English 600B

ENGLISH 600B: College Composition: Theory and Pedagogy (Including Field Experience)

Instructor: Dr. Santosh Khadka                                                Phone: 818-677-4337

Fall 2015                                                                                            Email: santosh.khadka@csun.edu

Mon 12:30-3:15                                                                                Office Hours T, Th 10:00-11:00

ED 2117

Books to Acquire:

Bawarshi, Anis. Genre & the Invention of the Writer: Reconsidering the Place of Invention in Composition. Logan: Utah State UP, 2003. Download from here: http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1140&context=usupress_pubs

Bowen, Tracey, and Carl Whithaus. Eds. Multimodal Literacies and Emerging Genres. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013. Ebook available at Oviatt Library. Click here to view.

Carillo, Ellen C. Securing a Place for Reading in Composition: The Importance of Teaching for Transfer. Utah      State University Press, 2015. E-book available through CSUN e-library: Click here to view

McKee Heidi A., and Danielle Nicole DeVoss. Eds. Digital Writing Assessment and Evaluation. Computers and Composition Digital Press (Utah State University Press).

Download from here: http://ccdigitalpress.org/dwae/

Horner, Bruce Horner, and Karen Kopelson. Reworking English in Rhetoric and Composition: Global Interrogations, Local Interventions. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2014. Available at CSUN Bookstore

There will also be articles posted on Moodle by dates the readings are assigned.

Course Description:

English 600B is designed both to assist first semester TAs in teaching English 114A and 114B and to serve as a continuation of the previous teacher-preparation seminar (600A). Like English 600A, the course will focus on connections: connections between composition theory and pedagogical practice, collaboration between and among seminar participants, and community building with others in the composition program.  In addition to reviewing major concepts in composition such as process, invention, revision, argument, assignment design, critical thinking and rhetorical reading, the course will emphasize several themes, in particular, connections between reading and writing, the role of new media in the teaching of writing, issues concerning assessment, strategies and approaches for working with ELL and dialect speaking students, and the political/ideological/linguistic controversies that affect curricular, pedagogical, and assessment decisions. All of these issues are interconnected with rhetoric, genre, and transfer, topics that will also be discussed.

The course will also include reflection. Through reading, discussion, and classroom experience, first semester writing instructors will continue to develop their own comprehensive and coherent concept of what we mean when we talk about “writing” at a time when new media genres are becoming increasingly important, consider what makes writing effective, examine how students learn to write, and determine what they need to learn in order to use writing effectively in academic and professional contexts.

This course carries 3 semester units of graded workload credit but cannot be used toward your 30-unit M.A. work unless you are in the Rhetoric and Composition option, in which case you will supplement work in the course by preparing a blog that focuses on one concept in Composition, based on both research and classroom experience.  Grades will be based on the quality and satisfactory nature of the work completed, the promptness with which it is completed, and attendance and active participation in the seminar. This course is a graduate seminar and grades will reflect the quality of your work in the course; your teaching duties will not be graded and are outside of the grading framework.

STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

  1. To enable first year Teaching Associates to share ideas and experiences about their first semester of teaching first year university writing;
  2. To enable first year Teaching Associates to read and discuss texts concerned with Composition theory and pedagogy;
  3. To enable first year Teaching Associates to develop lessons and strategies that are appropriate for teaching Composition;
  4. To enable first year Teaching Associates to reflect upon their first semester of teaching Composition.

As I hope you know, I am always happy to communicate with you either in person or by e-mail.

Schedule (Subject to Change)

Date Class Activities Homework
8/29/16 Introduction to the course

Discuss 600B syllabus

Discussion of first progression

Sign up for presentation and teaching strategy demonstration dates

Bring first Progression
9/5/16 Labor Day–Campus Closed
9/12/16 Report on beginning of the semester

How to write Feedback/comments?

Collaborative Presentation:
Teaching Strategy Demonstration:

Blog Post 1 Due

Bean, “Writing Comments on Students’ Papers”

Sommers, “Responding to Student Writing”

Chris M, Anson “Response and the Social Construction of Error.”

