Practice in Teaching College Composition
“Creating academic spaces that are simultaneously challenging, loving, and healing can assist students in finding value in their educational journeys and developing the resiliency needed to persevere” (Acosta, n.p.).
“All language is the language of a community, be this a community bound by biological ties or by the practice of a common discipline or technique" (Perelman 1071).
OVERVIEW
Though writing studies as a specific discipline is somewhat new, it traces its roots back to the rhetorical education of the ancient world, from Ancient Greek and Roman philosophers and teachers to Chinese, East Asian, African, and Indigenous literacy practices. This course begins by examining both these ancient foundations and the more contemporary origins of the discipline. We will also investigate how contemporary rhetorical and critical theory (including critical race theory, feminist theory, and cultural studies rhetorics) intersect with contemporary pedagogies and approaches (including antiracist writing assessment, postpedagogy, and critical pedagogy), with a specific emphasis on asset-based teaching and antiracist classroom practices. Finally, we will grapple with what equity-based, asset-based, and anti-racist classrooms look like in practice.
COURSE GOALS
By the end of this course, students should be able to
Trace the emergence of composition as a discipline
Articulate how historical and contemporary theory informs pedagogy
Understand how race, class, gender, and disability impact the teaching of writing
Articulate equity-based, asset-based, and anti-racist approaches to teaching writing
Synthesize multiple thinkers to articulate their own pedagogical approaches
COURSE TEXTS
Susan Jarratt, Rereading the Sophists (ISBN: 9780809322244)
Jody Shipka, Toward a Composition Made Whole (ISBN: 9780822961505)
Iris Ruiz, Reclaiming Composition for Chicanos/as and Other Ethnic Minorities (ISBN: 9781137536723)
The remainder of our readings are available via Canvas or online. For most class meetings, there will be required readings (which all members of the class will be expected to discuss in detail) and suggested further readings (for those interested in the topics explored in the required readings).
CLASSROOM FORMAT & PROTOCOL
This course will be conducted almost entirely via face-to-face whole class discussion. In most class meetings, we will begin with a brief introductory lecture on the week’s topic, move on to discussion of the readings, and end with any presentations slotted for that meeting During classes when synthesis papers are due, all students will deliver their papers orally and remaining time will be devoted to discussions of themes that emerge from synthesis papers. Students will also speak informally about their reviews during class meetings following the due date of that projecT.
Since many readings are available via Canvas, students are encouraged to bring laptops and/or physical copies of the week’s readings. Either way, readings should be completed and annotated before class begins.
Since we meet during dinnertime, feel free to bring food or drinks to class. I’ll also include a dinner break in our meeting each week.
ATTENDANCE
Come to class. The best classes are also communities, and we can’t build that community without you. If you can’t come to class, come talk to me about why.
MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS
Synthesis Papers (3 papers; 15% each)
Compose and deliver 3 papers to the class. Papers will be one page, single-spaced. They can be no longer. And they shouldn’t be much shorter. Beyond providing summary, these papers will focus on putting course readings (you may include both required and further reading if you wish) into conversation and tracing relationships between the various thinkers and commentaries studied in class. What themes or ideas are considered across texts? What connections seem important? What kinds of disagreements emerge? What key terms do one or more thinkers highlight? Students will provide a copy of their paper to each of their classmates. These papers are expected to be at least 700 words each and must discuss readings from at least 2 different class meetings. Font size must be nine or higher. As my grad school professor told me: “May the margins be ever in your favor.”
Reading Presentation (20%)
The discipline of rhetoric and composition is wide ranging and has, in its somewhat brief history, produced a significant amount of scholarship on the topics we’ll consider in this course. To broaden our discussion, each of you will choose one of the recommended sources and offer a brief presentation on that source. Your presentation should include a brief summary of your chosen source (including its main argument), connections to the reading we’ve done for the week, and a discussion of the value the piece might add to our understanding of the week’s topic(s). Your presentation should last 10-20 minutes and include a handout for your peers. (Only one student will be able to present on a reading; I will pass around a sign-up sheet in week 2.)
Textbook Review (15%)
Before a writing class even begins teachers must make all sorts of decisions; among the most impactful is the choice of a textbook. That textbook will likely frame both how they teach and how their students understand writing as a concept and as an activity. As a way of understanding how the theories of writing and rhetoric show up in these texts, you will review a composition textbook of your choosing. Your review should cover the key themes from the book, the kind of pedagogical approach it encourages, and its underlying assumptions about writers and/or teaching writing. Ample evidence from the textbook itself is highly encouraged. Reviews should be at least 2 pages.
Culminating Project (20%)
As our course concludes, I’ll ask you to choose a final project that is meaningful for you. If you’re planning to teach writing in the near future, I recommend the “Teaching Philosophy & Practices” option, but you’re welcome to choose either option or propose a culminating project that is meaningful to you.
Teaching Philosophy & Practices: A teaching philosophy is a reflective discussion of assumptions about and motivations for teaching. For this course, successful teaching statements will discuss
Disciplinary and personal motivation s for teaching writing
Assumptions about writing
Major theorists who have influenced your teaching philosophy
Classroom practices that evidence any or all of the above
Your teaching philosophy should be at least 2000 words and should include specific, formal citations of the work that you’re building on or incorporating.
Annotated Bibliography & Synthesis Essay: Annotated bibliographies offer the opportunity to explore a topic or set of topics. For this project you should
Annotate at least 6 sources; up to 3 of these may be works we read for our class
Summarize and evaluate these sources as part of the annotation
Write a 1000ish word essay that synthesizes the sources you examine; this essay should not offer your own position but rather put the sources you annotated in conversation with one another.
