UAF Composition Guidebook by Brooke Sheridan

Composition) Program) Guidebook! 201272013!

Summer 2012 Dear Teacher of English 111x, Welcome to a fresh semester of teaching, meeting new people, and developing your knowledge from new experiences in a classroom. Keep in mind, as other program obligations pile up, that you were selected for this job; we believe each of you to be capable and smart. And…Don’t Panic. It’s going to be rewarding, and fun. This guidebook is intended as a resource for you, and it includes information outlining the importance of your Rule 1: Practice responsibilities as a teacher of adults. I organized this Framing. guidebook so that I could begin with the big ideas of the culture for which we are all responsible to develop, in our offices and What’s the classrooms. To do so, I have included sections about essential difference between knowledge and practices students should know before they a guidebook and a complete the course, including English 111’s learning objectives, manual? our curricular sequence, sample assignment prompts, and classroom materials. At the back of the guidebook, I have provided some important practical aspects of teaching Composition for UAF, including long-held policies, responsibilities, and expectations of your job as an instructor. You are expected to know these policies and procedures, and to address any questions or concerns as soon as possible with me. Rule 2: Be Deliberate. How should students and teachers be written about in this guidebook?

Our curriculum reflects the importance of diversity, and because it reflects diversity, it also reflects UAF—an openadmission, research institution. While many of our students are not “typical” college-age freshman, they are students who are eager, intellectually curious, and most of all, motivated to learn from their experiences. We must keep our students at the center of what we do. As a teacher, don’t neglect your role as a student of your students. Learn about the students' linguistic resources to help draw them out in their writing. Learn about Fairbanks, UAF, and the conditions of living in our climate and culture. I hope you find this guidebook helpful on your own journey as a

teacher. Put your own stamp on your course section and share that experience with others.

Acknowledgements This curriculum is a result of collaboration between teachers at UAF and UAF CTCâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;sharing resources, discussing their classrooms, and engaging each other in reflective practice. Thanks especially to Jennifer Tilbury, Amy Stahl, Sarah Doetschman, Kate Quick, Yavanna Brownlee, Carolyn Kremers, Nate Bauer, Christie VanLaningham, Ryan Ragan, Tara Knight, Aaron Bauer, Mollie Murray, Sally Rafson, Hans Burger, Ian Colbert, Liz Edwards, Zack Medlin, Ryan Fleharty, and Jennifer Schell. In addition, special thanks to Charles Frost for providing valuable feedback on the guidebook itself.

Philosophy, Resources, and Policies of our Program Some Definitions, Misunderstandings, and Beliefs............................................................ 7 Glossary ........................................................................................................................................ 9 UAFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Institutional Hierarchy and Program Philosophy, Goals, and Objectives........ 14 Composition Program Mission Statement ........................................................................................... 17 English Department 111x Guidelines.................................................................................................... 19

Program Outcomes ................................................................................................................... 22 Learning Outcomes of English 111x: What can you assume your students will be able to do after they take this course?...................................................................................................................................... 23

Curricular Sequence ................................................................................................................. 24 Policies for Graduate Teaching Assistants .......................................................................... 51 Attendance Policy: What to do if I must miss a class?........................................................................ 51 Syllabus Policy: What do I need to communicate to the English Department about my class? .. 51 Syllabus Policies: What do I need to communicate to my class on my syllabus? .......................... 51 First Days Policy: What should I be sure to do the first days of class? ............................................ 51 Early Semester Attendance Policy: What should I pay attention to? ............................................... 52 Enrollments Caps & Waitlists: What are they?.................................................................................... 52 Special Permissions: What am I responsible for as the teacher on record? ..................................... 53 Placement Policy: How are students placed in my course?............................................................... 53 Office Hours and student conferences: How else can I work with my students?.......................... 53 Students with Disabilities: What should I do if I have a student with a disability? ...................... 54 Plagiarism Policy: What to do when you suspect a student of plagiarism?.................................... 54 Troubling Situation Policy: What to do if a student acts out? ........................................................... 54 Grading Policy: What are expectations about my grading practices?.............................................. 55 Finals Policy: When and where do I hold my final exam period? .................................................... 55

