Syllabus

Composition as Critical Inquiry

Urban Teacher Preparation

English 101 Section 26

Instructor: Steve Halle

Office: Stevenson 201 J

Email: cshalle@ilstu.edu (best contact method)

Office Hours: T/R: 12:30-1:30, W: 4-5 and by appointment. Virtual office hours on Facebook (Steve Halle) Fridays and by appointment.

Phone: 309-438-3727

Blog: http://eng101sec26fall09.wordpress.com/

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND GOALS

In this course, you will engage with a holistic notion of composition and textuality, examining how rhetoric applies to compositions across the borders of genre and media. You will also be heavily invested in learning how to read and compose critically and collaboratively, with special emphasis placed on pedagogical issues urban teachers might face.

In this class, you will learn about and implement rhetorical situations as a means to evaluate, create and revise compositions throughout writing processes. You will also learn about what process(es) work best for you to complete successful projects.

Composition as Critical Inquiry will feature a “workshop environment” in which we help each other to better the texts we write through different forms of collaborative critical analysis of intention and effect.

REQUIRED ITEMS

• A pen.
• A notebook , composition book, or supply of paper.
• A flash drive/storage device.
• Course Guide for English 101 Composition as Critical Inquiry, Fall 2009 Edition
• Michie, Gregory. See You When We Get There: Teaching for Change in Urban Schools. New York: Teachers College Press, 2005.
• Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum, 2000.

OPTIONAL ITEMS

• Money on your Redbird Card for printing, if necessary.

WHAT I VALUE AND EXPECT

• trust in and respect for yourself and each other
• habitual practice and effort
• specificity and attention to detail
• curiosity and inquisitiveness
• taking risks, making messes, experimenting
• being in class (physically, mentally and spiritually)
• being prepared (reading texts to the point where you can discuss them or raise insightful questions about them, making deadlines, being on time)
• keeping an open mind
• fun and play
• plasticity (bending the class to get what you want)
• self-advocacy
• critical inquiry of the course (and your role in it) as it happens (meta-education)
• revision (re-seeing) and rethinking

The Work

PORTFOLIO

All of the writing and in-class activities you will do throughout the entire semester will work toward your final portfolio, which determines your grade in this course.  Almost all of your grade is based on your portfolio work; according to the grading standards, incomplete portfolios must be graded “D” or “F.”  Your portfolio will be comprised of:

• Crucial documents from each Project (Save everything; Save As)
• Instructor comments and advisory grade from final-for-now draft of each project
• Separate portfolio revisions totaling approximately 30 pages or modal equivalent
• A 5-7 page final analytical essay to introduce your portfolio

I will discuss all of these items in considerable detail as the semester progresses.  Please notice that simply composing texts is not enough in this class, and this course also works on developing skills in revision, response, drafting, and analysis.  In addition, many revision activities require collaboration—which means that you are responsible for the learning of someone else as well.

PROJECTS

In this class, you will complete four challenging projects throughout the semester. Throughout each project, you will be responsible for turning in electronically (that’s right—this class is mostly paperless!) in-class writing activities, freewrites, revision questions, peer responses given and received, drafts, and a final-for-now draft.  All of this work combined will be referred to as your project folder, and it is this project folder that will receive an advisory grade.

Each project will feature an electronic assignment sheet that specifically outlines the requirements and goals of each project and includes a calendar of reading, composing and in-class activities. A project analysis assignment will also be included in each project folder.

Tentative Project Timeline

Week 1: Course introduction; defining composition; rhetorical situations

Weeks 2-3: Project One (Personal Narrative)

Weeks 4-5: Project Two (Statement of Student Philosophy)

Week 6-8: Project Three (Visual Texts/Visible Rhetoric)

Weeks 9-12: Project Four (Collaborative Multimedia Project)

Weeks 13-15: Portfolio Revisions and Final Analytical Essay

BLOG

Blogs present an interesting space to compose texts. They blend written texts with some visual elements. They are instantly published but occupy a middle space between informal writing and formal composition. For this course, the blog is a space to write journals, reading responses, or to work on projects in a media that can be quickly accessed. For this class, you will be required to post twice a week, but the blog will be a place for ungraded writing—you simply need to keep it updated.

321 RESPONSES

A 321 Response is a “micro-paper” concept I have devised to make it easier to respond to readings, discussions, workshops, activities, etc. on your blog. As a micro-paper, these responses should be about 300 words. Since the responses are blog writing, focus on dividing the response into short paragraphs that are easily readable in the blog interface. The 321 Response goes as follows:

• Write about three things you learned or points you feel were most important or useful in the text, discussion, workshop, or activity (please note that three points does not equate to three sentences)
• Write about two things or points you think need to be further clarified
• Write a good question for class discussion to finish your response. This is a great place to connect your response to the greater world: other classes you’re in, current events, separate ideas you are thinking about, etc. Questions can also help you be ready for upcoming discussions and help you, the students, control the direction of class discussion and learning.

