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Patrick Bahls in The WAC Journal, Vol 20, Nov 2009. Bahls, a professor at UNC-Asheville, writes of the success he's had with a poetry assignment for his pre-calc and calculus students. He cites that much of one's success with math (especially advanced math) comes from confidence and finds the "language" of math to be both cumbersome and outdated for most students. The examples of student poetry (and their reactions to the assignment) are also provided as evidence.

This is a really interesting article, and the poetry is both thoughtful and creative. I wonder what both math and writing faculty think of this idea. Has anyone tried something similar in their classrooms? Great cites (and nice poem) on math anxiety. -- Stephanie

By Melissa Ludwig in San Antonio (Texas) Express-News Jan 21 2011. A pilot program in San Antonio points "students who test at the lowest skill levels toward shorter vocational programs or adult basic education" rather than the remedial classes at community college where they might previously have been assigned. The student profiled participated in a 10-14 week PACE program (combining basic education with college readiness skills) rather than the 4 semesters of remedial classes she would otherwise have been assigned.

Part of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA)'s Mathematical Science Digital Library (MathDL), this site offers resources for math teachers who want to help their students better communicate as mathematicians. The site includes assessments, rubrics, sample assignments, and things that teachers might consider before adding a communication component to their math classes.

Software to help teachers more effectively grade assignments and "communicate progress to students and parents."

TM describes her use of this software in terms of how she manages her time in and out of the classroom.

General information -- as well as ordering information -- about the HBO film, Temple Grandin.

In the context of "meaningful assignments," TM shows this film in class, discusses it with the students, and then students are assigned to write a letter to Grandin (using business format). TM mails the packet of letters to Dr. Grandin.

By Evan Weissman, Dan Cullinan, Oscar Cerna, Stephanie Safran and Phoebe Richman, with Amanda Grossman. National Center for Postsecondary Research (NCPR) Teachers College Columbia University. February 2012. Link to full report at the bottom of the summary on this page. The colleges in this study are two of six in the NCPR Learning Communities Demonstration, in which random assignment evaluations are being used to determine the impacts of learning communities on student success. NCPR has presented finding from all six colleges. They show that when one-semester learning communities have impacts, they tend to be concentrated in the semester in which students are enrolled in the program. Another report, a final one will be released in 2012. That report synthesizes the findings across all colleges studied and includes an additional semester of student follow-up at each college.

By Galbraith, Michael W. and Melanie Jones. In Journal of Developmental Education; 30.2 (2007): 20-27. This was one of the pre-camp reading assignments, and is available on Polilogue. Article is available for purchase or may be available through document delivery in your college's library.

By Chung, C.J. In Journal of Developmental Education; 28.3 (2005): 2-11. This was one of the pre-camp reading assignments, and is available on Polilogue. Article is available for purchase or may be available through document delivery in your college's library.

Created by The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A large collection of handouts related to college-level writing. Categories include Writing the Paper (e.g. argument, audience, brainstorming); Citation, Style, and Sentence Level Concerns; Specific Writing Assignments/Contexts (e.g. Abstracts, Speeches, etc.); Writing for Specific Fields.

By Billie Hara, as part of the ProfHacker column in The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 27 2011. This instructor posits that when students say "Just tell me what you want" (for this assignment), it might mean that the professor has proved him/herself unclear or "untrustworthy" in the course of the semester. There are also interesting comments at the end of the article.

Web based assignment and assessment platform that extends publisher's textbook offerings.

Excerpted from On Course, Study Skills: Strategies for Creating Success in College and in Life, by Skip Downing, posted on Google Books.

RO used this case study in class for discussion and to generate a writing assignment, week 3, semester 4.

A series of exercises on commas, as posted to Grammar Bytes! by Robin L. Simmons (n.d.).

RO gave the comma exercises as an assignment, week 5, semester 4.

This website for the film offers a downloadable study guide and offers to buy the DVD of the film. The film looks at the rise of the military industrial complex in the U.S.

SB used this film to queue a writing assignment.

A website from Ohio State University that offers workshops in digital storytelling. Click "stories" tab to watch some examples.

Has anyone used digital storytelling in the classroom? Might it be a way for instructors to tell important (academic) stories about themselves? Or an interesting assignment for tech savvy students?

By Greg Clinton on Wandering Academic (blog), May 2011. This teacher/blogger describes a process for collecting student papers electronically, grading/commenting on them via iPad, and then returning the papers, also electronically.

Perhaps of interest to some of our former or in-coming faculty.

Essay by George Orwell on online-literature.com

Used for CAT assignment in jam on Shreds of Data (MD).

By Joe Cortina, Janet Elder, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011, 4th Edition.

This book was mentioned in TO's classroom practice, week2. Assignment is to read Ben Carson's "A Mother's Answer."

By Deb Aronson. In Council Chronicle, published by the National Council of Teachers of English, Vol 19(#2), Nov 2009. pp. 18-21. Click to page 18 of this PDF for the start of the article.

NH says, "In this article Scott Warnock and others describe the high level of detail that is needed in an online syllabus and writing assignments."

By Stanley Fish, August 1, 2008. On Hover Institution, Stanford University

R.S. assigned this essay, week 12, semester 2.