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Who Take Comm-B Courses?

CommB students are diverse

While the Comm–A and Comm–B requirements appear to establish a single, linear sequence of courses, there are actually multiple ways in which students can arrive at Comm–B. What this means for you is that there is no such thing as an “average” Comm–B student!

 
Your students might have:
  • Passed out of the Comm-A requirement through standardized testing
  • Taken First Year Composition (writing focus) as their Comm-A course
  • Taken Intro to Speech Composition (speaking focus) as their Comm-A course
  • Taken a Life Sciences Communication or Engineering course as their Comm-A course
  • Fulfilled their Comm-A requirement at another UW school, a community college, or online
  • Struggled in their Comm-A course
  • Aced their Comm-A course
  • Been one of 30 students in their Comm-A course with a TA teaching 4 sections
  • Been one of 20 students in their Comm-A course with a TA teaching 1 class

Get to know your students

Because students’ writing experiences vary widely, you should consider asking them to share some of those experiences with you and/or with each other. Or, more generally, you might ask them to share about their history with communication and writing classes in college and high school. You can do this as part of a first-week discussion, a Discussion Board post in Canvas or in a private message to you. 

Keep in mind, too, that some students may have had extensive practice writing in your course’s disciplinary context, while some may not. Approach this information as an opportunity to get to know your students better so you can help them succeed in your class.