I cut a whole unit from my #FYComp 1 course and added extra time for thinking, drafting, reading, practicing skills, and breathing throughout the course.
It makes the class more fun. Students are enjoying the course activities instead of rushing through them.
We all get so tired from trying to do so much so fast. We can't take any of it in. We can't process our own insights.
#CommunityCollege #Ungrading

I've got a really high rate of students submitting their assignments in the first week of my classes this term.
It's always tempting to pat myself on the back when things are going well, but long experience has taught me that this kind of thing is based on heavily random factors in how students in any give class section from one semester to another. Le Sigh.
#CommunityCollege #Ungrading #FYComp

My students' insights about writing and about themselves as writers are astonishing. They know so much. And they're tapping into it.
A theme that has come up several times is Ss saying they paid more attention to the grade, or the number of words required, etc, than what they were writing. They figured what they had to say didn't really matter.
#FYComp #CommunityCollege #Ungrading #Unlearning

I was talking to my #FYComp Ss today about sharing their writing in class next week, and about shaming and harm done to Ss in school when others judged their writing, and how I don't want any of that in my class. It was so quiet in the room. They listened so hard.
#CommunityCollege #Ungrading

Yesterday I found myself explaining ungrading and equity in a slightly different way. I had said each of us is "particular" in our own ways, with our own backgrounds and experiences that we bring. And that if I set a predetermined standard or a rubric to grade by, then I couldn't honor each particular student and how they might approach an assignment, and we might miss out on something we could learn from someone's particular approach.
#Ungrading #CommunityCollege #FYComp

The first few posts in a newly-opened online class are such a joy. Students starting out with fresh hope and truth.
#CommunityCollege
#AcademicChatter
#FYComp

Many amazing student reflections read and responded to. Grades posted and students notified. Time for a break. Sooooo much to think about - in January. I'm looking forward to it, honestly. Gonna make some changes and find some new teaching joy.
#Ungrading #OER #FYComp #CommunityCollege
#ITeachWriting

I'm gonna drop an assignment that I've been teaching for a few years in FYC, and I'm feeling so unburdened.
I'm replacing it with an assignment on monolingual ideology, code-switching, multilingualism, and maybe counter-narrative. The central reading will be "Workin' Languages: Who We Are Matters in Our Writing," with Lysicott's "3 Ways to Speak English" + ?? else. Got any suggestions?
https://writingspaces.org/past-volumes/workin-languages-who-we-are-matters-in-our-writing/
#ITeachWriting #FYComp #CommunityCollege #Linguistics

Yesterday at my classes' final meetings, some students said nice things that they clearly really did mean, since there was no expectation or format given for them to be appreciative of me or the course.
And it's a required gen ed class so they are 100% allowed to loathe it on principle. But apparently quite a few did like it.
I've been teaching this kind of course for about 30 years, and FTR I do not believe it should be required.
#Ungrading #OER #FYComp #CommunityCollege #ITeachWriting

Thinking about how to convey to students that the reason for an assignment isn't to get credit or a grade, or even to demonstrate that they can do a thing.
The important step comes AFTER they do the thing - when they articulate what they learned, see how they can use a skill they learned in a new situation, realize they have created new meaning for themselves, etc.
I feel like adding some version of this as a mission statement all over my course.
How do you teach this?
#Ungrading #FYComp

Fall 2022 in a nutshell is me talking to my acupuncturist about stress and realizing how much more I worry about my students since the pandemic, and how that has made my in-person classes feel incredibly draining and much less fun to teach.
Damn, the things that come out of my mouth in her practice room.
I gotta start bringing my joy back to class with me.
#CommunityCollege #HigherEd #ITeachWriting #FYComp

Just sitting with a student's comment that they were confused by whether their writing could still still include their own ideas if it's supposed to have a Works Cited.
I hate how my students have learned to think about writing.
#CommunityCollege #FYComp #ITeachWriting

Hello #Introduction
I'm a 2-yr-college prof in US Midwest. I teach first-year comp and co-req. I started teaching writing as a TA in the late 1980s, got a PhD in Rhet/Comp in the 1990s at Purdue. Flailed until I got a CC job then I was home, been almost 20 years.
I'm here to keep learning, so TIA for posting the readings :)
#CommunityCollege
#OER
#HigherEd
#Pegagogy
#DevelopmentalWriting
#FYComp #FYC
#RhetComp
#Ungrading
#Antiracist
#HAES
#Antidiet