Department of English, Foreign Languages and Journalism

LAS Ethics Focus: English 364 is "ethics intensive." This means that our studies will involve an examination of ethical principles, questions and problems in the field of composition studies. You will be asked to evaluate–collaboratively and individually, orally and in writing–social, ethical, pedagogical, political, and cultural issues of each situation and text we look at and intervene in during the term. Sometimes this work can be uncomfortable. It may cause tension in the classroom. I firmly believe that it is at these moments of tension that we can learn the most if we don’t shut down. Continue thinking and talking through your discomfort!

Assignments: Students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss the assigned readings. Because this is a discussion class, you should be prepared with questions, comments, and responses to what you have read. That means READING WITH A PEN IN YOUR HAND. You need to engage in “active reading” and come to class ready to engage and ask questions, make comments, and participate. These are theoretical readings with the intended audience of professor-type people. That means they will initially be DIFFICULT for you to read. Don’t give up. Don’t despair. Keep the faith. Read carefully and critically (always with a pen in your hand).

Each week we will have a student led class where you – the students – will be in charge of the lesson and teaching the information about a specific theory (of your choice). These lessons should be about 20 minutes in length.

In addition to short journal responses (due every other week, 2-3 pages in length), you will be required to write research paper that explores more closely one of the theories we are learning about.

There will be a collaborative project at the end of the semester. In small groups, you will analyze a composition textbook, identifying the theory/ies that inform it, and discussing how effectively it draws on the underlying pedagogy/ies. The groups will present their results to the class, write them in a report, and write a project completion report that evaluates the collaboration process.

Cell Phones/Laptops Closed, off and out of sight. Taking notes the old-fashioned way is better for learning and for your brain. You ain’t foolin’ no one if you think I can’t see you texting your buddy. I don’t bring my cell phone to class and neither should you.

Plagiarism/Academic honesty: Violations of academic honesty may result in a failing grade on the assignment, failure in the course, or expulsion from the University. When a student’s grade has been affected, violations of academic honesty will be reported to the Provost or designated representative on the Academic Honesty Violation Report forms.

Please see the 2008-09 Student Handbook and Calendar for specific activities identified as violations of this policy and the student due process procedure. This handbook is also available online at <http://www.missouriwestern.edu/handbook/index.pdf>.

Papers that have been plagiarized (in part or in whole: that means if you cut and paste a sentence from another source without citing!) will receive no credit, and the student who submits such a paper will have to meet with me before any other work will be accepted.

Disabilities: Please let me know during the first week of class about any physical handicap or learning disability if you need special help or accommodation in order to do your best work.

Attendance You must attend class. Class is fun. Class is where all the action is. You are required to attend and participate in class discussions and class writing. You will be allowed three absences this semester. If you have a fourth absence, your course contract grade will be dropped one full letter, i.e. if you have four absences the base grade for the course contract is a D instead of a C. If you have more than four absences during the semester, class), you will be dropped from the course.

Missed/Late

Assignments Absence does not excuse you from turning in an assignment on time. All projects/reader responses are due on the date outlined in the syllabus. Late assignments (those turned in after the end of class that day) will not be accepted. As a former journalist, I take deadlines very seriously. You will receive one “Oops! I Forgot!” free pass on a late assignment during the semester. Even when you are using the “oops I’m late!” freebie, the assignment needs to be in my office by 3 p.m. after the due date.

Critical Response

Journals A Critical Response Journal (CRJ) is writing that reflects your thoughts on the texts required for the course. These are 2-3 page typewritten critical responses, not summaries, of the texts read for the week or content of class discussion. A critical response is one that attempts to focus on one idea or concept addressed by the text or look at how/why the author’s argument makes sense or doesn’t make sense to you (problems with the argument, points you agree with, why/how you think the theory will apply to your own classroom or in your experience as a student). A critical response makes connections across texts and with class discussions and personal experiences. This is to be informal writing, but I expect it to be clean (proofread and spell check your work). Every week you will be required to read outside texts. Every other week you will turn in your CRJ that relates to the texts you have read, class discussions, and other course topics, but you must first and foremost start with a section of the reading (in other words, if all you do is analyze class discussion about a reading, you will not receive credit for your journal). Although CRJ writing is very informal writing, it includes critical reflection, thought, and analysis.

