Friday, November 6, 2009

Intro To Comp Studies (Undergraduate Course)

From WPA-L (Nov. 2009):

Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 12:10:11 -0600
From: "Byard, Vicki" <V-Byard@NEIU.EDU>
Subject: Undergraduate Intro to Comp Studies course

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My department is developing an upper-level undergraduate course for =
English majors that would serve as an introduction to composition =
studies. Our goals for the course are to ensure that our English majors =
(many of whom go on to teach English in high schools) are knowledgeable =
about major issues in composition studies. We also hope to use the =
course as a means of recruiting talented majors for our MA in =
composition track. =20
=20
If your institution offers a similar undergraduate course, I'd greatly =
appreciate receiving a course description and syllabus, on or off list.
=20
Vicki Byard
Professor of English
Coordinator of the First-Year Writing Program
Northeastern Illinois University

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From: Writing Program Administration [mailto:WPA-L@asu.edu] On Behalf Of By=
ard, Vicki
Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2009 12:10 PM
To: WPA-L@ASU.EDU
Subject: Undergraduate Intro to Comp Studies course

My department is developing an upper-level undergraduate course for English=
majors that would serve as an introduction to composition studies. Our go=
als for the course are to ensure that our English majors (many of whom go o=
n to teach English in high schools) are knowledgeable about major issues in=
composition studies. We also hope to use the course as a means of recruit=
ing talented majors for our MA in composition track.

If your institution offers a similar undergraduate course, I'd greatly appr=
eciate receiving a course description and syllabus, on or off list.

Vicki Byard
Professor of English
Coordinator of the First-Year Writing Program
Northeastern Illinois University

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Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 13:59:57 -0600
From: Kaye Adkins <kadkinsphd@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Undergraduate Intro to Comp Studies course

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Although it isn't in my course rotation any more, we have an undergraduate
course, "Introduction to Composition Theory" that is required of all English
Education majors. The faculty who share responsibility for the course teach
it pretty much the same way I have. We still haven't found any better books
than the two on the syllabus (but we're always open to suggestions).
Finding something appropriate to undergraduate secondary ed students is a
challenge.

Course policies/syllabus:
http://www.missouriwestern.edu/eflj/syllabi/2006/Fall/ENG364-01.html (Sorry
for the broken link. We changed servers recently, so . . . )
Course schedule: http://staff.missouriwestern.edu/users/kadkins/CompTheory

The final project for the class has always gotten terrific results. The
students work in groups to analyze a composition textbook for the underlying
pedagogical approaches/ theories (or lack thereof). We have a collection of
a variety of textbooks that includes first editions of textbooks by
Kinneavy, D'Angelo, and Elbow. I've attached the assignment for anyone who
is interested.

Kaye Adkins

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Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 22:19:09 -0700
From: Kristen Seas <seask@UNCW.EDU>
Subject: Re: Undergraduate Intro to Comp Studies course

Vicki,
I'm piloting just such a course this semester here at UNC Wilmington. Here's
a link to the course website I created and used for the class:
http://www.peithograph.net/teaching/307_F09/index.htm

Rather than approaching this comp studies as a course on pedagogy - which
seems to dominate the tenor of much of our research and grad courses in the
same subject - I'm teaching the course more as "Theories of Writing" and
directing the students towards an articulation of who they are as writers
from a theoretical perspective. The prevailing assignment is a Self-Study
Portfolio where they reflect on a piece of their writing and the process
that went into it, followed by another paper on how they might approach that
same writing situation different given what they've read in the class, and
then writing a reflection on who they are as writers using the theoretical
terminology they've acquired.

I have also been delightfully surprised by their engagement with the theory
and the challenging readings. I'm using Miller's new Norton anthology this
time. But I do think if I teach the course again, I might use Villanueva's
_Cross-Talk in Comp Theory_ instead, just because I found the selections in
Miller's anthology to be more pedagogically-oriented and lacking in certain
texts that I'd like to bring in (like Flynn's "Composing as a Woman") that
might speak more to writerly identity than the teaching of writing.

That said, in the first half of the semester, we had some wonderful (even
heated) conversations about the discipline of English studies and the
different paradigms and ideologies that have shaped how we view writing. If
you do get to go forward with the course, I hope you have as much luck as
I've had.

Kristen

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Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 09:05:13 -0600
From: "David M. Grant" <david.grant@UNI.EDU>
Subject: Re: Undergraduate Intro to Comp Studies Course

Vicki, Kristen, Kaye, and Rebecca,

I teach a course like this here at Northern Iowa. I have a web page
under construction, but most of my online material I put on our
eLearning (Blackboard) site. It was simply easier. Also, I am in the
middle of a budget battle over adjunct money, so I will be brief. But, I
can forward a syllabus to whomever was interested.

I use Miller's Norton anthology supplemented with other readings because
not only do we have future teachers as audience, we also have
professional and creative writing minors. So, it is a pretty eclectic
group of students which I think is a strength. Like Kristen, I find
lively debates about English studies, its history, configuration, etc.
We cover different philosophies and taxonomimes of the field, reflect on
the readings and our own writing, collaborate with other students, and
conduct some kind of empirical observation. We even look at some of the
ways the field's participants are organized through technologies and
bodies such as WPA-L. It is really a fun class to teach and I am always
energized by it!

Best of luck!

David M. Grant
Coordinator of Writing Programs
Department of English
University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0502
(319) 273-2639
david [dot] grant [at] uni [dot] edu

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Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 11:31:55 -0500
From: Dr Laurie McMillan <lmcmillan@MARYU.MARYWOOD.EDU>
Subject: Re: Undergraduate Intro to Comp Studies course

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Vicki,

I'm attaching my syllabus for an undergrad course called Composition: Theory
& Practice. I use Cross-Talk in Comp Theory and take a chronological
approach for a good part of the semester. I wasn't sure if I even liked this
approach when I first tried it out, but it's actually cool the way students
end up tracing the development of the field to some degree as themes appear
and reappear in different guises.

I'm also loving reading other responses to this thread. Lots of great ideas!

Best,
Laurie

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