A course memo:
There are some areas that need some further developing

Hello,

I don't want to sound like I have all the answers, but I believe that we should start implementing an IRW English curriculum. I have been inspired by recent readings that suggest that our "traditional" approach may not be as effective as we once thought.

My primary inspiration was from Kathleen McCormick. She outlines a study she took part in that was meant to analyze student responses to writing assignments. Students were given an intentionally vague writing assignment and asked to respond. She found that the overall student response made it very difficult to neatly categorize them into groups. Most students did not just "summarize," "respond freely to," or "interpret" the text. Most of their essays were hybridizations; most responded with a "review and comment" paper in which students summarized the reading and then offered their opinion or observations.

She did find, however, that students often struggled with "integrating one's own ideas and knowledge into the written conversation with one's sources" and "interpreting source texts for a purpose of one's own". I think this proves that there is a link between reading and writing that we are currently missing. Students can be misunderstanding "the nature of writing by confusing the thinking process with the written product." They view writing "as a procedure whereby the writer puts closure on ideas rather than explores and develops new ones."

McCormick also brought up some assumptions that typically guide or influence student writing:

Their need for closure - Students often feel that they must come to an explicit conclusion regarding a particular issue. They strive to achieve closure through arguing against the alternatives

Their need to be objective - Some students struggle because they are torn between a desire to remain "objective" while developing their own ideas. 

Their avoidance of contradiction - Most students did not mention that contradictions existed in their text and only a small percentage briefly acknowledged them.

San Francisco State has a IRW program that is a year long. By maintaining the same group of students for two semesters, it givers teachers more time to diagnose and address the needs of their students. Also, by keeping the same group of students together, it helps create a sense of community and encourages students to communicate and cooperate. Students in such an encouraging and welcoming environment are likely to learn and retain more.

This idea of IRW isn't brand new; it certainly is not the first time that somebody has tried to argue that reading and writing are inextricably intertwined. It's just that the social and educational contexts are different.