Guest Post: We Are Not Alone: Community and a Shared Vision for Basic Writing and Equity

Let’s welcome today’s guest blogger, J. Elizabeth Clark to Accelerating Achievement. Elizabeth is professor of English at LaGuardia Community College, CUNY where she teaches Basic Writing, English 101, and literature electives. She is also the incoming co-chair of the Council on Basic Writing with Hannah Ashley. We asked Elizabeth to introduce us to the Council on Basic Writing after reading an Inside Higher Ed piece on the organization; Serena Golden’s article, Basic, But Vital, pointed to a pattern “of ever-decreasing access for the students with the most need, and ever-decreasing visibility for those who teach them.” The CBW is working to change that pattern. Below, Elizabeth describes the Council and their efforts to support faculty that are supporting underserved students.

All too often, basic writing faculty members feel isolated on their campuses. Working in small departments separated from a college’s larger writing program or as one of a few faculty members in a larger writing program or in some cases as the sole basic writing faculty member on campus, many faculty members wish for a larger community to support their work as they serve some of the most at-risk students in our colleges and universities.

Since its formation, the Council on Basic Writing (CBW) has actively sought to provide that community. Established in 1980 by Karen Uehling and Charles Guilford, today the CBW provides an online and face-to-face community for teacher-scholars passionately devoted to the teaching of basic writing. The CBW-L listserv® provides a space for questions and conversations about everything from materials to use in classes, to questions about teaching, to emerging news in the field. At each year’s annual Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), the CBW hosts a preconference workshop featuring presentations by basic writing scholars and emerging leaders in the field, opportunities for networking and sharing practices, and a working session for following up on online conversations.

Recently at CCCC 2011, the CBW worked to heighten the role of basic writing within the composition community. Although basic writing has historically been a critical component of the composition field, represented by scholars such as Mina Shaughnessy, Mike Rose, Bruce Horner, and David Bartholomae, many faculty members believe that basic writing has been increasingly marginalized within the field and its work is increasingly invisible in journals, at conferences, and in the scholarly representations of the field of composition. This marginalization mirrors the isolation many feel on their individual campuses. At the 2011 CBW workshop, entitled “We Are Not Alone,” faculty discussed how this sense of marginalization conflicts with the growing need for basic writing and developmental skills in our colleges and universities. At the same time faculty need new and innovative pedagogical and professional resources to address student needs, they are becoming increasingly difficult to find. In response to this, the CBW sponsored a Sense of the House resolution at CCCC as a first step in reemphasizing the important role that basic writing plays in the composition community:

“Be it resolved that Basic Writing is a vital field and its students and teacher scholars a productive force within composition; is under attack by exclusionary public policies; and therefore must be recognized publicly and supported by CCCC as a conference cluster and with featured sessions.”

This motion was passed unanimously at CCCC and represents the CBW’s commitment to raising awareness around basic writing, its pedagogies, practices, and scholarship. It also represents a renewed commitment to advocating for basic writing as an essential part of students’ educational opportunities and to helping new and emerging scholars meet the need for increased resources to help our faculty and students. To that end, we are creating a CBW mission statement that reflects the current state of basic writing and our commitment to it. If you’re interested in the CBW’s recent work at CCCC, please check out this CBW blog post.

You can read more about emerging basic writing pedagogy in our journal, the BWe. Although it is a separate entity, the CBW also shares a long-time relationship with the Journal of Basic Writing.

The CBW also supports scholars and programs with two awards, the annual Travel Award to fund travel expenses to CCCC and the Innovations Award to honor distinctive and cutting edge programs in basic writing. The CBW also maintains a Facebook page and website to provide additional information about the organization and its work. To join the CBW listserv, please follow the instructions here.

J. Elizabeth Clark is professor of English at LaGuardia Community College, CUNY where she teaches Basic Writing, English 101, and literature electives. She is part of the college’s award-winning ePortfolio team and is a faculty member in the Global Skills for College Completion project (GSCC).