ENG/EDU 612: PRAIRIE LANDS
WRITING PROJECT
ADVANCED INSTITUTE ONLINE
SEMINAR IN PROFESSIONAL WRITING FOR TEACHERS
“Hit the Trail – Writing”
Summer 2008
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department of English, Foreign Languages,
and Journalism
Department of Education
Instructor: Amy
Lannin, lannina@missouri.edu or
alannin@missouriwestern.edu
Phone:
573-999-6327
Prairie Lands
Writing Project Site Director: Dr. Jane Frick, frick@missouriwestern.edu
Office:
Phone:
816-271-4315
Prairie Lands
Writing Project Web Site: http://www.missouriwestern.edu/plwp/
ENG/EDU 612 Prairie Lands Writing Project Seminar in Professional Writing for Teachers (Advanced Institute, 3 credits). This online capstone course is designed for participants to develop dual roles of writer and teacher of writing. “Hit the Trail – Writing” is a theme that bridges several topics: Writing Across the Curriculum, Creative Nonfiction, and Exploration of Place.
The thinking behind this topic is that teachers and students
need to find and take opportunities to learn in places outside of the classroom
and about places in which we live and work.
This focus on place not only celebrates the stories of the people, but
stretches into numerous disciplines:
history, the arts, ecology, science, geology, architecture, etc. Though we cannot possibly explore all of the
dimensions of “place” in one course, we will take steps that motivate us (and
our students) to keep discovering what is right outside our classroom doors,
down the street, in the park, or at the local museum. This bridge of topics is supported by our
statewide network of trails and parks.
“Hit the Trail – Writing” is the invitation to get out and about this
summer, to write, to find your place within this great state. As teachers in other parts of the state have
explored this same theme, we hope that our collected writings and lessons of
place may make a collection worth publishing and sharing with teachers in
In this seminar
participants will:
- Examine a variety of genres to write about “place,” with special focus
on the genre of creative nonfiction
- Understand
features of place-based writing as they write, revise, and prepare to publish
writing
- Confer with a
writing group to revise writing
- Understand methods of writing instruction as they write, revise, and publish lessons based on places in which students live and learn
- Engage in continuous inquiry and reflection based on course content, readings, teaching experiences, writing, and discussion.
Though this is an online course, it is not an independent study course. New lessons will be available on Monday and Wednesday of each week. Discussion board assignments will be due by 10:00 p.m. Wednesday for the Monday lesson and 10:00 p.m. Saturday for Wednesday’s lesson of the same week. Other due dates are posted in the schedule. Participants will discuss topics and readings on the Discussion Board. Writing groups (set by the instructor) will set times for group conferring, and writings will be emailed for group member responses.
Prerequisite: Completion of an Invitational Institute, ENG/EDU 610; a
commitment to writing as a way to learn and to communicate learning.
Selected articles available online throughout the course.
Books you may want to find at a bookstore or online:
- Bryson, Bill. (2000). The Best American Travel Writing (2000).
-
Kitchen, Judith & Mary Paumier Jones,
editors. (1999). In Brief: Short Takes on the Personal.
-
Louv, Richard. (2006). Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit
Disorder.
-
Macrorie, Ken.
Writing to be Read.
-
Rous, Emma Wood.
Literature and the Land:
The following assignments will be completed during the course. More information will be provided for each one, including rubric and final due date:
1. Place-based Lesson (due on or after July 7)
2. Three Revised Writings that may include any of the following writings completed during the course. The writings listed will also be collected periodically and read by participants and the instructor:
Where I am At poem (and other poetry of place)
Writing of Self: Personal Geography
Secret of Once
Four Modes Essay
Perspective of Place
Sample writing of place (example of what students may write in your lesson)
3. Reflection of your writing and experience in the course.
Hit the Trail – Writing:
We
will write and be assigned a writing group with whom to share drafts of writing
and respond to the work of others. How
will we manage this without seeing one another?
You will email and/or post your writing for your group members to read
and post/email responses to you. In
addition, we will host two online chat times for your group to discuss
writing. Remember to email your
assignments and writings to the instructor as well.
