The document summarizes perspectives from four librarians on the 1st Annual Internal Berkeley College Reading, Writing and Critical Thinking Conference. Key takeaways included emphasizing practical, real-world examples in teaching; learning about students and their different needs; and encouraging student learning from each other. Favorite sessions focused on using allegory and facts over opinions in teaching. New concepts learned were requiring objective, fact-based writing supported by citations and assessing textbook reading levels. The conference provided inspiration around how to effectively teach students and engage them in their own learning.

1. Reading, Writing and Critical
Thinking Conference
1st Annual Internal Berkeley College
Conference
4 librarians Perspectives

2. Maria
• I liked the keynote speaker a lot. Very knowledgeable and
with the hands-on experience. His ideas of teaching in a
practical way (examples that apply to real life), as well as
finding out from students what they want to get out of our
teaching, positively apply to Berkeley students. In
addition, he recommended that we learn who our students
who they are (not everyone is the same and we see it on
different campuses). He encouraged the pedagogical
method of helping students to learn from each other.

3. Maria
Favorite Sessions
• a) Teaching trough allegory - "Allegory and the
Science Fiction" (Prof. Ralph Peters)
• b) "Your opinion is irrelevant" - stating facts in
the science courses, not opinions (Dr. Marc Shur)
•
• c) Dr. Minkus-McKenna's results of the survey
she conducted in her marketing courses on
students writing skills

4. Anne
There was quite a bit covered. I did encounter a few new
ideas/concepts for me:
1. “Your Opinion is Irrelevant: Requiring Objective and Fact-Based Writing in the
Online Science Classroom”: Marc Shur, Math & Science, puts a great deal of effort
into his online classes. All student comments must be supported with a statement
that is backed up with a citation. As he says, taking a position is fine, but personal
opinion does not have a place in his science classes. If students submit to
Blackboard early enough in the week, they will get a response from the professor
and have a chance to rewrite it. Before and after samples were provided. The
interesting thing is that in addition to adding citations, the writing actually became
more clear and concise.

5. Anne
2. “Fashion Texts and Reading Levels”: Professor Alyssa Adomaitis, Fashion
Dept., rated the reading level of fashion textbooks using the Flesch-Kincaid Scale.
She typed in paragraphs from the books (lifted from designated parts; e.g.
Intro, Middle, End) into a software program. She found that many of the fashion
texts fell below the reading level she wanted; she was also interested in positioning
the texts in some sort of logical sequence throughout the program so that when
students graduate, they will have upped their reading comprehension. This concept
is transferable to other disciplines. On a humorous note: auto insurance and tax
information seem to need some sort of superhuman Ph.D. to unravel their mysteries

6. Anne
3) “Changing the Culture: A Broken Windows Approach to English
Literacy and Optimizing Student Achievement”; Joseph M.
Miller, Humanities and Social Sciences, advocated a split grading
system – content over structure (e.g. A/B-). “A” would refer to the
content, while the “B-“would refer to English grammar and structure.
He feels this would help ensure that upper division students would not
let grammar and spelling go by the wayside. There was some debate
over his policy of using a student grader to review the grammar
portion. It was suggested by an administration official that, perhaps in
the future, honor students could take on the role of T.A.s.

7. Amanda
• I really enjoyed this conference. It was a great opportunity to spend
the day with faculty and learn what they are doing in the
classroom.
• Keynote Speaker:
The keynote speaker provided a lot of inspiration
on how we as teachers need to think about
teaching our students.
• A few questions that he made us think about is:
• Who are our students?
• How can we teach to them?
I think from an IL Instruction point of view we need to think about how
we can teach to our students that will be effective in a one-shot session.

8. Amanda
• Keynote Speaker:
Another great point that he mentioned that I have
always been fascinated with is figuring out how
students learn. He mentioned that we could ask
them:
• How do they learn things that really matter to
them?
• What do you THINK you will learn today?
• What do you WANT to learn today?
I think these types of questions could make our sessions more personal and perhaps
the students will be more engaged. Perhaps in the classroom we could create some
type of ice breaker where the students explain or do some type of activity that shows
how they learn things that they are interested in.

9. Matthew
• Overall my experience was a good one. I found it
beneficial to interact with faculty on that
professional level and to hear their thoughts on
their role as educators and about their experiences
in the classroom. Some of my takeaways:

10. Matthew
• During the keynote, the importance of putting learning in context was emphasized.
Student learning must be "activated" and students need to engage in a cyclical
process in which they "re-cognize" or "think again" and again. Educators must
challenge them to think about "How do I learn to do something that really matters to
me?" (e.g. driving a car, etc.) and get them to articulate this so they understand their
own learning process (and become reflective learners). In the 21st
century, instructors must set up learning experiences that cannot be Googled.
• - Session 1B, The Validity of Teaching Literature to Business-Oriented
Students, was fascinating because various English faculty presented on the relevance
of teaching literature to non-liberal arts students. Many made similar points, but
ultimately, the human element in literature is essential for all students. If they can
understand literature, the professors said, they can understand something in life and
vice versa. Or, as Prof. Modesto stated, "What can Dante's Inferno offer the business-
oriented student? In a word: everything." Prof. Thomas pointed out the usefulness of
literature in reaching certain populations in the student body: international
students, veterans, students for whom life is a struggle will all readily recognize
major themes in literature. Literature helps dispel prejudices.

11. Matthew
• In 2A, The Business of Creativity, Prof. Conway, an English faculty
member, provided several fantastic ideas for getting students to think creatively in
Marketing classes. One lesson idea she shared was to have students create a profile
of a potential customer--even going so far as to give him a name, habits, what he
likes to wear, etc. This exercise, she said, helps students think creatively, hone their
writing skills, and become more adept in their subject area.
• - In 3C, a workshop presented by ASC/CSK faculty entitled Blogs and Discussions:
Bridging the Digital Disconnect , James Pacello and Roseann Torsiello discussed
blogs and discussion boards and their usefulness in the classroom. These tools are
particularly useful because they provide "low stakes" environments for students to
practice writing, reading, and critical thinking. A discussion board is particularly
useful because students can see the change in their own writing over time by doing a
"discussion board audit"--viewing all their posts.

12. Matthew
• In session 4A, Radical Revision: Rethinking Student Literacies, my major
takeaway from this session were Prof. Biner's comments on reinventing the
research project a and how critical it is for faculty to check student writing and
grammar on all assignments (which, she implied, many faculty do not do). She
also commented on student reading ability. She bluntly stated, "Students need to
be forced to read grown-up stuff." Following this line, Prof. Adomaitis' use of
Fleisch-Kincaid Readability Index to gauge reading level of fashion textbooks. If
students are not challenged in their textbook reading, she said, their learning will
suffer. This raised a critical question for me as a librarian: "How much does
actually OWNING a book have to do with student comprehension
(and, ultimately, success)?
• I felt the conference was a great success and provided much food for thought.
Many questions were raised about texts, contexts, and student learning. I would
love to see librarian participation in next year's conference.