Reading
Department Welcomes 3 new fulltime faculty in the fall
The Developmental Reading Department will be welcoming
three new fulltime faculty members this fall. They are:
Tanya Masso, who comes to us after several
years of teaching College Success and Education courses
for the Education Department. Her Masters in Reading was
completed in 2003 at UTPA.
Grace
Little will be leaving
her retention specialist position, to become part of the
Reading Department faculty. Grace just completed the UTPA
Masters program in Reading this spring.
Helen Walter will be moving to the Valley
later this summer from Illinois, where she has been teaching
ESL and Reading at Elgin Community College. She has just
completed all coursework toward the doctorate in Education.
We are looking forward to having Tanya, Grace, and Helen
on board this fall.
Reading
Faculty attend International Reading Association convention
in Reno/Tahoe, Nevada, May 3-6
Seven members of the Developmental Reading faculty attended
the
annual IRA convention in Reno, Nevada,
May 3 - 6. The convention offered a wealth of workshops
and seminars on recent research on reading/learning and
instructional methodology, interest group meetings, keynote
speakers (including Henry Winkler), and an enormous exhibit
area offering an extensive array of samples of books and
other instructional materials.
The Reading faculty returned to the Valley with a new sense
of professionalism and teamwork, and great memories of the
fresh mountain air and the beauty of Lake Tahoe. (And one
of our instructors got to see snow for the first time!)
Instructors who attended the IRA convention were:
Joyce Hamilton, Jane de la Garza, Tammi Naumann, Ruth Wessling,
Joy Wells, Adalia Reyna, and Aleli Cabrera.
New
Departmental Final Exam
The STCC Developmental Reading Department is piloting a
new departmental final exam this spring. Townsend Press,
which developed and published the exam to accompany John
Langan's 10 Steps to College Reading Skills textbook series,
is supporting our pilot project throughout the spring and
summer 2004 sessions.
Reading
Department Meets with Computer Sciences Department
Under the support of the Title V goals for 2003-2004, Joyce
Hamilton and Florinda Rodriguez from the Developmental Reading
Department, along with Karen Armitano and Patrick Murray
from the Developmental English faculty, met with the Computer
Sciences faculty on April 20th, to discuss and explore the
impact of reading and writing skills on their courses and
students.
The meeting included a lively dialogue about students'
needs and skills, and a discussion of textbook content and
readability. Patrick Murray, who is also Activities Director
for the Title V project, plans similar meetings in the fall
with other departments throughout STCC. We look forward
to participating in this new forum, which offers the chance
to get to know our fellow faculty members and to examine
Reading and Writing as critical skills necessary for all
college courses.
Reading
Learning Communities
Reading/History:
The Reading department is pleased with the continued success
of the Reading/History Learning Community, under the instruction
of Dr. Jane de la Garza for Reading and Bruce Smith-Peters
for History. Students in the Reading/History LC this spring
demonstrated the highest end-of-course THEA Reading pass
rate since the initiation of the course two years ago, with
100% of those testing as a class passing the test. Congratulations
to the Reading/History LC students and their instructors!
Reading/Sociology:
A new Learning Community for Reading and Sociology completed
its first semester this spring at the Starr County Campus.
Instructors were Heman Pena for Reading, and Geremia Veglia
for Sociology. It was a successful new experience, enjoyed
by instructors and students alike, and we hope more students
will take advantage of this great opportunity again in the
fall.
Reading/Automotive Technology:
The Reading Department looks forward to the initiation of
a new Learning Community in the fall at the Technology Center.
Reading and Automotive Technology will be teaming up under
the instruction of Romaldo Dominguez for Reading and Roy
Trevino for the Automotive course. We hope to see students
register for this great new opportunity to build reading
skills while simultaneously building skills in the automotive
trade.
Dr.
Mark Noe from UTPA gives a speech on bridging the gap between
developmental and academic departments
On
April 30, Friday night, faculty members from Developmental
English and Academic English Departments gathered together
to explore ways to bridge the gap between these two departments.
More than thirty faculty members were present. Dean of the
Developmental Studies, Dr. Jean Swartz, was also present.
