Framing/Strategies for Action

Monday, Dec. 12th, 1-3 pm (South Hall 2509)

Our next meeting will involve us in thinking about our core values, the frames that surround those, and how we might develop action plans from those values and frames to speak to particular audiences. This will give us a good foundation on which to proceed in future to production work (including, to start with, contributing to the 4Humanities initiative called “Humanities, Plain & Simple”).

Please prepare for our meeting 3 in three ways:

1. Review the notes of our discussion at the previous Meeting 2 (especially the notes summarizing our collective conversation, beginning on p. 2). Bring to our next meeting the core words/ideas from those notes that you feel are useful for reframing the humanities.
2. As we agreed, please contribute to (or at least read) our new collective blog post on “ideas for framing the humanities.” Rather than have everyone bombard our listserv with contributions and comments (the original plan), we have set up a collective blog post for this purpose within our group’s section of the 4Humanities web site. The post is titled “Ideas for Framing the Humanities – New Ways to Name, Describe, and Position the Humanities for Public Impact.” (To edit this post, login to the 4Humanities site as the 4Humanities@UCSB collective user. The password will be sent to you on our private 4Humanities@UCSB listserv.)
3. Read some of the below optional readings. The most important ones are flagged with asterisks. Note that while the list seems long, most documents below are between 3-6 pages. All readings are available in our group’s Private Library.

As you read, think about the following questions in preparation for discussion:

• What are our core values – the ones that are absolutely core to our enterprise?
• What words and/or ideas are connected to those – and what words/ideas aren’t?
• Who are possible audiences/stakeholders we might want to connect with/affect?
• What are their interests?
• What are the intersections between their interests and our values?
• How might we make those connections?

We’ll work with these discussions in small groups for part of our next meeting.

All readings are available in our group’s Private Library, including PDF’s of materials listed below without links to online locations.

1) Theoretical/Practical readings (all optional) — These readings contain some of the theory and practice that will underscore this 4Humanities meeting. If you skim only one thing, Linda recommends “Changing Conversations about Writing and Writers.”

• ***Adler-Kassner, Linda. “Changing Conversations about Writing and Writers.” The Activist WPA, 85-127. Logan: USUP, 2008. (Full book online) (pp. 85-127 in 4Humanities@UCSB private library)
• ***—. “Taking Action to Change Stories.” The Activist WPA, 128-163. Logan: USUP, 2008. (Full book online) (pp. 128-63 in 4Humanities@UCSB private library)
• ***Adler-Kassner, Linda and Peggy O’Neill. “Framing (and) American Education.” Reframing Writing Assessment to Improve Teaching and Learning, 13-39. Logan, Utah State UP, 2010.

2) Resources for reframing education – These readings focus on education (generally K-12 education) as a whole. However, they are very oriented toward developing messages about education. Additionally, they do an excellent job identifying the larger frames that surround discussions about education P-16. This means that while they do not directly address the humanities per se, they do suggest the broader frames in which any discussions about the humanities (at whatever level) occur. [Most of these readings are tools developed by The Frameworks Institute for reframing education (K-12). One document comes from the SPIN (Strategic Press Information Network) Project; please note the caveats associated with that document (which will guide the focus for reading).]

• ***Resources from The Frameworks Institute Education Reform Toolkit
  • “Education Toolkit: Talking Points.” The FrameWorks Institute, 2010.
  • “Education Reform Toolkit: Frequently Asked Questions.” The FrameWorks Institute, 2010.
  • “You Say/They Think: Handling competing frames.” The FrameWorks Institute, 2010.
• ***”Communication Strategies.” National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA), 2011.
• ***”Strategic Communication Planning.” The SPIN Project, 2005.

Optional additional resources for reframing:

• Beginner’s Guide to Strategic Frame Analysis.The FrameWorks Institute, 2009.

3) Documents intended to reframe educational issues (all optional) – These are position papers, research reports, policy statements, and other materials that have been developed as a result of reframing initiatives in composition/writing and English Language Arts. Many are focused on K-12 learning.

• ***”Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing.” Council of Writing Program Administrators, National Council of Teachers of English, National Writing Project, 2011. Additional resources: http://wpacouncil.org/framework
• “NCTE-CWPA White Paper on Writing Assessment in Colleges and Universities.” Council of Writing Program Administrators.
• “Principles for Learning: A Foundation for Transforming K-12 Education.” Connected Literacies Coalition, 2010.

4) The Dominant Frame – These are documents (and links to additional materials) that illustrate the dominant frame surrounding discussions about education. While they are primarily focused on K-12, the frame here also surrounds and extends to postsecondary education/discussions about the humanities.

• “Case for Action.” Achieve, Inc., 2011.
• “What is College and Career Ready?” Achieve, Inc., 2011.

If you’d like to see the current manifestation of this agenda (optional):

• Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2011.
• Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of College and Career (PARCC). Achieve, Inc., 2011.
• PARCC Content Frameworks. Achieve, Inc., 2011.