ENG 101: Effective Writing I
Fall 2006

PDP 150 and ENG 101:  A Learning Community

This semester is the second time that Professor Covert and I have collaborated in an experiment in linking PDP 150 with ENG 101. All of you in Section 10 of ENG 101 are in Professor Covert's Section 19 of PDP 150.  What does this mean for you?

• One thing it means is that we can make use of each other's classroom instruction.  Prof. Covert knows what I'm doing during each class meeting in ENG 101, and if we decide together that you need to work on a particular aspect of your writing for PDP 150, then we'll make sure that some time in ENG 101 is devoted to that aspect of writing.  Since I know that you are working on your critical reading skills in PDP 150, I can focus on writing instruction.  This collaboration has made it easier for me to give you choices in the readings rather than require a group of texts in ENG 101 that all of you read and write about.

• Another thing it means is that we coordinate assignments and deadlines so that you won't have a long writing assignment due in both classes the same day.  We are familiar with each other's writing assignments.  Prof. Covert and I both write in response to your PDP 150 assignments, right along with you.  This means that we have a good idea of what we are asking of you--what kind of thinking it takes and how long it takes.

• I'll also be reading everything that you are reading for PDP 150.  As a matter of fact, I'm using much of Prof. Covert's PDP 150 syllabus to organize my own section of PDP 150.  You can feel free to refer to reading you have done in PDP 150 in your writing for ENG 101, confident that I am familiar with the references.

• Our collaboration also helps each of us assess your writing.  I will read at least some of your writing for PDP 150, and Prof. Covert will read at least some of your writing for ENG 101.  This helps each of us see patterns in your writing as an individual and to see patterns in the writing of the class as a whole.  Seeing patterns helps each of us think about how we can best tailor our instruction to help you become better at reflecting, or at organizing, or at reaching conclusions, etc.--whatever writing skill needs to be boosted.

• You will get to know this group better, perhaps, than students that you meet in other classes, because you'll go as a group right from PDP 150 to ENG 101 each Tuesday and Thursday.  Because you're working together at building your reading and writing and critical thinking skills in both courses, you'll be better peer responders and helpers to each other.

• Prof. Covert and I continue to learn from each other.  Each of us has a lot of teaching experience and a long list of activities that we think are useful in class.  We borrow from each other, and that means you'll find a lot of continuity between our classes--the same kinds of expectations of you as readers and writers.

Because this is still an experimental project, we know that you will help us get a better picture of what the learning community means to you as students.  By the end of the semester, you'll be able to review this list and tell us what is helpful to you and what has not worked out as well as we might have hoped.

How do we avoid creating overlap?  We think that the specific focus of PDP 150 is on your concept of the liberal arts, your ability to critically reflect, and your foundation as a self-evaluator of your growth as a whole person.  All of the reading, writing, and discussion you do is meant to achieve growth in these areas.

The focus of ENG 101 is on your understanding of the requirements of academic writing (including the ability to write differently in different disciplinary areas), your ability to organize and develop your ideas clearly, your researching abilities and your knowledge of integrating your research into your writing, your capacity for looking critically at your own writing so that you can revise it well, and your knowledge of yourself as a writer so that you can be more informed in taking responsibility for your writing in classes in a wide range of subjects as you progress through your career as a Bridgewater College student.