The highlights of this gathering include socializing, listening
to a speech given by the guest speaker, Dr. Mark Noe, Professor
of English from UTPA,
and brainstorming on interdepartmental exchange. Dr. Mark
Noe's speech, titled "Bridging the Chasm(s): Reforming
our Concepts of Developmental and Academic," focuses
on rethinking how we categorize developmental students and
what pedagogies we use in our classroom to fulfil the goals
we want to reach. The participants of the Friday night event
felt it was a productive meeting, and would like to see
more of the similar activities happening in the future.
Developmental
English and College Success in a Learning Community
Beginning
Fall 2004, Developmental English Department will offer Developmental
writing classes with College Success. Sign up for Engl81
LC3 (with ORIN0101 LC3) or Engl 81 LC4 (with ORIN0101 LC4)
on TR. You will learn writing skills with the help of College
Success study skills. For more information, click here.
Student
Success Center Web Page upgraded
Many thanks to our web guru, Wei Wei Yang who has recently
upgraded our Student
Success Center webpage. Students now have access to
tutor schedules as well as detailed information about each
tutor that they can use to help them plan their study time.
The webpage will be updated every semester to make sure
that schedules are accurate. In addition the webpage has
a cleaner and more up-to-date look. Thanks, Wei Wei!
On a related note, in light of the Success Centers recent
certification by the College Reading and Learning Association
(CRLA), the Office of Human Resources has lately authorized
a pay increase for tutors. Starting wage for a tutor without
a bachelors is now $6.50 per hour while CRLA certified tutors
will earn $7.00 per hour. The more than half (52%) of our
tutors with bachelor's degrees will still earn $8.10 an
hour, but once they get CRLA certified they will get a raise
to $8.50 an hour.
Developmental
English Jinhao Wang and Gardner Reynolds are winners of
this year's Employee Jaguar Excellence Award
Jinhao
Wang initiated a self-study of the Developmental English
Department which resulted in their recent certification
by the National Association of Developmental Education,
one of only 15 developmental programs in the nation to be
so certified. As part of the certification process, Jinhao
outlined a solid theoretical basis for the teaching methodologies
used by the Developmental English Department. She also spearheaded
professional development within her own department by encouraging
her faculty to share successful teaching techniques during
department meetings. In addition, she led her faculty in
the creation of their own textbook for which the Developmental
English faculty received the Innovator of the Year award
two years ago. In addition to Chairing the Developmental
English Department, Jinhao has stepped in as Interim Chair
of the Reading Department as well as Interim Dean between
Dr. Kohler's retirement and Dr. Swartz assuming the position.
Jinhao's high standards and determination are reflected
in everything she does.
If you need someone on whom you can rely, the Developmental
Division knows that they can always count on Gardner Reynolds.
He's a good team player and a hard worker. He was instrumental
in compiling the NADE certification evidence binders--all
18 of them--and served on various committees such as the
College Core Curriculum Subcommittee and the Departmental
Technology Committee. He also chaired the Departmental Faculty
Search Committee. Although Gardner is a Developmental English
Instructor, he volunteered to help the Reading Department
design its web page. He is also the first instructor in
Developmental English department to teach Learning Community
Classes. Without Gardner's hard work, Developmental English
would not have been able to realize many of its recent accomplishments
such as the National Association of Developmental Education
(NADE) certification.
Developmental
English Program certified by NADE
The South Texas Community College Developmental English
Program was certified at this year's National
Association of Developmental Education Conference held
March 9-13 in St. Louis, Missouri. NADE certifies developmental
education programs in the areas of developmental coursework,
tutoring and non-course based learning assistance.
Programs seeking certification go through several stages
of application, including the preliminary application, self-study
and the full application.
The STCC developmental English Program began the application
process in Spring 2002, conducted self-study in Fall 2002,
and submitted the full application in June 2003. All full-time
Developmental English instructors, three adjunct instructors
and one student representative participated in the self-study
process. As a result of the self-study and NADE application,
the Developmental English Program has laid a solid theoretical
foundation and set up student-centered goals, objectives,
and plan of action.
"It is indeed a singular honor to have achieved NADE
Certification," said Jane Neuburger, Chair of NADE
Certification Board, to the Chair of Developmental English
Jinhao Wang. "You, your staff and your administrators
are to be congratulated."