Hit the Trail –
We
will read and discuss several common texts as well as self-selected texts. It is also important that we share new books
and texts with one another. Many
lessons will have assigned discussion board topics. In addition to posting your own comments,
responses, and questions to these topics, please respond to at least two
classmates’ responses. The instructor
will monitor and occasionally join the discussions. Please read and periodically review the
Discussion Board Guidelines.
Hit the Trail - Teaching:
You will prepare a lesson that you could teach your students using the
following guidelines:
1. Identify a place close to
your school (the place you teach or plan to teach). This place should connect with your
curricular area and be a place that students can explore and would benefit
learning more about. Their exploration
may not be just visiting, but may be studying about the place, interviewing
others about the place, etc.
2. Explain how or why you
identified the place. Include how this
place connects with what you are or will teach.
For instance, explain how this place connects with the teaching of
science, math, history, art, language, reading, literature, writing,
government, health, etc.
3. Use examples of your own
writing to illustrate how you wrote about this place and how your students may
write about this or a similar place. You
may include drafts of this writing to demonstrate how you explored writing as
you studied this place (you may include the writings completed in this course).
4. Explain how your lesson
evolved out of your writing and experimenting, out of the reading you have
done, or out of your own thinking and reflecting. In other words, what is the
basis for your particular approach to teaching writing in this way? What is
your theoretical framework?
5. Provide a text for the
participants (and possibly your students) to read that connects with your
lesson. Select these texts from examples of place-based writing or similar text
that is a model or extends the thinking of what you want your students to do.
6. In your lesson description,
be sure to include participants in some activity. Rather than merely describing
theory, provide a framework for students to experience this as a writing event.
7. Post your lesson and read
and reply to the comments made by participants.
Share with us how you might change your lesson as you reflect on
responses from others.
8. Provide a bibliography and
list of resources showing your research into this topic.
GRADING
POLICY
All assignments contribute to the final grade and are to be
completed in a professional manner – thoughtful, well-organized, reflecting the
content of the course. All writings will
be evaluated based on the Creative Nonfiction/Place-based Writing
Guidelines. Writing group and
Discussion board participation will also be assessed based on posted
guidelines.
No individual
grades will be assigned for any activity, writing, or discussion; however,
participants will receive critical responses from the instructor and fellow
participants. The purpose of these institutes is to bring teachers together to
improve the teaching of literacy; those who participate are to demonstrate a
commitment to a reflective inquiry of their own teaching. Frequent grades—an
outside assessment of quality or effort—will damage the reflective inquiry
community that we hope to establish.
If the
instructor feels that a participant is not achieving the goals of the course as
described above due to lack of participation, late or missing work,
inconsistent effort, or disruptive actions, the instructor will contact the
student to discuss concerns. A failing grade will be assigned to students who
fail to meet or refuse to meet the goals of the course.
The final day
to withdraw without penalty is July 17, 2008.
POLICIES
Academic Honesty Policy and
Due Process:
Academic
honesty is required in all academic endeavors. Violations of academic honesty
include any instance of plagiarism, cheating, seeking credit for another’s
work, falsifying documents or academic records, or any other fraudulent
activity. 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 Western 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
Attendance/Participation:
You are expected to participate
fully throughout the course. If you
cannot fulfill a requirement by the date due, please call the instructor. See
Grading Policy above.
Student
Disability:
Any student who has a disability
that prevents the fullest expressions of abilities should contact the instructor
as soon as possible so that we can work to provide assistance as needed.
In the event
that WebCT is down OR you experience other technical difficulties...
It is the student's responsibility to:
·
Check to make sure it
is not your computer or internet connection. Try to login to another Web site
and try to login to GoldLink.
·
E-mail instructor with
details of your problem IF problem is preventing you from completing an
assignment that is due very soon.
·
E-mail
webct@missouriwestern.edu with details of your problem regardless of what it is
interfering with.
·
Try to access class
again in a few hours and continue until problem is resolved.
It is the instructor's and/or Western's
responsibility to:
·
Inform students of
planned outages.
·
Alter the schedule in the
event of an unplanned outage.
·
Provide CD of course
materials for students who cannot download due to slow Internet connections.
SCHEDULE:
Assignments will be posted each Monday and Wednesday, but will generally follow the schedule below. Each day is outlined with the theme, the discussion board topic, the assignments and due dates, and the readings that support the discussion and writing. Here is what we will plan for each week, but please expect some changes, which I will email and post as needed:
June 2, Monday – Introductions and Welcome
4:30 - Meet on-campus with
Dr. Jane Frick.
