English 6325: Studies in Composition Techniques
Spring 2011: The End(s) of Teaching Writing
Dr. Jonikka Charlton
Office: COAS 270b
COAS Office Hours: M 12:00pm-1:00pm; W 12:30pm-1:00pm and 2:30pm-4:00pm; or by appointment
Office Phone: 665-8779
Cell: 878-8786
e-mail: jcharlton@utpa.edu
all course materials available through our course blog at http://e6325.blogspot.com
Student Learning Outcomes for English
SLO 1: Understanding and contribute to the ongoing conversation about issues, current theories, and discursive formations within the field of literature though research, writing, teaching, and professional development.
SLO 2: Produce critical interpretations and analysis of literary texts with attention to language and literacy.
SLO 3: Be familiar with literary canon, genres, and history of literature, as well as with interdisciplinary approaches to study of literature.
SLO4: Be able to use discipline-appropriate technology applications (such as library databases, computer applications, Internet research, non-print media, multi-media applications, desktop publishing, etc.) in preparation and presentation of course projects.
Course Description
The official course description of English 6325 “Studies in Composition Techniques” is this: “Advanced study of composition theory and techniques and methods of teaching composition, with special emphasis on teaching English composition to college freshman. Required of all English teaching assistants. May be repeated for credit when the topic varies.” Now, that’s not very useful; in fact, it’s a pretty poor piece of writing if its purpose is to let you know what this class is all about. Hopefully, I can do better. This is a really important class for anyone who teaches first-year writing; rhetoric and composition is its own discipline with its own theories and pedagogies, and as teachers of writing, it’s our responsibility to learn as much as we can about the discipline we’re teaching. For some of you, this class may be the only introduction to composition theory and pedagogy you’ll ever have; for others, it’ll be a piece of a larger education in rhetoric, composition, and literacy studies. But, for all of us, it’ll be a chance to think about why and how we write, and more importantly, how we can design first-year writing classes that will have a positive, long-lasting impact on our students’ personal and professional lives.
The first-year writing course is the only course that’s required at virtually every institution of higher learning. But, as you’ll learn, it’s also a course that’s called on to do everything under the sun––promote critical thinking, teach correct “grammar,” help students learn how to take essay tests and write papers in their other classes, prepare them for “real world” writing, advocate use of writing for social critique and change, etc. The list could go on. And because that list could go on, I’d like for us to spend our time together thinking about the best and most appropriate purposes this course can and should serve—for students, for the university, and, ultimately, for the communities we live in. You could take this course over and over again, we could read different things each time, and there’d still be more to learn. That’s what’s cool about it.
To be a good writing teacher, you need to be able to articulate what you value. Through our course readings, projects, and discussions, each of you will have a chance to work toward that goal. You’ll design a syllabus and individual writing projects and daily activities that will help your students become aware of their choices as writers and more confident in their abilities to understand the myriad of writing situations they’ll face in their lives, both in and out of school. You’ll learn how to respond productively to your students’ writing, so they’re able to work towards their own purposes and use their writing as a way to make a difference. You’ll also start thinking about how to connect your own values with larger institutional goals and missions, and you’ll learn how important it is to adapt your strategies, your theories, and your pedagogy with each new class.
To these ends, I have designed our course around a set of questions about writing and the teaching of it at the first-year level (see bulleted list below). Over the course of the semester, you should begin to formulate answers to these questions, relying both on what you learn from the readings this semester and what you know about writing from your own experiences.
