w

riting an

d research

give as mu

ch tim

e as po

ssible to

practice w

riting

intro

du

ce camp

us an

d o

nlin

e resou

rces for h

elp w

ith w

riting an

d research

learn w

hat q

uestio

ns to

ask of fu

ture in

structo

rs abo

ut w

riting assign

men

ts

PW

R FY

C L

earn

ing

Ob

jective

s

￭d

evelop

rheto

rical kno

wled

ge￭

refine an

d reflect o

n yo

ur w

riting p

rocess

￭co

nstru

ct effective and

ethical argu

men

ts ￭

develo

p yo

ur in

form

ation

literacy￭

analyze texts in

a variety of gen

res ￭

un

derstan

d an

d ap

ply lan

guage co

nven

tion

s rheto

rically

Th

resh

old

Co

nce

pts

￭w

riting is a so

cial and

a rheto

rical activity￭

writin

g speaks to

situatio

ns th

rou

gh reco

gnizab

le form

s￭

writin

g enacts an

d creates id

entities an

d id

eolo

gies￭

all writers h

ave mo

re to learn

￭w

riting is (also

always) a co

gnitive activity

Nam

ing What W

e Know

: Threshold Concepts in W

riting Studies, Ed

s. Lind

a Ad

ler-Kassn

er and

Elizab

eth W

ardle

(Logan

, UT

: Utah

Un

iversity Press, 2

01

5).

start wh

ere they are

Photo by C

hristian Joudrey on Unsplash

“It can b

e tou

gh to

go fro

m an

enviro

nm

ent w

here - as an

enlisted

- you

pretty m

uch

shu

t up

and

do

you

r job

, to o

ne w

here yo

u are exp

ected to

advo

cate for yo

urself an

d p

articipate th

oro

ugh

ly. Just th

e chan

ge in

min

dset an

d stru

cture can

mess so

me p

eop

le getting o

ut u

p a lo

t.”

“It can b

e tou

gh to

go fro

m an

enviro

nm

ent w

here - as an

enlisted

- you

pretty m

uch

shu

t up

and

do

you

r job

, to o

ne w

here yo

u are exp

ected to

ad

vocate fo

r you

rself and

particip

ate tho

rou

ghly. Ju

st the ch

ange in

m

ind

set and

structu

re can m

ess som

e peo

ple gettin

g ou

t up

a lot.”

do

n’t ask q

ue

stion

s

“It can b

e tou

gh to

go fro

m an

enviro

nm

ent w

here - as an

enlisted

- you

pretty m

uch

shu

t up

and

do

you

r job

, to o

ne w

here yo

u are exp

ected to

ad

vocate fo

r you

rself and

particip

ate tho

rou

ghly. Ju

st the ch

ange in

m

ind

set and

structu

re can m

ess som

e peo

ple gettin

g ou

t up

a lot.”

qu

estio

n e

veryth

ing

!

Class O

vervie

w

from

the syllab

us:

Th

is two

-week class is d

esigned

to in

trod

uce yo

u to

writin

g and

research at th

e co

llege level, as well as to

help

you

transitio

n in

to acad

emic life o

n th

e CU

camp

us.

Yo

u’ll learn

and

practice key strategies fo

r writin

g and

research th

at will h

elp p

repare

you

for yo

ur first-year o

r up

per-d

ivision

writin

g cou

rse at CU

, and

/or fo

r pap

ers you

’ll b

e writin

g in o

ther classes th

rou

gho

ut yo

ur co

llege career.

Le

arnin

g G

oals *

●U

nd

erstand

and

practice w

riting as a p

rocess, in

clud

ing b

rainsto

rmin

g, draftin

g, wo

rksho

pp

ing, an

d

revising

●Learn

and

practice th

e basics o

f argum

ent, in

clud

ing h

ow

to w

rite a thesis statem

ent an

d u

se eviden

ce

and

reason

s to su

pp

ort yo

ur p

ositio

n

●Learn

basic rh

etorical co

ncep

ts and

begin

to ap

ply rh

etorical kn

ow

ledge to

you

r ow

n w

riting

●Learn

and

practice th

e basics o

f research, in

clud

ing fin

din

g and

evaluatin

g academ

ic and

po

pu

lar sou

rces

and

citing so

urces w

ithin

you

r ow

n w

riting

●Learn

and

practice active read

ing strategies

●A

nalyze texts in

a variety of gen

res

●R

eview an

d sh

arpen

langu

age con

ventio

ns, in

clud

ing gram

mar, p

un

ctuatio

n, style, d

iction

●Learn

abo

ut C

U reso

urces th

at can h

elp yo

u w

ith w

riting an

d research

Le

arnin

g G

oals *

* This might be too am

bitious for a 2-week class, but w

e’ll see how it goes!

