Faculty Spotlight
Chuck Kenerley’s students explore the power of writing.
Twenty years at Texas A&M have turned Chuck Kenerley, Professor of Plant Pathology, into something he never expected to be: a teacher of writing.
Professor Chuck Kenerley of the Department of Plant Pathology.
Professor Chuck Kenerley of the Department of Plant Pathology has become a strong advocate for increasing the amount of writing expected of undergraduates. He encourages his students to keep their readers in mind and revise their work.
The reason is simple.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re in bioremediation, biochemistry, or Latin,” says Kenerley, “the ability to express yourself well in a written format carries tremendous weight.”
That ability is something Kenerley feels is crucial to his students’ success, which is why he’s made writing assignments an integral part of his undergraduate course in Microbial Processes in Bioremediation. In fact, he’s now such a proponent for integrating writing into the undergraduate curriculum that he serves on the university’s W Course Advisory Committee, which reviews proposals for new writing-intensive courses.
Kenerley wasn’t always a writing advocate. For years he required students to do little, if any, writing. But as he began teaching more undergraduates, he realized that most were, at that time, receiving almost no writing instruction in their field.
“I felt the need to do something to enhance writing,” Kenerley remembers, “to have them write in their own discipline.” But how? After all, he averages 50 students in a class and has no teaching assistants to help with grading. But talking with colleagues and participating in programs at the Center for Teaching Excellence convinced Kenerley that it could be done.
One important step was developing a grading rubric, a one-page sheet outlining his expectations for each assignment. The rubric allows him to move more quickly through papers, staying focused on key elements of the assignment. Of course, it also lets his students know precisely what’s expected of them.
He also incorporates peer review sessions into the drafting process, so students can evaluate each other’s work. That helps take some of the burden off Kenerley, since his comments aren’t the only ones his students receive.
If his students find the writing difficult, Kenerley can sympathize. He, too, struggles with writing, noting that it wasn’t until graduate school, when he met two fellow scientists he terms “gifted writers,” that he began to look critically at his own written work. These days his writing process closely mirrors what he asks of students: he works through multiple drafts and shares his efforts with colleagues, asking for their advice and insight.
He’s also made a conscious effort to incorporate more real-world situations into his classroom assignments, with good reason. Each semester, Kenerley brings in speakers from the industry to talk to his classes; invariably they tell students that—as Kenerley puts it—they’ll “be involved in writing the second week on the job—if not the first.” These speakers are, of course, also potential future employers for his students.
“They all look for writing skills,” notes Kenerley, “every single one of them.”
That’s why for Chuck Kenerley it’s no longer enough to give his students a body of scientific knowledge; he must also teach students how to share that knowledge with others.