Your Critical Response Journal is due every other Wednesday. You will bring TWO copies of your CRJ: one for me and one for a peer. This will allow you to exchange your CRJ with a classmate so they can read your work and you can read their work. You should make brief comments on your peer’s CRJ and return it to him/her the following class.

Student Led Class

Every Friday a student will present a lesson to the class. This is my way of turning the class over to you, giving you the opportunity to take control of your education, and set the agenda for part of the class. When planning your student led class, you need to have goals for the lesson, e.g. “By the end of this lesson, students will have analyzed a high school class lesson on writing about issues of non-sexist language.” The goals of the lesson somehow need to be tangentially related to that week’s work, readings, writing, or discussions. You should try to get as creative as possible with your lessons. My experience has been that students, when given free reign and using their creativity, conduct some of the most exciting, poignant, interesting lessons of the course. Have fun, but also engage the class intellectually.

Portfolios A portfolio is simply a collection of your work. At the end of the semester you will hand in your portfolio which will include 10-12 pages of pristine, edited text of any combination of your work throughout the semester (major project, CRJ, collaborative book review). Your portfolio will also include the first draft of the projects you revised and your end of reflective essay/letter. Your portfolio should include the response journals you wrote during the semester (the ones with Kay’s comment on). The portfolio revisions need to represent your best work and needs to be pristine, edited text.

Writer’s Notes

Before you hand in a draft of any major project (this doesn’t include reader response journals) you need to write a paragraph or two (writer’s notes) as a cover letter to the work. These writer’s notes should outline how you feel about the project, where the strong or problem areas are, how you revised from your peer’s feedback, and specific parts you want the reader (me, the teacher!) to pay special attention to (perhaps areas you know are weak and you want suggestions on). Writer’s notes are important because they help your reader understand what you hope to accomplish with the writing, what problems you had, what areas you would like specific suggestions on, what parts you think are well-written, etc. The Writer’s Notes allow you - the author - to write down, in an informal way, what you are intending and what concerns you have.

Mandatory

Conference

At mid-point in the semester I will ask you to schedule a conference with me so we can review your work thus far in the semester. At this time I will ask you how you believe you are doing in regards to the course contract. The conference is also an opportunity to tell me what you think/feel about the course, what you are finding valuable, what you would like to change. These conferences will occur at the middle part of October and I will schedule those with you when the date is closer.

Semester Grade

Your work in this class will be evaluated on a contract basis. If you follow the terms of the contract, you will receive a C in the course. You can receive a grade lower than a C (by not complying with the terms and conditions of the contract) or higher than a C (by performing excellent work above and beyond the contract). I realize that this may seem vague and rather subjective to some of you who are accustomed to more traditional grading/evaluation methods. Most people find they like contract grading much more than traditional grading methods because it puts more control over the grade in your (the students’) hands. Please feel free to talk to me about the contract either as part of the forum of the class or privately. When you meet with me for conferences at mid-term, you will be asked to evaluate yourself in relation to the contract. I am more than happy (no, really, I’m thrilled) to talk to any student about my perspective on their contract performance and how that relates to their perspective of their contract performance at any point in the semester.

1) do all of the assigned work (journals, projects, revisions, outside activities)

2) turn in all the assignments on time

3) contribute every day in class discussion or small group work

4) participate in one mandatory conference with the teacher

5) come to class on time and come to class every class period

6) give constructive feedback during peer review sessions and work effectively in the writing workshop

7) consider your peers’ feedback and incorporate some suggestions your peers have made into revised drafts of major projects

8) use critical thinking; challenge your ideas/beliefs and keep an open mind

9) perform meaningful revisions of your own work

10) respond meaningfully and with critical thought to the readings(CRJs)

11) write a thorough analysis of a composition text book (collaborative project)

