Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / Feb. 23, 1989, edition 1 / Page 3
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The Pendulum English course designed to help “culturally deprived” february 23, 1989 by Theresa Reily Staff Writer English 112 is being given a new facet this semester in Dr. Richard Hood’s pilot program. The course is designed to in crease Elon’s “culturally deprived” students’ writing applications while helping to decrease Alamance County’s illiteracy rate. Hood taught traditional English 112 and found himself dissatisfied not only with his teaching method, but also with his approach in relay ing to the students the purpose behind taking the class. According to Hood, the intention of English 112 is to apply the basic writing skills learned in English 111 The students practice critical thinking in every class; they have to. Part of Hood’s teaching method is to let the students teach and grade themselves. •During class, students discuss writing, how to develop topics from their involvement with the literacy program, what constitutes an A’ paper, how to integrate all this knowledge, and other topics as they become germane. This allows lear ning to write before they start. What they write about comes from their encounters in their other class. Students choose to help in one of several classes offered by Alamance Community College Adult Basic Education. These pro- ^grams include English as a second page 3 ^ - - p 5Jdms mcluae English as a second • m I # an .e«ec, Joumalism class researches immigrants nv \farlAno to the type of writing that needs to be done, i.e. business and analitical research. In his new class, that application becomes pertinent because the students generate their own writing projects based on experiences gain ed from the time they spend being a teacher s aide for the Alamance Community College Adult Basic Education program. The rationale of this approach. Hood explains, is that the students learn “how to make writing grow out of and reflect their own ex periences.” A secondary outcome is the exposure to a circle of socie ty the students ordinarily would not have regular contact with, allowing them to become less “culturally deprived.” language, sheltered workshop (which involves teaching the retard ed), and the GED program. Once a week for three hours or twice a week for an hour and a half, the students become teachers. Hood s students are enthusiastic about the whole idea of writing with cultural awareness. Robin Taylor thinks it is a fun way of learning, the writing becomes more meaningful to Chrissy Lippard, and Steven Davis feels class has a purpose. These freshmen are students in the two English 112 classes Hood teaches and both sections are full. Although this class is an experi ment, the results are already pro mising. The outcome Hood would like is to open more sections next year. by Marlena Dare Staff Writer A new class has emerged at Elon this semester. The class is entitled ‘Research Methods of Journalism,’ and it is taught by Dr Jerry Adams. The class is a 400 level course, and it mainly teaches students research methods which help them complete a semester-long experi ment. The topic the students are study- mg is immigrants in the communi ty. The goal is to determine the in ternational character of the com munity. Trying to discover the at titudes of and regarding residents of foreign background, what they think of society and their feelings on politics are just a few of the 6/12 oz. N/R LONGNECK Btls. $6.33 Family Drug Center 402 W. Haggard Elon College, NC 27244 584-4257 (Located Behind Pizza Hut) questions the students will be try ing to answer. The community that the class is researching is defined as the area surrounding Elon College and overlapping into Alamance and Guilford counties. The majority of the research deals with immigrants who come and work on North Carolina farms during the peak harvest times. The class has already discovered that there are approximately 170 Mex ican migrants who work in tobac co, corn and soybean fields at harvest time. Students are researching how many come here and then possibly stay year round. The research also includes things such as how immigrants cope in our society and what they think of Every Day Low Prices Best In Town 12/12 OZ. Cans $3.30 m ISLAND! r™^gjr"ic7~AX7r^ rRnpir-c^.l a JeLANO ISLAND TROPICS'- flAVOMD NECOOlfR $3.59 (Walking Distance From Campus) it and how the locals feel about them being here. The proposal that has been made is directed toward measuring, in human terms, the international “content” of Alamance County. The research will be done in four types: historical, government documents and statistics, in-depth interviews and attitudinal surveys. The class of 20, is divided into 6 groups of three or more, and each group is assigned a topic to study about the immigrants. This course is unique in the fact that Adams has given the students a focus to go on and then leaves it up to their instincts to find the rest of the needed information. According to sophomore Wilma Dixon, most of their leads come from endless telephone calls and a few visits. I like the hands-on-experience because I learn more about research methods than what the book teaches. I’ve learned how to work on my own and teach myself how to get the best results from following leads,” Dixon said. The final goal of the class is to put together a booklet, and possibly a video, that describes wlmthey found and explain how they went about doing it. This research could possibly go on to other colleges and institutions. Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre, but they are more deadly in the long run.” —Mark Twain
Elon University Student Newspaper
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Feb. 23, 1989, edition 1
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