Critical Writers

Our INTD class recently welcomed Dr. Celia Easton, the Dean of Academic Planning and Advising, to speak about SUNY Geneseo’s current academic probation letter. She wanted to share with us her goal of revising the letter to discard of its negative tone. As of now, the letter has tendencies to make students feel as though they have no chance of improving after their academic mishap. Dean Easton reviewed the letter with us to point out its noticeable flaws and prepared us to work on revising it as a class through academic partnership.

At most colleges, academic probation influences students to work towards maintaining a spot at the institution. The letter that is currently sent to SUNY Geneseo students informing them of academic probation has positive and negative aspects.

On a positive note, the letter does an efficient job of informing the students of their academic probation. As visible in SUNY Geneseo’s academic probation letter, it states that “You have been placed on academic probation.” Including this statement in obvious terms is important because students must understand their academic standing. Students must hear this message in a disciplinary tone because “not writing the letter in a serious way can lead to the student not taking the letter seriously,” as stated by Dean Easton. If the message is not written in a serious tone, students might not realize that they might risk potential removal from the institution if the necessary criteria continues to be missed.

Negatively, the letter is not written to show students that the college is willing to help ease their struggle. The letter does include a paragraph which informs students to contact the Academic Planning and Advising Office if they “can help in any way as [they] work out strategies for improving [their] academic performance.” This statement could be reassuring to students, but, it could be swallowed up by other information due to its delayed placement. Placing this statement higher in the letter could be reassuring for students. It is important for students to realize that they are not alone in their academic situation. Through the recommendation of students and faculty members, Dean Easton has realized that students need to be made aware of the resources available to them while clarifying that they are on academic probation.

As Dean Easton has stated, the way Geneseo phrased their message “might lead students to think that they cannot go on with their education.” As visible in the letter, the word “fail” is used and could be viewed as rough by some students. ‌The letters harsh language could lead to doubts throughout their entire life. During the discussion, several students recommended that the tone of voice used throughout the letter needs to be changed. By doing this, the message of the letter would become less threatening. Another recommendation is to include the resources that might help students reach their academic potential. By utilizing these helpful resources, students could avoid being placed on academic probation again or possibly being removed from the college.

As Dean Easton stated, “students might be set back academically because of their outside life.” Several students made her aware that the college must be caring towards their outside responsibilities, which might include illness or family situations. I believe that students must be told that the college understands their home life because it could lead them to feel less intimidated by administration. Students might be less inclined to drop out if the college shows compassion towards the student’s situation.

Many students may not know what their outlook should be once being placed on academic probation. Although it may be hard to think positively in such a situation, Dean Easton made it clear that‌ students “wouldn’t be admitted to the college if we didn’t think [they] could succeed.” She realizes that students may have hit a bump in the road, but the opportunity to improve is possible if they present the effort. One place that might offer insight on dealing with academic probation is Geneseo’s GLOBE. The integrative inquiry learning outcome challenges students to “ask meaningful questions connecting personal experiences to academic study.” I found this point to be important because it asks students to connect their personal life to their academics. These two aspects are often times separated, but they have a significant influence on each other. When dealing with academic probation, it is important for students to think about how their home life could be causing their academics to fall behind. The GLOBE specifies this concept, but the probation letter should as well. It is important for students on academic probation to realize that their personal life could be affecting their academics. Reflecting on what it is that resulted in academic probation can allow for students to make the necessary changes to transform their academic standing.

The letter’s point is to make the expectations of the college clear, ensure students know how to meet them, and make sure they know what will happen if they miss them. This same concept is visible in the relationship of T’Gatoi and Gan in Bloodchild by Octavia Butler. Students should follow the direction of authority for things to run smoothly and for students to avoid consequences. This concept is relevant for college and the story. Gan states that “it was a little frightening to know that only she stood between us and that desperation that could so easily swallow us.” This quote signifies that Gan is under the domination of T’Gatoi, which is scary because it implements that she controls him. This same concept is visible in college. The academic leaders of the university have the power to decide if you can stay enrolled in the college solely based off your academic standing, a scary reality. As‌ said, it is important for students to follow the authority of the college, but it is also important to create academic partnerships. Students and faculty can form a strong tie by considering each other’s side and working to find a common ground.

