General Course Information

Required Text
 

Suggested Text

Materials
 

Course Goals

The purposes of this course include both improving your writing and learning how to use writing to learn. The course will also involve collaborative activities and assignments.

Activities generally follow a pattern of five stages: bridging, exploration, reshaping, presentation, and reflection. Bridging is the stage during which you meet information or are engaged in a planned experience that provides the subject for future discussions and work. Exploration is the planned time that you have to think and talk about new material in response groups, sometimes after personal exploration in your Writing Notebook. This stage enables you to register initial, tentative, or unfocused ideas about experiences, bring your private funding to bear on the new situation. Reshaping gives you the opportunity to direct your thoughts towards a desired outcome in your process of learning. The Presentation stage requires you to present your work to interested and critical readers, whether they are your response group, readers of your folio, or outside audiences. The final stage of Reflection asks you to consider your work and the extent to which you have reached the objectives of our study or to consider your experience in relation to the content material.

The above pattern or sequence is often recycled or recursive, so our work will be involved in an ongoing workshop, learning how to identify good writing and how to acquire the ability to write well.

Much of our class time will be devoted to activities involving response groups, in which you will study your own composing processes with an emphasis on exploring ways to use writing as a method of learning. You will practice prewriting techniques (clustering, mapping, freewriting, journalistic questions), drafting, revising, editing, evaluation, and publishing. You will use a Writing Notebook, in which you will record what you need to remember, ideas for use in your own classroom, and what happens when teaching and learning to write.
 
Course Requirements

Essays and Assignments:

This term, you will be writing three essays: recollection, imagination, and investigative. The recollection essay, the first essay you will write, will be an autobiographical incident or a memoir. For the investigative essay, you will research a topic based in the area of elementary education. The topic is up to you, although I urge you to relate it to communication. The imagination essay will ask you to create 4 voices that revolve around an original piece (i.e., a poem, a newspaper article, an overheard conversation).

For these essays, please hold onto everything you do to produce these essays (i.e., scribbles on scratch paper, formal drafts, responses from colleagues, editing changes, notes, research), as I will collect these from you when the polished drafts are due. I also ask that you maintain this work for three reasons: first, I need you to recognize and value the work that goes into good writing; second, I need to protect you against any potential plagiarism accusations, and third, the Composition Program requires it.

Our Tuesday class meetings will be devoted to response groups, where you will bring current drafts of your newest writing assignment. Be prepared to share your work aloud in groups (and to bring copies of your assignment if specified).

In addition to the essays, you will collaborate with your colleagues and create a writing assignment for students in the primary grades. This project will include a warm-up activity, a lesson plan, a writing prompt, and a model product. This group project, then, will be presented during one full-class session to your peers.

In addition to regular writing assignments, there will be assigned readings from our textbook. These reading assignments will reinforce the writing process you follow this term and will inform you on the writing and learning processes of children. These readings will be the basis for class discussions, in-class assignments, and your Writing Notebook entries.

Finally, each class meeting, be prepared to discuss an issue of importance in the primary grades. These "Show & Tell" ideas will be recorded in your Writing Notebook and will be shared with the entire class. For ideas, you may search your textbooks, reading assignments, the library, your other course lectures, the school in which you are observing and/or working. These topics will allow you and your colleagues to become better informed on current teaching issues.

Writing Notebook:

Your Writing Notebook is your place to discover who you are, to reflect on what you are learning, to record ideas for use in your classroom, to take class notes, to jot inspiration for future assignments, to write down what you need to remember, to record what happens when teaching and learning to write, to record source materials for teaching, to ___ (you fill in the rest). There are two main requirements for this notebook: first, you must fill at least half (front and back of pages) of your notebook, and second, the entries must be academic in nature. At the end of the term, I will collect this notebook and your portfolio.

Peer Response and Discussion Groups:

Response and discussion groups are an important part of this class. These groups serve a valuable function: they afford a means for discovering essay topics, they furnish you with a haven to test your ideas, they offer a place to gain input on your essays, they provide models of othersÕ writing, and they allow you to engage in dialogue about the writing and creative processes. Take advantage of the opportunity that these groups provide for you!

Also, be prepared to share your work (this will require photocopies) and be ready to listen and respond to your peers. Coming unprepared dramatically undermines your success; therefore, chronic underpreparedness must result in disqualification from the course.

Your Portfolio:

At the end of the semester, you will submit a portfolio. This portfolio will include your Credo. A Credo is a statement of belief, in this case, your beliefs about teaching and learning. It will also include your discussion of what defines "good writing" and will include your two best assignments written for this term. Finally, you will assign yourself a grade for the course and discuss why you feel you have earned that particular grade.

Deadlines:

Because we are working on such a tight schedule, nothing may be turned in late. All assignments are collected or checked in class on the date they are due. Missing papers and assignments will dramaticallyÑand negativelyÑimpact course grade. If you plan to miss a class, make other arrangements to submit your work (i.e., send your work with a friend, hand it in before it is due, meet with me prior to class to turn it in). Papers and assignments are due at the beginning of the class session.

Be aware that this class requires time. In fact, in each lower-division, general- education college course, you are expected to work two hours outside of class for every one hour of class timeÑthat is, you will need to put in at least six hours per week outside of class to perform adequately (at "C" level) in this course. By using your time wisely and by taking this class seriously, you will be successful this semester.

Attendance:

Because success in this course depends upon response groups and class participation …
 

Out of Class Assistance

Please actively seek assistance; several sources exist to help you succeed in this course:

• I am available and willing to give you any help that I can
• The HSU Writing Center (FH 205) is a beneficial resource (sign up in FH 201)
• Your colleagues can also help. Obtain the telephone numbers and/or e-mail addresses of at least two class colleagues and form a study/response group.

Please also let me know of any documented disabilities (approved through the Student Disability Resource Center, House 71) and what accommodations would contribute to your success in this class.

Grading

Each essay and assignment will be graded. I will enter the comments and grade for each assignment in my records only, not on the paper. You will be able to revise each essay a number of times, using group input, which may improve the grade by the end of the term.

At the end of the semester, you will turn in your Writing Notebook and a portfolio, containing your credo, your two best assignments (and your rationale for including them), and your discussion of "good writing" (with proof from your two best essays, class discussion, textbook, etc.). Finally, you will assign yourself a grade for the course and discuss why you feel you have earned that particular grade.

To receive a grade of "C" or better, you must hand in all work, attend classes, and contribute to each response group. If you meet all course requirements, your course grade will be calculated as follows:

Completion of All Assignments	10%
Writing Notebook	10%
Attendance and Participation	20%
Portfolio and Final	60%

Academic Dishonesty

Plagiarism and cheating are serious offenses.  The university catalogue provides a detailed definition of both academic dishonesty and plagiarism and lists "usual penalty for a student found to have cheated" as "disciplinary probation, suspension, or permanent expulsion from the university" (350).  Please know that I will not tolerate any form of academic dishonesty; I am interested in your ideas and views, not those of nameless others, so those who plagiarize will, at the very least, fail the course.  Consult the HSU Catalogue for a complete discussion of academic dishonesty.

Final Note: This syllabus may be subject to change during the course of the semester.