All of these texts are designed to make money, which often means compromising on what we know to be the best thinking in our discipline. After all, there are many people teaching writing with little to no preparation for doing so, people who aren't aware of our discipline's theoretical and pedagogical positions, people who don't have the kind of time and support (or sometimes inclination) to become students of our discipline. There are more of them than there are of us, at least for now. But there are some pretty good textbooks out there, too, textbooks which try to reflect current thinking in our field, and, in some cases, you'll see that the textbook industry is coming up with ever-more- customizable options so that teachers can bring their own eclectic approaches to their students in a single "package."
As future teachers of first-year composition and rhetoric courses, you won't be able to avoid being inundated with review copies of textbooks. On the one hand, this is a good thing. All teachers want to find resources for themselves and for their students. The problem is that most of these textbooks are huge, and with some exceptions, they often look alike and function in similar ways. They're all talking about writing, right? Who has time to look at all of them closely, to pay attention to what might be significant differences? Well, few do, but fortunately for us, I'm going to give you some time and encouragement to do just that.
I want you to leave this class as a discriminating textbook reviewer. I want you to be able to determine the theoretical position of a textbook in light of the important ideas and concepts we've been discussing in our class, and I want you to know how to read these books (quickly, but carefully) in order to make informed decisions about whether and how they support your goals and philosophy for teaching writing to college freshmen. To practice doing this and to provide each of us with an archive of good information about a lot of textbooks, I'm going to ask each of you to carefully study a textbook of your choosing and come up with a one page review handout (front and back if necessary) which you'll share with one another on March 23.
the nitty gritty | questions for inquiry
Here's what I'd like you to read for:
- What is the purpose of first-year writing according to this book's philosophy? What does the textbook author hope the students get from the book? To find this type of information, look at the preface and any other introductory materials. Often, books will have a preface for the teacher as well as one for the students. You might also find this type of information in the first major chapter of the book, but you'll get a sense of the overall philosophy as you look at what you learn from the questions that follow here.
- What are the important concepts in this book? How are things like audience, argument, rhetorical situation, purpose, genre, etc. addressed? Here, you'll want to look at the bolded words, how much space is given to specific topics. How many pages, for instance, are devoted to things like grammar and works cited pages, etc.?
- How is the book arranged? Is it thematic? If so, what are the themes? Is it arranged by types of writing? Is the order important? If so, why?
- How does the book ask students to learn? Look through the chapters, taking note of the activities there. Are there exercises? Are there models of professional and student texts that students are supposed to emulate or analyze in particular ways? Are students encouraged to do collaborative work, moved through a series of prewriting activities, etc.?
- Is writing privileged over reading or vice versa? How can you tell?
- What types of writing are students asked to do? What genres are students asked to write in? For whom are the students writing, or is that left to them to decide? Does the text give specific writing assignments for major projects, or is that left to the teacher?
- How does the book address reading? What types of texts are included for students to read––visual texts, nonfiction, fiction/poetry, texts from multiple disciplines, etc.? Are the readings simple and short or more complex and long? What types of reading strategies does the text teach?
- How could the textbook be used? Is it a good supplemental text, or is it an "everything in one place" book? Are there any online components?
- How much does the book cost? Is it worth it?
the nitty gritty | the handout
In a one page handout (front and back, if necessary), I want you to cover each of the following things (and probably in this order for ease of comparing the books once you have 20 handouts). You should feel free to make it work for you and your book as needed, though. I don't want to stifle your ability to put your own stamp on it if you want to!
- Give the full publication info for your book (title, author, publisher, copyright date, edition #, etc.) and its cost.
- Give a brief description of the book's philosophy.
- Give an overview of the book's contents. Please don't just re-type the table of contents; this is a quick and dirty of what's in the book.
- Then, divide your handout into sections based on the inquiry questions above (the ones you haven't already responded to obviously!). Be as concise as you can; remember this isn't an essay, but a quick and dirty guide to one textbook.
- Finally, write a relatively brief conclusion (a paragraph) in which you evaluate the book's worthiness for students and teachers of first-year composition and rhetoric.
what to turn in
On Wednesday, March 23, you'll need to bring 16 copies of your handout to class. Leave one with me along with a copy of your book, and we'll talk informally as a class about what each of you found.
