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Course Description

ENGL5454 Theory & Practice in University Writing Instruction (6 credits)
The study of rhetorical theory, related issues in writing pedagogy, and the practice of teaching composition at the university level for GTAs in the Department of English. Pre–requisite: Graduate Standing and appointment as a GTA in the Department of English.

Course Overview

Foremost, ENGL5454 prepares graduate assistants for teaching composition at Virginia Tech. To accomplish this, the field constitutes a provisional orientation to the field of Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies. The course 1) introduces selected theories, histories, and practices that have shaped college composition in the U.S., 2) provides a laboratory for developing into a thoughtful, innovative teacher cognizant of contemporary practices, and 3) offers a space for studying cultural shifts impacting what literate citizenship—in the academy and elsewhere—looks like now. Consistent with principles at the core of the field of rhetoric and composition/writing studies, the course balances and blends together (i.e., mixing in equal and mutually informing measure) theoretical and practical matters negotiated over several decades by composition researchers, scholars, and practitioners. Thus, the course is not wholly practical nor theoretical. Rather, it suspends theory and practice critically in a feed-forward loop, or what Louise Phelps has described as a practice-theory-practice cycle, which manifests as phronesis, or practical wisdom. ENGL5454 is designed with an assumption that theoretical and practical dimensions of teaching writing in college are best approached and enacted in the classroom as continuous, co-informing, and interdependent.

Successful completion of the course and an opportunity to teach in Fall 2020 also foresees your participation in an mentoring model concurrent with your enrollment in ENGL5034 in Spring 2020, as well as a required one-week teaching workshop in August of 2020 (August 10-14). Throughout the workshop, we will refine syllabi, schedules, and lesson plans; and hear from experienced instructors, administrators, and student services professionals on campus. You will also continue developing assignment sheets, designing and moderating in-class activities, and inventing lessons underpinned by rhetoric and composition/writing studies research and scholarship. As your first semester in the classroom continues, you will meet each Wednesday afternoon in ENGL5034 both to discuss your teaching and to continue learning about approaches to teaching college composition even while enacting and refining our own. Projects in ENGL5034 include an ongoing teaching log, informal discussion responses, a teaching observation report, a teaching philosophy statement, and a collection of ENGL1106 materials for Spring 2021.

Course Goals for ENGL5454

Course goals for ENGL5454 include but are not limited to the following:

1. Advance a working knowledge of the evolving, interdependent relationships among selected pedagogical documents and activites, histories and purposes of college composition in North America, and key concepts germane to rhetoric and composition/writing studies, including writing, literacy, rhetoric, process, multimodality, and practice.
2. Compose a series of teaching-related texts as a distributed, recursive process that adapts to rhetorical contingencies, that responds to distinct audiences and genres, and that requires planning, circulation, and revision.
3. Gain fluency with both theoretical and practical dimensions of teaching college-level writing.
4. Prepare, deliver, and revise teaching materials consonant with the Virginia Tech Composition Program's shared principles and outcomes (rhetoric, process, conventions, multimodality, and reflection).

Course Texts and Materials

Ball, Cheryl, and Drew Loewe, eds. Bad Ideas About Writing. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Libraries Digital Publishing Institute, 2017. ISBN-10: 0-9988820-0-3. (required, open access)

Losh, Elizabeth, Jonathan Alexander, Kevin Cannon, and Zander Cannon. Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2017. ISBN 978-1319042134. (required; provided)

Wardle, Elizabeth, and Doug Downs. Writing About Writing: A College Reader. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2017. ISBN 978-1-319-06231-6. (required; provided)

Further readings will be available to you as PDFs organized and stored in Canvas. You should download PDFs for reading on the screen or, if you prefer, for printing and reading. The course schedule/calendar includes in parentheses after each assigned reading a time estimate meant to assist you with calibrating your time spent reading for the course. Plan to spend as much as 30 USD on printing and photocopying over the course of the semester, if you prefer printed copies of the PDFs.

Grading

The breakdown of graded items is as follows:

Commonplace Book (ongoing, weekly): 40
P1. Literacy Narrative: 10
P2. Worknets: 20
P3. ENGL1105 Materials: 15
Class discussion lead: 10
Micropresentation: 5

Each of the projects will be described fully in separate prompts that I will circulate at an appropriate time in the semester. Grades on projects will adhere to a rating system (exceptional, acceptable, needs improvement, below expectations, and missing or not attempted), which corresponds to the University’s A-F system. All grades will be posted in the Canvas gradebook associated with this course.

Class projects include a weekly commonplace book entries (triple-entry journal, Brooke notes, and amp&ersands); a literacy narrative, a worknet, materials for ENGL1105, and a micropresentation. I will provide responses to your work following deadlines and at any other time you request input from me. Each of the projects will be described fully in separate prompts that I will circulate at an appropriate time in the semester.

