SDSU/SWC/SUHSD Workshop, April 20, 2012
RWS/English 92 vs. English 114:
 SDSU prompts are very directive, with very specific outcomes and specific tasks.
 92 uses readings that address contemporary and controversial issues.
 92 doesn’t require students to analyze or explain Aristotelian appeals.
 114 uses modes, but it was suggested that we move to argumentation.
 Fewer assignments but more drafts. (True of all the SDSU levels.)
RWS/English 100 vs. English 115:
 Our 115 may share more in common with their RWS 92: identifying the parts of argument. The
same involved comparing/contrasting the arguments of two articles.
 The RWS 100 sample emphasized using one article as a “lens” to explain another—more
sophisticated moves required.
RWS/English 200 vs. English 116:
 RWS/English 200 prompts require engagement of multiple texts and substantial textual
evidence while our English 116 model (acknowledged as likely not representative of all
English 116 prompts) does not articulate well due to the lack of textual engagement.
 RWS 200 consistently stresses context. Raises the question of whether lower levels should stick
with contemporary, familiar topics and move further from “home” (in time period and topic)
for each subsequent level.
Information from Rhea re: High School Expectations
 High school students’ common core includes informative/explanatory (expository) writing,
narrative, and argumentation. (This is a new model they’re just moving to.)
 The text ratio is 70% expository and 30% literature
 The term “claims” is used over the term “thesis”.
 Much more rhetorical analysis is being expected of the students.
 Based on samples, high school students receive less instruction on appropriate source use (e.g.,
effective paraphrasing) and plagiarism avoidance.
Action:
 We need to align all our course outlines and really determine the objectives of each course as it
progresses into the next.
 All faculty members should consider to what extent their assignments are meeting our students’
needs i.e. course objectives and transfer success.
 SDSU has volunteered to offer a faculty-led presentation on course and assignment planning.
The workshop would focus on how a single unit is developed and scaffolded from beginning to
end.
High School Links of Interest:
Common Core Text Exemplars and Sample Performance Tasks:
http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_B.pdf
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards (reading, writing, and language, respectively):
http://bit.ly/qQhNHt
http://bit.ly/eLjyAg
http://bit.ly/IM0UW2
Agenda
SDSU/SWC English Writing Collaboration
Friday, 19 April 2013
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
ROOM L238 N/S
1:00-1:30
Lunch and introductions
 Superintendent/President Nish
 SDSU RWS Chair Glen McClish
1:30-1:50
RWS 92: Janet Templeton, RWS Lecturer
1:50-2:10
RWS 94: Julie Williams, RWS Lecturer
2:10-2:30
RWS 100: Chris Werry, RWS Professor
2:30-2:50
RWS 200: Katie Hughes, RWS Lecturer
2:20-3:00
Closing and evaluations
Agenda
SDSU/SWC English Writing Collaboration
Reading Rhetorically
Friday, 01 Nov. 2013
1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
ROOM 214
Guests: Glen McClish, SDSU RWS Chair; Katie Hughes, RWS Lecturer;
Janet Templeton, RWS Lecturer; Chris Werry, RWS Professor;
Rhea Faeldonea-Walker, SUHSD
1:00-1:30
Lunch and introductions
1:30-2:15
RWS 92: Janet Templeton
2:15-3:00
RWS 100: Chris Werry
3:00-3:45
RWS 200: Katie Hughes
3:45-4:00
Closing
English Department Alignment Activities with SDSU, SUHSD, and other local CCs
(Fall 2011-present)
Summary:
Because SWC students transferring to SDSU have faced particular challenges satisfying SDSU's writing
requirements, our 2010-2011 English Program Review identified the need to increase cooperation with
SDSU to improve student success. In the ensuing years, we have hosted on-going Staff Development
workshops that include our faculty and individuals from SDSU and SUHSD to discuss and compare student
writing from SWC, SDSU, and SUHSD. Guests have included Glen McClish, chair of Rhetoric and Writing
Studies; Lou Murillo, director of SDSU's Compact for Success; several Rhetoric and Writing Studies faculty;
and Rhea Faeldonea-Walker from SUHSD. These articulation/alignment workshops were held Fall 2011,
Spring 2012, Spring 2013, and Fall 2013.
More recently, the department chair and another faculty member have been attending regular English
Language Arts Articulation meetings, facilitated through the San Diego County Office of Education.
Participants include faculty and administrators from K-12, several community colleges, continuing
education programs, and four-year institutions. The goal of these meetings is to come to intersegment
agreement on what constitutes “college ready” writing skills; towards that goal, the group is looking at
writing samples, rubrics, and assignments from each level, as well as course outlines and Common Core
standards.