Knowing that Dean Easton is willing to listen to the insight of students is reassuring. It shows that she is willing to create academic partnerships with the student population. The goal of the letter is to tell the student that they are on academic probation, while making it known that the college is willing to help them to improve their academic standing. By creating partnerships between students on academic probation and college faculty, I believe it is possible for student’s grades to improve.

The first thing I wrote in my INTD notebook this semester was “blog post idea: class discussions feel like competition rather than sharing of ideas.” I came across this note I left myself after I read Zach Southcott’s blog post, “The Difference One Class Makes.” Zach’s post addresses how much we, as students, grow and expand from each other’s ideas, and it reminded me of what I’d written earlier in the semester. Zach’s post was pleasing to read because it reminded me of how much my feelings towards group work have changed.  Continue reading “Competition in Group Work”

Writing and rewriting this “Bloodchild” essay has been a very new concept to me.  First, this essay was the only piece of official college writing that I completed, so that was a challenge in and of itself.  Then, the fact that we could rewrite it made my brain explode. 

My past writing experience has been the “complete the bullets and you will succeed” type of experience.  So when Dr. McCoy gave us no information other than the fact that we had to use Octavia Butlers “Bloodchild”, I was scared.  Not knowing what I need to do to get a good grade is very nerve racking.  For the most part, I think that trusting my ability as a writer was the scariest part; especially because I have never done anything like it before.  Being accustomed to the bullet point mentality has set me back in the writing process because it has not given me a chance to really think for myself and make the connections on my own.  With the writing that we did in high school, we always talked about potential topics in class and everything was very in your face and obvious.  Even if the teacher didn’t hand you a piece of paper that had bullet points on it.  They basically gave you all the ideas anyway. 

The ability to rewrite papers has also been a new concept to me.  For me, papers have always been something that you got done, handed in, got back a grade and never looked at it again.  For this reason, the rewrite is also hard for me.  The version of the paper that I handed in was one that I thought was great, so I saw no need for improvement. 

When Dr. McCoy and I met to discuss the rewrite, I forgot about the comments that she gave me.  My forgetfulness of the comments was not so much because of laziness but because I have never had this opportunity before.   In the past, the comments that my teachers had left for me, I never took to heart because I had never seen the point.  I didn’t have a chance to improve what I wrote.   Additionally, their comments were about the specific content within my essay, rather than the structure of my essay.  One comment that will always stick out to me is one that my eleventh grade Literature teacher left on my paper.  She wrote something along the lines of “this is not what we talked about in class”.  I remember thinking “aren’t we supposed to think outside the box?  Isn’t that what you want?”  Because of these experiences, professor McCoy’s comments consisting of pointers about ways that I could reformat my essay instead caught me by surprise.

I see the rewrite as both a blessing and a curse.  It’s positive because it gives me a chance to fix what I might have done wrong or catch the mistakes that I did not see and has made me realize that my previous comment about how there was “no room for improvement” is not true.  However, with rewriting the paper, I’m allowed to look at it again and figure out how to fix those mistakes.  That extra effort that I’m putting in to the paper is just something I’m not used to.

This whole process is just a new experience.  But as Dr. McCoy said, that’s what college is all about. 

It is amazing how much of a difference one class can make. When perfecting our well-written paragraph, you can see how each group developed a partnership. For example, it easier to talk to each individual; last time, we were just throwing out ideas out on the table. This time, it was more finalizing our ideas and making sure we had text evidence to support our claim. This class period dealt more with editing. Each member of our group was rereading our paragraph searching for grammatical mistakes or looking for places where we can elaborate more. For example, Matt asked if we should place a comma somewhere in the sentence and the group came to a vote, that it made sense to do so. On top of that, Anderson was asking if we should delete a certain part of first sentence because it was wordy and made more sense to make the opening sentence more concise. Lastly, Sandra stated that we should find more textual evidence for our last quote to describe what Chipman was discussing. That lead me, Theresa, and Amber to find more textual evidence to back up our claim. Another difference between the two class periods that I am sure made Dr. McCoy proud was that we were thinking so much more. What I mean by this is that we were having more of an intellectual discussion on what to put into our finished product. One point we made is that we have to assume that the reader knows nothing on the topic. This lead us to have a very strong paragraph.

