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Volume II, Issue 6 May 2006 |
Quinsigamond
Community College |
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Staff
Development Staff Members: Erica Merrill
Office
Hours: Room 267A
Upcoming
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In accordance with the college's strategic initiative to optimize the use of technology for improved and cost-effective communication, this newsletter is being distributed via email as the best means for information-sharing with faculty and staff. |
Editor: Erica Merrill "Independence Through Developmental Education" by Betsy Zuegg
Every day, I scour the Telegram & Gazette, skimming headlines, scanning articles (mentally correcting spelling errors and other typos), chuckling at the “funnies,” checking the movie listings at various local theaters, and either wholeheartedly agreeing with or vehemently opposing the views expressed by average people in “The People’s Forum” section (while once again mentally correcting any grammar and punctuation mistakes – I can’t help it; call it a personality quirk). Every day, as I read the articles that spark my interest, I think, “Wow, I would love to write about that subject in my next Visions.” However, after I start to jot down my thoughts, I ultimately hear that little voice inside my head (the one I have so affectionately named “the PTB”) screaming at me to “pick another (safer) subject to ‘reflect’ upon.” Call my next few words a “disclaimer,” if you will, because for the longest time, I have wanted to go out on a limb and talk about a subject – a very touchy and sensitive subject – that, frankly, I wish I had no reason to talk about. So, to anyone who does not like touchy, sensitive subjects – fair warning, click on “File – Close” now! When I was eight years old – despite my now (ahem!) legendary imaginative spirit and creative will – I could never have imagined that by age 25, I would be living in a world where anyone could simply say, “September 11th” or even “9/11,” and practically everyone would know exactly what the speaker means. Like the Kennedy Assassination was for my parent’s generation, so will my generation forever remember exactly where we were and what we were doing on September 11, 2001, at the moment we first heard the tragic news. I was sitting in my office at AUC, listening to “the Frank & Jen WXLO Morning Show” while counting the Caf’s daily income from the previous day – as I did every morning. Being middle September, I had my office window slightly open for some fresh air (in the hopes of avoiding the stifling heat wafting in from the kitchen); the sounds of bustling students lingering outside on the lawn soon mingled with the cheerful chirping of the birds perched near my window. When the news broke, my first thought was that Frank and Jen were playing some elaborate (and cruel) joke on their listeners; then, I remember hoping and praying that the news was just some cruel joke, and that Frank was going to shout, “Ha ha, fooled ya!” at any moment. As the news continued, all music was suspended, and Frank and Jen stayed on-air longer than scheduled and started talking to the real-life JAG (and although I can’t remember his name, I realize now that, under different circumstances, I would have found it momentarily funny that there really is a JAG – like in that TV show from a couple years ago that I never watched – and that Jen kept calling him “JAG,” instead of saying “Sir” or using some other honorific, since I think – correct me if I’m wrong – “JAG” stands for “Judge Advocate General”). I knew then that this was no joke! Still, I sat in numb disbelief, staring at the 10’s and 20’s and quarters and dimes I had been sorting and counting moments before, imagining the cold hard cash glaring back at me with unseen eyes and speaking to me with invisible mouths, chanting, “It’s true, it’s true, it’s true!” At that moment, the bills could have magically sprung to life and started dancing the cha-cha across my desk while singing “Hello my baby, hello my darling, hello my rag-time gal,” it would not – could not – have shocked me more than this! Tears welled up in my eyes, but I willed them away; my eyes burned with the effort to keep from crying openly, but I told myself I would not cry! I had to stay calm. I had to think. I had to regain the feeling in my fingers before I could even attempt to dial home, and then recover some semblance of a voice before I could beg my Mom and Dad to cancel Mom’s doctor’s appointment in Worcester that morning. I didn’t want them near any major city. I can still remember how foreign and how frightened my own voice sounded to my own ears when, like a little child, I begged my Mommy to stay home! For the next few days, I remember feeling edgy and paranoid. My childhood nightmares of running and suddenly falling off a cliff and jolting awake before hitting rock-bottom returned. I refused to watch the news, for fear that watching numerous replays of the planes crashing into, and the columns of black smoke billowing from the twin towers would only serve to desensitize me. Out of respect, most, if not all, radio stations played absolutely no music for those first few days; however, when the music schedules resumed, the thought of going back to normal and getting on with everyday living felt like tolerating jarring, screeching notes in an old, familiar song. Weeks, even months, later, I remember lots of people calling into various radio stations and making “tribute requests” for songs such as Josh Groban’s “To Where You Are,” Sarah McLachlan’s “I Will Remember You,” and eventually for “When I’m Gone” by 3 Doors Down. Now, almost five years later, I still think of the horror that thousands of individuals – those that died and those that survived – must have experienced that day. I use that “legendary imaginative spirit” of mine to put myself in their shoes and envision the heart-stopping moments before the crashes, the tearful calls home to say goodbye, the split-second rush of oblivion, the suffocating chaos and terrible destruction, the injured pleading for help, the survivors limping for the nearest stairwells and praying for escape or deliverance, the courageous firefighters, police, and EMTs who braved fire and smoke and falling debris (and countless other perils) to try to help as many people as possible. And apparently, I’m not the only one to visualize September 11th in my mind’s eye and recreate the events in heart-wrenching detail. Director Paul Greengrass did just that in his new film “United 93,” a re-enactment of the last stand of the passengers of United Flight 93 (from what I’ve been able to deduce from the trailers). So, have I seen the movie yet? No. Do I want to? Honestly, I don’t know. Should I see it? Oh yes, definitely. Will I see it? Well, if I do, may it serve as a poignant reminder: May we always remember, may we never forget.
