ENGS 345: Practicum in Teaching Writing

As we discussed in class, here are the big announcements for Tuesday’s class (and beyond):

1. Your Greatest Fear/Worry/Problem/Anxiety about teaching English 001 is due on Tuesday. This doesn’t have to be a lengthy write-up, it only needs to be as long as it takes you to fully explain your topic.
2. For Tuesday, read Anne Francis Wysocki’s “Opening New Media to Writing: Openings and Justifications” in Writing New Media pages 1-41. Pay particular attention to the lesson plans at the end of the article, and how they either do or do not help you (and students) to understand the concepts Wysocki discusses.
3. For all future Writing Workshops, a new directive: focus on the student papers. Dan and Daniel have shown us some excellent ways we might help a class to re-engage with the source material, but for the last four workshops, I want you to take these papers at face value and help us all to see how to revise them. That doesn’t mean you can’t refer back to Warhol’s essay, but it shouldn’t be the centerpiece of your workshop.

Have a great weekend!

We’re continuing with our exploration of composition pedagogy & theory with the following readings:

• Ann E. Berthoff: “Is Teaching Still Possible? Writing, Meaning, and Higher Order Reasoning” CTiCT 387-412
• Wayne C. Booth: “The Rhetorical Stance” TC 136-144
• Peter Elbow: “Closing My Eyes as I Speak: An Argument for Ignoring Audience” TC 145-164

Also, be sure to check out the South End Art Hop Friday evening and all day Saturday. If you’re new to the Burlington area, you owe it to yourself to check it out. It’s a lot of fun. And artsy!