Department
of English, Foreign Languages, Journalism
School
of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Dr.
Jane Frick, English Professor, and
Spring
- 2004
Email:
frick@missouriwestern.edu
Faculty Web Page: www.missouriwestern.edu/eflj/faculty/frick.html
Office:
SS/C 201 (Prairie Lands Writing Project)
271-4315
(MWSC); 232-3695 (home)
Office
Hours: TTH
Other
Times by Appointment
Course Syllabus for ENG 36501
Teaching Writing in Middle and Secondary Schools
Class closed
Web site at http://miranda.cailab.mwsc.edu:8080/~eng465
Catalog Description
ENG 365 Teaching Writing in Middle and Secondary Schools
(3). Instruction in
applying current research on the composing process to the teaching of writing
in secondary schools and an examination of problems issues related to teaching
writing in grades 7 - 12.
Course
Description
This annual
offering is designed for Missouri Western students considering a teaching
career and/or substitute teachers who want to turn their classrooms into
vibrant and transforming learning communities for themselves and their
students. As teachers, how can we make writing and the evaluation of writing an
exhilarating and joyous learning experience for our students as well as for
ourselves? How can we also prepare our students to demonstrate that they are
proficient and/or advanced writers on their Missouri Assessment Program (MAP)
tests? In answering these questions, we will investigate good writing and
teaching practices documented by area middle and high school teachers, by the
National Writing Project, and by the Missouri Department of Elementary and
Secondary Education.
Basic
Assumptions about Writing/Teaching Writing (adopted from the National Writing Project: www.writingproject.org)
4
Writing is pivotal to learning, to
academic achievement, and to job success
4 Writing instruction begins in kindergarten and continues through university
4 Effective teachers of writing regularly write themselves
4 Writing is fundamental to learning in all subjects
Course
Objectives
(1)
To provide training for prospective teachers who will teach writing as a part
of their English classes and for those who will teach writing as a
teaching/learning device in other content areas in middle or secondary schools.
(2)
To build one's own writing fluency by writing and responding to others'
writing.
(3)
To develop a philosophy of teaching writing which can be
applied in middle and secondary schools.
(4)
To join the professional community of teachers who write and to begin the
process of developing a professional teaching portfolio which includes pieces
demonstrating writing competence as well as the ability to teach writing.
(5)
To understand the process paradigm as it translates to the teaching of writing
as well as problems in teaching via that approach in middle and secondary schools.
(6)
To know how to use computer technology to enhance writing instruction and
learning.
(7)
To develop and implement a philosophy for evaluating student writing (includes
peer review, holistic evaluation, analytic evaluation, portfolio assessment,
student evaluation, program assessment)
(8)
To develop and/or complete writing assignments which demonstrate that writing
can be used as a tool for learning and critical inquiry and that writing
proficiency is integral for acceptable testing performance (i.e. MAP).
Required Text
Art
Peterson and Amy Bauman. Breakthroughs: Classroom Discoveries About Teaching Writing.
Recommended
Professional Memberships:
One-year
student membership ($20) in The National Council of Teachers of English
(www.ncte.org/) or professional teachers’ association in your primary
discipline:
http://www.nctm.org/ (National
Council of Teachers of Mathematics)
http://www.nsta.org/ (National
Science Teachers Association)
http://www.le.ac.uk/education/centres/ATSS/atss.html
(Association for the Teaching of Social Sciences)
One-semester
membership ($5) in the Missouri Western Student Affiliate of the National
Council of Teachers of English (www.missouriwestern.edu/orgs/sncte/)
Class listserv: You will be joined to eng365@list.mwsc.edu
Course
Grade
Points will be awarded for all projects. At the
end of the semester, I will divide your points by the number of possible points
and award grades on the basis of the following percentages:
90-99%
Course Grade A
80-89%
Course Grade B
70-79%
Course Grade C
60-69%
Course Grade D
Below
60% Course Grade F
I
anticipate the following number of possible points for the semester:
Up
to 500 possible points for in-class workshops and out-of-class journaling/reflection,
which will be allocated in 5 - 50 points per activity (includes completing four
writings on Prairie Voices Online (http://www.missouriwestern.edu/prairielands/pvonline.html).
No make-ups or late work will be accepted for these activities after their
due dates.
150 possible points for Project # 1.
(An episodic writing
autobiography (at least five episodes) which you have already shared and
critiqued in an in-class workshop and which you will publish on our class Web
site.)
400 possible points
for Project # 2. (An integrated
teaching unit (lesson plan sequence of approximately four weeks) at the grade
level/discipline in which you expect to teach which includes writing components as a major focus).
350 possible points for Project #3. (A
multi-genre research paper focusing
on an aspect of teaching writing you wish to explore and/or learn more
about. Assignment details and scoring rubric will be available by February 18.)
500 possible points for Course Portfolio
and Final Exam (500). (The course portfolio
will contain your revised Project # 1, # 2, and #3 AND a reflective essay. The
essay, describing how your writing and teaching writing repertoire have changed
as a result of completing the three projects, will be written during the final
exam session.)