Contractual Obligations and Responsibilities.................................................................... 55

Good Citizen Policy ................................................................................................................................. 55 Good Student Standing Policy ............................................................................................................... 56 Students First Policy ................................................................................................................................ 56 Technology and Social Networks Policy .............................................................................................. 56

Participatory Culture at UAF .................................................................................................. 57 Writealaska.org......................................................................................................................................... 57 Professional Development Workshops................................................................................................. 57 685: Teaching College Composition ...................................................................................................... 57 Composition Weekly ............................................................................................................................... 58 Writing Center .......................................................................................................................................... 58 Brownbags................................................................................................................................................. 58 Personnel ................................................................................................................................................... 58

Some Definitions, Misunderstandings, and Beliefs Literacy can mean different things, and placing the modifier academic before it certainly does not lighten this concern. Presented below are our Composition Program’s beliefs about academic literacy, intended to respond to” assumptions” about literacy as well as attitudes about students and their learning that are counter-productive to the aims of English 111x at UAF. This section is written to be explicit about the programmatic stance we take on literacy. In general, our Composition Program shares traits with those across the “Lower 48” who have shifted the emphasis of writing from an individual’s or author’s perspective of writing to a social perspective of texts and writers. Discussed in Composition scholarship as the “social turn,” this emphasizes no one “genre” of writing over another. For example, this curriculum does not value argument over narrative or narrative over argument. The reason for this refusal is based in our belief that writing occurs in contexts that always change and always differ—contexts that involve multiple genres for multiple audiences and purposes. This kind of understanding about language and “text” is a rhetorical perspective, and in this document, this perspective will often be referred to as the “rhetorical situation.” English 111x at UAF should challenge students to apply this rhetorical knowledge of how and why various writing/texts are produced, received, distributed, and circulated to aid students to practice writing texts more deliberately, effectively, and precisely. This take on process is a “social writing process” rather than a cognitive process of an individual writer.

Charles Frost has written a glossary following this discussion. If there is a word in quotation marks he extends and defines it in the glossary. Ask questions about these terms.

Often literacy is understood as a skill which the presence or absence of then defines people as either literate or illiterate. New Literacy Studies has expanded this definition. Literacy, researchers argue, is far more social than an individual decoding words from a page, writing them down, and then a teacher deciding this practice deems the person literate. So, rather than “framing” literacy as a skill; instead, literacy has been found to be made up of a series of “social material practices” aimed toward action in given contexts. Literacy is active practice. In our teaching of academic literacy, we should attempt to help our students acquire it based on how literacy practices actually work in the context of people’s lives, including academics. For example, there is a difference between “peer review” and “peer editing” in a writing classroom. Important to this distinction is the fact that literacy, like language, is ideological. Ideological, in this

Did you know that the oldest complaint about student writing was written by an ancient teacher who “agonized” about the recent decline of student writing ability on a clay Sumerian tablet? See Daniels, Harvey A.: Famous Last Words: The American Language Crisis Reconsidered.