- Why do we write? (SLO 1)
- What do we know about writing and how it works? (SLO 1, 4)
- What roles can and do first-year writing classes serve (for the individual, the program, the larger institution, and the larger community)? (SLO 1)
- What do we value as writing teachers, and how can we create a course that honors those values? For instance, how can we design first-year writing classes to help students see writing as purposeful and meaningful? How can we help them achieve their own purposes in writing while also achieving our own pedagogical goals? (SLO 1, 4)
- What are useful and effective strategies for assessing and responding to student writing? Which strategies will work for you given your own context? (SLO 1, 4)
These questions, of course, are overlapping and inter-related, but they’re questions every good writing teacher should ask him/herself on a recurring basis. The best teachers are reflective teachers, thinking always about how the smaller things (a daily activity, a writing project) fit into the larger goals of the class and the institution. Through your work this semester, you’ll each be given an opportunity to construct your own writing theories and pedagogy in relation to your own personal and professional goals, and you’ll be able to do that with others who are thinking about the same things. When you’re teaching, it’s easy to get isolated and in a rut. You end up doing what you’ve always done or just copying what your own teachers did. Teaching writing isn’t that easy, or at least it shouldn’t be. But it can be exciting. As writing teachers at the first-year level, you’ll be in a position to shape students’ ideas about writing for the better. You can support them in their work, showing them that their ideas matter, that what they say can and should have an effect in the world. I can’t think of too many things more worthwhile than that.
So, if all that wasn’t enough, here’s another bulleted list of goals I have for us. Through your work in this class, you should begin doing the following things:
- Develop and build confidence in your abilities to create, interpret, and evaluate texts in all types of media (SLO 1, 2, 3, 4).
- Develop knowledge and inspire new ideas through writing (SLO 1, 3).
- Develop an understanding of the importance of getting feedback from others when composing (SLO 1, 2, 3, 4).
- Develop habits for thoughtful and effective questioning (SLO 1, 2, 3).
- Develop reading strategies for analyzing texts (your peers’ compositions as well as the readings you’ll be working with) (SLO 1, 2, 3).
- Learn how to creatively take risks in research, writing, and teaching (SLO 1, 3, 4).
- Begin developing a professional identity (SLO 2, 4)
- Become familiar with appropriate style guidelines for class projects (SLO 1, 2, 3, 4).
Required Texts
There are no required textbooks. There are lots and lots of good books on the teaching of writing out there, and I hope that, in time, you’ll make your way around to reading as many of them as you can. But, for the purposes of our class, I’ll be asking you to read a bunch of articles which I’ll either give you access to through our course blog (the readings will actually be housed on a Google Docs site) or through academic databases or another online venue. All you have to do is download and print the readings for each week.
Grades
Weeklies (30%)
Each week, you will be responsible for writing 1 single-spaced page about the reading for the week (1 page total for all the reading, not 1 page per text) and emailing it to me by the start of class time. The first half of the page will be devoted to summary of what you read. Here, you will explain what the writer is saying––What’s the main argument?, What are the key questions and issues raised in the text(s)?, etc. In the second half of the page, I’d like you to respond to what you’ve read. What interests you most about what you read? What irritated or is nagging at you? How does a particular idea connect to other things you’ve read or experienced? What might be the practical applications or the implications of putting what you’ve read into practice? You should document any ideas you refer to (either through direct quote or paraphrase), but you don’t need a works cited for the sources unless you refer to something we haven’t read in class.
Researched Project (25%)
Since this course can only cover so much and, inevitably, we won’t be able to address all of your questions and concerns, I want to give the opportunity to pursue at least one of your questions independently (or in a small group). To that end, you will be devising a research question you’d like to know more about, you’ll do some independent reading and research relevant to that question, and then, you will create a “document” for a particular audience of your choosing. You will have an opportunity to get feedback on this project and to revise it after I’ve given an initial grade. More specifics to come in a separate write-up for this assignment.
Textbook Review (10%)
Most people use a textbook of some sort when they teach first-year writing, and the publishing industry makes millions because of it. There are literally hundreds of textbooks out there, and because so few teachers of writing were actually educated to do so, they rely heavily on these textbooks to provide a framework for what and how to teach writing. Some of these textbooks are quite bad, not reflecting at all what people in our discipline know to be best practices. Some of them are much better, attempting to integrate more recent ideas about how language works and how we ought to help students learn how to use language to make meaning. I want you to be able to tell the difference, to know how to choose a textbook wisely. To that end, I'll bring a bunch of textbooks to class and ask you to choose one to review. I'll give you a more detailed assignment later, but generally speaking, I'll ask you to examine your book's approach to several key components of teaching writing––how it deals with audience, for instance, and revision, whether it has readings in it and what kind, whether it includes student examples to work with, etc. You'll create a review handout which you'll share with your classmates, so you'll all leave the semester with a notebook of information you can use to make choices about textbooks when you're ready. Though I'll be happy to talk with you about your book and your handout before it's due, this project won't be revisable.
