The faculty were consulted every step of the way. The Pathways committee charged with developing the Pathways was composed predominantly of Faculty; there were a few admins and two students. Then the committee charged with the specific dept. and course framework were all faculty. I do not agree that faculty were left out; they weren’t; check the minutes posted on-line.

Change is a slow beast. People focus on blaming others for changing how things are “normally” done and refuse to believe their way might not be the vest way to do things; opposition is easier than adaptation. However, there are people who do “keep the pulse on the students’ best interests” and aren’t afraid to admit the “norm” isn’t working.

“As a required cornerstone course for students entering college, an overarching goal of English 101 is to introduce students to a wide range of genres of reading, writing, and multimedia communication. Here is where students must learn to bridge the gap–sometimes the chasm–between high school and college. Incoming freshmen may be fairly competent, able to write without too many grammar errors. In contrast to developmental students, their reading comprehension and thinking skills may be a bit sharper, though not nearly as strong as they need to be for advanced learning. Their writing experience may be limited to book reports and personal essays without much development or depth, and they need to be prepared for modes of thinking, styles of writing, and hard work in their future courses that they may never have dreamed of. With my own very diverse corporate and academic background, that’s right down my alley.

CUNY’s Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) and Writing Intensive (WI) initiatives were developed to promote students’ writing versatility and development. To support these initiatives, in the 2008-2009 academic year, QCC’s English Department developed an 81-page handbook for its faculty titled, “Teaching First-Year Writing,” that offers extensive guidance for professors of English 101 and 102. The Department’s objectives are clearly laid out and, for English 101 Composition and Literature, may be synthesized as follows:

‘…several longitudinal studies have indicated that many if not most students flounder in each new writing situation and faculty wonder why they ‘can’t write.’ It is our intention that by being introduced to the concept of various genres, and exploring the features of these genres (for example, how the lab report in science courses differs from the literature summary in social sciences), students will move from discipline to discipline with an expectation of encountering new genres and simultaneously accumulating experience in how to adapt to each new writing situation…By learning the concept of genre, students can prepare themselves for writing in the world of work as well.’ (p. 77)

Toward these ends, in addition to literary genres of reading, instructors may incorporate into their course syllabi a variety of readings that will expand students’ intellectual experience with topics or areas of knowledge that fall outside of the traditional ones for an English Literature class, and may be entirely new to them. Through collaboration with campus librarians, instructors can help students learn information literacy, i.e., how to conduct research on new topics using college databases, and how to evaluate source materials. Professors will help students learn how to design and implement primary research projects, and may need to assist them with computer literacy as well.

Still, the foundation of solid writing competence continues to rest on the bedrock of grammar, learning techniques, core knowledge through reading and multimedia, critical thinking, rhetorical devices, literary devices, and the templates for organizing various genres of writing from letters to research reports. All of these form a supporting skills matrix of my English 101 curriculum. As well, the habits of drafting, proofreading, editing, and revising are instilled and required.”

QCC’s Department of English has my utmost respect for the Herculean efforts it makes to give our needy students the experience and skills they require to succeed not only in their future courses but, in their future careers as well.