READING SCHEDULE
Week 1 (January 22, 2020): Introduction to the Field I
Required
Adler-Kessner & Wardle, Naming What We Know, “Introduction” & “Concept 1”
Recommended
Ong, “Writing is a Technology that Restructures Thought”
Week 2 (January 29, 2020): Introduction to the Field II
Required
Rice, The Rhetoric of Cool, “The Story of Composition Studies and Cool”
Corder, “Argument as Emergence, Rhetoric as Love”
Royster, “When the First Voice You Hear is Not Your Own”
Recommended
Adler-Kessner, et al., “The Value of Troublesome Knowledge” Yancey, “Made Not Only in Words”
Week 3 (February 5, 2020): Histories
Required
Ruiz, Reclaiming Composition for Chicano/as and Other Ethnic Minorities, Chapters 3, 5, & 6
Recommended
Villanueva, “Maybe a Colony: And Still Another Critique of the Comp Community”
Week 4 (February 12, 2020): Paper Day & Rhetoric + Writing
Required
Berlin, “Rhetoric and Ideology in the Writing Classroom”
Week 5 (February 19, 2020): Defining Rhetoric
Required
Aristotle, On Rhetoric, 1.1-1.3
Smith, “Markings of an African Concept of Rhetoric”
Edbauer-Rice, “Unframing Models of Public Distribution: From Rhetorical Situation to Rhetorical Ecologies”
Recommended
Bitzer, “The Rhetorical Situation”
Vatz, “The Myth of the Rhetorical Situation”
Rivers and Webber, “Ecological, Pedagogical, Public Rhetoric”
Week 6 (February 26, 2020): Classical Rhetorics I
Required
Jarratt, Rereading the Sophists, Introduction, Chapters 1 & 2 (xv-61)
Recommended
Xu, “The Use of Eloquence”
Week 7 (March 4, 2020): Classical Rhetorics II
Required
Jarratt, Rereading the Sophists, Chapters 3 & 4 (62-117)
Greenbaum, Emancipatory Movements in Composition, “Dissoi Logoi”
Recommended
Plato, “Phaedrus” & “Gorgias”
Week 8 (March 11, 2020): Defining Pedagogy
Required
Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Chapters 2 & 3
González, “Decolonizing Chican@ Studies to Rehumanize Xican@ Youth Through Indigenous Pedagogies”
Recommended
Beauboeuf-Lafontant, “Womanist Lessons for Reinventing Teaching”
Week 9 (March 25, 2020; in-person class canceled): Paper Day
Week 10 (April 1, 2020): Major Composition Theories/Process
Required
Emig, “Writing as a Mode of Learning”
Elbow, “Desperation Writing”
Roeder & Gatto, Critical Expressivism, “Re-Imagining Expressivism”
Yosso, “Whose Culture has Capital? A Critical Race Theory Discussion of Community Cultural Wealth”
Recommended
Mack, Critical Expressivism, “Critical Memoir and Identity Formation”
Murray, “Writing and Teaching for Surprise”
Week 11 (April 8, 2020): Major Composition Theories/Multimodality & Postpedagogy I
Required
Shipka, Toward a Composition Made Whole, Introduction & Chapter 1
Santos & McIntyre, “Toward a Technical Communication Made Whole”
Recommended
Haas, “Wampum as Hypertext”
Santos & Leahy, “Postpedagogy and Web Writing”
Week 12 (April 15, 2020): Major Composition Theories/Multimodality & Postpedagogy II
Required
Shipka, Toward a Composition Made Whole, Chapter 5 & Conclusion Banks, “Scratch”
Recommended
Ceraso, Pavesich, & Boggs, “Learning as Coordination: Postpedagogy and Design” (http://enculturation.net/learning_as_coordination)
Week 13 (April 22, 2020): Major Composition Theories/Critical Race Theory
Required
Condon & Young, Performing Antiracist Pedagogy, “Introduction”
Baker-Bell, “Dismantling Anti-Black Linguistic Racism in English Language Arts Classrooms”
Inoue, “How Do We Language So People Stop Killing Each Other, Or What Do We Do About White Language Supremacy?” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brPGTewcDYY&feature=youtu.be)
Recommended
Kubota & Lehner, “Toward a Critical Contrastive Rhetoric” Mao, “Reflective Encounters”
Inoue, Antiracist Writing Assessment Ecologies, “Introduction”
Week 14 (April 29, 2020): Major Composition Theories/Home Languages and Literacies
Required
Students Right to Their Own Language
Young, “Should Writers Use They Own English?”
Villanueva, “On the Rhetoric and Precedents of Racism”
Watanabe, “Socioacupuncture Pedagogy: Troubling Containment & Erasure”
Recommended
Young & Young-Rivera, “It Ain’t What It Is”
Bruch & Marbak, “Race Identity, Writing, and the Politics of Dignity: Reinvigorating the Ethics of ‘Students' Right to Their Own Language’”
Klotz and Whithaus, “Gloria Anzaldúa’s Rhetoric of Ambiguity and Antiracist Teaching”
Week 15 (May 6, 2020): Ethics, Representation, and Voice/Intersectional Approaches
Required
Cedillo, “What Does It Mean to Move?”
Browning, “Disability Studies in the Composition Classroom”
Canagorajah, “Toward a Writing Pedagogy of Shuttling”
Recommended
McKinney, “Reassessing Intersectionality Affirming Difference in Higher Education”
Bartolomé, “Authentic Cariño and Respect in Minority Education: The Political and Ideological Dimensions of Love”
Exam Week (May 13, 2020): Paper Day