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WAC Partnerships Between Secondary and Postsecondary Institutions
Jacob Blumner, University of Michigan-Flint
Pamela Childers, McCallie School
Copyright Year:
ISBN 13: 9781602358096
Publisher: WAC Clearinghouse
Language: English
Formats Available
Conditions of Use
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
CC BY-NC-ND
Reviews
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The text provides comprehensive descriptions of a variety of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) partnerships between secondary and postsecondary schools. Readers can explore specific examples and logistics of collaborative efforts throughout the... read more
The text provides comprehensive descriptions of a variety of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) partnerships between secondary and postsecondary schools. Readers can explore specific examples and logistics of collaborative efforts throughout the United States and abroad (Argentina, Germany) that span a range of academic disciplines, levels, and courses. Neither an index nor a glossary is provided but terms are defined within ten chapters outlined clearly in the table of contents.
The text describes in detail--and without any noticeable content errors--different models for WAC partnerships intended to address and improve gaps between high school and college writing. Chapters include conceptual or theoretical frameworks but also practical logistics, methods, and processes that secondary schools, postsecondary schools, and writing centers can use to implement similar partnerships. The advantages and disadvantages of partnerships are discussed in the first and last chapters, and specific successes and obstacles discussed in each chapter are useful and unbiased.
Chapters describe partnerships and collaborative models that are relevant to both secondary and postsecondary institutions that want to implement programs for writing across the curriculum. Methods describing ways to utilize high school and college writing centers are particularly relevant, as are the chapters that offer insights into embedding writing in the physical and life sciences to improve student learning. Implications for Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are discussed. The text was published in 2016 but the modular nature of each chapter lends itself to the addition of examples involving popular technologies--like online video conferencing and shared documents for real-time collaboration and feedback--in future updates.
The text is clear and the discipline-specific terminology used is adequately explained to promote an understanding of how theory can be applied in various educational settings. Chapters describe recommendations based on successes, lessons learned, limitations, and obstacles (i.e., pacing). Understanding how to implement effective or improved partnerships is enhanced through the inclusion of questionnaires, data that offer evidence of impact, and appendices that provide rubrics, assignments, and practical guides.
Each chapter provides examples of meaningful WAC partnerships utilizing a consistent approach that includes relevant background information, an overview of each partnership described, and details of each collaborative partnership in the context of an appropriate conceptual or theoretical framework. Subheadings help with consistency yet are aligned to each chapter's distinct examples in order to provide readers with meaningful insight for inspiration or their own partnership implementation.
Chapters provide practical and appropriate sections with logical subheadings to convey the variety of partnerships and program implementation, advantages, and disadvantages. The modular nature of each chapter can be read and analyzed in any order and independently of each other to meet the needs of a course, its instructor, or its students. A robust list of references on a wide range of relevant topics aligned to frameworks is included at the end of each chapter for further reading.
The chapters describe a range of partnerships across disciplines using a logical, clear organizational structure enhanced by clear subheadings and meaningful implementation details. The partnerships that are described offer the reader inspirational case studies to analyze or consider in the context of their own implementation plans.
The text is offered in ePub and PDF formats that are easy to read and free of interface issues.
No grammatical errors were observed.
The text is culturally sensitive: Various examples from partnerships throughout the United States plus Argentina and Germany are discussed. They offer different perspectives and make clear the impact of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) initiatives on various populations. Readers can make comparisons and identify one or more models from comparable institutions or settings that are feasible for their needs. A deeper discussion about or integration of culturally relevant pedagogy could enhance the text.
This text offers many practical WAC models rooted in theory that I plan to share with my institution's writing center. As an instructor of pre-service STEM educators, I appreciated the high-engagement writing strategies in the sciences described and plan to share them with my undergraduate students.
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The text begins with a chapter that introduces the reader to Writing Across the Curriculum in which the authors state that the purpose of the book is to "promote models of collaborative partnerships across the curriculum and across... read more
The text begins with a chapter that introduces the reader to Writing Across the Curriculum in which the authors state that the purpose of the book is to "promote models of collaborative partnerships across the curriculum and across schools/colleges, so other institutions can design their own programs or create new innovative ones," a purpose upon which they deliver. The text does not provide an index or glossary; however, I never felt the need to access one as I was reading.
Drawing on the experiences of a range of authors and practitioners of WAC partnerships--educators in both high school and higher ed, high school peer tutors--from Argentina, Germany, and the United States, the text provides a variety of perspectives. What is more, the authors intentionally highlight both successful and less than successful WAC partnerships. In particular, the chapter by Beaumont and colleagues and that by Hansen and colleagues detail very different experiences with WAC partnerships, yet both reached similar conclusions: that shared beliefs and values allow partnerships to thrive.