Writin

g A

ssign

me

nts

Perso

nal N

arrative (60

0-9

00

wo

rds, give o

r take)A

first-perso

n essay ab

ou

t an exp

erience in

you

r life that sh

aped

you

r cho

ice of m

ajor (o

r

po

tential m

ajor), o

r you

r cho

ice to go

to co

llege in gen

eral or to

CU

in p

articular.

Persu

asive Essay (6

00

-90

0 w

ord

s, give or take)

An

info

rmal argu

men

t in w

hich

you

take a stand

on

a deb

atable issu

e. Yo

u’ll co

nd

uct research

to

find

info

rmatio

n to

help

you

sup

po

rt you

r po

sition

.

First day

Writin

g Practice

stud

ents exp

erience w

riting as a

kind

of p

ractice and

play, m

uch

the

way th

ey migh

t practice an

d p

lay a sp

ort o

r a mu

sical instru

men

t

Photo by K

IMO

on Unsplash

Writin

g P

ractice A

ctivity

intro

du

ces freewritin

g

gets stud

ents to

thin

k creatively and

analytically

challen

ges “the ru

les”

See this h

and

ou

t.

(I’m h

app

y to sh

are this w

ith an

yon

e interested

.)

Writin

g P

ractice A

ctivity

writin

g ≠ gram

mar

Writin

g P

ractice A

ctivity

Only one rule: keep your hand m

oving.

Writin

g P

ractice A

ctivity

You can’t do it “wrong.” The only w

ay to do it “wrong” is by not

doing it.

Writin

g P

ractice A

ctivity

Writin

g is like ____________________

(make a list, 2

min

s)

Writin

g P

ractice A

ctivity

How

is writin

g is like ____________________ ?

(freewrite, 6

min

utes)

Re

st of th

e p

rog

ram

Ru

les?

Th

at there is n

o o

ne set o

f rules fo

r goo

d w

riting. T

hat each

writin

g task calls for a

un

iqu

e set of ch

oices. E

very time yo

u sit d

ow

n to

wo

rk on

a pro

ject, you

’re writin

g in a

differen

t con

text, for a d

ifferent p

urp

ose, an

d to

a differen

t aud

ience. W

riting w

ell is n

ot ab

ou

t follo

win

g rules b

ut ab

ou

t makin

g goo

d ch

oices b

ased o

n each

specific

writin

g task.

We

ll, this o

ne

rule

...

Alw

ays ask you

r instru

ctor fo

r clarification

if you

’re un

sure ab

ou

t w

hat’s exp

ected!

Pro

gram

Ou

tcom

es

10

0%

of p

articipan

ts con

tinu

ed at C

U

thro

ugh

Sprin

g 20

18

Th

e average GP

A o

f brid

ge pro

gram

particip

ants at th

e end

of th

e first term

was 3

.18

On

ly on

e particip

ant received

a cou

rse grad

e belo

w a “C

-“ at the en

d o

f the F

all 2

01

7 term

Photo by A

ndrew P

reble on Unsplash

Po

st-Pro

gram

Su

rvey

Wh

at was th

e mo

st usefu

l part ab

ou

t the w

riting p

rogram

?

“Wh

ere do

I start? Perso

nally, I d

idn

't kno

w w

hat to

thin

k say or d

o o

n th

e first day.

So in

two

weeks w

riting a creative n

arrative, and

then

an M

LA fo

rmatted

persu

asive p

iece I wo

uld

n't h

ave tho

ugh

t po

ssible b

efore th

en. I th

ink ju

st the exp

erience o

f w

orkin

g on

essays again co

up

led w

ith learn

ing lib

rary resou

rces mad

e for a so

lid

fou

nd

ation

to p

lan m

y writin

g in th

e futu

re.”

Sum

mer B

ridge 2

01

7 in

tramu

ral soccer team

Sum

mer B

ridge 2

01

7 F

riend

sgiving

Th

anks!

Qu

estion

s? Feed

back?

Co

ntact In

foM

ichelle A

lbert

Pro

gram fo

r Writin

g and

Rh

etoric

Un

iversity of C

olo

rado

Bo

uld

er

mich

elle.albert@

colo

rado

.edu