12) plan and execute a successful lesson

13) Create/Write a major project that incorporate the goals of the course, filling the requirements of one of the four course units

To get a grade higher than a C in the course, you need to revise, rethink, rework and rewrite. You need to demonstrate that you are a good critical thinker and engaged in the community, giving good feedback and receiving other’s feedback with an open mind. You will need to take risks (ask the question everyone else wants to ask, try a new perspective, question our institution or your own belief system, challenge authority in a constructive, meaningful way). Students engaging intellectually and critically in ways that exceed the expectations of the contract will be rewarded with a grade higher than the contract grade.

NOTE: If you are found guilty of academic dishonesty, e.g. plagiarism, for any work you have done for this course, the contract as stated above is null and void. Any student who is found guilty of academic dishonesty will receive an F in the course. If you have three absences the contract base grade is a D. If you are absent more than three times during the semester, the contract is null and void and you will be dropped from the course. If you fail to turn in any of the major writing projects or any number of journals or Outside Activities, or neglect to engage in group work or turn in a portfolio, your contract will be in jeopardy.

Course Schedule and Assignments

NOTE: Please come to class each Monday having read (closely and carefully with a pen in your hand!) the texts assigned for the week.

Week 1: August 25: Introductions and Overview

Reflecting on our own writing instruction/experiences with composition.

Readings: (I will send you the links to these so you can read them online)

“A Student’s Right to His Own Language.” Committee on CCCC Language Statements. CCC 25.3 (1974). Special Issue. Ed. Edward P. J. Corbett.

Bartholomae, Davide. “Inventing the University.” Perspectives on Literacy. Ed. Eugene R. Kintgen, Barry M. Kroll, and Mike Rose. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1988. 273-85.

Berlin, James. “Contemporary Composition: The Major Pedagogical Theories.” College English 44 (1982): 765-77.

Week 2: September 3: History of Composition Theory/Pedagogy

Readings:

Berthoff, Ann E. “Is Teaching Still Possible? Writing, Meaning, and Higher Order Reasoning.”

Elbow, Peter. “Writing Assessment in the 21^st Century: A Utopian View.” Composition in the Twenty-first Century: Crisis and Change. Ed. Lynn Z. Bloom, Donald A. Daiker, and Edward M. White. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1996. 83-100.

Rose, Mike. “The Language of Exclusion: Writing Instruction at the University.” College English 47 (April 1985): 341-59.

Sommers, Nancy. “Responding to Student Writing.” College Composition and Communication 33 (May 1982): 148-56.

Due on Wednesday: First Critical Response Journal. (remember to quote from the texts, connect to personal experience, ask/answer the how/why questions, and use MLA style). Make sure you bring two copies to class: one for me and one for a peer.

Week 3: September 8: Pedagogy of Critical Consciousness

Readings:

Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

How has Freire’s theory been applied to the American educational system, specifically in composition? What are the problems with this? What are the successes or strengths? What does it mean to move students to critical consciousness? Why is that part of a writing classroom? Should it be?

Week 4: September 15: Process Pedagogy

Readings:

Crowley, Sharon. “Around 1971: The Emergence of Process Pedagogy.” Composition in the University: Historical and Polemical Essays. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 1988, 187-214.

Ede, Lisa and Andrea Lunsford. “Audience Addressed/Audience Invoked: The Role of Audience in Composition Theory and Pedagogy.” College Composition and Communication35 (1984): 155-71.

Perl, Sondra. “The Composing Processes of Unskilled College Writers.” Research in the Teaching of English 13 (1978): 317-36.

Due on Wednesday: Critical Response Journal

What are the main points of Process Pedagogy? What does this mean in the writing classroom? Was process pedagogy part of your own learning? What are the advantages to this approach? Why is it significant? How does this pedagogy intersect with other theories we have learned about?

Week 5: September 22: Expressivist Pedagogy

Readings:

Bartholomae, David. “Writing with Teachers: a Conversation with Peter Elbow.” College Composition and Communication 46 (1995): 62-71.