I believe Kevin made the best point at the end of class. He said that being in a room with everyone working on the same thing is very motivational because you hear everyone talking. If I was a teacher, I would do the same thing because I think it is very powerful to see students pushing each other because when you hear other groups discussing about their paragraph. For example, today was when everyone registered for their next semester classes. For a little bit that was what everyone was talking about naturally, but once one the whole group started talking about their paragraph, it got the whole room focused on the project again.

This leads to me to my last point: Dr.McCoy’s goal is that she wants to become irrelevant by the end of the semester. If Dr.McCoy told me the first day of classes that this was her end goal. I would have thought she was crazy, because in this class we are supposed to learn how to become an overall better writer. That would make me think how are we supposed to do that by ourselves; however, as the semester comes to an end, I can see how that is a realistic goal for Dr.McCoy, because each student pushes each other to become a better writer. Also, in this class, I feel as if we become better writers over time. Since we are about 10 weeks in now, I can see how we improved to the point where we do not need Dr.McCoy in the room to learn or to even stay on task.

Overall, I consider myself lucky enough to be in a class full of bright students in this INTD section that push me to be a better student. This makes me realize that SUNY Geneseo is more than a college, it is a community of friends.

This past Wednesday, we had the pleasure of having Dr. Easton come to our INTD class to talk about SUNY Geneseo’s academic probation letter. Over 500,000 students across the United States are in academic probation. Being on academic probation isn’t necessarily the issue, but the real issue is getting off of academic probation. Almost 33% of students never get off, and eventually drop out of college. This leads to the question being asked by colleges: what can we do differently?

The main goal of the academic probation letter should be to let students know where they are going wrong and how they can improve. I believe SUNY Geneseo’s academic probation letter is incomplete because it simply states how the student managed to get on academic probation, not how the student can improve. Sandra made a great point in class in which I think the academic probation letter can improve: she suggested that the letter should include what department that the student is failing in. To further expand this idea, the academic probation letter should include what class/classes you failed and the number/email of the department you need help in. For example, if you failed calculus, the letter should include the math department’s number and email and what they offer for extra help (math learning center). This applies for students who fail their INTD or science classes; when they get an academic probation letter, that letter would include information on the writing learning center, the physics learning center, etc. I believe syntax plays a huge role in the academic probation letter because it could intimidate a student from trying anymore. Hannah stated that the word “fail” in the second sentence of the academic probation letter makes the reader feel that it is the end of the process, which is why students are afraid of reaching out. On the other hand, you want the letter to seem somewhat stern and serious, so it grabs the student’s attention. If the student doesn’t believe academic probation is serious, then they will more than likely not act at all.

I believe SUNY Geneseo should rewrite their academic probation completely because she said our current letter was based off a template which was written about 30-40 years ago. To me, that seems outdated. One thing I would keep from the current academic probation letter would be the last three paragraphs because of the syntax and information provided in both. For example, the third paragraph states that you can set up a meeting with your academic adviser and discuss strategies on how you can get off academic probation. On top of that, the fourth paragraph suggests that how you can boost your GPA most efficiently is by retaking classes you did poorly in. This gives the student enough information to be proactive about being on academic probation and how you can succeed by getting off academic probation. The last paragraph to me has the right diction and syntax because it gives the student hope. Hope is what gets students through the toughest of days because with hope, anything is possible.

In conclusion, the main point Dr. Easton made to me is that the academic probation letter is a living document that is and always will be changing for the students. The academic probation letter should not come off as a scare tactic, but rather as a motivational and informational piece of writing.

