Timeline

Obama proposes the need for a public option.

• 7/09: Bill is passed by Senate Health Committee which includes a public option (three House committees pass bills with a public option).
• 8/16/09: Facing a month of tough criticism and angry citizens in town hall meetings, President Obama appears to back away from his commitment to the public option. As quoted in the NY Times: “The public option, whether we have it or we don’t have it, is not the entirety of health care reform. This is just one sliver of it, one aspect of it.”
• 9/09/09: President Obama gives a speech to a joint session of Congress and reaffirms his commitment to a public plan. "I have no interest in putting insurance companies out of business," he says, "Let me be clear – [the public option] would only be an option for those who don't have insurance."
• 10/13/2009: Olympia Snowe is the only Republican member of the Senate Finance Committee to vote for a health care bill crafted by committee chairman Max Baucus. The bill does not appear to contain a public option. Ms. Snowe has previously “opposed amendments to create a government insurance plan and would continue to do so” (according to the NY Times). But she has said that she is “open to a compromise under which a public plan could be “triggered” in states where people could not otherwise find affordable insurance.” The Times explains that “With its vote Tuesday, the Finance Committee became the fifth — and final — Congressional panel to approve a sweeping health care bill. The action will now move to the floors of the House and the Senate, where the health care measures still face significant hurdles.”
• 10/22/09: Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, is leaning toward including a government-run insurance plan in a health care bill he will soon take to the Senate floor.
• 11/7/09: The Affordable Health Care for America Act passes the House of Representatives (220-215). One Republican voted for the bill and 39 democrats voted against it. According to the NY Times, this bill would require most Americans to obtain health insurance or face penalties and would require most employers to provide coverage or pay a tax penalty of up to 8 percent of their payroll. The bill would significantly expand Medicaid and would offer subsidies to help moderate-income people buy insurance from private companies or from a government insurance plan. It would also set up a national insurance exchange where people could shop for coverage. The bill has the endorsement of the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)
• 11/18/2009: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid proposes a health care bill which would cost $849 billion over 10 years. The bill contains a public option, but includes a provision which would allow states to opt out, should they choose to.

Interesting Quotes/Data

More than 47 million Americans are uninsured, and according to Consumer Reports, as many as 70 million more have insurance that doesn’t really protect them. In the past six years alone, health insurance premiums have increased by more than 87 percent, rising four times faster than the average American’s wages, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report. American families in the lowest income group spend 20 percent of household income on health insurance. Health care costs are a substantial cause of three of five personal bankruptcies. (Center for American Progress)

The public plan is the most divisive issue in the health care debate, even though the Congressional Budget Office says than no more than 12 million people would end up signing up for such insurance. (NY Times Prescriptions Blog)

Reasons For/Against

For PUblic Plan:

1. restore competition
2. greater efficiency and lower costs,
3. Unlike the current for-profit insurers, a public plan does not have the need or incentive to raise and protect its profit margins. Nor does it have any incentive to flout or manipulate regulations. Its concerns are not profit, but the public health.

(from Why A Public Health Insurance Option Is Essential)

Against PUblic Plan:

Opponents of the idea argue that

1. a public health insurance plan competing with private insurers would lead to inferior health care,
2. [would ] harm providers
3. [would] drive the multibillion dollar for-profit health plans out of the market. (Center for American Progress)

Against current system:

The lack of competition and record of egregious deceptive practices demonstrates the need for a public plan. http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2009/09/17/why-a-public-health-insurance-option-is-essential/

Teaching Business/Tech Online

In Winter 2007, Technical Communication Quarterly published a special issue
on "Online Teaching and Learning: Preparation, Development, and
Organizational Communication." You might find some of the rationales for and
approaches to teaching online writing courses useful in developing your
case.

