Teaching for, to and with the adult composition student

1. Teaching for, to and with the adult composition student Michelle Navarre Cleary CCCC 2007 New York

2. My claims • Teachers’ default models of student identity can and do obstruct their ability to communicate with and effectively teach adult students. • Teachers who overcome this communication barrier do so by designing instruction that begins with and builds from the experiences of the students they find in their classes.

3. Easier said than done.

4. My method • Interviewed 26 faculty and held focus groups with 38 others from a variety of disciplines • Observed 12 composition faculty teaching • Kept a mentoring journal while working with new writing faculty over the last year

5. And informed by my background • Parents did not complete college • 16 years of teaching writing to adults in various contexts: • a retirement home • two private universities • a public community college • WPA at a school for students 25 years or older

6. What I learned • Three common ways teachers miss their adult student audience: • They overreact • They underreact • They under appreciate anxiety • Some strategies for teaching for, to and with adults

7. 1. Overreacting • Assumption of too much knowledge, especially about grammar as well as about the conventions of academic writing • The mutual admiration society phenomenon, followed by disappointment when each finds out that the other is just human after all

8. Strategies to avoid overreacting • Check your assumptions • Let students craft the questions • Have students explain reasons • Check comprehension • Cultivate mutual respect for expertise • Be frank about your weaknesses and forthright about your strengths • Learn about students’ prior learning, areas of expertise and literacy activities

9. 2. Underreacting • Assume no knowledge • Lose chance to address students’ assumptions • Lose chance to leverage the rich life experiences of adult students • Assume irresponsibility

10. Strategies to avoid underreacting • Teach “code switching” • Invite students to bring their experience into the classroom • Validate identity • Leverage prior knowledge • Reminder of their expertise and responsibilities

11. 3. Under appreciating anxiety • Adult students are more anxious than younger students(see Beder and Darkenwald, Kolb, Brookfield, Summer, Fredericksen, Lillis and Bask, Lighty and Tebrock ) • Even veteran teachers of adult students routinely underestimate this anxiety

12. Strategies for addressing anxiety • Explicitly address • Share your writing struggles • Use humor • Give low stakes in-class writing • Get trust by giving it • Give up grammar jargon • Give specific, genuine and generous praise

13. “I . . . appreciated your critique of my writing.  Some of the comments were easy to accept, and some comments were tougher, but beneficial just the same.  Please pass on to other instructors the power of positive comments on students writing, because it can have a very powerful impact and give a great boost of confidence.”

14. Michelle Navarre Cleary Assistant Professor The School for New Learning De Paul University mnavarr9@depaul.edu