SPRING 2001

This information effective for Spring 2001.
Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.

Humanities Division

[HUMN-203]

203. Teaching Writing

Please note: This syllabus is from Spring 2000 quarter, but the new Spring 2001 syllabus will be similar.

Spring 2000

Instructors:

Virginia Draper
Stevenson 275, phone: 459-2827, e-mail: vdraper@cats.ucsc.edu
Office hours: Tuesdays 10 - 11:30 and by appointment

Cecilia Freeman
Crown 112, phone: 459-3978, e-mail: mcf@cats.ucsc.edu
Office hours: Wednesdays 2 - 4:00 and by appointment

Course Description:

This course prepares graduate students to teach undergraduate writing courses by introducing them to current approaches to teaching writing and to practical strategies that apply not only in composition courses, but also throughout the curriculum. This course is required for graduate students who wish to be eligible to teach Writing 1, Composition and Rhetoric at UCSC.

Texts:

Nuts and Bolts, ed. by Thomas Newkirk (at Bay Tree Bookstore) NB

Everyone Can Write, Peter Elbow (at Bay Tree Bookstore) ECW

Writing and Learning: A Handbook for UCSC Faculty, Virginia Draper (at Slug Books) WL

Readings on Writing, Humanities 203 Reader (at Slug Books) Rdgs

The readings provide both theoretical contexts and practical advice. They may or may not be discussed in our class meetings. You should skim over everything in a week's assignments in order to choose what you will read carefully now and what you will come back to later. Some readings you can think of as reference materials to use as needed when you are teaching writing. Some of the more theoretical readings will help construct a way of thinking about the enterprise now and will have increased relevance later as you think more about teaching - and, perhaps, when you interview for a teaching job and want to brush up.

Requirements:

Participation in ten seminars, scheduled conferences with the instructors, and completion of the following:

An ongoing Reading Notebook with responses to course reading and reflections on topics/issues that come up
Facilitation of discussion, or other activity in class
A Writer's Autobiography (informal writing), due week 2
Oral critique of a writing assignment from another course, due week 3
Oral review of a Writing Textbook, due week 4
Written responses to student writing, as assigned in weeks 6, 7, and 8
Class observations: two visits to a Writing 1 class by week 6 and an informal interview with the teacher; a written reflection on your observations, in light of course reading and discussions, due week 7
Syllabus Project: you will design a Writing 1 Syllabus and write a rationale, noting what you want your students to achieve, and what activities you plan to help them achieve these goals. Describe and present a rationale for your assignments and their sequence, explaining why you choose the readings and what relationships you see between the readings and the writing you will ask students to do.
This project will be due in stages:
- Description of a possible reading-writing sequence (3-4 pages): select one (or a set) of the readings you may assign and discuss that reading's relation to the writing assignments you will ask students to do. Locate this assignment in the context of your course and describe the activities you will assign and/or do in class to engage students in the reading/writing processes at this point in the course. Due week 5.
- Draft syllabus and rationale due week 8.
- Final project due Wednesday, June 7, by noon.

Schedule

Meeting 1, March 28

Introductions: to each other, to the course, to the field of teaching writing.

Why teach writing? What is teaching Writing? Composition and Rhetoric?

Writing 1 at UCSC: what it is, its relation to the university

Meeting 2, April 4

What we bring to our classrooms, and what students bring to our classrooms

Concepts of the writing process; assisting students during the writing process

Textbooks: rhetorics, anthologies, handbooks, style manuals

Reading:

Perspectives on what the enterprise is

NB:

Introduction: "Locating Freshman English"
Ch. 1 "Charting a Course in First-Year English"

ECW:

Ch. 2 "A Map of Writing in Terms of Audience and Response"
"The Neglect and Rediscovery of Invention" (p. 141)

WL:

Ch. 13 "Writing Requirements and Courses at UCSC"

Rdgs:

Irmscher, "Why Teach Writing Anyway?" "What Do We Do When We Teach Writing?" and "Acknowledging Intuition"

What students bring to our classrooms

ECW:

"Being a Writer vs. Being an Academic: a Conflict in Goals" (p. 379)

WL:

Ch. 1 "What Students Bring to Our Classrooms"

Rdgs:

Rose, "The Politics of Remediation"
Trimble, "Superstitions"

Introduction to writing processes; heuristics

NB:

Ch. 2 "Conferences and Workshops: Conversations on Writing in Process"
Ch. 3 "Exercises for Discovery, Experiment, Skills and Play"

