Several West Virginia University English professors are entering military training. That is, training to teach those in the military.

Starting in the fall 2014 semester, WVU will offer veteran-friendly sections of English 101 and 102, introductory classes. These courses, though open to all students, will be taught by instructors who have undergone an extra five hours of training to become more aware of veteran students’ needs.

The training consists of reviewing current research on the subject, talking with veteran students and working as a team to reflect on what they have learned.

“These classes provide a broad impact: They are general education curriculum courses, so everybody has to take them, generally at least one in their first year,” said Tom Sura, coordinator of undergraduate writing in the Department of English. “Writing can be applied to all facets of life, so English is a good course for veterans to get their feet wet.”

English composition serves as the educational foundation on which all college courses rest, said Jerry McCarthy, director of Veterans Affairs at WVU. Regardless of what major students pursue, they must be able to communicate well. Because of this, English is one of the first subjects to specialize in veteran accommodation, alongside select courses in public speaking, first year seminar, and service and learning, though there are hopes to expand to more subjects in the coming years.

In addition, they are also some of the more intimate classes available. With a small classroom size, capped at about 22 students, the teachers have more of an opportunity for one-on-one education and relationship development with their students.

While the courses are veteran-friendly, they aren’t veteran specific, meaning any student can sign up and learn the same material as they would in every other section.

What sets these classes apart is their focus on individual connections with students. By aiming to design veteran-accessible assignments – allowing students to write about their military experiences without forcing them to – the classes will present opportunities to open up a dialogue between students.

Yvonne Hammond, an English teacher for eight years, is excited for the opportunity to lead a section of the course. She’ll be instructing English 102 in the fall, bringing her past work with veterans along with her.

“I have been involved with the military for over 13 years,” Hammond said. “My brother is a career Army officer, and I’ve worked with soldiers on base with their counseling statements and that sort of thing. It made me realize that soldiers often struggle with basic English – they didn’t like it or didn’t get a good education. They have a really different relationship with language.”

Hammond has already completed the five hours of extra training required of the veteran-friendly instructors, part of which included sitting down with a few veteran students for their take on the situation. According to her, it was eye opening to be reminded that not every student comes to WVU at age 18, straight from high school.

One of the students involved in the discussion had been in the military for 10 years before returning to school. During the discussion panel, she mentioned an experience in her English 101 course that highlighted that fact.

“She had been a military intelligence analyst overseas and was given the assignment to analyze a popular music video,” Sura said. “The assignment just wasn’t very accessible to her.”

The student interactions had an effect on Clint Wilson as well, who will also be teaching English 102. He said the insights into the anxieties veteran students bring to the classroom will allow the instructors to assuage those fears and provide a more positive experience for their education, not just in English courses, but across the curriculum.

“My goal would be that veterans that do come to WVU and do take my class, they’ll come out of it feeling like it was kind of a building block of education, and that when they approach whatever they’re doing, whether it’s sociology or engineering or pre-law, that they feel like that was a segue into college level education,” Wilson said.

Wilson believes that can happen at WVU, because of the dedication of the staff and the constant seeking of improvement.

“I’m really impressed that at WVU they write and assess a curriculum every year,” he said. “I think it’s amazing that with limited resources and a smaller staff that every year they’re looking at the textbooks and re-writing, reflecting, assessing. We have a really unique opportunity to design a curriculum and coursework that will be able to tailor to projects like this one. WVU has a really unique opportunity to break some ground on this.”

-WVU-

ml/06/25/14

CONTACT: Jerry McCarthy, WVU Veterans Affairs
304.293.8262, Jerry.McCarthy@mail.wvu.edu

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