context, means that a teacher cannot remove literacy teaching from its social effects. For example, while the practice of teaching traditional grammar (sentence diagramming) may sometimes seem appealing, the practice has been studied in an experimental design for years. The conclusion is that this traditional teaching method does not foster writing improvement for students still learning to write. Put another way, decontextualizing literacy will not help students develop as informed, deliberate communicators. In the “Banking Concept of Education,” Paulo Freire presents this distinction in terms of the difference it makes between memorizing “the capital of Pará is Belim” versus perceiving “what Belim means for Pará and what Pará means for Brazil.” Writing is a series of choices Literacies are social practices that grow and change that carry consequences. based on the particular needs of a group of people, their purposes for communicating, and the situations of their lives; they are not individual skill sets that either you have or you don’t have. Academic literacy is one type of literacy. Like all literacies, it involves more than de-coding alphabetic codes, just as it involves more than complete sentences, developed paragraphs, and thesis-driven papers. In fact, academic literacy implicates everyone. From the graduate teaching assistant, to the developmental instructor, to the chemistry lab teacher, to the sociology professor: we all have a responsibility to recognize the rhetorical nature of academic language, and help students use it, as informed, deliberate, and precise communicators. Often, what makes academic literacy difficult to teach is that this process of learning happens over time, and is acquired through practice in rhetorical situations. Sometimes we teach the same thing, again and again—which doesn’t mean we are failing. Returning again to pervious material provides opportunity for synthesis. Teaching academic literacy does not necessarily involve taking a “prescriptive” orientation to a writer’s language use or social conventions. The features of academic genres change, as writers respond to disciplinary and social context. All texts have features that can be analyzed and drawn on in regard to their social function (what, how, and to whom it communicates). Schooling is tied to either social reproduction or social transformation, At the same time, as teachers of Composition, and we should make every attempt to we meet students during a period of work along this spectrum of social transition, which means we have a change in our work with writers responsibility not only to ground students in acquiring academic literacy. No one the University’s changing expectations for writes in no-place or no-situation. their written communication but also to What writers write and how they expose them to new knowledge and practices write is inherited, and also contributes, for their continued writing improvement. We to their particular scenes of writing as aim to help students distinguish between well as their understanding of “choices v. errors.” Specifically, UAF themselves and the world. Composition aims to raise their awareness about how language and writing are shaped and how they shape context. That is, language and writing function as “mirrors” and “tools.” Knowledge about academic literacy and its practices can be made transferable to contexts outside of writing classrooms through a writer knowing the reasons behind what they are doing. Students acquire this knowledge as they gain more 8

exposure to the genres of their discipline, students learn in English 111x the tools, questions, and habits of mind that are critical for success in college. As such, we draw on strategies advocated by research into undergraduate education at research universities. See the Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing http://wpacouncil.org/files/ framework-for-success-postsecondary-writing.pdf

Glossary Assumptions Each text embodies certain ideas and biases concerning how the world works or how it ought to work. Some are explicit; others are implicit. Texts and consumers of text both carry assumptions alike. By contrasting and exploring the self and texts through language in varying situations and contexts, we recalibrate how the world works or ought to work. Progressive growth occurs when writers observe, analyze, and synthesize assumptions that can be contradictory or similar. This is one of the ways we engage in constructing knowledge. Lower 48 We bet you’ll hear this one a lot around Fairbanks and in the state of Alaska. It refers to the contiguous U.S. states. The “lower 48” has a lot of connotations, depending on context. For example, if you or when you experience shipping costs, the geographic distinction translates to a cost distinction as well. Social Turn v. Cognitive Expression There have been several turns in the study of composition and the latest is a turn to the social. Composition courses are required in a majority of higher education programs; it is at once a gate keeping mechanism but also an opportunity to reach students during a transformative period in their lives. English 111x at UAF is a required core class that provides an opportunity to introduce these concepts to the student population and foster critical citizens and future contributors to our communities. Though this guidebook is not intended to provide an historical perspective to a field that has shifted and grown, we believe that it is important to situate composition, literacy, and our curriculum as a social project and an asset to continuing education here at UAF. However, we look forward to exploring the field of composition throughout the graduate program with you. See Participatory Culture at UAF in this guidebook. Genre In both literary and rhetorical study, genres are of current research interest. Certainly distinctions on what features of text correspond to categories are endlessly fascinating. A question we often hear being asked in our graduate program is a timeless one regarding how different artists draw the line between non-fiction and fiction. But, similar questions can be applied and considered in relation to other texts

