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MCC teacher using global approach to infuse English classes with energy
McCOOK, Neb. -- When some English 1010 students at McCook Community College showed up for their first week of classes this fall, their instructor was briefly away from her office -- 8,983 miles away from her office.
In late August, MCC English Instructor Summer Dickinson was in Melbourne, Australia where she was presenting a writing studies presentation at the Queen Victoria library. She also scheduled to make a similar presentation about writing studies in Scotland in May.
While she was honored to be asked to make the presentation at Monash University as part of her Doctorial preparations, Dickinson is excited that these international presentations are helping her bring back up-to-date writing methods. Methods which help her MCC English students keep their writing fresh, current and informed. She believes you can teach cutting-edge writing without straying from curriculum goals.
It's no secret that many of the students who show up for freshmen English classes every year pull out the same subjects -- and some -- even the same papers they used in high school. Dickinson said her challenge is in convincing students that the best writing draws from what is the most relevant.
This fall, Dickinson is teaching three introductory English Composition classes and she believes that when students see that their instructor is working outside the classroom (and outside the country) writing and putting writing theories and methods to work in the field, it gives her more credibility with her students.
"I think students in most every subject students like to see their teachers do what they are teaching, I think mine like to know that I am not only teaching but also writing," she said.
While the composition classes expose students to writing theory, Dickinson believes in the right balance of theory and execution. In the past, the subject matter for English Composition papers were often a stale collection of subjects written about for decades and the students' papers usually contained the same tired arguments students had been recycling for years.
"I think part of our job is to prepare students to be an active part of the conversation on a local, state, national and international level," she said.
Students are finding global inspiration in areas more relevant to their personal lives. They are connecting writing topics to their own lives and taking a global issue and applying it to their lives whether it regards technology, parental methods, pop culture, finance, relationships or politics.
For instance if a student is attending college because of student loans, he finds more meaning in a composition about student loan laws because he has a personal stake in the subject. Or if a student is frustrated with the classes she must take to earn a degree in her chosen field she becomes more vested in a composition calling for changes in Nebraska's educational standards.
In the past, college composition papers were crafted to win arguments but the new trend is for collegiate writers to elicit a call for action.
"I know trends come and go but I'd say at MCC we are seeing an influx of students who want to write," Dickinson said. "Right now I have three classes that are filled to capacity and these students are enthused and engaged."
For a generation of students raised in the Internet age and exposed to a glut of social media white noise, it's sometimes difficult for a single voice to be heard.
"The common thread I see is that these students love current modern topics because it allows them to write about what's happening in their own lives and through global issues they are able to begin telling their life story," she said. "They want their voices to be heard and many are finding that writing is the way for that to happen."