Documentation for SDSU/SUHSD Workshops:





Fall 2011 Flex Docs
Spring 2012 Notes
Spring 2013 Agenda
Fall 2013 Agenda
Email to participants after 19 April 2013 workshop with SDSU/SUHSD:
From
Leslie Yoder
Date 4/19/2013, 5:18:00 PM
To
Glen McClish; Chris Werry (cwerry@mail.sdsu.edu); 'jawillia@mail.sdsu.edu';
'jtempelt@rohan.sdsu.edu'; Katie Hughes
Cc
Joel Levine; Kathy Tyner; Melinda Nish; Patricia Hinck; Angelina Stuart
Bc
English faculty participants
Once again, I am impressed by the magic that occurs when you get a bunch of dedicated educators
together in the same room to talk about their work!
A big thank you to Glen McClish and his Fab Four: Janet Templeton (RWS 92), Julie Williams (RWS
94), Chris Werry (RWS 100), and Katie Hughes (RWS 200). Thanks, too, to Sweetwater English
Curriculum Specialist Rhea Faeldonea-Walker, whose K-12 perspective is so vital to our
collaboration.
I’d also like to thank Dean Joel Levine, VP AA Kathy Tyner, and Superintendent/President Nish for
supporting the workshop, Angie Stewart for handling the food arrangements (and more!), and Pati
Hinck from Staff Development for patiently responding to my many queries.
Most of all, thank you to everyone who attended on this sunny Friday afternoon at a very busy point
of the semester. Y’all rock.
Angie and I will be planning some follow-up meetings to both continue the conversation and bring in
those of you who couldn’t make it today. If anyone would like copies of the packets that were
distributed at the workshop, let me know. Next week, I should be able to email out resources that
were requested today.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Leslie
Documentation for English Language Arts Articulation through County Office of Education:

Emails from Jennifer Currie re. meetings:
From: Jennifer Currie [mailto:jcurrie@sdcoe.net]
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2015 10:54 AM
To: Rhea Faeldonea-Walker; Chris Sullivan; Cali Linfor; Liane Bryson; Glen McClish; Mark
Manasse (mmanasse@sdccd.edu); Aubrey Brea (abreay@sdccd.edu); Elaine Leano
(elaine.leano@sweetwaterschools.org); Rosemary Staley; Lauren Halsted; Leslie Yoder;
Katrine Czajkowski
Subject: Friday Feb 27
Hello!
Please see the attached document for information about our next Articulation Planning Meeting on
Feb 27 that was taken from our meeting notes. I have reserved a larger room that will
accommodate our growing planning team.
We have some new members, Leslie Yodoer from Southwestern and Lauren Halsted from Cuyamaca
- welcome to the team!
Mark, I remember you mentioning that you may have a contact from Adult Ed. Please feel free to
forward this information to him or her and let me know via email if that person plans to join us.
By Tuesday, Feb 24, please make sure you have:
1. Registered for the event
2. Emailed me the student writing samples, prompt and texts and scoring guide (see the
attached doc for details).
We are going to look at these samples electronically - so you will need to let me know if we need to
provide a laptop for you.
On a side note, Liane clarified for me the difference between "entry level" (good enough to take
transfer level freshman comp) and "transfer level" (good enough to pass the WPA for community
college students who are transferring to SDSU as juniors). My understanding is that the team wants
to look at both - so I tried to make this clear on the attached doc. Is this right? Please let me know if
you have a different understanding. We can also make this determination at our meeting.
Alright! See you all soon!
- Jennifer
Jennifer Currie
Learning and Leadership Services
San Diego County Office of Education
Expository Reading and Writing Course at SDCOE
858.292.3822
---------------------------------From: Jennifer Currie [mailto:jcurrie@sdcoe.net]
Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2015 11:29 AM
To: Rhea Faeldonea-Walker; Chris Sullivan; Cali Linfor; Liane Bryson; Glen McClish; Mark
Manasse (mmanasse@sdccd.edu); Aubrey Brea (abreay@sdccd.edu); Elaine Leano
(elaine.leano@sweetwaterschools.org); Rosemary Staley; Lauren Halsted; Katrine
Czajkowski; Natalie Coots (ncoots@sdccd.edu); Nadia (nmandila@sdccd.edu); Jorge Cuevas
Antillon; Leslie Yoder; Sharai Forbes (sforbes@sdccd.edu); Gina Vattuone; Paul Dautremont
(pdautrem@guhsd.net)
Subject: Next Meeting May 22
Hi All!
Our next meeting will be on May 22 from 10:00 - 1:00 (note the new extended time). Location and
registration link are forthcoming.
