Going "Solo" in a Coordinated Studies Program
Sally Rings, PVCC

As I head from my office to the classroom where my Critical Reading (CRE 101) and English Composition (ENG 101) class awaits me, I am lugging several books, board markers, folders, etc.-- the "stuff" for our almost-three-hour learning community session. The previous evening I spent two-and-a-half hours developing the lesson plan for today, but I am pleased with the outcome -- an integration of both reading and writing tasks that flow toward a goal.

This fall is the fifth semester I have taught these courses in a fully-integrated manner, and although I love doing so in theory (and most days in practice as well), I must confess that I don't feel as "settled" with this course as I expected to after two years.

Teaching in this integrated format has several effects on time, both mine and the students'. Although I spend a great deal of time planning, it is probably less than if I were teaching integrated courses with a partner. Planning with another person calls for much negotiation and compromise, both time-consuming processes. In my planning I also need to be sensitive to the rhythm of a three-hour class session since it is difficult for many students to focus for that length of time. There are also gifts in having such a time block: in-class projects and service learning can more easily be incorporated into class work than in stand-alone courses.

Teaching an integrated course "solo" is also a mixed blessing. On one hand, I am in charge, but the price of my autonomy is that I lose the strengths that another instructor would bring to a learning community. I also forfeit a colleague's perspective and feedback. When I decided to teach this course, it seemed that teaching alone would be the easiest way to begin an integration of coursework. However, the pattern has held--partly because it is easier to staff. When integrated courses are team-taught, decisions must be made about "loading"; our traditional structures assume that one instructor teaches one class.

The most exciting and also the most perplexing challenge for me has been in making the connections between the concepts in the two stand-alone courses that are being integrated. I love the "aha's" that often come in the process of merging. But I continue to struggle with the polarity of maintaining the integrity of the two individual courses and letting them blend into something new. I, along with several other Maricopa instructors who teach integrated courses, have learned that doing both in a complete way simply is not possible.

Perhaps the greatest joy of teaching this course is the intensity of the interactions, both among students and between students and me. I have come to believe that these direct connections really enhance learning, leading students to higher levels of complexity in their thinking and more sophistication in the work they produce. So in spite of some of the issues about teaching integrated courses that remain unresolved for me, I have participated in the creation of communities of learners who are excited about their learning. What is more important for an instructor?

-t h e   f o r u m-

URL: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/
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