The Tour of TYCA features highlights from each of the 2011 regional conferences—PowerPoints, videos, handouts, etc. from sessions that were particularly well-received and are broadly applicable. Pick up strategies for teaching online or using Jing as a commenting tool. Learn more implementing the Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing. Hear what students have to say about teacher comments. Get some fresh ideas for classroom activities and assignments. Address issues that face two-year college instructors nationwide, such as basic writing and accelerated learning programs, college completion initiatives, or dual credit/concurrent enrollment.

The Tour of TYCA kicks off on National TYCA’s official “birthday”; TYCA turns 15 years old on November 25, 2011, and the first event is a TYCA history lesson. In the two weeks following, the Tour will showcase sessions from one of our seven regions each day. (Schedule of ”release” dates.) It will conclude with the voices of TYCA leaders discussing TYCA’s past, present, and future. Throughout the Tour, view session highlights and ask questions of the presenters or engage in discussion with fellow colleagues online. Each featured session will be available on the National TYCA Connected Community and will remain on the site in case you miss a day of the Tour or want to revisit a presentation or supporting materials at a later date.

Join us for this inaugural event! Celebrate the work of your two-year college colleagues! Learn from and share with other two-year college English teachers across the nation. The Tour begins November 25

Carolyn Calhoon-Dillahunt
TYCA Chair

To learn more about TYCA: http://www.ncte.org/tyca.

Jeff Andelora giving a brief overview of the history of TYCA National.

The TYCA-West Conference was held Fri and Sat, Oct 7-8, 2011 in Mesa, AZ.  Over 100 participants attended.  This was the best attended conference in the history of TYCA-West.  Shelley Rodrigo chaired the conference and Lufti Hussein was program chair.  Shouan Pan, Mesa Community  College President, welcomed us in the morning and Jim Avery, Academic Vice President, addressed us in the afternoon.

Kristine Hansen, from Brigham Young University, gave the keynote presentation on “Dual Enrollment Programs:  The Good, The Bad and the Future.”  When Kristine first heard of dual enrollment programs she wondered why anyone would want to fast forward young people’s education in this way.  She soon learned that there are many reasons for the widespread growth of such programs.  She also has realized that dual enrollment programs are not going to go away and that it is up to us to make them the best they can be.  She focused on who sees dual enrollment programs as good and why, discussed some of the problems and suggested what we must yet do if we are to have dual credit programs that do not shortchange students out of the rich education in writing that they both deserve and need in order to become fully literate.  One of the benefits that is cited in a 1999 U.S. Department of Education national, longitudinal study is that the most important factor influencing college degree completion is a rigorous high school curriculum, that “The academic intensity of the student’s high school curriculum counts more than anything else in providing momentum toward completing a bachelor’s degree.”  One of the problems she mentioned is credit laundering.  An example of credit laundering is of  a student who takes a course in high school and transfers the credit to a university.  The introductory course at the university was designed to prepare students for the second semester course and the student struggles because the course is not the same as the one offered at the university.  Other problems involve cash cows (the college that offers the course gets the tuition dollars) and quality control.  Student readiness, teacher credentials and evaluations are some of the quality control issues.  In the future we need to make sure dual enrollment is built on a solid foundation.  Chris Anson has developed standards for dual-credit composition programs which include faculty development and pedagogical integrity.

Carol Jenkins, Glendale Community College, gave a plenary session on “Plagiarism in the Multicultural Classroom—Implications for Teaching and Learning.”  She asked if plagiarism is an academic or socio-cultural phenomenon and began by asking “Who owns knowledge”?  Western cultures would say that copyright holders own knowledge.  However, in some Asian cultures, knowledge, especially on the Internet, is seen as public knowledge.  She also asked “What role does culture play in defining academic integrity”?  In Asian cultures, students are rewarded for finding sources and copying and pasting.  She went on to say that multicultural students often unintentionally misuse sources and that one strategy we can use to help these students avoid plagiarism is to instruct them that the writing process in our country involves a set of assumptions different from those they are accustomed to.  She shared stories of two women who were deported because of plagiarism issues and met with shame in their countries.

Conference presentations focused on such issues as Multimodal, Multimedia, Multicultural, Mythology and Methodology; Bringing Community Writing Center Pedagogies into the Composition Classroom; Responding to Online Writing; Alternative Rhetorics for Writing Classes; Pride and Prejudice and Twilight and Zombies; Community College University Partnership; and Advocating the Teaching of General Linguistic Theory.

There are two openings on our TYCA-West REC.  Clint Gardner was elected as the new National TYCA-West Rep.

October 19 & 20, 2012

Alterations: the future of two-year college English departments

The Two-Year College English Association is a professional group of English teachers dedicated to the principle that our teaching of writing, language, and literature provides students with an opportunity for self-determination as literate citizens. As two-year college teachers, we work in a special environment. We teach a population diverse in cultures, ages, backgrounds, abilities, and goals. We teach in institutions open to all students with a high school education, or its equivalent, or with open enrollment policies.