*Line borrowed from the Don McLean/Madonna song “American Pie”
Independence
Through Developmental Education It was in the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, during the month of February that I attended the 30th Conference of the National Association for Developmental Education (NADE 2006), whose theme this year was “Independence Through Developmental Education.” For four days, I was privileged to engage in dialogue and participate in numerous workshops emphasizing the latest trends in developmental education with nearly 2000 faculty and professional staff from two and four year colleges throughout the country, as well as with exhibitors and vendors of related textbooks and software. The participants and presenters at this annual event share an understanding that there is a critical need for developmental education, and that our work is to build academic success among college students through supportive learning environments. The National Association of Developmental Education is the largest and most influential professional association in the field of developmental education. In the spring of 1976, a small group of college and university professionals in the Chicago area began discussions about a field of college teaching becoming known as developmental education. Through their efforts and passion, the organization has grown enormously throughout the last thirty years and now encompasses both national chapters and international chapters. The association’s official journal, the Journal of Developmental Education, is the premier journal in the field of developmental education with a current circulation of nearly 5,000. NADE also collaborates with the College Reading and Learning Association, the National Center for Developmental Education, the National College Learning Center Association and the National Tutoring Association in order to promote professional collaboration in the field (Hunter R. Boylan, Ph.D., 1/16/05). The menu of workshops was overwhelming throughout the three days of presentations, with hundreds of choices covering all aspects of developmental English and math. I focused on those offerings dealing with college reading and college writing, as they are the areas that I teach. Dr. Ann Wolf of Gonzaga University discussed concrete, pragmatic reading strategies to engage students in discussion groups and help them identify the major information they need to know from textbooks and other non-fiction materials in their content area courses. One of the great challenges which I face is moving my reading students from literal thinking to critical thinking as they examine texts. Through group work, harvesting strategies, fishbowl activities, “think-alouds,” and literature circles, Dr. Wolf shared what her research and practice have identified as successful. Several other workshops dealing with developmental reading highlighted the challenges and rewards of this area of teaching. Skills assessment, curriculum, faculty collaboration and support services were addressed and proved to be informative and thought-provoking. As is usually the case, with the good often comes the less good, and this was true in Philadelphia as well! The workshops that I attended dealing with developmental writing were disappointing and made me realize that we have a dynamic, healthy and effective developmental writing program right at home at the “Q”! At a presentation dealing with computer-assisted writing, the presenter announced, to the surprise of the audience, that he decided not to use any of the software that his college chose, and then, after a snicker, he said, “the joy of tenure…” as his explanation. He went on to say that he didn’t want to re-do his entire course, so the computer-assisted instruction was in the form of holding his regular class in a computer lab. At that point, many of the members of the audience exited the room…. The opportunity to learn from developmental education practitioners and leaders throughout the country, to share stories and strategies with colleagues at other colleges, to be feted by textbook publishers proved to be rewarding to me. There were many things I learned, but one of the most powerful lessons was that we do a wonderful job here at Quinsigamond as we work with our developmental level students! The 2008 national conference of NADE will be held in Boston, and I hope that many of us will be sharing our success stories with our colleagues at that time! © Staff Development, Quinsigamond Community College 2006. |