and their creation as well. For instance, you can think about the writing prompts you will write as learning a new genre of writing. Genres in this curriculum refer to text types that have developed a stability of features over time which reflect the purposes, audiences, and contexts of their social use. In this way, genres are commonly referred to as social responses to recurring, stable-for-now “rhetorical situations.” Text v. Artifact A text can be a book, an article, a television commercial, a poster, a radio program, etc. Sometimes it is useful to consider everyday objects as texts. Texts tell viewers things about themselves and the rhetorical situation which contributed to the text's distribution, production, reception, and circulation. Consider this guidebook: what is the rhetorical situation that has sparked this artifact and who are the potential audiences? How does its form as a physical book relate to its distribution and thereby circulation? Rhetorical Situation Writing is more complicated than a writer thinking about what to say, putting thought to screen, and then having someone else read it. A major reason why writing is more complicated than the description above is because of the rhetorical situation, and how the rhetorical situation presents writers with constraints or limits on what they can write, to who, and how. We promote a rhetorical perspective for posing and solving writing problems. We teach through the rhetorical situation, where a myriad of influences affect what we mean (purpose), how we mean it (medium), and to whom (audience) we are communicating. Though it might be pedantic, recall the definition of "essay," from the French essia, is to make an attempt. Social Writing Processes v. Cognitive Expression Our writing classrooms provide a space for writers to approach their writing as a recursive process that is uniquely their own, framing the study of text as a social material process. Students are expected to write drafts, discuss them with their peers, and re-work their writing over a unit. At the same time, each unit should present them with a textual encounter, in which the text under study (it could be a razor, an advertisement, an image, an essay, an editorial, etc.) is also a part of a social process of production, distribution, circulation, and reception. This is not to confuse the practice of teaching composition. Big ideas let you discuss meaning making and social framing where society juxtaposes other, sometimes contradictory, frames. Frame v. Set up Throughout this handbook you’ll see these verbs. When framing is used, it means something specific in relation to cognitive linguistics and the neurological theory of metaphor. Consider the phrases tax relief, tax cuts, and tax loss. These phrases imply certain positions that a writer could implicitly use to frame a moral dialogue about the role of government to an individual. Relief and loss direct a reader's perception of

taxes and their role in society. Deeply rooted cognitive metaphors are what we are considering when discussing framing. For more on framing, google George Lakoff. Set up, on the other hand, refers to a different kind of conscious action involved in education, Note that during the curricular resources that follow the verb set up is used a lot. Set up is one way we intend to invoke a concept from a cognitive psychologist in Education, Vgotsky’s concept of scaffolding. Picture a building with scaffolds helping it along as it is being built—this is the image metaphor of your job as a teacher. We are carefully sequencing, crafting, and helping students become theory builders for their own purposes in writing for a variety of audiences. For more on scaffolding, google Vgotsky. Social Material Practice: Borderland v. Frontier Text is more than an individual accomplishment or a skill conveniently packaged in a collegial course. Conditions and practices associated with writing matter to the extent that they limit and make possible language itself. Conceptually, this take on language shares more in common with writing as a borderland activity than as a frontier activity. "No [one] is an island" and "no [one] needs nothing." Frontiers are pre-existing portions of the rhetorical situation. As a borderland, language is the negotiation between social groups from purchasing products, evaluating media, to holding conversations in public lounges. How does UAF contribute to navigating the Alaska/UAF borderland and what role does English 111 play? Peer Review v. Peer Editing With peer review, we are teaching writers how to be a diligent, careful, and critical reader of academic texts, including the writer’s own and the writer’s peers. We believe it is essential for success at UAF and for life as a citizen. Peer review centers around the reflective process; students analyze the choices that they and their peers make in regards to their composition. By asking questions, considering answers, or challenging assumptions such as if the questions asked are the right questions, writers at any stage in their process benefit from the awareness of the choices they are consciously or unconsciously pursuing. There are multiple ways to approach this process. Two people trading essays to comment and discuss the writing or a class discussing particular sentences as a groups are two examples. When students approach their peers’ writing, and their own, with the sole intent of evaluating usage and spelling neglects our curricular objectives. Distinctions of choice v. error, framing v. set up, and textual assumptions are negated when the only concern is the difference between student work and its connection to an idealized, standardized English. Prescription v. Descriptive Instructors prescribing a single method to write stand counter to our Composition Program's goals, objectives, and outcomes. Prescribing exactly how an essay should perform and function, aside from effectively working within and against a rhetorical situation, will not lead to a student transferring knowledge about language and meaning-making to other contexts. In addition, working toward making

assignments engaging leaves students in a position to explore the different paths and investigate different choices. Using descriptive practices and assignments allows students to develop internalized prescription. These are practices that writers adopt or create for themselves where they are aware of the choices they are making.

Choices v. Errors Conventionally understood, choices are conscious selections from a given set of conscious options. However, in this conventional view, choices are reduced to a conscious understanding, and as popular movies such as The Matrix point out exactly how conscious are we between the red pill and the blue pill? Our goal is to increase the quantity of deliberate choices writers make in their design, just as we also hope to reduce the amount of errors in writersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; design. This distinction is at once existential and pragmatic; each choice will have a consequence and, regardless of whether they are "good" (choices) or "bad" (errors), there are results. Understanding correlation or the causation of these results allows writers to make informed decisions in their composition. The Mirror-Tool: Shaping v. shaped Any use of language functions as a mirror and a tool simultaneously. As a mirror, language both reflects and refracts the identities, histories, and contexts of the user and use of language. As a tool, any language use responds to such identities, histories, and contexts. As a tool, it shapes it in some way. This understanding of language is referred to as a social semiotic: That is, language both shapes (tools) and is shaped by (mirrors) the contexts of its use. Academia is a "wilderness of mirrors." Composition works at representation, emulation, and reflection to develop something to say. Using interesting, simple, and complex ideas emanating from these fractal points of texts, professors, and peers developing something to say is the goal. Knowing how to manipulate and tease out these assumptions and attitudes from texts with critical awareness turns them into tools. Mirrors, besides the active observer, are passive, and only when the observer uses or manipulates the mirrors does something happen.

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UAFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Institutional Hierarchy and Program Philosophy, Goals, and Objectives In this section, we outline a hierarchy of our institutional understanding of writing at UAF, the English Department, the Composition Program, and finally specific classrooms. There is a general to specific progression. We found the figure of a pyramid to be helpful keeping in mind these relationships and below is a graphic, taken from the University of Connecticutâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Assessment materials, available at http://www.assessment.uconn.edu/primer/goals1.html

In what follows, we populate each level of this pyramid with the specific official statements about writing at the other levels so that you feel more comfortable in your role as an instructor of the course. Currently at UAF the Undergraduate Core Curriculum is being revitalized. A Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s core curriculum is essentially the series of courses that are required in order for a student to earn a degree, but these courses are also important because they address the mission statement of the University. English 111x and either English 211x or 213x fulfill the written communication graduation requirement for students; these courses must also address certain core outcomes. At this time, we have reviewed the current, under-review, core outcomes, and have aligned our Composition program with three of the four outcomes. 15

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Develop intellectual and practical skills across the curriculum, including inquiry and analysis, critical and creative thinking, problem solving.

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Acquire tools for effective civic engagement in local through global contexts, including ethical reasoning, intercultural competence.

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Integrate and apply learning, including synthesis and advanced accomplishment across general and specialized studies, adapting them to new settings, questions, and responsibilities, and forming a foundation for lifelong learning.

As an instructor at UAF, you should know our mission statement. This mission statement was circulated last year and faculty members as well as students provided feedback on specific arrangements: The University of Alaska Fairbanks is a Land, Sea, and Space Grant university and an international center for research, education, and the arts, emphasizing the circumpolar North and its diverse peoples. UAF integrates teaching, research, and public service as it educates students for active citizenship and prepares them for lifelong learning and careers. Every decade or so, public institutions such as ours may voluntarily go through a peer review accreditation process. The report from last year is online and available to the public. The core themes used to organize the report include the verbs educate, discover, prepare, connect, and engage. You might want to brainstorm ways to use these verbs in your own design of learning outcomes for your particular section of English 111x. The English Department is funded by the budget of the College of Liberal Arts (CLA). This is the college that handles your hiring paperwork, timesheets, and can occasionally fund travel or projects for your own scholarship or creative activities. ENGLISH DEPARTMENT Our Department goals include that students will have met the Composition Program outcomes. Last Spring, the Department voted on new catalog language for majoring in English. To write the description, we drew on outcomes documents for the Department: A B.A. in English at UAF provides training in rhetorical dexterity, critical acumen, and creative ingenuity—habits of mind that develop alongside intellectual inquiries concerning the production and reception of literary (and nonliterary) texts. As effective creators and thoughtful consumers of print and digital information, students learn how to identify critical methods, analyze language in varying historical, cultural, and institutional contexts, and employ research in writing and speaking for a professional audience in the humanities. The department has a particular strength in creative writing; students will have the opportunity to attend lectures and workshops with respected visiting writers and scholars as well as resident

faculty. The English major is flexible and comprehensive enough to allow students to choose their own paths. Mindful of how language shapes problems, communities, and environments, graduates exit the program prepared for careers in diverse fields such as education, law, and business.

Composition Program Mission Statement The Composition Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks regards writing as rhetorically-based, intellectual inquiry. We promote creative and critical thinking in service of student success in their future written coursework. We contribute to students building a foundation for lifelong learning and civic engagement. Our student-centered classrooms use rhetorically-based inquiry in order to foster critical awareness. Student-Centered Classrooms

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Student writing constitutes the principal activity of our courses.

A student-centered classroom calls us to listen to our students, learn from their readings of texts, and pay attention to misunderstandings that often come up. Often these misunderstandings, (wait you thought the author was a man—it was really a woman!) lead the entire classroom to a learning experience. In When we teachers enter classrooms with particular poems general, taking the time to or stories in hand, we also enter with expectations about slow things down, and ask the kind of student responses that would be most fruitful, students to articulate the and these expectations have been shaped, for the most part reasons behind their in literature departments in American universities. We positions, including their errors in their writing, often value some readings more than others-even, in our produces exciting learning experience, those teachers who advocate a reader’s free moments in a classroom, for play. One inevitable result of this situation is that there both the student and the will be moments of mismatch between what a teacher teacher. In fact, studentexpects and what students do. What interests us about this mismatch is the possibility that our particular orientations centered classrooms make room for multicultural, or and readings might blind us to the logic of a student’s what Glenda Hull and Mike interpretation and the ways that interpretations might be Rose name in 1990 as sensibly influenced by the student’s history. “unconventional” readings. --Hull and Rose, 1990, 287. Rhetorically-Based Inquiry

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Our classrooms pose rhetorical problems for

writers to solve or complicate. Last semester I visited a teacher’s classroom the day that Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from

Rhetoric is the study of misunderstandings and their remedies. 17 --I.A. Richards

Birmingham Jail” was discussed. Before the activity, the teacher asked her students to translate a previous journal entry they wrote to a text message to someone particular. Another classroom I visited, a teacher had cut up paragraphs from an essay, assigned students to groups, and asked each group to rearrange the paragraphs. When the time came for groups to share what they found, his students were engaged in discussing the decisions they made about the arrangement, why there were differences, and how it got them thinking about their own paragraph order differently. In another classroom, a teacher brings in a wide sample of texts, ranging from an NBA history told by former players, the Culinary Institute’s Book of Soups, the 9/11 Commission Report, and David Macaulay’s The Way Things Work. He then asks students to determine in groups what makes each of these texts successful and effective. Critical Awareness

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We foster with our students awareness for risk taking in their daily writing lives.

The Road Not Taken (1915) By Robert Frost Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth. Then took the other, as just as fair And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same. And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

In How We Think, John Dewey presents educators with a forked road situation as a metaphor for critical thinking. For Dewey, being critical is an active position, a choice that comes out of a process of observation and analysis. He calls us to recognize that to be critical, one has to consider more than one route and understand the important differences between routes, as well as have a reason for choosing one over another. Additionally, to be able to recognize that on another day, with different circumstances, another route may have been chosen. As a writing center tutor, I was working with a student studying to become an engineer. He was also an ESL writer, who wanted help with precise language as he was very excited about an equation he discovered which would help achieve “projectile accuracy.” I asked him what that meant—was he talking about bombs? His face fell, and I could tell the application of his formula upset him. Our session changed from correcting language to using it as a resource. Together, we located an appropriate place in his professional paper where he could address the application of his formula in a manner that affirmed his values about war.

