English 651 – Fall, 2005
Teaching Expository Writing
Monday, Wednesday – 5-6:15
Professor: Laurie
Cubbison
Office Young
306
Office phone 831-6421
Email lcubbiso@radford.edu
Office Hours M 2-3 pm; Th
1-3pm; F 9-11 am
Required Texts:
Bishop, Wendy, and Deborah Coxwell Teague. Finding
Our Way: A Writing Teacher’s Sourcebook.
Glenn, Cheryl, Melissa Goldthwaite, and Robert Connors. The
Graff,
Gerald. Clueless in Academe: How Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind.
Articles on WebCt.
Course Objectives
The objectives of this course are to introduce graduate students to the field of composition studies and to educate them in the theory and practice of teaching writing so that they may be better teachers of first-year composition[l1].
Course Description:
This
course intertwines theory [l2]and practice in the teaching
of writing. Three theoretical traditions provide the basis for this course:
rhetorical theory, composition theory and teaching theory. Equally important is
an examination of our practice as writing teachers.
"By
accepting admission to
One
of the issues we’ll discuss this semester is the problem of plagiarism in the
freshman composition course. I expect the same degree of academic integrity
from you that you expect from your students.
I
assume that you will attend this class, read the assigned readings, and turn in
your work on time. Just as you expect these qualities in your own students, I
expect them in you. Just as you are offended when your students do not attend
class, I am offended when you do not. If circumstances beyond your control
affect your ability to meet these expectations, please let me know by phone or
e-mail. The sooner you can notify me, the more flexible I can be. However,
there is a limit to my patience. Do not push the limits.
If
you have any sort of disability that can interfere with your experience of this
class, please let me know that I can accommodate your needs.
Discussion Questions 5
points per question, 20 in all (100 points)
For each reading day, you
will post at least one question or response to the course’s WebCT
bulletin board.
This
course presumes that you are working with students in some capacity. If you are
not currently teaching or supervising students, then you must volunteer at the
Learning Assistance and
During the first half of the
course you will write a 10-page research paper investigating a question that
you have encountered through your teaching experiences by examining the
literature of composition studies. The focus of this paper is reviewing the
scholarship related to a particular question you have about the teaching of
writing. In carrying out this project, you will not only write the final paper,
but you will also carry out a number of
pre-writing activities that are similar to ones you might ask your students to
do.
A
curriculum is more than a syllabus. A curriculum is a coordinated group of
assignments developed to achieve particular pedagogical goals. For this assignment, you will write a
curriculum for English 101 or 102 that includes a syllabus, assignment sheets,
a theoretical explanation of your curriculum that uses composition research to
support your decisions, and a set of lesson plans for carrying out the goals of
your curriculum. This project should include a Works Cited page documenting the
theoretical influences on your curriculum.
Composition studies, also known as Rhetoric and Composition, is one of the areas of English studies students are not aware of until they become graduate students. Composition traces its roots back to the ancient Greeks, but today its primary focus is the teaching of writing, particularly the general education writing requirement. My goal here is to introduce you to a vibrant and growing field within English, one of the few areas of English in which new doctoral students can easily acquire jobs. Because of the need for warm bodies to teach thousands of freshmen every semester, MA students who do not pursue a PhD but wish to teach in the college setting will find that teaching composition is often their only professional option. They also find that their chances of getting a fulltime job are minimal. [l1]
[l2]The theoretical basis for Rhetoric and Composition extends back 2500 years into the past, with the sophists, Plato and Aristotle providing the foundation for the field. The continuing theoretical tradition focuses on the study of the act of communicating, with the primary question being: How does one communicate effectively within society.
It is my firm belief that the teaching of writing must be grounded in theories of effective communication. As a result, my emphasis this semester will be on helping you to develop a theoretical framework on which to build your teaching.
[l3]The teaching journal is intended as a way for you to think reflectively about your teaching activities, relating your interactions with students to the course readings.
[lc4] This project emphasizes pre-writing to an extent unusual at the graduate level in order to illustrate possible techniques that you may use in your own classes so that you can evaluate their usefulness for your own students.
[l5]For this assignment you will prepare the curriculum you will be using when you teach. A curriculum is more than just a set of writing assigments. It is a theoretically grounded plan in which each of the elements serves clearly articulated pedagogical goals.