Voices from the Early College Classroom: Building a Foundation for Students to Grow

Jonathan Boyar is entering his sixth year of teaching and his fourth year at Burncoat High School (BHS) in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he teaches English Language Arts IV (Senior English), English 101 and English 102 through the Early College Worcester program. This will be his third year teaching English 101 and 102 through the Early College High School program at BHS in partnership with Quinsigamond Community College.

Jonathan describes teaching Early College in the midst of a high school day as a form of educator “code switching.” In his Early College courses, he talks to his students as college students, and he treats them like college students. They are expected to be more independent, to self-advocate, to engage with the learning management system used at the college (Blackboard) and complete the work without regular reminders. The pace is much quicker and students have to adapt and “rise to the occasion” in order to thrive academically. He notes that students are expected to “operate at a higher level”, and the “collective culture in his classroom is ‘we can all do this.’”

When asked what he enjoys most about teaching Early College students, Jonathan describes their growth – holistically and academically – “seeing their writing improve, and especially for them to recognize their improvements – but also just their overall maturity, where I notice the complexity of what they do. Their conversation shifts and their curiosity shifts. Especially in Comp II there’s kind of this free range for them to do their research. They say to me, ‘I didn’t realize I could do that’ and it’s so awesome to see.’”

You can read more about Jonathan here.

Jen joined Westfield State University (WSU) in 2005 and teaches all levels of composition and upper-division writing courses, including Queer Lit and Theory. She has taught composition for 20 years, and in 2018, she began teaching a co-taught, year-long stretch Composition 101 class at Holyoke High School.

What Jen enjoys most is the moment when students “catch it.” She goes on, “I don’t teach a subject. They bring the material. We start with personal stories. When we move on to a research project, they pick the subject. That’s where things start to click in – seeing them realize they have autonomy, they can make a difference. They haven’t had that, and they need it. No matter what they do next, they’re going to use writing.”

Jen also appreciates how Early College requires a new way of working across systems. She wishes she could have more professional development with her co-teacher, in order to co-create the new pedagogy that’s needed for Early College. “We should get out of our comfort zones. The traditional way of doing things probably isn’t going to continue and we need to think a little differently about it.”

You can read more about Jennifer here.