Intro To Comp Studies (Undergraduate Course)

From WPA-L (Nov. 2009):

Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 12:10:11 -0600
From: "Byard, Vicki" <V-Byard@NEIU.EDU>
Subject: Undergraduate Intro to Comp Studies course

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------_=_NextPart_001_01CA5CB0.E23A43B0
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

My department is developing an upper-level undergraduate course for =
English majors that would serve as an introduction to composition =
studies. Our goals for the course are to ensure that our English majors =
(many of whom go on to teach English in high schools) are knowledgeable =
about major issues in composition studies. We also hope to use the =
course as a means of recruiting talented majors for our MA in =
composition track. =20
=20
If your institution offers a similar undergraduate course, I'd greatly =
appreciate receiving a course description and syllabus, on or off list.
=20
Vicki Byard
Professor of English
Coordinator of the First-Year Writing Program
Northeastern Illinois University

---

From: Writing Program Administration [mailto:WPA-L@asu.edu] On Behalf Of By=
ard, Vicki
Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 12:10 PM
To: WPA-L@ASU.EDU
Subject: Undergraduate Intro to Comp Studies course

My department is developing an upper-level undergraduate course for English=
majors that would serve as an introduction to composition studies. Our go=
als for the course are to ensure that our English majors (many of whom go o=
n to teach English in high schools) are knowledgeable about major issues in=
composition studies. We also hope to use the course as a means of recruit=
ing talented majors for our MA in composition track.

If your institution offers a similar undergraduate course, I'd greatly appr=
eciate receiving a course description and syllabus, on or off list.

Vicki Byard
Professor of English
Coordinator of the First-Year Writing Program
Northeastern Illinois University

---

Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 13:59:57 -0600
From: Kaye Adkins <kadkinsphd@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Undergraduate Intro to Comp Studies course

--0016e6d5667a3ec3f704777cf0b5
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Although it isn't in my course rotation any more, we have an undergraduate
course, "Introduction to Composition Theory" that is required of all English
Education majors. The faculty who share responsibility for the course teach
it pretty much the same way I have. We still haven't found any better books
than the two on the syllabus (but we're always open to suggestions).
Finding something appropriate to undergraduate secondary ed students is a
challenge.

Course policies/syllabus:
http://www.missouriwestern.edu/eflj/syllabi/2006/Fall/ENG364-01.html (Sorry
for the broken link. We changed servers recently, so . . . )
Course schedule: http://staff.missouriwestern.edu/users/kadkins/CompTheory

The final project for the class has always gotten terrific results. The
students work in groups to analyze a composition textbook for the underlying
pedagogical approaches/ theories (or lack thereof). We have a collection of
a variety of textbooks that includes first editions of textbooks by
Kinneavy, D'Angelo, and Elbow. I've attached the assignment for anyone who
is interested.

Kaye Adkins

---

Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 22:19:09 -0700
From: Kristen Seas <seask@UNCW.EDU>
Subject: Re: Undergraduate Intro to Comp Studies course

Vicki,
I'm piloting just such a course this semester here at UNC Wilmington. Here's
a link to the course website I created and used for the class:
http://www.peithograph.net/teaching/307_F09/index.htm

Rather than approaching this comp studies as a course on pedagogy - which
seems to dominate the tenor of much of our research and grad courses in the
same subject - I'm teaching the course more as "Theories of Writing" and
directing the students towards an articulation of who they are as writers
from a theoretical perspective. The prevailing assignment is a Self-Study
Portfolio where they reflect on a piece of their writing and the process
that went into it, followed by another paper on how they might approach that
same writing situation different given what they've read in the class, and
then writing a reflection on who they are as writers using the theoretical
terminology they've acquired.

I have also been delightfully surprised by their engagement with the theory
and the challenging readings. I'm using Miller's new Norton anthology this
time. But I do think if I teach the course again, I might use Villanueva's
_Cross-Talk in Comp Theory_ instead, just because I found the selections in
Miller's anthology to be more pedagogically-oriented and lacking in certain
texts that I'd like to bring in (like Flynn's "Composing as a Woman") that
might speak more to writerly identity than the teaching of writing.

That said, in the first half of the semester, we had some wonderful (even
heated) conversations about the discipline of English studies and the
different paradigms and ideologies that have shaped how we view writing. If
you do get to go forward with the course, I hope you have as much luck as
I've had.

Kristen

---

Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 09:05:13 -0600
From: "David M. Grant" <david.grant@UNI.EDU>
Subject: Re: Undergraduate Intro to Comp Studies Course

Vicki, Kristen, Kaye, and Rebecca,

I teach a course like this here at Northern Iowa. I have a web page
under construction, but most of my online material I put on our
eLearning (Blackboard) site. It was simply easier. Also, I am in the
middle of a budget battle over adjunct money, so I will be brief. But, I
can forward a syllabus to whomever was interested.