Turning in Work

Shared Folder in Google Drive
All work will be turned in via designated folders in Google Drive. You will receive an email message from me early in the semester that shared with you access to a folder for your work. When you submit work, double-check to make sure the file format is Google Docs (no PDFs or unconveterted Word docs). Responses to your work will be returned by this same method.

File Naming
When you prepare to turn in electronic files, please adhere to the following conventions. Use the following naming formula: 5004-Lastname-Assn (file extension only if applicable). That is, your filenames should always include the course number, your last name, and the abbreviated name of the assignment. For example, my own copy of Project One would appear in my Google Drive folder named 5004-Mueller-P1. Other namespaces may apply, but please do your best to honor the conventions expressed in any given assignment.

Late Work
Unless otherwise specified, all work must be submitted before the start of class on the due date to be considered on time and therefore eligible for full credit.

Course Policies

Attendance and Participation

ENGL5454 is a graduate-level seminar. Absences or lack of preparation for class will affect your colleagues' work as well as your own. The work you do in and in preparation for each class is as important as the polished assignment you turn in for a project. In addition, our syllabus and schedule are only a projection and may be subject to occasional changes and revisions as it seems appropriate, necessary, or just interesting. That is another reason why your attendance and engagement are valued so highly.

If you must miss a class, you are still responsible for all work assigned, including turning work in by stated deadlines. Class time cannot be reconstructed or made up, and your performance, your work, and your course grade will be impacted by absences.

We will meet this semester in Shanks 340. I encourage you to bring a laptop with you, if possible, for active note-keeping and for some activities. As a rule of thumb, I ask that your in-class uses of mobile devices (e.g., cell phones) and laptop computers be focused on class-related activities. Obviously, you should silence your phones before coming to class. As long as everyone is respectfully attentive when someone is speaking, in-class technology use will not be a problem. In-class attentiveness, engagement, and preparedness (i.e., having read and prepared for each class) are a basic expectation.

Computer and Internet Usage

We may be interacting with online resources and other sites on the internet during the course. Please let me know if you have any concerns about fluency with using a browser such as Firefox, Chrome, or Safari. When using a computer, save your work frequently, always make backup copies, and plan your projects with extra time allowed for unexpected challenges.

Communication with Peers; Communication with the Instructor

While you can expect a considerable amount of leadership and direction to come from me, you should also make arrangements early in the semester to communicate with your colleagues. In other words, you are strongly encouraged to identify one or two (perhaps more) peers in the class with whom you can discuss how your class is going, consider readings and assignments, work through questions brought up in the class, and approach when you find something unclear. In short, my hope is that we all will prefer climate in which dialogue and interaction circulates between the instructor and students and also between and among students when questions come up. Finally, you should always be proactive about asking questions when you have them, either by raising questions during class or contacting me or one of your peers privately.

Email

Academic Integrity and Virginia Tech's Honor Code

The Undergraduate Honor Code pledge that each member of the university community agrees to abide by states:

"As a Hokie, I will conduct myself with honor and integrity at all times. I will not lie, cheat, or steal, nor will I accept the actions of those who do."

Students enrolled in this course are responsible for abiding by the Honor Code. A student who has doubts about how the Honor Code applies to any assignment is responsible for obtaining specific guidance from the course instructor before submitting the assignment for evaluation. Ignorance of the rules does not exclude any member of the University community from the requirements and expectations of the Honor Code.

Plagiarism occurs when a writer passes off another's words or ideas without acknowledging their source, whether intentionally or not. For example, turning in another's work as your own is plagiarism. If you plagiarize in this class, you will likely fail the assignment on which you are working and your case may be passed to the university for additional disciplinary action. Because of the design and nature of this course, it will take as much (or more) work for you to plagiarize in it than it will to actually complete the work of the class.

For additional information about the Honor Code, please visit: https://www.honorsystem.vt.edu/

Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD)

Virginia Tech welcomes students with disabilities into the University’s educational programs. The University promotes efforts to provide equal access and a culture of inclusion without altering the essential elements of coursework. If you anticipate or experience academic barriers that may be due to disability, including but not limited to ADHD, chronic or temporary medical conditions, deaf or hard of hearing, learning disability, mental health, or vision impairment, please contact the Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) office (540-231-3788, ssd@vt.edu, or visit www.ssd.vt.edu). If you have an SSD accommodation letter, please meet with me privately during office hours as early in the semester as possible to deliver your letter and discuss your accommodations. You must give me reasonable notice to implement your accommodations, which is generally 5 business days and 10 business days for final exams.

Writing Center

The Writing Center (Newman Library 2nd floor, Learning Commons; writingcenter@vt.edu, (540) 231-5436) offers one-to-one consulting for both undergraduate and graduate students. Students can make appointments or drop in between the hours of 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Mon.-Wed., 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Thursdays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Fridays, and 6-10 p.m. on Sundays. Students should bring a draft of what they’re working on and their assignment.

Contact Information