MEETINGS

You are required to meet with me once during the semester during my office hours or by appointment. During this time, we will closely examine a text together. Meetings will last 15-20 minutes.

FULL-CLASS WORKSHOP

One of your texts must be submitted for a full-class workshop, which will be conducted most Thursdays during the semester. Dates will be assigned during the first week of class.

SMALL-GROUP WORKSHOP

After about four weeks of class, I will divide the class into five or six small peer-response groups, which will meet Thursdays following the full-class workshop. Each small group will look at each other’s current project text, mirroring the critical activity of the full-class workshop.

PARTICIPATION

You are expected to read the assigned articles and texts and respond thoughtfully in full-class and small-group discussions, workshop, peer-review activities, and on your blog. Participating regularly in class is considered part of the portfolio.

Assessment

PROJECT ADVISORY GRADES

Each project will be evaluated according to rubrics negotiated by the teacher and students based on the learning outcomes and goals of each project.

EVALUATIVE COMMENTS

Each time I examine a text, I will offer evaluative comments about a text’s rhetorical effectiveness based on my assessment of your intentions as author. These comments are meant to be in-depth but not exhaustive (e.g. you may have more issues than my comments cover that should be revised). My comments will attempt to cover two or three global issues from the text. I intend for my comments to be constructive criticism, but they will also include praise. I invite dialogue from students based on evaluative comments.

Comments may come in the form of MS Word Comments, a letter or note, audio commentary, or via face-to-face or virtual meetings.

FINAL GRADE

Portfolio: 80%

Participation, Blog, Meeting, Full-Class Workshop: 20%

The Final Portfolio will be graded according to a portfolio rubric negotiated by students and teacher based on project rubrics and project revisions.

Course Policies & Miscellany

ATTENDANCE POLICY

Attendance is vital to this class, and is required by the university to pass this course.  We will be doing a variety of activities each class period, and if you are not present, you will miss important information and the opportunity to develop your writing skills.  You are responsible for finding out what you missed in your absence.  Do not send me e-mails asking what you missed because I will not respond to them.

Additionally, any student who misses more than 20% of scheduled classes will have failed to meet our minimum standards for class attendance and participation.  That student’s course portfolio will therefore be judged incomplete, and will be graded accordingly.

ATTENTION POLICY

During each class, you will be asked to toggle between different activities including, but not limited to, class discussion, small-group discussion, project invention, research, drafting, workshops, lectures, revision and other writing and reading assignments.  Make sure you are able to focus on the task at hand for the full amount of time allotted by the instructor.

FREE SPEECH & STUDENT RESPECT

Academics often focus on objects, texts, opinions, and events which may evoke strong opinions and emotions in scholars at all levels.  You might find some of the texts and topics we study to be controversial.  Though I will try not to purposely offend anyone, there may indeed be moments in this class where you are shocked, offended, or have your worldview challenged.

That said there will be differences of opinion between you and the text, your classmates, your groupmates, and within the class as a whole.  Please be prepared for such disagreements and remember 1) someone will eventually disagree with you, so please treat those you disagree with as you would like to be treated were the roles reversed; 2) that you are arguing positions, not people, so try not to take this personally; 3) one of the ultimate goals of academics is to account for a multitude of perspectives; 4) No opinion or worldview is really worth having if you are afraid to hold it to scrutiny, so try to enjoy the opportunity to examine your beliefs.  You can (and should) feel free to believe whatever you want.  You are required, however, to make every available effort to back up, justify, and support any claim you make with specific information.  In academics, we tend to take seriously those positions that are well thought out but easily dismiss rash opinions that are unsupported.

In a composition workshop, especially, it is important to create a middle space between politely praising a work and finding flaws for the sake of finding flaws. In the middle space, we can describe what a text does and state our informed analysis, with a commitment to making the writer more effective and more aware of what the work is doing.

DISABILITIES POLICY

Any student needing to arrange a reasonable accommodation for a documented disability should contact Disability Concerns at Fell Hall: 438-5853 (voice), or 438-8620 (TDD)

CONTACTING THE INSTRUCTOR OUTSIDE OF CLASS:

Please feel free to contact me by phone, e-mail or during office hours/by appointment as you see fit. It is important to me to be approachable for students. Be mindful, however, this class is not the sum total of my life. I am also a student, husband, poet, friend, etc. and need to spend time in those roles. If you wish to contact me, please have a specific query or purpose for doing so.

NOTE

**This document is a work-in-progress, and I reserve the right to alter the content as needs arise.  If any changes are made, you will be notified.**