Fall 2007

English 675

 

Shannon Carter, PhD                                      

HL 112                                                            

903-886-5492                                                

Shannon_Carter@tamuc.edu                                         

 (by far, the best way to reach me is via email)

Office Hours: T, 12-2                                                                           

 

The problem for institutionalized education, and the problem for the teaching and learning of literacy, is that students bring with them different life experiences. What they know, who they feel themselves to be, and how they orient themselves to education varies because their lifewords vary; because life as they have subjectively experienced it varies so markedly. As a consequence, people experience education differently, and their outcomes are different. (Kalantizis and Cope, “Changing the Role of the Schools,” Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures, 121)

 

Course Description and Objectives

 

In the first semester of our teaching colloquium, we will begin talking, reading, and writing about teaching—in the classroom and in the Writing Center. The purpose of this class is twofold: to have a place to learn from our own and each others’ experiences in the classroom and writing center and to gain a deeper understanding of why we teach the ways we do. We will always make time to talk about the successes and challenges we have in our own teaching and to make connections to the reading we do.

 

Required Materials

         

            Cope, Bill and Mary Kalantzis. Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures. Routledge, 2000. ISBN: 978-0415214216.

 

Bruce, Shanti and Ben Rafoth. ESL Writers: A Guide for Writing Center Tutors. Boynton/Cook, 2004. 978-0867095807

Dunbar-Odom, Donna. Defying the Odds: Class and the Pursuit of Higher Literacy. State University of New York Press, 2007. ISBN: 978-0791469729*

 

Graff, Gerald. Clueless in Academe: How Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind. Yale UP, 2004. ISBN: 978-0300105148*

 

Murphy, Christina and Steve Sherwood. St. Martin’s Sourcebook for Writing Tutors. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007. ISBN: 978-0312442262

 

Packet of additional, relevant chapters/articles will be placed online (below). Video/audio texts will be made available online. More info soon.

 

 

 

Course Activities

 

Rhetorical Précis (pray-see): You will develop several of these this term. The RP will offer (1) a productive summary (for both yourself and your classmates) and (2) an articulation of the potential application/relevance of the article’s key ideas to one or more of the teaching contexts in which you are involved. 

 

What follows is the basic outline Margaret K. Woodworth provides in the article from which this activity emerged:

 

Sentence 1:
Name of author, [optional: a phrase describing the author], the genre and title of the work, date in parentheses (additional publishing information in parentheses or note), a rhetorically accurate verb (such as "assert," "argue," "suggest," "imply," "claim," etc.), and a THAT clause containing the major assertion (thesis statement) of the work.

Sentence 2:
An explanation of how the author develops and/or supports the thesis usually in chronological order.

Sentence 3:
A statement of the author’s apparent purpose, followed by an "in order" phrase.

Sentence 4:
A description of the intended audience and/or the relationship the author establishes with the audience. (54)

 

For our purposes, it will be necessary to add a paragraph or two that applies the concepts discussed in the article to one or more of the teaching contexts in which you are involved (your writing groups, the Writing Center, the classroom).

 

Before the day we are scheduled to discuss the article/chapter for which you have developed the Rhetorical Précis, you should make enough copies for the group and be prepared to present these ideas to the rest of us.

 

Additional support for the “Rhetorical Precis” available at Oregon State University (<http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl201/modules/rhetorical-precis/sample/peirce_sample_precis_click.html>, “Give Me Ethos or Give Me Death: Writing a Rhetorical Precis” at <http://aristotelianbirdseyeview.wordpress.com/writing-a-rhetorical-precis/>, and <http://english.ecu.edu/~wpbanks/eng8601/8601precis.html>; for justification and explanation, see Margaret K. Woodworth’s "The Rhetorical Précis" (Rhetoric Review 7, 1988: 156-164.)

 

Discussion: The heart and soul of our course is the discussion that emerges from our readings, our experiences with our students, and our previous experiences with literacy and learning. That discussion will take place (formally) in two places: (1) face-to-face (in our classroom each Tuesday afternoon) and (2) online (in eCollege). Before each face-to-face meeting, we will ask you to answer some questions related to our readings. From these responses, we will cull quotes and assemble them in a handout to be shared at our face-to-face meeting. The idea here is that the online discussion will provide additional fodder for our face-to-face discussions.

 

Post your responses by noon on the Monday preceding the scheduled face-to-face discussion.