WL:

Introduction and Ch. 2 "Getting Involved in the Process"
Ch. 3 "Writing and Thinking: Engaging Students in Learning Through Writing"

Meeting 3, April 11

Designing a writing course; sample syllabi

Designing assignments and assignment sequences

Reading and writing, connections; the role of reading in a writing class

Reading

NB:

Ch. 4 "Using Reading in the Writing Classroom"

ECW:

Ch. 13 "The War Between Reading and Writing - and How to End It
Ch. 16 "High Stakes and Low Stakes in Assigning and Responding to Writing"

WL:

Ch. 4 "Designing Assignments"

Rdgs:

Lindemann, "Designing Writing Courses" and "Developing Writing Assignments"
Slevin, "Some Suggestions for Devising Writing Assignments"
Gottschalk, "Preparing Essay Assignments"

Meeting 4, April 18

Assignment design, continued - kinds of writing students do in Writing 1

Genres: exposition, argument, critical analysis; research-based investigatory papers; personal, reflective, interpretive, expository essays

Topic, thesis, purpose; audience

Formal and informal writing

Reading

NB:

Ch. 5 "Teaching the Research Paper"

ECW:

Ch. 11 "Reflections on Academic Discourse"
Ch. 17 "Breathing Life into the Text"

Rdgs:

Excerpts from Textbooks:

Klooster and Bloem, "Summaries: Gist, Outline and Abstract"

Packer and Timpane, "Critical Reading"

Axelrod and Cooper, "A Guide to Writing Position Papers"

Rottenberg, "Understanding Argument"

Sontag, Introduction to The Best American Essays 1992

Abbey, "The Damnation of a Canyon"

Williams, "Crimes Without Passion"

Meeting 5, April 25

Assignments, continued - Class activities (sequenced to make assignments succeed)

Journals, heuristics

Writing processes revisited: freewriting, rewriting

Peer response and writing groups

Reading

ECW:

Ch. 5 "Closing My Eyes as I Speak"
Ch. 6 "Toward a Phenomenology of Freewriting"
Ch. 18 "Using the Collage for Collaborative Writing"
"Can Personal Expressive Writing Do the Work of Academic Writing?" (p. 315)

Rdgs:

Ponsot and Deen, "Working With Writing in Class" and "Rewriting"
Howard and Jamieson, "Assigning and Evaluating Journals"

Peer Writing Groups

WL:

Ch. 7 "Peer Responders and Writing Groups"

Rdgs:

Strang, "Product and Process: The Author-led Workshop"
George, "Working with Peer Groups in the Composition Classroom"
Draper, "Writing Response Groups: From Power Trips to Empowerment"

Meeting 6, May 2

Responding to papers in writing and in conferences
Reading

NB:

Ch. 7 "Evaluation as Acts of Reading, Response and Reflection"

ECW:

Ch. 19 "Getting Along Without Grades - and Getting Along With Them Too"
"The Benefits and Feasibility of Liking" (p. 447)

WL:

Ch. 5 "Responding to and Evaluating Students' Papers"

Rdgs:

Bolker, "Reflections on Reading Student Writing"
Lindemann, "Responding to Student Writing"
Elbow and Belanoff, "Summary of Ways of Responding"
Freedman, "The Impromptu Conference"

Meeting 7, May 11

Reports from class visits
Responding to papers: peer response groups; teacher response in writing and conferences
Reading: Continue assignments for meeting 6.

Meeting 8, May 16

Language use: grammar, usage, style

Generating, shaping, fixing up language; drafting, revising, editing, proofreading

Learning disabilities and writing; dysgraphia, dyslexia

Reading:

NB:

Ch. 6 "Editing: The Last Step in the Process"

ECW:

Ch. 15 "Inviting the Mother Tongue"

Rdgs:

Delpit, "The Silenced Dialogue"
Smith, "Students' Goals, Gatekeeping, and Some Questions of Ethics"
Trimble, "Readability"
Williams, "Understanding Style" and "Correctness"
Dawkins, "Teaching Punctuation as a Rhetorical Tool"

Meeting 9, May 23

Dealing with language, continued - ESL/Bilingual issues

Culture, race, class, gender; learning styles

Reading:

WL:

Ch. 6 "How to Help Students for Whom English is a Second or Third Language"

Rdgs:

Harris and Silva, "Tutoring ESL Students: Issues and Options"
Leki, "Responding to ESL Writers"
Zamel, "Strangers in Academia: The Experiences of Faculty and ESL Students Across the Curriculum"
hooks, "Confronting Class in the Classroom"
Gale, "`The Stranger' in Communication: Race, Class and Conflict in a Basic Writing Class"
Hjortshoj, "Being There"

Meeting 10, May 30

Concerns and ongoing debates
Reading:

Rdgs:

Roemer et al., "Reframing the Great Debate on First-Year Writing"
Herzberg, "Composition and the Politics of the Curriculum"
Bartholomae, "Inventing the University"
Wall and Coles, "Reading Basic Writing: Alternatives to a Pedagogy of Accommodation"
Newkirk, "The Politics of Composition Research: The Conspiracy Against Experience"

[top of page]

NB:	Introduction: "Locating Freshman English" Ch. 1 "Charting a Course in First-Year English"
ECW:	Ch. 2 "A Map of Writing in Terms of Audience and Response" "The Neglect and Rediscovery of Invention" (p. 141)
WL:	Ch. 13 "Writing Requirements and Courses at UCSC"
Rdgs:	Irmscher, "Why Teach Writing Anyway?" "What Do We Do When We Teach Writing?" and "Acknowledging Intuition"

ECW:	"Being a Writer vs. Being an Academic: a Conflict in Goals" (p. 379)
WL:	Ch. 1 "What Students Bring to Our Classrooms"
Rdgs:	Rose, "The Politics of Remediation" Trimble, "Superstitions"

NB:	Ch. 2 "Conferences and Workshops: Conversations on Writing in Process" Ch. 3 "Exercises for Discovery, Experiment, Skills and Play"
WL:	Introduction and Ch. 2 "Getting Involved in the Process" Ch. 3 "Writing and Thinking: Engaging Students in Learning Through Writing"

NB:	Ch. 4 "Using Reading in the Writing Classroom"
ECW:	Ch. 13 "The War Between Reading and Writing - and How to End It Ch. 16 "High Stakes and Low Stakes in Assigning and Responding to Writing"
WL:	Ch. 4 "Designing Assignments"
Rdgs:	Lindemann, "Designing Writing Courses" and "Developing Writing Assignments" Slevin, "Some Suggestions for Devising Writing Assignments" Gottschalk, "Preparing Essay Assignments"

ECW:	Ch. 5 "Closing My Eyes as I Speak" Ch. 6 "Toward a Phenomenology of Freewriting" Ch. 18 "Using the Collage for Collaborative Writing" "Can Personal Expressive Writing Do the Work of Academic Writing?" (p. 315)
Rdgs:	Ponsot and Deen, "Working With Writing in Class" and "Rewriting" Howard and Jamieson, "Assigning and Evaluating Journals"

WL:	Ch. 7 "Peer Responders and Writing Groups"
Rdgs:	Strang, "Product and Process: The Author-led Workshop" George, "Working with Peer Groups in the Composition Classroom" Draper, "Writing Response Groups: From Power Trips to Empowerment"

NB:	Ch. 7 "Evaluation as Acts of Reading, Response and Reflection"
ECW:	Ch. 19 "Getting Along Without Grades - and Getting Along With Them Too" "The Benefits and Feasibility of Liking" (p. 447)
WL:	Ch. 5 "Responding to and Evaluating Students' Papers"
Rdgs:	Bolker, "Reflections on Reading Student Writing" Lindemann, "Responding to Student Writing" Elbow and Belanoff, "Summary of Ways of Responding" Freedman, "The Impromptu Conference"

NB:	Ch. 6 "Editing: The Last Step in the Process"
ECW:	Ch. 15 "Inviting the Mother Tongue"
Rdgs:	Delpit, "The Silenced Dialogue" Smith, "Students' Goals, Gatekeeping, and Some Questions of Ethics" Trimble, "Readability" Williams, "Understanding Style" and "Correctness" Dawkins, "Teaching Punctuation as a Rhetorical Tool"

WL:	Ch. 6 "How to Help Students for Whom English is a Second or Third Language"
Rdgs:	Harris and Silva, "Tutoring ESL Students: Issues and Options" Leki, "Responding to ESL Writers" Zamel, "Strangers in Academia: The Experiences of Faculty and ESL Students Across the Curriculum" hooks, "Confronting Class in the Classroom" Gale, "`The Stranger' in Communication: Race, Class and Conflict in a Basic Writing Class" Hjortshoj, "Being There"