NAVIGATING CHANGE:
A SHIFT TO INTEGRATED
READING AND WRITING
Renee Dimino
Judi Salsburg Taylor
Dr. David Caverly
WHAT DO YOU KNOW
ABOUT IRW?
HOW MANY HERE ARE
USING IRW CURRENTLY?
HOW MANY PLAN TO
IMPLEMENT IRW?
Why IRW at
Monroe Community College?
• Push to redesign all developmental education
curriculum
• Mandate reading—a decade-long effort
• Desire to accelerate through developmental
education
• IRW is not mandated in New York State, but
seemed a good fit for our institution
Monroe Community College
Rochester, NY
• Population 210,358 (2013)
• 5th poorest city in the nation
• Highest murder rates in NY, 4th in U.S.
• Failing city school district (43% graduated in 2014)
• City redefining a once thriving manufacturing sector
Monroe Community College
• Multi Campus Institution
• Total number of students (34,593 Fall, 2013)
• Percentage of students who enroll in a TRS
course 33%
Instructional Design of Developmental
Reading and Writing Courses
Before IRW
• Reading and writing
taught as discrete
disciplines and
consequently classes
• Theoretical emphasis left
to the individual instructor,
resulting in a dominant
behaviorist approach
After IRW
• Foundations in theory and
research
• Grubb, et al.
• Tierney and Pearson
• Dewey and Vygotsky
• Caverly
• Sugie Goen-Salter
• Collins, et al.
• JoAnn Carter- Wells
• Emphasis on a
constructivist approach
IRW at MCC: A Developing Model
Based on Dr. Sugie Goen-Salter’s Six Principles
1. Schema Activation
2. Annotation
3. Self Reflection
4. Rhetorical Reading
5. Rhetorical Writing
6. Mining the text
IRW at MCC: A Developing Model
• Metacognition is at the core
• Affective needs are addressed
• Reading/Consuming
• Rhetorical Reading
• Strategies: PLAN, KWL+, Annotation
• Composing meaning from text
• Schema Activation
• connecting the affective to reading strategies
IRW at MCC: Key Components
• Mining the text
• What is the author doing to me now?
• Writing/Producing
• Rhetorical Writing,
• Composing meaning
• Collaboration
• Constructivism
• Students
• Faculty
• Multi-modal
Sample: First Few Weeks
Day 1:
• PowerPoint as students enter – schema activation
• Syllabus - Reading Strategy 1: Shadow KWL+
• Reflection
Day 2:
• Assessment
Day 3:
• Checklists
• “Ordeal by Cheque”
• Exit Slip
Sample: First Few Weeks
Day 4:
• Reading Strategy 2: Begin PLAN
• Exit Slip
Day 5:
• Text Ordination
• Studio 1 Patterns of Development
Day 6:
• Practice P & L on considerate text
• Practice P & L on This I Believe essay
Sample: Few Weeks
Day 7:
• Reading Strategy 3 – Rhetorical Reading
• Reading Strategy 4 – Story Board
• PLA in PLAN
Day 8:
• Repeat with Student Choice Essays
• Exit Slip
Day 9:
• Assign First Project
• Exit Slip
Challenges of Implementing IRW
• Professional development
• Adjuncts teach over 80% of courses
• Teaching Materials
• Physical space conducive to our instruction
• As you know, typical concerns in developmental
education
• Poverty
• Affective issues
To address some of our
challenges . . .
Moving the Needle: A Generational Model of Professional
Development
Summer 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014
Dr. David
Caverly
Consultant
Judi Salsburg
Taylor
Renee Dimino
1st Generation
1st Generation
Meghan
Glaser
2nd
Richard Duff
3rd Generation
Diane
Clements
Gena Merliss
2nd
Generation
Matthew
Kotula
3rd
Generation
2nd
Generation
Kathleen Allen
3rd
Generation
Matt Fox
2nd Generation
Generation
Robert Baker
3rd
Generation
3rd
Generation
Frank Connell
3rd
Generation
3rd
Generation
Lisa Metzger
3rd Generation
Impact on Students
Using propensity score matching
Fall 2013 to Spring 2014
C or better pass rates
TRS 200 No Treatment (PSM) 51.9%
TRS 200 Received Treatment (PSM) 56.7%
Impact on Students
• I learned how to annotate each of the writer’s essays and
to use the annotation in a reading strategy to help me
analyze the thesis and their support. Having this
conversation with the writer helped me have conversation
with my writing. I was able to create support for my thesis
and make it easier for the reader to understand.”
• “Having this conversation with myself helped me with my
support, to see if it all ties back to the thesis statement.
Now it is easier for me to look a the support of the writer
and figure out their thesis statement. I can also figure out
the intended audience and how they relate to the group.
What examples he or she uses so that the reader
understands their points.”
Impact on Faculty
• Professional benefit:
o exposure to research
o collaborative work with colleagues
• Personally transformative:
o Collins, et. al. Cognitive Apprenticeship to make reading/writing
processes explicit
o permanent shift in teaching
• Truer impact:
o stronger department through multi-generational model
o students “own” their learning
o metacognitive awareness: “implementing a growth mindset in
life” and “utilizing skills not only in TRS 200 class, but in each
and every course into the future”
Reflections on this Presentation
• IRW and your institution
• Key challenges of IRW in your institution
• Supporting faculty
Contact Information
Dr. David Caverly
dcaverly@txstate.edu
Judi Salsburg Taylor
jsalsburg@monroecc.edu
Renee Dimino
rdimino@monroecc.edu