Recent developments in higher education are putting pressure on two-year colleges to move students through the system more quickly and yet provide quality higher education to sometimes underprepared students. These pressures impact development of curriculum, courses offered, text book selection, staffing of classes, admissions policies, uses of technology in online and in-person education, as well as writing centers and academic advising. The challenges and opportunities that we will face in the next decade are worthy of discussion and exploration.

For the 2012 conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, we are seeking proposals that address the future of English departments and how we can best address the challeges that lie ahead.

Please submit: a cover page that includes the title, speaker/s, institutional affiliation, email/s, and phone number/s of all involved, along with a brief 100-200 word description of your presentation and the format of the presentation (panel/workshop/lecture/paper reading). The sessions are 1 hour and 20 minutes long. Please tell us if you would like to be partnered with another presenter (so you each will have approximately 40 minutes) or if you would like the entire time slot. All rooms will have a computer with Internet connection and projection capabilities. You may request a room with laptop computers for all participants. Only one copy of this information need be submitted.

Email your proposal to tycawest2012@gmail.com by September 1, 2012.

Download: 2012 TYCA Call for proposals

TYCA West
Annual Conference
Conference Dates: October 7-8, 2011
Conference Location: Mesa Community College, Mesa, AZ

Transitioning into and out of Academe: Thinking and Writing for College Students

The theme for TYCA-West 2011 Conference centers on the transitions that students make as they join our colleges. Our students have to negotiate new course materials, new methods of instruction, and possibly new academic expectations, all against the backdrop of an unstable job market and potentially busy personal lives. These challenges often manifest themselves in students’ writing. Therefore submissions that address the theory, methodology, and curriculum of college writing (with emphasis on basic writing) are encouraged. Topics relating to other English or Humanities courses taught in the first two years of college are also welcome.

Please submit:
A cover page that includes the title, speaker/s, institutional affiliation, email/s, and phone number/s of all involved, along with a brief 100-200 word description of your presentation and the format of the presentation (panel/workshop/lecture/paper reading). The sessions are 1 hour and 20 minutes long. Please tell us if you would like to be partnered with another presenter (so you both will have approximately 40 minutes) or if you would like the entire time slot. All rooms will have a computer with Internet connection and projection capabilities. You may request a room with laptop computers for all participants. Only one copy of this information need be submitted.

Proposals should be postmarked by August 15, 2011. Send to:
Lutfi Hussein, TYCA-West 2011 Program Chair– lutfi.hussein@gmail.com

For more about the conference contact:

1. Shelley Rodrigo, TYCA-West Chair – shelley.rodrigo@gmail.com
2. Lutfi Hussein, TYCA-West 2011 Program Chair – lutfi.hussein@gmail.com

October 7-8, 2011

Mesa Community College
Mesa, AZ

Contact: Shelley Rodrigo: shelley.rodrigo<at>gmail.com
or
Lutfi Hussein: lutfi.hussein<at>gmail.com

Conference Theme & Call for Proposals

9:00 – 10:30a Greetings and Keynote Speaker
Robb Sherfied
K101

10:40a – 12:00p Session I
A:The Primal Village: A New Look at the Stories we Tell (Moffett CSN) K227
B: Evaluating Writing in the Age of Entitlement and Grade Inflation (Thomas and Peterson UVU)K228
C: The Rhythm of Sentences (Barnes/Elison CSN)K335
D: Deans/Chairs Round Table (Hawkins/Ziebell CSN)K101

12:00p – 1:30p Lunch
K Bldg Lobby

1:40 – 3:00p Session II
A: The Personal Essay, English 101 and Beyond (Roststein CSN)K227
B: Efficiency and Its Role in Writing Instruction (Pollit FULLERTON)K228
C: Student Curate Library Exhibits (Marsee/Davies-Wilson UNM)K325

3:10 – 4:40p Session III
A: Readings by CSN New Faculty (Ford, Puentes, and Bailey-Kirby CSN) K227
B: Best Practices for Teaching Basic Writing Students: Thirteen is the Lucky Number (Helfers MESA) K228
C: Teaching to a Higher Level: How CSN’s Nursing Department Faculty Utilizes the Writing Center to Improve the Quality of Student’s Learning Experience (Ebert-Pait CSN)K325
_______________________________________________________

SATURDAY, OCT 9th
8:00 – 8:30a Registration and refreshments
K Bldg Lobby

8:30 – 9:50a Session IV
A: TYCA National: The Voice of Two-Year College English Teachers (Calhoon-Dillahunt/Brown) K227
B: The Loman Chronicles (Esperian) K228
C: Developing a Framework for Success in First-Year Writing (Roen ASU, Roderigo MESA, Rankins-Robertson ASU)K325

10:00a – 11:30a Session V
A: Salt Lake City Girls Write: An Introduction to a Community-Based Mentoring Program (Dowdle SLCC)/ Who Needs a Textbook? (Quinn CSN) K227
B: The Group: A Learning Tool (LaFlamme CSN) K228
C: The Spaghetti Edit (Urbina CSN) K325

12:00p – 1:30p Lunch and Wrap-up

K Bldg Lobby
2:00 – 3:00 p TYCA Board Meeting/ Plan for 2010 K101