9/19/16 Grading/Evaluation

Collaborative Presentation:

Teaching Strategy Demonstration:

Blog Post 2 Due

Danielewicz and Elbow, “Grading Contract”

Bean, “Using Rubrics to Develop and Apply Grading Criteria”

Developing your own rubric/evaluation criteria

9/26/16 ESL/ELL

Discussion on Second Progression

Teaching Strategy Demonstration:

Collaborative Presentation:

Blog Post 3 Due

Bring Second Progression

Min Lu and Bruce Horner–Translingual Literacy, Language Difference, and Matters of Agency (Moodle)
Chapters 9 and 12 from Reworking English in Rhetoric and Composition.

10/3/16 Plagiarism

Collaborative Presentation:

Teaching Strategy Demonstration:

Blog Post 4 Due

 

Lyon “Plagiarism, the Ownership of Writing, and Transnational Conflicts”

Howard “Sexuality, Textuality: The Cultural Work of Plagiarism”

Valentine “Plagiarism as Literacy Practice: Recognizing and Rethinking Ethical Binaries”

10/10/16 Discussion of essays from first progression.

Teaching Strategy Demonstration:

Choose 3 essays from the first progression, one excellent, the second in the middle range, and the third poor. Make three copies of each (3 copies plus the original) and 3 copies of the rubric you are using for evaluation. Be prepared to discuss your rationale for evaluation.
10/17/16 Reading-Writing Connections

Collaborative Presentation:

Class Visits Discussion

Blog Post 5 Due

Carillo Intro, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7

Bunn, “Teaching Reading (and Writing) in the Composition Classroom”

10/24/16 Genre Theory

Collaborative Presentation:

Teaching Strategy Demonstration:

Blog Post 6 Due

Chapters 3, Chapter 4 and chapter 5 (pp. 49-144)  from Anis Bawarshi’s Genre & the Invention of the Writer
10/31/16 Discussion on Third Progression

Discussion of 114B Course Structure and Projects

 

Bring 114A Third Progression

11/7/16 In Small Groups, Work on  114B Syllabus/Assignments

See Moodle for sample syllabi and other related materials (folder at the top)

11/14/16 Discussion on 114B Structure and Available Resources
11/21/16 Bring Syllabus and project medium to the class

Sign-up for Individual Conferences

Presentation of syllabus and project medium in the class
11/28/16  

Further workshopping on Syllabus and project space and project text in small groups

 

Individual Conferences
12/5/16 Evaluating New Media/Multimedia Composition–Discussion of Ball’s article, “Assessing Scholarly Multimedia”

Project Space and Project Text Presentation in the class

Syllabus Rationale Due

Blog 7 Due

 

600B Assignments:

  1. Visit a Class Taught by a Member of this class and Post a Reflection by October 10th

Arrange to visit a class taught by a member of our class (please choose a time when actual teaching or a workshop is occurring). Then post a reflection about your visit on Moodle by 9 AM on October 10th. In your reflection, please describe the activity you observed. Then reflect on similarities and differences between this class and your own, including the nature of the classroom culture and students’ engagement with the lesson or activity.

  1. Collaborative Presentation on a Critical Issue in Composition

Each pair or group will deliver a one-hour presentation on a topic covered by the assigned readings.  See calendar for presentation dates.

Your presentation should give class members an overview of the issue and its significance for the teaching of writing. Bring up any aspects of the text that you find particularly interesting or problematic. You can provide a brief summary of the assigned texts, but your focus should be on critically engaging with the topic and eliciting class discussion. You and your partners need to collaborate on all aspects of the presentation—do not divide up the work and then give multiple mini-presentations.

