Institute/Session Summary:

The purpose of our presentation on theme-based college reading courses:

Karen and I have found that student interest, retention rates, and motivation levels are higher when our college reading courses have an embedded theme in addition to a skills-based textbook with selected essays and tests.

Learning objectives:

We hope that our participants in our CRLA session will benefit from our discussion and demonstration of Karen Lim's reading class that focuses on Child Development, and my class with Immigration Issues readings, observation projects, and Internet research assignments.

Outline of the Content:

1. Karen Lim: 25-minute lecture/demonstration of her online English 56 (College Reading & Study Skills II) class. Participants will observe how to navigate WebCT; various components include class modules, a discussion board, and assessment tools. An annotated bibliography will be examined.
2. Marilynn Schenk: 25-minute lecture/demonstration of her English 56 class that is focused on Immigration Issues. The required reading list: Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario, The Gangster We Are All Looking For by Le Thi Diem Thuy, and The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle (along with a standard college reading textbook). Daily reading response cards, an Internet Portfolio, and an observation project will be discussed.

Significance to the field: Themed developmental reading courses provide excellent opportunities for enhanced student learning, critical thinking, problem solving, and real-world assignments. We refer you to Hunter R. Boylan's book, What Works: Research-Based Best Practices in Developmental Education (2002) for a more detailed evaluation of learning communities and themed instruction.

Relevance to CRLA members and other conference attendees:

We hope that attendees will take our ideas back to their campuses for implementation and further research.

Media used:

WebCT demonstration

Handouts:

Information packets will be provided

Presenters' experience: many years teaching college reading/developmental reading/basic composition courses at two of our San Diego Community College District sister campuses: San Diego City College and San Diego Mesa College. Both Karen and I have frequently attended and presented at scholarly conferences (NADE, SWADE, etc.).

Presenter1 Name: Marilynn Schenk
Presenter1 Institution: San Diego City College
Presenter1 Bio: M. A. Education (Reading and Language Arts), UC Santa Barbara
TESL Certificate
19 years experience teaching adults on a variety of campuses
7 years full-time tenured faculty member at Mesa College
Member: NADE, SWADE, CRLA
Frequent Presenter at NADE/SWADE

Presenter2 Name: Karen Lim
Presenter2 Institution: San Diego City College
Presenter2 Bio:Professor, English
San Diego City College
25 years experience: Boston University, Loyola University of Chicago, and San Diego City College