Scribd
Upload
95 views2 pages

Clinnin Administrative Statement

Kaitlin Clinnin practices contextually-responsive administration as the Graduate Writing Program Administrator at Ohio State University. She views assessment, curriculum development, and professional learning through this lens. For assessment, she engages stakeholders to discuss expectations and goals, identifying areas for improvement. In curriculum, she standardizes expectations and provides resources based on assessment findings. For professional learning, she offers workshops addressing instructor needs and partners to create an online repository supporting continued learning. Her goal is to create a culture where teaching and writing are valued by understanding and responding to the program's specific context.

Uploaded by

kmclinnin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
95 views2 pages

Clinnin Administrative Statement

Kaitlin Clinnin practices contextually-responsive administration as the Graduate Writing Program Administrator at Ohio State University. She views assessment, curriculum development, and professional learning through this lens. For assessment, she engages stakeholders to discuss expectations and goals, identifying areas for improvement. In curriculum, she standardizes expectations and provides resources based on assessment findings. For professional learning, she offers workshops addressing instructor needs and partners to create an online repository supporting continued learning. Her goal is to create a culture where teaching and writing are valued by understanding and responding to the program's specific context.

Uploaded by

kmclinnin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Administrative Statement

Kaitlin M. Clinnin
clinnin.1@osu.edu

My experience as the Graduate Writing Program Administrator in the Ohio State Universitys Second
Year Writing Program has shaped how I practice effective administration and leadership in a writing
program. I view the writing program as a space to create a culture of teaching writing in the institution.
I accomplish this by practicing culturally-responsive administration to create small and large-scale
change intended to improve teaching and student learning.
As a writing program administrator, my first responsibility is to understand the writing program context,
including its institutional histories, structures, practices, members, and goals, and then work within this
context to move the program forward. I refer to this practice as contextually-responsive administration.
Building on Geneva Gays work on culturally responsive teaching in K-12 education, I understand
contextually-responsive administration as working within a specific institutional and programmatic
context while continually striving to make the writing program and institution more effective for
students and staff. Contextually-responsive administration influences my approach to writing program
administration work such as assessment, program development, and professional learning.
I practice contextually-responsive administration by beginning with assessment. Although assessment
is often understood as an end point, the final measurement of student learning or teacher
performance, I view assessment as a starting point to reflect on the programs current state and then
to strategize for future growth. Assessment is also a way to create a culture of teaching writing in a
writing program by engaging program stakeholders in discussions about current curricular and
pedagogical practices and their effectiveness for student learning about writing. In my own WPA
experience, I worked with program stakeholders across multiple Ohio State regional campuses to
develop the first program-wide assessment of the general education learning outcomes associated
with the second-level writing course. As the group collaboratively developed the assessment
instruments and protocols, we discussed what constituted second-year writing, our expectations for
student writing in the course across campuses, and local contexts that benefited or hindered instructor
or student success in meeting these expectations. These conversations proved generative to
understanding what the second-year writing program was and was not doing across the institution
system and allowed us to collaboratively clarify learning outcomes and programmatic goals, all before
we had even assessed a single piece of student work. The discussions and eventual assessment
findings demonstrated a need to create a stronger culture of teaching writing by standardizing the
course curriculum and offering continuing professional development for instructors.
My understanding of contextually-responsive administration also impacts my approach to curriculum
development. Using assessment findings, I identify the curricular components that are working and
those that require revision to increase student learning and success. For example, the second-year
writing program assessment showed the oral communication learning outcome was not consistently
met across all course sections. I then undertook the process of standardizing expectations for the oral
communication learning outcome, including providing model assignment prompts to instructors and
focusing on the outcome in professional workshops to ensure that all instructors were creating
opportunities for their students to meet the outcome. Assessment data is valuable, yet such data is
only one available information source about a writing program. I supplement assessment findings with
qualitative feedback from students. I consider student needs and how the writing program structure
enables students to meet learning outcomes. For example, students at my institution were having
difficulty succeeding in the writing class in part due to heavy course loads, personal obligations like
full-time jobs, and expensive course materials. I developed a hybrid-version of the second-level
writing course that used only open-source materials to keep costs low for students. The hybrid
delivery allowed students to complete course work on their own schedule while also meeting the
same program expectations for learning outcomes. Curriculum development creates a culture of
teaching and writing that sets instructors and students up for educational success.
A key role of the writing program administrator is facilitating professional learning for all program
instructors. I use the term professional learning rather than professional development or training to
www.kaitlinclinnin.org

Administrative Statement

Kaitlin M. Clinnin
clinnin.1@osu.edu

signify that learning to teach writing is an ongoing process that happens across many locations, not
just in formal workshops. Professional learning in contextually-responsive administration means that I
pay attention to the professional and personal needs of program staff. For example, I co-facilitated a
one-day teaching workshop that prepared graduate students to teach in the second-level writing
program. The workshop feedback suggested that new instructors were still unclear about meeting
program learning outcomes, their course structure, and daily activities. Based on this feedback, I
redesigned the workshop to present an integrated approach to teaching writing, research, and
diversity by focusing on aspects of big teaching (learning outcomes, course content, assignment
sequences) and small teaching (scaffolding content, in-class activities). In addition to the teaching
workshop, I also offered targeted professional learning opportunities, the topics of which I determined
by surveying new, current, and past instructors about their professional learning needs. Based on the
survey, I facilitated a workshop on incorporating mid-term student evaluations and responding to
student feedback. However, the optional workshops were not well attended because instructors time
was filled with professional responsibilities. Seeing a need to offer continued professional learning
resources that instructors could use on their own schedule, I partnered other administrators from Ohio
State and two other institutions to develop an online repository for pedagogical instruction materials
on topics including Teaching English Language Learners, Teaching Advanced Writing, and Teaching
Professional Writing. This in-progress project received a $5,000 grant from Ohio States University
Center for the Advancement of Teaching. The online repository will contribute to the culture of
teaching writing in the writing program by establishing the expectation that effective teaching in any
course context requires continued learning and providing the necessary resources to support
continuing pedagogical education for all program instructors.
As a writing program administrator, my primary goal is to create a program environment where
teaching, writing, and teaching writing is valued and supported. My commitment to contextuallyresponsive administration impacts how I approach typical writing program work such as assessment,
curriculum development, and professional learning. As a contextually-responsive administrator, I
collaborate with program stakeholders to reflect on the current programs purpose and practices,
strategize small and large-scale changes to meet stakeholder needs, and ultimately create a positive
environment for teaching and writing in the writing program and institution.

www.kaitlinclinnin.org

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy