Thanks Russ, on all counts.
Jean Guthrie
Department of English
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St John's, Newfoundland
A1C 5S7
Tel.: (709)-737-8646
FAX: (709)-737-4528
On Thu, 29 May 2003, Russ Hunt wrote:
> Jean's Dean has posed the question, shall we say, aggressively.
>
> > There is an untested assumption ... that it is only possible to
> > teach writing in small classes; yet no work seems to have been
> > done that tests the outcome of this teaching method.
>
> "Only possible" creates a dichotomy that favors the answer, yes,
> of course it's possible to teach writing in classes of 100.
> Difficult, and done badly, but possible. So I'd suggest the
> first thing is to rephrase his statement: What's the evidence
> that it's much better (more effective, in terms of consequences
> for the students and the faculty) to teach writing in small
> classes, and what exactly is "small"?
>
> That the assumption holds is, also, hardly "untested." There's
> lots of evidence. Here are some starting points:
>
> More than a Number: Why Class Size Matters
> NCTE Position on Class Size and Teacher Workload, Kindergarten
> to College
> http://www.ncte.org/positions/more_than_a_number.shtml
>
> NCTE Statement on Class Size and Teacher Workload: College
> http://www.ncte.org/positions/class-size-college.shtml
>
> ADE Guidelines for Class Size and Workload for College and
> University Teachers of English: A Statement of Policy
> http://www.ade.org/policy/index.htm
>
> Tenn. Class-Size Study Finds Long-Term Benefits
> http://www.edweek.org/ew/vol-18/34class.h18
>
> That's just off google; the CompPile online bibliography offers
> 100 hits on "class-size" (you need the hyphen).
> http://comppile.tamucc.edu/
>
> -- Russ
>
> St. Thomas University
> http://www.StThomasU.ca/~hunt/
>
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