Teaching Writing
Dr. Sean Meehan
Office phone: 274-5268
Course web site: http://webs.morningside.edu/meehan/englished/teachingwriting.htm
Teaching Writing: Methods and Mediation
It’s the process of writing and life that matters.
--Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones
Course Overview and Objectives:
Teaching Writing: Methods and Mediation” studies the art of writing from a pedagogical and experiential point of view. Writers will experience and understand practices for developing writing fluency and achievement in three related components: the process of writing and its creative practice (focusing on their own writing experience); the theory and pedagogy of teaching writing (focusing on mentoring developing writers, integrating grammar and usage into a writing workshop, teaching a range of writing); the potential for writing in a digital domain (focusing on new technologies and media for writing such as hypertext). A service learning project will extend the classroom study to working with developing writers in the community for a 10-hour mentoring practicum followed up by written reflection and discussion in class. The service learning project is a requirement of the course (in addition to satisfying the service learning flag): the project must be completed in order to receive credit for the course.
In addition to future language arts and English teachers (k-college) and future graduate students in the humanities, this course will benefit all writers who want a better grasp of their own writing and the powerful role it plays in their learning and their lives.
Primary course objectives:
Writers will develop an understanding of their own writing practice. As a result, I will encourage the developing of your creative capacity to write and to respond to writing.
Writers will take an active role in the workshop experience of the course. As a result, I will encourage your acquiring an interest in learning more by asking your own questions and seeking answers, in class workshops and discussions, in writing groups, and in your own reading and writing for the course.
Writers will understand a range of strategies, issues, and ideas important to teaching and learning the process of writing. As a result, I will encourage your developing specific skills, competencies, and points of view needed by professionals in the field of writing pedagogy as well as encourage your gaining a broader understanding and appreciation of the creative and intellectual activity of writing.
Writers will experience firsthand the process of mentoring a developing writer in the completion of the service learning project. As a result, I will encourage your learning to apply course material to the project and to your emerging writing pedagogy.
Departmental objective (for English majors/minors this course will thus target:
1]Understands that writing is a creative and thoughtful process and uses this process in developing writing projects through the stages from vision through revision to publication.
2]Demonstrates flexibility as a writer and can write in a variety of forms and for different audiences and purposes.
3]Applies knowledge of English language structure and history, language conventions, media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss texts; adjusts his/her use of spoken and written language to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences.
Additional Objectives for Service Learning Flag:
At a foundational level, Morningside students are able to:
(1)Identify connections between course objectives/content and their student service; (2)Identify how their ethical and active participation contributes to the community; and (3)Identify knowledge about themselves, their strengths and limitations, through their service in the community.
Course Texts:
Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones
Kirby, Kirby and Liner, Inside Out: Strategies for Teaching Writing
Les Parson, Grammarama!
You will also need a notebook of some sort to keep a journal (can be electronic if you prefer); and will need to have your wireless laptop available for most classes.
Additional reading material will be linked to the Assignments page on the course web.
Course Expectations and Policies:
Some crucial things you can expect from me as an educator and the leader of your experiences in the course.
Response: One of my roles is to assess your learning in the course so that I can help in that process. That means more than giving you a grade. It means giving you the response (employing a variety of methods of assessment, some with numbers, some without) that you will need to understand your own learning and thus perform in this course (and beyond it) more effectively and thoughtfully—the main objective of this and any course I teach. I understand that you may be more used to “grades” alone rather than this broader emphasis on response and qualitative assessment; feel free to talk with me whenever you feel you need a response that is more oriented toward a number.
Curiosity: I am a learner and love the process of learning; that is why I teach. This means that my curiosity for the subjects in this course and my desire to learn more about them will be part of the course and should encourage you, I would hope, to be equally curious and passionate about your learning. I will be a leader of the course but be prepared to have me follow your lead as well.
Flexibility: Since I am a learner and the course is therefore a work in progress, you should expect the course to evolve. We will follow a general syllabus with assignments given in advance; but be prepared for some changes to be made based on where we are going at a given time. You should always consult the course web page for updates. Regarding disabilities: If you have an identified disability which may impact your performance in this class, schedule an appointment with me as soon as possible to discuss adaptations or accommodations which may be necessary to provide you with an equal opportunity for success in this course.
Some crucial things I will expect from you as a student (and fellow learner) in this course.
Participation: If you are going to participate more effectively and thoughtfully in your own learning (an objective of the course) you will need to participate on a daily basis. Class participation is a key component of the course and will be part of your overall grade. It involves keeping up in your journal writing, speaking and listening actively in class, being prepared for discussions. Since you can’t participate if you are absent, unexcused absences will affect your grade. An excused absence is one where you have spoken with me in advance about your need to miss class. Here is my attendance policy:
--After two absences (your free pass), each absence will count -10 from your final participation grade.
--A student who misses 50% of the classes by midterm (this includes classes missed before signed into the course) will automatically fail the course.
--Any quizzes or other in-class assignments given on a day a student is absent will result in a 0, unless the absence has been arranged previously with me.
--Students may have the opportunity to add extra credit points to their participation grade. See me if interested or concerned about your absences.
Communication: Keep in touch with me about how things are going for you, difficulties you are having with your work, confusion, curiosity, excitement. Communicating how things are going is also a key part of participating thoughtfully in your own learning. My late work policy: As a rule, if you have not communicated with me in advance about turning in an assignment later than the due date, you will loose credit for that assignment. An assignment more than one week late will receive a 0.
Integrity: You can’t participate thoughtfully if you aren’t being fully honest with me, with your colleagues, and with yourself. Plagiarism is one form of dishonesty. In general, using the ideas and language of another without giving proper credit is plagiarism. Any student guilty of such plagiarism is subject to serious penalty for the assignment (failing) and for the course overall. We will talk about how to credit properly the use of another’s work as well as how to distinguish between collaboration and sharing (both of which are important in education) and plagiarism. For more on plagiarism and the policies of the College, consult the College Catalog and Student Handbook.
Progress: Throughout the course I will be looking for and assessing your progress as a way to help you make that progress. I will expect you to be striving for progress in all aspects of the course, willing and eager to do the work that progress requires.
Assessment:
I will use a variety of evaluation methods to assess your performance and determine your final grade. These methods will be discussed in advance. The general scale I will use for determining final grades should be familiar to you (+ and – at each level may also be applied):
A/Excellent/90-100
B/Good/80-89
C/Average/70-79
D/Poor/60-69
F/Failing/below 60
What follows is a guideline for how your progress and work in the course will count toward your final grade:
Participation: 50 points [approximately 10%]
Journal and attendance will inform your participation grade.
Reading [approximately 20%]: 100 points
Quizzes, presentations, discussion
Writing [approximately 50%]
Journal/notebook: 50 points
2 writing projects: 125 points each
Service learning project: 50 points [10%]
Final project/portfolio: 50 points [10%]