Introduction to Writing Studies
OVERVIEW
COURSE OUTCOMES
By the end of this course, students should be able to
COURSE TEXTS
Linda Andner-Kessler and Elizabeth Wardle’s Naming What we Know (ISBN: 1607325772)
Cheryl Ball and Drew Loewe’s Bad Ideas about Writing (available free here: https://textbooks.lib.wvu.edu/badideas/badideasaboutwriting-book.pdf)
I will also ask participants to share relevant readings with the class each week, so be on the lookout for research articles, news stories, videos, etc. that might be relevant to our work.
TECHNOLOGY
MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS
Teaching Journal & Self-Evaluation (30%)
Each week, I’ll ask you to write a brief reflection on your teaching experiences that week. What is going well? What is going poorly? What surprised you? What are you planning for next week? What are some potential problems you might face next week? In the final two weeks of the semester, I’ll ask you to revisit these entries and reflect on your semester-long teaching experience and compose a self-evaluation that (1) describes what your goals for your students were, (2) articulates specific practices you engaged in to accomplish these goals, (3) describes the most successful practices, (4) makes a plan for addressing at least one less successful practice, and (5) articulates at least one new practice you want to try next semester.
Peer Revisits & Reflections (30%)
Throughout the semester, you should choose at least two of your peers’ classes to visit and compose a reflection that (1) describes the topic/content, (2) describes teaching practices or strategies, and (3) articulates at least one practice, strategy, tool, or reading you’d like to borrow for you own course.
Teaching Materials (40%)
As this course aims to be a practical discussion of teaching first-year writing, please compose your syllabus and associated documents for your 100B course next semester. Namely, please craft the following elements:
A full syllabus, including required university policies, class policies on attendance, technology, and any other issues of particular importance to you, and a grade breakdown.
A full set of major projects including a project description, desired learning outcomes (at least 3 per project), a discussion of the drafting process, and either a rubric or list questions that will guide your approach to feedback and evaluation.
A reading schedule that covers at least the first 5 weeks of the semester.
Lesson plans that cover at least the first 3 weeks of the semester
READING SCHEDULE
Week 1 – Writing Studies & Teaching Writing
Naming, 15-34
Bad Ideas, 7-12
Week 2 – First-Year Writing
Bad Ideas, 18-33
Duffy, “Virtuous Writing” (https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2012/03/16/essay-value-first-year-writing-courses)
“WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition” (http://wpacouncil.org/positions/outcomes.html)
Weeks 3 & 4 – Assessment & Grading
Naming, 29-30, 67-68, 157-170
Bad Ideas, 255-267, 273-275
Selection from Chp. 3 of Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies (pp. 125-137)
Peter Elbow, “Ranking, Evaluating, and Liking: Sorting Out Three Forms of Judgment”
Week 5 – Writing and Identity
Naming, 48-58
Bad Ideas, 53-75
Week 6 – Reading and Writing
Bad Ideas, 38-52
Dunn, “Motivation and Connection” (https://www-jstor-org.sonoma.idm.oclc.org/stable/43490768?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents)
Week 7 – Process
Naming, 59-70
Bad Ideas, 104-116, 163-180
Week 8 – Grammar, Style, Form
Bad Ideas, 117-120, 139-162
Hartwell, “Grammar, Grammars, and the Teaching of Grammar” (https://www-jstor-org.sonoma.idm.oclc.org/stable/376562?sid=primo&origin=crossref&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents)
Walker, “Everything Changes, or Why MLA Isn’t (Always) Right” (http://writingspaces.org/sites/default/files/walker--everything-changes.pdf)
Week 9 – Englishes and Identity
Naming, 48-58
Bad Ideas, 82-98
Lynn Z. Bloom’s “Teaching My Class”
Week 10 – Research and Writing
Bad Ideas, 226-246
McClure, “Googlepedia: Turning Information Behaviors into Research Skills” (http://writingspaces.org/sites/default/files/mcclure--googlepedia.pdf)
Haller, “Walk, Talk, Cook, Eat: A Guide to Using Sources” (http://writingspaces.org/sites/default/files/haller--walk-talk-cook-eat.pdf)
Week 11 – Genre
Naming, 35-47
Bad Ideas, 209-225
Week 12 – Transfer
Bad Ideas, 34-37
Fraizer, “Towards a Model of Building Writing Transfer Awareness across the Curriculum” (http://compositionforum.com/issue/38/transfer-awareness.php)
Week 13 – Reflection
Naming, 71-83
Yancey, “Portfolios as Genre, Rhetoric as Reflection”
Week 14 – Conferencing
Selections from Muriel Harris, Teaching One-to-One
Holly Ryan, “Changing Attitudes: Writing Center Workshops in the Classroom”
Image by Victoria Pickering and available on Flickr.