  1. Teaching Strategy Presentation

Select a strategy from the writing handbook that you have implemented in your English 114A class this semester. You must try out the strategy with your students before your presentation date and be ready to report back to the class on the results of your experiment. When you report back, please give an overview of the strategy (not a reenactment). Explain which activity you tried, why you tried it, how successful it was, whether you would do it again and why, and, how or if you might modify it. You should also solicit questions at the end of your presentation. Maximum time for presentation: 15 minutes. Time for questions: 5 minutes. Please do not exceed 20 minutes! You can also base your presentation on ideas from other sources, such as the books used last semester.

  1. English 114B Syllabus Rationale (about 5 pages)

This should be a theoretically informed rationale for your syllabus and should include references to scholars we have read during the two semesters of our class. Please refer to English 600AB class readings and other materials you find appropriate. Include a list of Works Cited following MLA format. Obviously you cannot explain every component of your syllabus in five pages, so you will need to focus on the bigger picture and decide which are the most important and/or interesting aspects of your syllabus that you’d like to discuss, or which aspects of the syllabus others might have questions about. Everyone teaches the course differently—your rationale is your opportunity to explain why you do things the way you do. Imagine your reader as someone who might be looking to hire you to teach college composition at another institution.

  1. Blog Response to Course Readings

You will write a short response to the shared reading(s) for the week and post the response to your website. Your response should show your familiarity with the assigned readings and demonstrate your engagement with them either by drawing connections between the readings (and course themes), and/or by thoughtfully reflecting on the implications of the readings and discussions.

This assignment is intended to spark and expand on our class discussions, prepare you to engage in those discussions more fully and productively, enhance your understanding of the assigned readings, explore new insights about the assigned texts, introduce you to ways of using informal writing for invention, and provide you with ideas that you may later use to develop your major projects.

Each post should be between 400 and 600 words and is due before class each week. Generally speaking, your blog post should examine one or more of these issues:
• main issues, themes, or questions/claims in the reading
• language use in the select texts
• key texts cited (and intertextual relationships)
• major questions/challenges the text pose for you
• issues/questions from seminar discussions and texts under consideration
I want you to take this assignment seriously. Not only will these responses prepare you for productive contribution to our seminar/discussions, they may also be the springboard for your longer projects.

Link to Students’ Portfolios

  1. 114B Syllabus and Projects

Draft as much as you can of a syllabus for your Fall 2016 English 114B class. The following components MUST be included:

  • The Composition and GE Learning Outcomes. These are attached to the 600B Moodle site.
  • A list of required or recommended texts
  • A list of any other required materials
  • A discussion of how you will use Moodle or another form of interactive media.
  • A presentation of the Student Learning Objectives of the course and a course description
  • A description of the course format or procedures
  • Details of your grading policy
  • Details of your attendance policy
  • A statement indicating required student attendance at an individual conference(s)
  • A statement of policy regarding quizzes or presentations
  • A statement of policy regarding plagiarism
  • A tentative schedule of major assignments or due dates

If you are unable to supply details for any of the components listed above, block out a place on your syllabus where you intend to insert this information. Your syllabus is a work in progress, and you can develop a final version over the summer.

Please put your syllabus and projects in your digital portfolio. I will send you feedback through your email.

  1. Online Teaching Portfolio

Your teaching portfolio consists of the following items (not necessarily in this order)

  • Cover page
  • Table of contents
  • Your revised English 114B syllabus and rationale

One sample assignment from your English 114A class, a student paper in response to that assignment with your comments to the student, plus a brief discussion of the rationale for your comments.

  1. Participation and Attendance

You are expected to attend all seminar meetings from beginning to end and to offer thoughtful, scholarly contributions to each class discussion (you may miss one seminar meeting without penalty).

 

600BF Requirements:

  1. Choose a time for me to visit one of your classes 

Note that I will provide feedback on my observation of your class, but I will not grade it. Since you are a first-semester Teaching Associate, I expect that you will be trying new things and perhaps failing sometimes (it happens to all of us). I will offer you mentorship and support and give you feedback, but there will be no formal record of this feedback.  I am particularly interested in your ability to reflect on your teaching.

  1. Visit the class of a colleague in this seminar before mid-October
  1. Meet with me for an individual conference near the end of the semester to discuss your teaching.
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