Teaching Portfolio (35%)
Potentially, the most exciting project for the class is the creation of a teaching portfolio. I consider this project to be the culmination of everything you’ve learned in the class and your opportunity to try your hand at creating a first-year writing class of your own. It’ll include a teaching philosophy statement, a full syllabus and calendar for your class, guidelines for the writing projects (assignment sheets), and a reflective cover essay in which you explain the theoretical rationale for your choices. I’ll give you more specifics on this project later on in the semester, and we’ll spend lots of time connecting our course work to this project. You’ll be able to get feedback from both me and your classmates, but the project itself won’t be revisable once I give it a grade.
Attendance, Tardiness, & Drop by Instructor Policy
Here’s the official university policy on attendance: “The student is expected to attend all classes and laboratory sessions. It is the responsibility of the student to inform each instructor of absences. When, however, in the judgment of the instructor, a student has been absent to such a degree as to impair his or her status relative to credit for the course, the instructor may drop the student from the class with a grade of ‘DP’ or ‘DF’” (HOP 5.2.4).
It’s unreasonable to expect that nothing will ever come up to make you late or miss class; most of us have families and jobs and car trouble, etc. However, it is important that you attend class on a regular basis and that you get here on time, especially because this is a graduate class which meets only once a week. If you miss one class day, you’ve missed a lot which can’t be made up. If you miss class more than twice, you should consider dropping the course since it will be hard to catch up. If you are habitually late, it’s going to affect your group’s ability to do its work, so please be respectful of each other’s time. I will not drop you without talking to you first, and if you foresee a problem at any time, just come talk to or email me.
Late Work
I will only accept 1 assignment late. You will have one week from the original due date to turn it in (there will be no penalties for doing so).
Materials in Class
You will always need a copy of what we’re reading that week with you in class.
Checking the Calendar
You will be responsible for checking the calendar on the course blog each week for updates. If you’re ever confused about what you’re supposed to do, please ask in class or e-mail me (before the day in question).
Accommodating Students with Disabilities
If you have a documented disability that will make it difficult for you to carry out the work as we have outlined and/or you need special accommodations/assistance because of the disability, please contact immediately the Disability Services Office (DSO), University Center Rm. 322. Appropriate arrangements and accommodations can be made. Verification of disability and processing for special services, such as note takers, extended time, separate accommodations for testing, is required and will be determined by DSO. Consult DSO Coordinator at (956) 316- 7005.
Plagiarism and Academic Integrity Statement (Department Approved)
Dishonest acts, such as plagiarism (using words or a specific author’s ideas from another source without acknowledging the source) or collusion (having other people write parts of your paper for you), may result in an “F” on the assignment in question and may lead to a disciplinary hearing conducted through the office of the Dean of Students, which could result in suspension or expulsion from UTPA (this policy is consistent with the Student Conduct Code printed in the UTPA Student Guide). If you have questions about whether your use of other sources (such as books, websites, friends, writing center tutors) is fair or not, please ask before turning in the work that you have a question about. If you have questions about how to use source material fairly and appropriately (documenting, paraphrasing, using direct quotations, etc.) from print or internet sources, be sure to ask me or consult a reference book (such as the MLA Handbook). I assume that at the graduate level you understand how to document properly (parenthetical documentation for all quoted or paraphrased material) and how to put together a correct works cited page, but if you do not, let me know immediately, and I will be happy to help you.
Calendar available on the blog and will be updated each week.
