POLICIES    ENGL 513 THEORIES OF COMPOSITION

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is an introduction to and study of the various theories on composing processes (writing) that inform the field of Composition and Rhetoric. We will consider why we write and how we write from a variety of perspectives, using a variety of theorists, and consider how these theories inform our everyday practice as writers, readers, teachers, students, and people/citizens taking action in the world.

A bit more explanation: all these theories of writing are inextricably linked to the study of literacy and the growth of the field of Rhetoric and Composition (particularly though not exclusively since the 1970s); further, both the theories that inform the study of the writing process and the field that houses those theories are always, on some level, thinking about pedagogy, or the study of how we teach what we teach. Thus, this summer, our study will always be whirling around these various and interconnected topics—pedagogy, the writing classroom specifically, literacy instruction currently and historically and politically, the rise of Composition Studies as a part of and separate from English Studies.

In order to understand processes of composing theoretically it is important that we engage in processes of composing quite literally—to do is to know. Thus, during our five weeks together, we will read, write, discuss, and present individually and in groups, informally and formally.  And, finally, we will take some time to step back and reflect on how practice informs theory, how theory informs practice.

Heavy work for the dead of summer; I’ll try to figure out some ways to lighten up a little bit.

COURSE OBJECTIVES
At the end of this course you should be able to:

• Demonstrate an understanding of a variety of theories of composing processes and the theorists who develop them.

• Demonstrate an understanding of the connection between theories of writing and the development of the field of Rhetoric and Composition.

•  Identify different theories of composition as presented in various pedagogies and teaching texts.

• Demonstrate a better/renewed understanding of your own composing process as a writer and reader.

COURSE TEXTS

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1. Attendance and Participation. This is a summer class, but it is also a graduate level class and “graduate” level in this instance trumps “summer.” Because this is a graduate class I have the reasonable expectation that you want to be here and intend to come prepared to the best of your ability. If you miss more than two full classes—which is the equivalent of two full weeks of class—your grade could be in jeopardy. Classes are very active. It will be obvious to me and everyone in class if you are not prepared.

2. Informal Writing. Informal writing clarifies for ourselves what we are thinking about something and makes it possible for us to share those ideas with those around us. Thus, you will write informally several times every class. I will collect that material as evidence of your attendance and your preparedness for this class.

READING JOURNALS: In addition to the informal writing you do in class, you will also be responsible for reading journals. For every reading we do in this class, you need to produce a reading journal. This is a two-paged, double-spaced, typed document that provides a brief summary of the significant points of our reading, and a brief analysis of the main argument. Be prepared to use your journals in class and to have other people in the class read and comment on them.  More information is available  to you about reading journals on this website.

3. Formal Writing. You will be responsible for four more formal project this summer—it adds up to be about one a week.  More information will be made available to you about each assignment shortly.

Literacy History. I hesitate to even put this in the formal writing category. Your first short assignment is a brief narrative—between three and five double-spaced pages—that discusses your life as a reader and writer. This is a course about the theoretical, but the theoretical is always informed by the lived (and vice versa). This is a document to start with.

Book Club.  This project will begin in the second week of the summer and run through the class’s entirety. It is a moment, in a class filled with theories of writing, to take a moment to understand theories of reading and the intimate connection between the two. Different groups of students will read different book-length literacy narratives, and we will, as a class, explore the experience of reading and writing together and online.

Research in Writing Studies Presentation. In groups of two or three (depending on class size), you will lead class discussion and experience by presenting on the theories we are reading for class on a particular day. You will sign up for these presentations on the second day of class. Presentations will run during the third and fourth week of classes. Your presentation will require you to read beyond the assigned readings that your classmates will read, to engage your classmates in a writing experience that embodies the theories we are reading about, and to bring in current writing and research that further develops—or dismisses—the work of the original theorists.  Presentations should be a mix of lecture, conversation, and activity; and should include a handout that provides an overview of the important components of the theory/your reading.

Annotated Bibliography. This is the first part of what will become your final project. In this first step, you will select and research an idea related to our class conversations about writing, literacy, and Composition and Rhetoric that intersects (hopefully) with your own particular interests as well. We will concentrate on this project during the third and fourth week of classes. You will be responsible for compiling your annotations and writing an introductory cover letter that engages in a discussion of what you’ve learned.

Final Project. The final project for this course, due on the last day of our class, asks you to take the research you did for the Annotated Bibliography with it and, essentially, do something with it. What you do will be largely up to you. Reading this on the first day of class may seem a little bewildering, but in short time it will be clear to you what is possible—and you will see that I am asking you to do something in your final project that reflects your interest in the topics of discussion for the class and your existing life as an educator. 

4. Midterm Check-in & Final Portfolio.  Revision is an important part of the writing process, and in an effort to make that clear to you I need to value it in the classroom.  The way I do this is by the portfolio. Typically, during a fifteen-week semester, you’d turn in two portfolios, a midterm and a final portfolio. Because of our truncated semester, you will do a midterm check-in and a final portfolio. In addition to revisiting your work and revising some of it, you’ll write a cover letter that explains your revision decisions and discusses your progress as a student and writer in the class. Portfolios are importantly tied to your evaluation in this class, as you will see in the “Evaluation” section of this document.  Specific information is available online at the “portfolios” link for this class.

EVALUATION
You will not receive letter grades for individual assignments in this class.  You will receive extensive written feedback on all formal writing assignments in the form of a letter.  I will make samples of these letters available to you before the first major writing assignment is due so you have a sense of what this feedback looks like and how it is connected to your final letter grade.

Comments on informal writing shouldn’t be treated like evaluation but rather like an ongoing conversation between you and me:  think of it as a talk between us, only in written form.

At midterm and at the end of the semester you will receive a “grade-so-far” and a “final grade” letter respectively.  They will be come attached to your midterm check in and final portfolio returns. In these letters you will receive a letter grade and an overview of your performance in the class up to that point.  I have never encountered a student who didn’t have a clear sense of how they were doing in my class based on this system of evaluation, but if you should feel that you don’t know how you are doing, come see me.  We’ll figure it out.

Different requirements require different kinds and amounts of effort; therefore, different assignments have different weight in terms of evaluation.  Here is a rough breakdown of how things are weighted this semester: 

Ultimately, your success in this class depends on the following:

• Fulfilling all of the requirements listed above,

• The quality of your written and oral work,

• Your efforts to try new things and think in new ways.

OTHER THINGS
Plagiarism. How you could plagiarize in a class like this, I don’t know, but don’t try.

Students with disabilities. Students who need special accommodations due to a documented disability should come to see me with written documentation of the specific disability and suggested accommodations before the end of the first week of classes. We can discuss specific accommodations at that time.