Elbow, Peter. “Being an Academic vs. Being a Writer.” College English 46 (1995): 72-83.

Due on Wednesday: Ideas for your major project. Choose a theory that you want to explore more (we will do an overview of all the major theories that we will cover in class on Monday). By next Wednesday you must submit a project proposal. Here is the timeline for this major project:

Oct 1: Project Proposal due. In your project proposal (written in memo format), please answer the following questions:

1. What theory you plan to focus on.

2. Why you are interested in learning more about this theory.

3. What articles you have discovered so far and where you will go for more information.

4. Who your intended audience is (writing educators at what level of the school system?) and why.

Oct 8: Annotated bibliography due of at least five scholarly sources (MLA style)

Oct 22: Draft of project due to peers (please bring two hard copies to class)

Oct. 24: Peer review in class.

Oct 31: Final draft due to Kay (don’t forget your writer’s notes!)

Week 6: September 29: Basic Writing

Readings:

Bizzell, Patricia. “What Happens When Basic Writers Come to College.” College Composition and Communication 37 (Oct. 1986): 294-301.

Lunsford, Andrea. “What we Know – and Don’t Know – About Remedial Writing.” College Composition and Communication 29 (Feb. 1978): 47-52.

Rich, Adrienne. “Teaching Language in Open Admissions.” On Lies, Secrets, and Silence: Selected Prose 1966-1978. New York: W.W. Norton, 1979.

Shaughnessy, Mina P. “Diving In: And Introduction to Basic Writing.” Mina P. Shaughnessy: Her Life and Work. Jane Maher. Urbana, IOL: NCTE, 1997. 255-62.

What is the difference between an emerging writing, a basic writer, and a remedial writer? Why does it matter? What does Missouri Western offer to students who may not be prepared for college writing?

Guest Speaker: Dawn Rickett

Due Wednesday: Project Proposal

Week 7: October 6: Cultural Studies and Composition

Hairston, Maxine. “Diversity, Ideology, and Teaching Writing.” College Composition and Communication 43.2 (1992): 179-93.

Delpit, Lisa. “The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s Children.” Harvard Educational Review 58 (Aug. 1988): 280-98.

Malinowitz, Harriet. “Construing and Constructing Knowledge as a Lesbian or Gay Student Writer.”

Schilb, John. “Cultural Studies, Postmodernism, and Composition.” Contending with Words: Composition and Rheotirc in a Postmodern Age. Eds. Patricia Harkin and John Schilb. New York, MLA, 1991. 173-88.

Due Wednesday: Annotated Bibliography of at least five scholarly sources (MLA style). For each, please identify the search terms you used, the database and how many “hits” you got when you used those search terms/database.

What sorts of diversity issues do composition teachers need to be aware of? Why? How does cultural studies intersect with composition?

Week 8: October 13: Cultural Studies and Composition (especially in regards to race and African American English.

Readings:

Redd, Teresa and Karen Schuster Webb, A Teacher’s Introduction to African American English, 2005. (Read the first half of the book)

Royster, Jackie Jones. “When the First Voice You Hear is Not Your Own.”

Is AAE a language or a dialect? What do Redd and Schuster argue? Why is this issue so controversial? What are the consequences in a writing classroom of not recognizing AAE as a language? What is the difference between slang and a language?

Due on Wednesday: Critical Response Journal.

Week 9: October 20: Continued discussion on AAE

Readings:

Finish the second half of Redd and Schuster.

Due on Wednesday: First draft of your paper. Bring two copies.

Week 10: October 27: Feminist Pedagogy

Readings:

Siebler, Kay. Composing Feminisms: How Feminist Educators Changed Composition. Hampton Press, 2008. Read the first two chapters, the interchapter on methodology and then one of the ethnographies.

Due on Friday: Final draft of project due. Don’t forget your writer’s notes! (see page 3 of the syllabus)

How does Feminist Pedagogy incorporate other theories to writing that we have read about so far? What is the difference between “critical pedagogy” and “feminist pedagogy”?