Attendance
Policy:
Come to class. There are no makeup points for
missing work completed in class.
Due
Dates:
Papers and projects are due at the beginning of
the hour on the assigned date. Late submissions will be lowered points
equivalent to one letter grade per day late.
Students
with Disabilities:
Any student in this course who has a disability
that prevents or hinders the completion of class requirements must notify me
immediately so that provisions may be made for any assistance which is needed.
Honesty
Policy:
It is expected that all students will submit
their own work. Plagiarism or cheating on papers or tests is not acceptable. The
first instance of plagiarism will result in a failing grade, or 0-60% of
possible points, on the assignment. The second instance of plagiarism will
result in a failing grade for the course.
VERY Tentative
Course Plan
Detailed assignments,
handouts and materials will be available to you for downloading and printing
from the O drive: English folder/Frick folder/ENG 365/366 Class Materials
folder.
I. Building
Fluency: Practicing a Writing Process Paradigm and Philosophy
T 1/20 Course Introductions
Th 1/22
"Improving Student Writing: Challenges and Expectations” (Handout)
"Episodic Fiction: Another
Way to Tell a Story" 73-91
T 1/27 "Learning to Write" (Handout)
Th 1/29 “Let’s Take Another
Look at the Fish: The Writing Process As Discovery” 1-9
"The
Writing Process" at www.csuohio.edu/writingcenter/writproc.html
"Implementing
the Writing Process" at www3.sk.sympatico.ca/fiss/newpage1.htm.
T 2/3 "Kyle’s Surprises: Anecdote
as a Strategy to Strengthen Student Writing" 103-115
Th 2/05 No Class: Frick at Missouri Association
of English Teachers/Missouri Writing Project Network's annual Write to Learn
Conference for language arts teachers, K – 16
T 2/10 “Behind Their Backs: Proximity
and Insult in Student Response” 281-292
Writer’s
Workshop: Bring complete draft of episodic writing autobiography to class
Th 2/12 “Revising Revision: How My
Students Transformed Writer’s Workshop” 293-311
T 2/17 “Writing to Learn” (Handout)
Th 2/19 Project # 1, an episodic writing autobiography, is due
"Let’s Take Another Look at the Fish: The Writing Process As Discovery”"
9 - 10
“Energy
Conversion: The Evolution of Experimenters’ Workshop” 311 - 323
II.
Developing Integrated Writing
Lessons/Units
T 2/24 "Guidelines for Teaching Middle and High School Students to
Read and Write Well" Online brochure available at cela.albany.edu/
“Everything
I Know About Teaching Language Arts, I learned at the
Office Supply Store” 187- 200
Th 2/26 "Author to Author: How Text
Influences Young Writers" 43 – 56
“The
Field Trip Within” 173-186
T 3/2 “A Cure for Writer’s Block:
Writing for Real Audiences” 116 – 124
“Getting
Real: Can a Writing Prompt Be Authentic” 137-145
Th 3/4 High School Writing Day – no class
T 3/9 “Tensing
Up: Moving from Fluency to Flair” 145-158
“Skeletons
Out Of the Closet: the Case of the Missing 162 Percent” 209-221
Th 3/11 “Pruning
Too Early: The Thorny Issue of Grading Student Writing” 221- 233
“Beyond
Rhetoric: A Reflective, Persuasive Final Exam for the Workshop Classroom” 19 -
29
3/14 - 3/21 Spring Break (no classes)
T 3/23: "Multi-genre
research paper handouts, including “13: Learning What We Need”
W 3/24 Mid-term Grades submitted
Th 3/25 Possibly,
no class: Frick may be at national, annual College Composition and
Communication Conference
“Quoc Tin and Sona: The Story of a
Peer Journal Project” 125 – 136
“I
WAS a Journal-Topic Junkie” 243-255
II: Exploring Burning Issues: External Standards and Assessment
(MAP), Grammar, Research Writing, Plagiarism, Technology, Gender, Race,
Socioeconomics
T 3/30 Project # 2 is due – Thematic teaching unit
“Standards
and Assessments for Writing” (Handout)
Th 4/1 Writing for the MAP – Review
2003 MAP Released items and scoring guide at http://www.dese.state.mo.us/divimprove/curriculum/releaseditems/index.htm
T 4/6 Writing for the MAP
Th 4/8 “Teacherless
Talk: Impressions from Electronic Literary Conversations” 29 - 43
T 4/13 "Sound and Sense: Grammar,
Poetry, and Creative Language" 159 - 173
Th 4/15 "Romance in the Classroom:
Inviting Discourse on Gender and Power" 323 - 333
T 4/20 No
class: Conference Day (You will conference with me regarding your multi-genre
research paper at a pre-arranged time, on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or
Friday – 30 minutes)
Th 4/22
No class: Conference Day
(You will conference with me regarding your multi-genre research paper at a
pre-arranged time, on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday – 30 minutes)
T 4/27 Project # 3 is due – Multi-genre research
paper
Th 4/29
T 5/04
Final
Exam: Thursday, May 6: