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University Course Catalog Description
For English Department teaching assistants, discussion and evaluation of materials and methods of undergraduate English instruction; participation in appropriate Departmental workshops and colloquia. May count as an elective beyond the 24 credits of coursework specified in the catalog. Grading: S/U.
Required Materials
There are no required materials to purchase for this course. All required materials will be provided to you on the course website, through email, or available to FAU students via the FAU Online Library’s online holdings.
Readings may include selections from:
- Bean, John C. Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom. 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011. The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series.
- Dobrin, Sidney I., ed. Don’t Call It That: The Composition Practicum. Urbana, Ill: National Council of Teachers of English, 2005.
- Good, Tina LaVonne, and Leanne B Warshauer. In Our Own Voice: Graduate Students Teach Writing. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000.
- Lindemann, Erika, and Daniel Anderson. A Rhetoric for Writing Teachers. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print.
- Restaino, Jessica. First Semester: Graduate Students, Teaching Writing, and the Challenge of Middle Ground. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2012. CCCC Studies in Writing & Rhetoric.
- Roen, Duane H., ed. Strategies for Teaching First-Year Composition. Urbana, Ill: National Council of Teachers of English, 2002.
And may also include articles from scholarly journals such as Composition Forum, Pedagogy, Writing Instructor, and College Composition & Communication and essays in periodicals like The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, and The New York Times.
Coursework, Expectations, and Requirements (some tentative and…)
Descriptions of major assignments and assignment categories are below, each comprising the indicated percentage of your final semester grade. Detailed directions, guidelines, criteria, and due dates will be discussed in class, provided on the website, and/or indicated on the course schedule.
Attendance & Engagement (…and Preparedness, Participation, and Professionalism)
Attendance at ENG 6925 meetings is mandatory. Please let me know in advance if you are unable to attend. While I don’t expect you to provide personal details, I do expect a reasonable explanation (such as illness, emergency, religious observance, conference presentation, etc.)
More than simply attending class, I expect you to be prepared (having completed required readings or coursework in good faith), to participate meaningfully, to demonstrate engagement (with course materials, ideas, and assignments), and to be professional in your approach, attitude, and actions (to the course and its objectives, your peers, the program, and to me). While I would appreciate enthusiasm, it’s not something I can require. Instead, I’ll ask you to attempt to avoid the appearance of apathy, annoyance, and/or aversion.
In addition to the various assignments and requirements below, you will be expected to complete reading and writing assignments throughout the semester.
Completion of Second 1101 Essay (and accompanying responses, prewriting, drafts, etc.)
Colloquium students are required to write the second paper of the ENC 1101 Assignment sequence (Essay Two: Wood and Ma), along with any additional assignments you require your students to complete throughout the project cycle (beginning Monday 9/12 when the reading—Ma’s “Necessary Edges: Arts, Empathy, and Education”—is due through the Final Draft Final Draft Due date on Monday 9/26 . Asking you to engage in the critical, generative, drafting, revision, and review strategies will help you consider the difficulties students may encounter in throughout the essay cycle, provide an opportunity to think through how papers meet varying levels of expectations outline on the standard grading rubric, and think about ways to help students approach the assignment and improve their writing.
A few notes:
- First, I haven’t yet figured out how to collect your work in a way that isn’t burdensome, but also, in a way that forces to to complete the assignments, drafts, and papers and “turn them in” before the day they’re due.
- Second, you may consider sharing some of your work with your students. The benefits of sharing your work emphasizes that all writing (and writers) are works in progress, models “good” writerly behaviors, prewriting, and “messy” work. The potential drawback is that students may believe your model is the “standard” or believe that their thesis should be more like your own.
TL;DR: I haven’t quite figured out the logistics yet. I’m working on it.
Peer/Colleague Classroom Observations
Before the end of the semester, each GTA will observe two of their peers (new GTAs) and one more experienced instructor or GTA. More details on this are forthcoming. I need to speak with the other IORs about having student observations across sections…
Tentatively, in the first half of the semester, you will observe a GTA from our Colloquium section. In the second half of the semester, you will observe a new GTA from a different section (Prof Faraci’s or Prof Schwartz’s), and one of our instructors (or potentially, an “experienced” GTA). After the observations, you will be required to write some sort of informal letter/memo/email about strengths, areas for improvement or things you might have done differently, etc. More details after I meet with the other IORs…
IOR Observations of GTAs
You will be observed (by me) at least twice during this semester. Within one week of your observation, please schedule a time to meet with me to discuss your teaching. Observation dates will be agreed upon in advance. (I will not show up to your classroom unannounced). My observations of your classes will be the focus of an evaluative memo IORs are required to submit to the WPA (Prof. Wendy Hinshaw) at the conclusion of the semester. The memo will also include comment on and assessment of your Colloquium coursework throughout the term. You will receive a copy, and also, I believe the memo becomes part of your English Department file.
Grade Norming & Commenting Workshop Participation
At least three times during the semester, we will participate in grade norming and commenting workshops. You will be asked to submit sample student work in advance of these sessions, including texts you have commented on and/or graded.
Discussion Leadership: Issues in Teaching Composition
TBA
Conversation Engagement (Journal Reflections & Responses)
You are now classroom instructors of composition—you are practitioners within a discipline (composition & rhetoric) and members of a profession (university level composition teachers). Reflecting on your own classroom experiences will help you to grow as a professional. Reading (and responding to) conversations in the field will help you better understand current debates in the field, issues in higher education, disciplinary and institutional problems, and what’s affecting other students, teachers, classrooms, and universities.
Most weeks, you will be required to write two “journal entries” as blog posts to our ENG 6925 class website—one post should be a reflection on your teaching during the past week, and one should be a short summary/discussion of an item of interest in the news (or professional publications, blogs, etc.)…[more]…
Development of an Assignment Sequence
Each GTA is required to develop an assignment sequence that could be used in 1101/1102 classes. We will discuss guidelines and requirements well in advance of this assignment. You will be asked to share your sequences with your classmates; we will discuss them and offer feedback.
End-of-Term Memo
At the end of the semester, you will be asked to write a memo in which you reflect on your strengths and weaknesses in the classroom, suggests ways you might draw on your strengths and improve/compensate for your weaknesses in future semesters, and provide advice to future GTAs.
Assessment
ENG 6925: Colloquium employs an “S/U” semester grading system as part of its pedagogical strategy and facilitation of a collegial, supportive learning experience. At the end of the semester, GTAs will be assigned a “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory.”
Institutional Policies
University Attendance Policy Statement
Students are expected to attend all of their scheduled University classes and to satisfy all academic objectives as outlined by the instructor. The effect of absences upon grades is determined by the instructor, and the University reserves the right to deal at any time with individual cases of non-attendance.
Students are responsible for arranging to make up work missed because of legitimate class absence, such as illness, family emergencies, military obligation, court-imposed legal obligations or participation in University-approved activities. Examples of University-approved reasons for absences include participating on an athletic or scholastic team, musical and theatrical performances and debate activities. It is the student’s responsibility to give the instructor notice prior to any anticipated absences and within a reasonable amount of time after an unanticipated absence, ordinarily by the next scheduled class meeting. Instructors must allow each student who is absent for a University-approved reason the opportunity to make up work missed without any reduction in the student’s final course grade as a direct result of such absence.
University Disability Policy Statement
In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA), students who require special accommodation due to a disability to properly execute coursework must register with Student Accessibility Services (SAS) and follow all SAS procedures. SAS has offices across three of FAU’s campuses – Boca Raton (SU 133; 561-297-3880), Davie (LA 131; 954-236-1222) and Jupiter (SR 111F; 561-799-8585) – however disability services are available for students on all campuses.
University Code of Academic Integrity Policy Statement
Students at Florida Atlantic University are expected to maintain the highest ethical standards. Academic dishonesty is considered a serious breach of these ethical standards, because it interferes with the university mission to provide a high quality education in which no student enjoys an unfair advantage over any other. Academic dishonesty is also destructive of the university community, which is grounded in a system of mutual trust and places high value on personal integrity and individual responsibility. Harsh penalties are associated with academic dishonesty. For more information, see University Regulation 4.001: Code of Academic Integrity.