Today in class, I thought we demonstrated what our INTD section is called. The risks and rewards of academic partnership. For example, we worked in 3 different groups to come up with a paragraph response to what the problem and solution of the article “The Power of Realistic Expectation” were. It was interesting to see the risks and rewards of an academic partnership in a first hand experience. One risk was if we would ever going to agree on what to write about. With the help of our notes from last class we started to identify what Chipman’s main points were. After that is was “smooth sailing” from here. For example, Anderson threw out the idea of how underprivileged backgrounds have a negative effect on a student’s academic performance. This lead to Gianna and Matt bringing quotes from the article to demonstrate this problem. This further lead to where me, Amber and Theresa came up with the solution to this problem and further explained it with text evidence. On top of that, another risk was if we would be able to communicate our ideas in a respectful manner to one another. I could not be more impressed with my group on how respectful they were. This risk soon turned into a reward because it is a very rewarding feeling when you work as a team and get the task done. Another reward of academic partnership I experienced was seeing how other individuals inferred the text compared to me. This opened my eyes more because it allowed me to take another perspective on the article.
The expression “there is a method behind the madness” occurred to me after class. What I mean by this, is that is that I thought Dr.McCoy was a little crazy for making us know everyone’s name in the beginning of the semester because in my first semester not one professor made us do this. Not in just in today’s class, but it really pays off to know everyone’s name because it makes it easier to communicate.To further explain why I thought the expression “there is a method behind the madness” after this class was because all the reading we did outside of class started to connect to the course. For example in chapter twelve of “They Say, I Say” it talked about about how to have a class discussion and how to add on to one another’s comment. My group demonstrated this perfectly. For example, Anderson stated “Underprivileged backgrounds have a negative effect on a student’s academic performance” and I said “I agree with you Anderson, I also believe the problem could be the student’s mindset on whether they are intelligent or not and that intelligence is a not a given trait.” .On top of that, I used lessons we learned in “reflective writing” such as the stairway to critical learning. The stairway of critical thinking gives you a process on how to think and gives you your “AH-HA” moment on what to write about. This lead our group to format a paragraph that completed the assigned task.
If I was to repick my INTD all over again, I would pick the same INTD because this section has made me realize that positives always outweigh the negatives in life in general but especially in an academic environment.

While, conversing about the article “The Power of Realistic Expectations” my group got into an interesting discussion about a professors strategy of teaching. In the article they review two different ways to relay a message of academic dishonesty. In one case the letter is found to be a direct message with the consequences listed clearly, the other way it will provide resources to better improve grades and be much less harsh. My group related this to a professors teaching style. Some professors are extremely strict and use the assets provided in the first letter. They can be harsh with deadlines with rigorous tests and hours of homework. However, there are teachers who give much more freedom. They give cushion periods for late assignments, the tests are simple and the class is much more laid back. This raises the question of how can a professor be nice, but still retain the respect needed to run a class. As a future teacher this question pertains to me directly. I often think about how I will run my classroom and I believe that a balance is difficult but necessary to achieve a successful classroom. The article portrays that the nicer letters have better feedback, but there is potential for error if there are no restrictions. Students will interpret it as laid back and not take it seriously when in fact it’s a matter that should be handled immediately. Although a harsh letter could elicit a reaction where the student wants to quit, which is why a balance between both letters is the best way to go about a predicament such as this. For example it could include the consequences if a grade increase does not occur followed by suggestions and resources to use to ensure tasks are completed. A medium between harsh and laid back teaching could be put the same way. A professor should be strict with deadlines but also understanding that events do come up that are out of a students control. Finding a balance in the academic workplace is difficult but if achieved could produce a productive and successful classroom environment. 

Completing group assignments is exhausting, frustrating, and just overall quite taxing. In writing group assignments, each and every sentence gets dissected and debated until the consensus is that of approval, but even then so many ideas are lost and skewed along the way. But I think there’s a lot to learn in that process.

A lot of my frustration with group work lies in the fact that I have to explain my thoughts. It’s so difficult to explain to other people what I mean, why I’m thinking it, and why it’s important to write down. But that also forces me to think through my thoughts, which really benefits me. It’s like how if someone’s studying for an exam, they’re supposed to teach the topic to someone else so they realize where their own confusion lies. If I have to explain my thoughts to someone else, I have to provide evidence and a thought process, and in doing so I sometimes realize that I misunderstood or made assumptions about what I was writing about. 

Continue reading “Group Work: The Challenge”