Chabot College
Basic Skills Committee
MINUTES
March 9, 2010
Present: Carolyn Arnold and Rachel Maldonado Aziminia, co-chairs, Marcia Corcoran, Hilda
Fernandez, Katie Hern, Cindy Hicks, Hisako Hintz, Alisa Klevens, Jennifer Lange, Rani Nijjar,
Shirley Pejman, Rajinder Samra. Guests: Patricia Hui, Jane Wolford
Call to Order
The BSC was called to order at 12:10 p.m. Carolyn welcomed everyone and introductions
were made.
M/S/P (Nijjar/Lange) that the February 22, 2010, minutes be approved.
Business
Carolyn provided a short report on the Logic Modeling retreat on March 5. A summary of the
results will be coming out within 2 weeks. Carolyn, Rachel and Marcia agreed to meet and
work on the summary of the retreat. Carolyn thanked all those who attended for their
participation.
Presentation: Reading Apprenticeship FIG
Jane Wolford is one of eleven instructors involved across the campus and is the coordinator
this semester. She presented an overview of the dimensions of the reading apprenticeship:
o Social dimension
o Personal dimension
o Cognitive dimension
o Knowledge-building dimension
o Creating safety
o Investigating relationships between literacy and power
o Sharing book talk
o Sharing reading processes, problems and solutions
o Noticing and appropriating others’ ways of reading
The Reading Apprenticeship is not teaching students how to read, but is a partnership
between the instructor and the student. Instructors begin with modeling meta-cognitive
conversations. They want to investigate how students arrive at their conclusions. At the center
of it all, the instructors want students to understand how they think and how to give voice to
how they think.
A video was reviewed on Katie Hern’s English 102 class that was working on a reading
assignment, an excerpt of Paolo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Feedback was
provided on the students’ interactions to the reading assignment and how it related to the four
dimensions.
Patricia provided an overview of her use of a reading log that was effective in her physiology
classes. Her methodology is to lecture for forty minutes, provide ten minutes to discuss their
questions from their reading logs, take a break, and then lecture again. This provides the
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students an opportunity to reflect on the lecture. During lab time, the students get into groups
and have discussion about their questions. She informs the students that it is OK to have
questions and that the students need to find solutions to their questions. Students have
responded pretty well to the method.
Patricia provided a few examples of the students’ reading logs that the students used in
different ways. She was able to approach students who may have problems because of the
reading logs. This was a tool that allowed her to get to the problems that students were
having. The logs could be used for up to twice a week. She plans to expand the log to three
columns to include a solution column.
The reading log was fully implemented in fall 2009 for her physiology class. She is currently
working on implementing it for her anatomy class.
A few conclusions:
o A big challenge is that content of the discipline is sacrificed.
o It does take time but there is more in-depth understanding.
o Training is provided to the participants, but it is in the FIG where discussions can help
in implementing in the classroom.
Adjournment
The BSC adjourned at 1:03 p.m.
Respectively submitted,
Rachel Maldonado Aziminia
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