I use Miller's Norton anthology supplemented with other readings because
not only do we have future teachers as audience, we also have
professional and creative writing minors. So, it is a pretty eclectic
group of students which I think is a strength. Like Kristen, I find
lively debates about English studies, its history, configuration, etc.
We cover different philosophies and taxonomimes of the field, reflect on
the readings and our own writing, collaborate with other students, and
conduct some kind of empirical observation. We even look at some of the
ways the field's participants are organized through technologies and
bodies such as WPA-L. It is really a fun class to teach and I am always
energized by it!

Best of luck!

David M. Grant
Coordinator of Writing Programs
Department of English
University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0502
(319) 273-2639
david [dot] grant [at] uni [dot] edu

---

Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 11:31:55 -0500
From: Dr Laurie McMillan <lmcmillan@MARYU.MARYWOOD.EDU>
Subject: Re: Undergraduate Intro to Comp Studies course

--0016e6d7e4e11dedb804778e26ce
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Vicki,

I'm attaching my syllabus for an undergrad course called Composition: Theory
& Practice. I use Cross-Talk in Comp Theory and take a chronological
approach for a good part of the semester. I wasn't sure if I even liked this
approach when I first tried it out, but it's actually cool the way students
end up tracing the development of the field to some degree as themes appear
and reappear in different guises.

I'm also loving reading other responses to this thread. Lots of great ideas!

Best,
Laurie

Teaching Reading

1. Summarizing

Round One: For a difficult reading assignment, ask students to write a 250-word summary (or whatever you think would be an appropriate length), and bring 3-4 copies to class. In small groups or pairs, have students exchange and read each other’s summaries, marking up any points they think need to be changed or revised. I ask students to underline inaccuracies, mark passages that are the student’s views or evaluations rather than author’s, and indicate with an asterisk any portion of the summary that provides disproportionate coverage of a minor point. Then the group should discuss the differences they see, with the goal of choosing the most accurate of the summaries to share with a larger group in round two. Groups can also choose to combine and/or revise the summaries based on their discussion. When two summaries diverge in their interpretation of some aspect of the assigned reading, students must examine the differences, consult the text for clarification, and d!

ebate why one student’s understanding is more accurate than another’s. This discussion requires close, attentive reading, and in the process students will deepen or complicate other group members’ assumptions about particular points in the text. Inevitably, students will also begin to share their reactions to and views on the material, and this provides an excellent starting point for further classroom debate and application.

Round Two: This round serves as a “check point” to ensure that each group has accurately understood the material. Have two or more groups combine into a larger group. Each smaller group then reads its selected summary out loud, and then the larger group examines their differences and similarities in order to choose the best one. These can then be shared aloud with the entire class as the basis for a deeper discussion and clarification of key concepts. It may also be an opportunity to examine the structure of the assigned reading, and to evaluate its logic, evidence, and/or methodology.

Round Three: Ask each group to take their summary and further condense it into a much smaller number of sentences. As the groups finish, have a representative type the short summary on the computer so that the class can compare and discuss them together. These shorter summaries require students to identify the center of the reading and distinguish it from important (but peripheral or supporting) arguments.

At any stage in this activity, you can focus the discussion on matters such as: difficult passages or terms around which there still may be confusion; how students discerned major points from examples, supporting evidence, or sub-arguments; and what students learned about summary writing by engaging in the class activity. You may even want to survey students about the extent of revision their own summaries needed once they had discussed the reading with classmates, or, depending on the course level, you might spend some time on basic summary conventions such as using attributive tags.

2. Marginalia:

I've developed two different activites using marginal notes, but I'll describe just one here. I give students a check list with four different types of marginal notes that a reader can make: summarize/comprehend; interact/evaluate; extend; rhetorically analyze.

Their assignment is to mark up a reading only with marginalia -- no underlining or highlighting. I require that they include marginal notes from all four categories. In class, discussing their notations results in a rich discussion. Most important, it makes the reading process explicit and discussing this is the most valuable part of the activity.

From WPA-L

Mary Goldschmidt, Ph.D.
Director, The Writing Program
The College of New Jersey
609.771.2864

10/31/09

Also:

Shelley's Quick Guides for Writing Teachers:

Critical Reading Assignments

Writing Majors/Minors

In addition to the list that NCTE/CCCC is keeping on writing majors/minors, there is this resource:

http://www.depts.drew.edu/composition/majors.html