Lesson Module 1 -- Charting
our Course: “Where I’m At” (rather than
Where I’m From)
Discussion Board -- Why do “Travel Stories Matter” and what makes
them work?
Assignment (go to
“Assignments” on WebCT) -- Read the
course syllabus. Write a poem of
introduction “Where I’m At” (see sample
in “Assignments”). Due: June 4.
June 4, Wednesday –
Guidelines for Discussion
Board Posts (in Course Content)
Discussion Board -- Read the poems posted by participants. Reply to at least two poems.
Assignment due -- Poem of introduction “Where I’m At”
Assignment -- Write (first draft) of Personal Geography Essay (due June 11).
June 9, Monday
– Historical Perspectives of Place
Lesson Module 2 -- The Historical
Perspectives of Place
Discussion Board -- Perspectives of Place
Assignment -- Personal Geography Essay: ABCs of Place sent to Instructor and to Small
Writing Group (Due June 11). Small
writing group will read and reply with Tracked Changes and comments by June
16.
June 11, Wednesday --
The Current Perspective of Place
Lesson Module 3 -- The Secret
of Once
Discussion Board -- How does Buford accomplish the experience of
“once”? What format/structure do you notice in his essay? What other writing lessons can we take from
these texts?
Assignment -- First draft of
your own Secret of Once in a current place. (Due by June 16 to instructor and
writing group). Responses from group to
writer due by June 20.
June 16, Monday -- Four Modes of Place
Lesson Module 4 -- Four modes of place: Artistic, Philosophic,
Scientific, Narrative
Discussion Board – Modes of
Discourse
Assignment -- Four Modes essay. (Due June 23 to instructor and writing
group).
June 18, Wednesday --
Place-based Writing Across the Curriculum
Lesson Module 5 --
Writing to Learn and Writing Across the Disciplines
Discussion Board –
Place-based writing across the curriculum
Assignment -- Four Modes essay due to small writing group
and instructor by June 23. Schedule a one-hour virtual conference with
your group between June 20 and 27.
June 23, Monday – The Lure of the Outdoors
Lesson Module 6 -- Reasons to
Write and Learn Outdoors
Reading: from Louv’s Last Child in the Woods: Saving
our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder
Discussion Board: Why and How to bridge local places and school
Assignment: J is for Journal (due to self on June 25)
Assignment due: Four Modes Essay. Responses to writer by June 30.
June 25, Wednesday --
Books and a Backyard
Lesson Module 7 -- Literature of Place
Discussion Board -- Effective place-based writings – what works?
Assignment – Perspectives of
Place (using Journal assignment from Monday).
Due: July 2
June 30, Monday – Creative Nonfiction Genre
Lesson Module 8 -- Unpacking the genre of CNF
Discussion Board -- What have we discovered as critical elements
of Creative Nonfiction?
Assignment – Work on lesson
July 2, Wednesday – CNF continued
Discussion Board -- Review discussion board posts and replies
Assignment -- Work on lessons and email ideas to instructor
and small group by midnight July 2.
July 7 & 9 – Place-based lessons
Discussion board -- Read and discuss lessons
Assignment -- Try out one of the writing events provided in
the lesson. Reflect on how it went and
what you would recommend for the lesson (what works, what might be
altered). Email reflection to instructor
and author of lesson by July 14.
July 14, Monday
– Place-based lessons, Reflections, and Revisions
Discussion board -- Read and discuss lessons
Assignment -- Try out one of the writing events provided in
the lesson. Reflect on how it went and
what you would recommend for the lesson (what works, what might be
altered). Email reflection to instructor
and author of lesson by July 21.
Schedule a one-hour virtual
conference with your group between July 14-21
July 16, Wednesday – Final Reflections and Revisions
Lesson Module 8 -- Revising place-based writing - a synthesis of ideas generated from the
course, the readings, the writing, and discussions.
Assignment -- Choose three
favorite writings to revise
July 21, Monday – Revising and Publishing Plans
Assignment – Revise three
writings to submit to instructor
July 23, Wednesday – Closing comments
Revised final lesson,
reflection and three final drafts due by July 24. Grades posted July 31.