 

Final Project: You should observe at least four different instructors throughout the semester. Write up the findings, which you will then share with us during our final meeting. Additional information about this project will be provided very soon.

 

Grading

 

This is an S/U course (satisfactory/unsatisfactory)

 

 

Plagiarism Policy

         

The official departmental policy: “Instructors in the Department of Literature and Languages do not tolerate plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonestly. Instructors uphold and support the highest academic standards, and students are expected to do likewise. Penalties for students guilty of academic dishonesty include disciplinary probation, suspension, and expulsion. (Texas A&M University-Commerce Code of Student Conduct 5.b [1,2,3])

            If you ever have any questions about a particular use of a source, always ask your instructor. They want you to avoid plagiarism, too, so they will help you do so whenever and wherever they can. Do what you can to take advantage of this support—to look innocent in addition to being innocent when it comes to charges of plagiarism.

 

Additional Official Statements

 

            Student Conduct: All students enrolled at the University shall follow the tenets of common decency and acceptable behavior conducive to a positive learning environment. In addition, you are requested to turn off your cell phones before entering the classroom. Common courtesy says you do not receive or answer calls during class. If there is an emergency that requires you to leave your phone on, talk to me about it beforehand and switch the phone to vibrate so you don't surprise me when you leave class to take a call and you don't interrupt class when the call comes in. Also, Instant/Text Messaging is off limits.

Americans with Disabilities Act Statement: Students requesting accommodations for disabilities must go through the Academic Support Committee. For more information, please contact the Director of Disability Resources and Services, Halladay Student Services Building, Room 303D, 903.886.5835.

 

  • August 28: Introduction to the course and one another

 

    • READ: North’s “The Idea of a Writing Center,” Cooper’s “Really Useful Knowledge,” and DiPardo’s “Whispers of Coming and Going” (SM)
    • WRITE: in response to all TDAs

 

  • September 4: Multiple Literacies

 

    • READ: CK, Part I and SM, Part I
    • WRITE: in response to all TDAs
    • OBSERVE: Begin making arrangements to observe at least four instructors before midterm (for your Final Project)

 

  • September 11: Basic Writing

 

 

 

  • September 18: Writing Groups

 

    • READ: Postings in Livejournal
    • WRITE: in response to one or more posting in Livejournal

 

  • September 25: Multiple Literacies and “Error”/Photo-Essay

 

 

  • October 2: Multiple Literacies and “Error” (continued)

 

    • WRITE: in response to one or more posting in Livejournal
    • GUEST SPEAKER: Vaughn Wasovich, Assistant Professor of Photography (A&M-Commerce)—Art Building, Room 111

 

  • October 9: ESL and the Writing Center

 

    • READ: “Multiliteracies and Multilingualism” (Mulitliteracies)
    • WRITE: in response to one or more posting in Livejournal
    • RP3: additional selections from Murphy and Sherwood
    • VIEW: Writing Across Borders

 

  • October 16: Writing Centers, ESL, and Writing Center Administration

 

    • READ: Postings in Livejournal
    • WRITE: in response to one or more postings in Livejournal
    • RP4: additional Bruce and Rafoth’s ESL Writers
    • GUEST SPEAKERS: Steve Sherwood, Director of the Writing Center at Texas Christian University and co-editor of the St. Martin’s Sourcebook for Writing Tutors  and Kurk Gayle, Director of the Intensive English Program and ENFL at TCU

 

  • October 23

 

    • READ: Graff
    • WRITE: in response to one or more posting in Livejournal
    • OBSERVE: Continue classroom observations for Final Project

 

  • October 30

 

    • READ: Graff
    • WRITE: in response to one or more posting in Livejournal

 

  • November 6

 

    • READ: Dunbar-Odom
    • WRITE: in response to one or more posting in Livejournal
    • GUEST SPEAKER: Donna Dunbar-Odom, Director of English Graduate Studies and author of Defying the Odds: Class and the Pursuit of Higher Literacy

 

  • November 13

 

    • READ: Dunbar-Odom
    • WRITE: in response to one or more posting in Livejournal

 

  • November 20

 

    • TBA

 

  • November 27: Multiple Literacies continued

 

    • READ: Selfe, “Multiliteracies in the Writing Center” and Sheridan’s “Words, Images, Sounds: Writing Centers as Multiliteracy Centers”
    • WRITE: in response to one or more posting in Livejournal
    • RP5: Multliteracies, Parts III and IV

 

  • December 4: Final Projects Due

    • Presentations

 

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