Week 11: November 3: Collaborative Pedagogy

Readings:

Bleich, David. “Collaboration and the Pedagogy of Disclosure.” College English 57.1 (January 1995): 43-61.

Bruffee, Kenneth. “Collaborative Learning and the ‘Conversation of Mankind.’” College English 46.7 (November 1984): 635-52.

Roskelly, Hephzibah. “The Risky Business of Group Work.” ATAC Forum 4 (Spring 1992).

Trimbur, John. “Consensus and Difference in Collaborative Learning.” College English 51.6 (Oct. 1989): 602-16.

Due on Wednesday: Critical Response Journal.

Friday: getting into groups and choosing textbooks to review. Your review of the textbook you select will be due on Wednesday, November 19. You will also be required to make an oral presentation to the class on your review that week in class.

Week 12: November 10: Community Service and Writing Pedagogy

Readings:

Bacon, Nora. “Community Service and Writing Instruction.” National Society for Experiential Education Quarterly, Spring 1994: 14, 27.

Greco, Norma. “Critical Literacy and Community Service: Reading and Writing the World.” English Journal 81.5 (1992): 83-84.

Stotsky, Sandra. “Teaching Academic Writing as Moral and Civic Thinking.” Connecting Civic Education and Language Education: The Contemporary Challenge. Ed. Sandra Stotsky: New York: Teachers College P, 1991. 129-66.

Currently there is a trend in higher education (and perhaps in primary education) to connect education with action. Why? What is the difference between Service Learning and volunteer work or community service? How can the writing classroom be a site for connecting the community to the teaching of writing?

Week 13: November 17: Writing Across the Curriculum/Writing in the Disciplines

Readings:

Herrington, Anne J. “Writing to Learn: Writing Across the Disciplines.” College English 43 (1984): 379-87.

Mahala, Daniel. “Writing Utopias: Writing Across the Curriculum and the Promise of Reform.” College English 53 (1991): 773-89.

What is the difference between WID and WAC? Why are these movements important to institutions today? How does WID/WAC connect with larger cultural issues, concerns, or values regarding education or careers?

Week 14: November 24: Catching up.

No readings are assigned this week since we are only meeting on Monday. We will try to catch up, catch our breath and tie up any loose ends during the class period on Monday. Have a great Thanksgiving break! Save a turkey, eat Tofurkey for Thanksgiving.

Week 15: December 1: Technology and Writing

Readings:

Hawisher, Gail E., and Patricia Sullivan. “Women on the Networks.” Searching for E-Spaces of Their Own.” Feminism and Composition. Ed. Susan C. Jarrett and Lynn Worsham. New York: MLA, 1998. 172-97.

Selfe, Cynthia L. and Richard J. Selfe, Jr. “The Politics of the Interface.” College Composition and Communication 45 (1994): 480-504.

Stan, Susan, and Terence G. Collins. “Basic Writing: Curricular Interactions with the New Technology.” Journal of Basic Writing 17.1 (1998): 18-41.

Ending the semester: talking about technology and writing. Also talking about portfolios. Portfolios are due on Friday, Dec 5 in class.

In your portfolio, include the following:

All CRJs (unrevised: the ones with Kay’s comments on them)

10-12 pages of pristine, revised, edited text

Writer’s notes on revision

End of semester reflective letter

Treat for Kay (don’t spend any money, but get creative; examples: a small gerbil for me to play with while I grade, a CD of the songs you listened to as you wrote your portfolio, leftover Halloween candy that you won’t eat because you don’t like it; original art or photo (coloring book pages don’t count!)

Student Led Class sign up sheet:

Sept 5, Week 2: The History of Composition _________________________

Sept 12, Week 3: Issues in Composition (historically) ________________________

Sept 19, Week 4: Process Pedagogy ______________________

Sept 26, Week 5: Expressivist Pedagogy __________________________

Oct 3,Week 6: Issues in Basic Writing _____________________

Oct 17, Week 8: Cultural Studies and Composition ____________________

Oct 24, Week 9: African American English _________________________