The text was published in 2016, although many of the partnerships detailed therein took place earlier in the last decade. Whereas the content does not feel out-of-date, it does not reflect the ways in which WAC partnerships might make use of newer technologies such as video conferencing platforms.
Overall, the clarity of the text is high. To support clarity as well as transferability to other contexts, several chapter authors provided artifacts of their WAC partnerships such as rubrics, assignment descriptions, and guides for writing center conversations.
The chapters within the book feel consistent--particularly with respect to the ways in which they provide concrete examples that the reader could transfer to their own practice--with the exception of the chapter by Navarro and Chion. While well-written, the chapter lacks concrete examples and thick descriptions, impeding the transferability of the authors' findings.
The text is subdivided into separate chapters, each with its own set of authors. Whereas each chapter could stand alone, the authors also often reference other chapters within the text, supporting cohesiveness and continuity.
The text is bookended by chapters that provide a zoomed-out view of WAC partnerships. Inside this frame, each chapter zooms in on a particular partnership. Some authors make explicit connections to other chapters with the text. In some cases, vastly different experiences yielded similar results. Such throughlines support the reader in making connections across chapters and WAC partnerships.
I read the text as a PDF and experienced no interface issues.
I did not notice any grammatical errors.
WAC partnerships in different countries (i.e., Argentina, Germany, the United States) are described; however, the broader cultural contexts of the programs within these countries are not explicitly addressed.
As a teacher educator who is frequently exploring ways to facilitate engagement that spans the boundaries between K-12 schools and higher education, I encountered many ideas in this text that I hope to explore in my own practice and share with my school partners.
Table of Contents
- Front Matter
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Serenade in a Kansas Wind, Malcolm Childers
- Chapter 1: Introduction to WAC and Partnerships That Cross Academic Levels and Disciplines, Jacob S. Blumner and Pamela B. Childers
- Chapter 2: Talking about Writing Across the Secondary and College Community, Michelle Cox and Phyllis Gimbel
- Chapter 3: Newton's Third Law Revisited: Action Reaction Pairs in Collaboration, Michael J. Lowry
- Chapter 4: Shaping Disciplinary Discourses in High School: A Two-Way Collaborative Writing Program, Federico Navarro and Andrea Revel Chion
- Chapter 5: Collaborating on Writing-to-Learn in Ninth-Grade Science: What Is Collaboration—and How Can We Sustain It?, Danielle Myelle-Watson, Deb Spears, David Wellen, Michael McClellan, and Brad Peters
- Chapter 6: In Our Own Backyard: What Makes a Community College-Secondary School Connection Work?, Mary McMullen-Light
- Chapter 7: Negotiating Expectations: Overcoming Obstacles Introducing WAC through Collaboration between a German University Writing Center and German High Schools, Luise Beaumont, Mandy Pydde, and Simone Tschirpke
- Chapter 8: "So Much More Than Just an 'A'": A Transformative High School and University Writing Center Partnership, Marie Hansen, Debra Hartley, Kirsten Jamsen, Katie Levin, and Kristen Nichols-Besel
- Chapter 9: "Oh, I Get By with a Little Help from My Friends": Short-Term Writing Center/Community Collaborations, Trixie G. Smith
- Chapter 10: What We Have Learned about WAC Partnerships and Their Futures, Jacob S. Blumner and Pamela B. Childers
- Contributors
Ancillary Material
Submit ancillary resourceAbout the Book
Working with educators at all academic levels involved in WAC partnerships, the authors and editors of this collection demonstrate successful models of collaboration between schools and institutions so others can emulate and promote this type of collaboration. The chapters in this collection describe and reflect on collaborative partnerships among middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities that are designed to prepare students for the kinds of work and civic engagement required to succeed in and contribute to society. The WAC partnerships celebrated in this collection include frameworks to build connectivity between institutions while addressing Common Core State Standards, academic and non-academic collaborations around science education, WAC partnerships in Argentina and Germany, and both long- and short-term collaborations.
About the Contributors
Editors
Jacob S. Blumner, Director of the Marian E. Wright Writing Center and Associate Professor of English at the University of Michigan-Flint. He has co-edited two books, and his work has appeared in The WAC Journal, Across the Disciplines, and Praxis: A Writing Center Journal.
Pamela B. Childers, Caldwell Chair of Composition Emerita at McCallie School and Executive Editor of The Clearing House. She has written numerous articles and chapters on WAC. Her books include The High School Writing Center, Programs and Practices: Writing Across the Secondary School (with Anne Ruggles Gere and Art Young) and ARTiculating: Teaching Writing in a Visual World (with Eric H. Hobson, and Joan A. Mullin).