Author: admin

Reading

WIT: Chapters 8 & 9 – “Framing Arguments” & “Constructing Arguments”

Write/ Perform

Draft of expository syllabus. Bring hardcopy to class.

In Class

Class leadership

• Jonathan – Praxis – WIT – Summary
• Kayla – Praxis – EI – Chapter 13 (Sequencing)
• Hannah – Praxis – WIT – Analysis
• Joe – Pedagogy – Bizup

Syllabus workshop

• Now that you’ve taken a crack at writing a syllabus, you’ve likely experienced a “writing problem” or two that you’ve had to work through. What specific writerly problems go hand-in-hand with developing a syllabus and how do you see the writer of the syllabus you reviewed as having solved them (or having avoided them)?
• Identify one assignment you think you could steal from this syllabus. How would it fit into your semester?
• Identify document-design feature of the syllabus that helps organize the information in an accessible way.
• Identify one policy you think is particularly well thought out.

Reading

• Bizup, J. (2008). BEAM: A Rhetorical Vocabulary for Teaching Research-Based Writing. Rhetoric Review, 27(1), 72–86. (reserves link)
• Strategies: “Honors Course” (pp.114-132) (annotated syllabus) & “Sequencing” (p. 134) (web link)
• EI: Chapter 13 – “Sequencing Assignments”
• WIT: Chapters 6 & 7: “Synthesis” and “Analysis”

Write/ Perform

• Expository course description
• Class leadership (selected students)

In Class

Course-description workshop (Judith Levy)

Class leadership

• Brendan – Pedagogy – Mathieu
• Sophia – Praxis – WIT – Synthesis
• Connor – Praxis – WIT – Reading

Read

• Bunn, M. (2013). Motivation and Connection: Teaching Reading (and Writing) in the Composition Classroom. College Composition and Communication, 64(3), 496–516. (reserves link)
• Mathieu, P. “Dash” in Coxwell-Teague, D., & Lunsford, R. F. (Eds.). (2014). First-Year Composition: From Theory to Practice. Anderson, South Carolina: Parlor Press. (reserves link)
• EI: Chapter 9 – “Difficult Texts”
• WIT: Chapters 4 & 5 – “Reading” & “Summary”
• Eng 101 Course Descriptions (Course Atlas)

Write/Perform

• Textbook review and informal presentation
• Class leadership (selected students)

In Class

Discuss course description and syllabus assignments

Three-acts worksheet

Textbook sharing

Class leadership

• Connor – Pedagogy – Devitt
• Hannah – Pedagogy – Kail
• Brendan – Pedagogy – Mathieu

Read

Devitt, A. J. (1993). Generalizing about Genre: New Conceptions of an Old Concept. College Composition and Communication, 44(4), 573–586. (library link)

Hesse, D. “Occasions” in Coxwell-Teague, D., & Lunsford, R. F. (Eds.). (2014). First-Year Composition: From Theory to Practice. Anderson, South Carolina: Parlor Press. (reserves link)

Kail, H. (1988). Narratives of Knowledge: Story and Pedagogy in Four Composition Texts. Rhetoric Review, 6(2), 179–189. (reserves link)

Write/Perform

If you are leading pedagogy discussion or a praxis activity, post your materials to your portfolio.

In Class

Housekeeping

Due dates

• Textbook review (9/13)
• Expos course description (9/20)
• Expos syllabus (9/27)

Peer observation

Discussion/activity leadership

• William – Praxis – EI 7
• Joseph – Praxis – WIT “Process”
• Jess – Praxis – EI 3
• Willem – Praxis – EI 4
• Connor – Pedagogy – Devitt
• Jonathan – Pedagogy – Soliday
• Sophia – Pedagogy – Hesse
• Hannah – Pedagogy – Kail

“Knowing What We Know” (link to stasis handout)

• What do you see as the authors’ theory of academic writing? What role does the writing teacher play?
• What are topoi? Name the two topoi of literary analysis and explain how you as a “literary analyst” might connect these topoi to other fields in which your students might be interested.
• One of our first-year writing key terms is “conversation.” How do you see this term fitting in with the authors’ discussion of pattern and interpretation?
• The lens assignment has been a staple of first year writing for years (see, for instance, this entry in the Brandeis Writing Program handbook). What are the rhetorical moves associated with such an assignment? How do people in disciplines outside the humanities using this topos? What are some of the difficulties that students from all disciplines have when it comes to writing with a theoretical lens?
• Catalogue the different macrostructures you and your group members have employed. How did each fit the occasion for writing in which you found yourself?

Read

Sommers, N., & Saltz, L. (2004). The Novice as Expert: Writing the Freshman Year. College Composition and Communication, 56(1), 124–149. (library link)

Wolfe, J., Olson, B., & Wilder, L. (2014). Knowing What we Know about Writing in the Disciplines: A New Approach to Teaching for Transfer in FYC. WAC Journal, 25, 42–77. (link)

EI: Chapters 2 & 7 – “Critical Thinking” & “Activities”

WIT: Chapters 1 & 2 – “Transfer” & “Process”

Write/Perform

1. Obtain your domain, set up WordPress (or alternative), and post materials for either pedagogy or praxis leadership. The following URLs provide instructions for setting up a domain through Reclaim Hosting (funded by the Writing Program). Be sure to ask me for the coupon code.

• Avoiding domain-name spam
• Obtaining your domain
• Working with subdomains and subfolders
• Installing WordPress

Please email me (d.d.fisher@emory.edu) the URL of your WordPress (or other) installation.

2. If you are leading pedagogy discussion or a praxis activity, post your materials to your portfolio.

In Class

Judith Levy on WordPress.

Kayla – Pedagogy – Sommers and Saltz

Brendan – Praxis – EI 2

William – Praxis – EI 7

Joseph – Praxis – WIT “Process”

Read

In Class

Introductions

Program research

To better understand the multiple contexts and approaches to teaching first-year writing, research and present to the class about a first-year program. You might look at a program from a college or university where you’d like to work or even tell us about the program where you did your undergraduate degree. Try to cover

• Curriculum (course offerings, sequencing, outcomes, content)
• Faculty (graduate students? lecturers? tenure-track? adjuncts?) and pedagogical training
• Program assessment (i.e., Do they use portfolios? Other methods?)
• Administrative structure (relationship to departments, relationship to writing center, etc.)

Are there special features or strengths the program emphasizes? (Does it seek to differentiate itself from other first-year composition programs in some way?)

If you don’t have a particular program you’d like to research, you can chose one of the following.

• Harvard
• Duke
• Michigan
• Florida State
• Minnesota

Emory program overview

• FWRT
• First-Year Composition Site

Naming What We Know

1. What are threshold concepts and how might seeing through the “threshold lens” impact an instructor’s approach to teaching and learning in writing or literary studies?
2. Define genre in a way that accords with contemporary theories of writing.
3. Drawing on the reading, how might you deal with a student who tells you she doesn’t need your class because she’s already an excellent writer?
4. Why is “planned failure” an important part of any writing class?
5. What are the implications of writing being a cognitive activity?
6. How is writing integral to establishing a (disciplinary) identity?

Critical incidents and post-mortems

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Course/syllabus review

Preview next week

• Obtaining a website
• Sign up for first two rounds of class leadership