Please see below for our meeting notes and your homework assignment:
Meeting Notes
Our last meeting was, as usual, very insightful. We analyzed our homework and used our collective
knowledge to explore the question:
What characteristics are needed for a writing assignment or task that would assess college
readiness in writing?
What is common to both on-demand and process?
In our description of what was common, we found that the components of the prompts are that they:
 are based on at least one stimulus text
 cite at least one source
 often allow students to draw on life experience
And that the prompts assumed that students can:
 write for a purpose, primarily argument.
 write in academic prose
 sufficiently develop and complete a response given time parameters.



demonstrate audience awareness
site at least one source
have some understanding of the stimulus text
Homework
Review the CCSS ELA Standards for Writing for Grades 11/12 and the documents that are in the
Smarter Balanced Task Specification, Claims, and Scoring Guide with Full Writes for Grade 11. All
documents are on the "Writing Task Characteristics" page on our website. Look particularly at what
the Standards and SBAC would expect of writing assignments or tasks in terms of the:
 Writing Assessment Context: who takes this assessment and for what purpose, and what
are the expectations for delivery?
 Components: what are the number and type of texts, question and prompts?
 Assumptions: what does the prompt assume students should be able to do?
See the "Task Characteristics" document that is also posted on our
webpage: https://sites.google.com/a/sdcoe.net/ela-regional-articulation/writing-task-specifications
Come prepared to discuss how CCSS and SBAC are aligned to our preliminary thinking.
See you all soon!
- Jennifer
Jennifer Currie
Learning and Leadership Services
San Diego County Office of Education
Expository Reading and Writing Course at SDCOE
SIGN UP FOR EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS
858.292.3822
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------From: Jennifer Currie [mailto:jcurrie@sdcoe.net]
Sent: Thursday, April 30, 2015 6:09 PM
To: Rhea Faeldonea-Walker; Chris Sullivan; Cali Linfor; Liane Bryson; Glen McClish; Mark
Manasse (mmanasse@sdccd.edu); Aubrey Brea (abreay@sdccd.edu); Elaine Leano
(elaine.leano@sweetwaterschools.org); Rosemary Staley; Lauren Halsted; Katrine
Czajkowski; Natalie Coots (ncoots@sdccd.edu); Nadia (nmandila@sdccd.edu); Jorge Cuevas
Antillon; Leslie Yoder; Sharai Forbes (sforbes@sdccd.edu); Gina Vattuone; Paul Dautremont
(pdautrem@guhsd.net); Cindi Harris; Micah Jendian
Subject: Agenda and Reg for May 22
Hello!
Looking forward to our next meeting that will be on Friday, May 22 from 10:00-1:00. Here is the
registration link: http://sdcoe.k12oms.org/1408-97870
Proposed Agenda
Glen and I have been talking about our process, and it seems that if we were to put our questions in
order, then our inquiry might look like the following:
Guiding Question: What characteristics are needed for a writing assignment or task that would
assess college readiness in writing?
 1) As we compare writing tasks that are currently being used in our various contexts
(community college, SDSU, and districts) what characteristics do these tasks have in
common? (addressed at last meeting)
 2) What are the differences? (we will start here)
 3) How do these characteristics compare to Common Core 11/12th grade standards and
Smarter Balanced 11th grade assessment?
 4) What more do we need to learn in order to answer the question: what
characteristics shouldbe present in a writing task that assesses college readiness in writing?
Homework Reminder
Prepare to discuss the different characteristics that we see in our current sampling of writing
assignments/tasks. All of the materials on our website can be a good source for that in addition to
what you already know from your own context.
Review the CCSS ELA Standards for Writing for Grades 11/12, the excerpt from Appendix A that talks
about writing, and the documents that are in the Smarter Balanced Task Specification, Claims, and
Scoring Guide with Full Writes for Grade 11. All documents are on the "Writing Task Characteristics"
page on our website. Look particularly at what the Standards and SBAC would expect of writing
assignments or tasks in terms of the:
 Writing Assessment Context: who takes this assessment and for what purpose, and what
are the expectations for delivery?
 Components: what are the number and type of texts, question and prompts?
 Assumptions: what does the prompt assume students should be able to do?
See the "Task Characteristics" document that is also posted on our
webpage: https://sites.google.com/a/sdcoe.net/ela-regional-articulation/writing-task-specifications
Come prepared to discuss how CCSS and SBAC are aligned to our preliminary thinking.
- Jennifer
Jennifer Currie
Learning and Leadership Services
San Diego County Office of Education
Expository Reading and Writing Course at SDCOE
SIGN UP FOR EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS
858.292.3822

Additional documents attached