English Department 111x Guidelines [Revised 4/12 from Policies and Procedures] English 111X: Introduction to Academic Writing Catalog Description This course provides instruction and practice in written inquiry and critical reading. It introduces writing as a way of developing, exploring, and testing ideas. The course also orients students to informational literacy, the writing center, and writing technologies. (See placement in catalog.) General Objectives This student-centered, inquiry-based writing course is designed to help students throughout their college careers and as citizens. Inquiry-based writing is designed to engage the student in both problem posing and problem solving. Drawing on the rhetorical situation—specifically, audience, purpose, and context—instruction emphasizes the social nature of inquiry and how writers test ideas to discover the reasons behind and for discursive choices. Students practice recursive writing processes, such as peer review, in order to help them adapt to changing demands of writing within the university and their lives. Guidelines for English 111X Teachers: 1. Assign, in class, the prompts below during the first or second class of the semester. These prompts are written to elicit important information about who your students are as language users and learners. Share with students that the audience of the writing is you. Students should write for 45-minutes. As a reader of the document, you are interested in learning about their language background so that you can draw on that understanding in your one-on-one work with writers. Ask specifically which languages know (speak and write). Survey the completed essays; make a list of the languages spoken in your class and turn in the list to the Director of Composition by the end of the first week of class. •

How do you assess written work in your daily life as a reader/writer?

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How has your education shaped your view of what it means to be a good writer?

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How have you learned what makes a piece of writing successful?

2. Provide students with guidance and practice in a variety of writing processes. Through systematic design of class activities and assignments, emphasize revision and reflection in your students’ writing processes. Emphasize the social nature of process through the academic practice of peer review, which is essential to this course. Do not assume writers know how to engage in peer review before they arrive in your class. Modeling this process with students is a beneficial method to teach this technique. In 19

fact, there are many ways of modeling peer review such as whole-class workshops, sentence workshops, paragraph workshops, partner exchange, developing rubrics as a class, etc. 3. Schedule individual or small group conferences with your students at least once per semester. Encourage students to work with tutors in the UAF Writing Center as part of their writing process. 4. Require a final during the University final exam period; this is a university policy. This period may be individual conferences with students in which you offer them feedback on their writing development or it might be a whole class period devoted to reflecting on what your students learned about writing in your course. See the Director of Composition for specifics on how this might be done. 4. Assign additional writing inside and outside of class which may include the following: reading response papers, focused free writes, reading journals, in-class writing, weekly writing, and research memos. 5. Assign and discuss unit-based texts from a rhetorical reader or anthology of your choosing. (If you are a new TA, the reader was chosen for you.) Challenge your students by selecting difficult, but rewarding, texts. Build discussions around analysis of a text’s purpose, audience, and context. The unit’s goals and paper specifics should ground these discussions by highlighting linguistic and multimodal design choices of writing. 6. Combine thinking-reading-writing in your classroom in four separate units—each unit-paper must draw on inductive analysis and one of these papers must be over 1000 words. Alternate curricular sequences must be approved by the Director. If you have an alternate sequence in mind, you must confer with the Director before the start of classes. In the first unit, you will be responsible for crafting an inductive assignment that asks students to write from a particular experience of a context, grounded by an assignment based on a particular scene of inquiry (a place, a person, a thing, a word). The writing a student will produce should evidence an insight that the student gained from the unit. See Director or other teachers for examples. In the second unit, you will be responsible for selecting several challenging texts (not too many) from a reader that will ground a text-based inquiry for an academic audience. The student writing should take the form that is appropriate to the writer’s discovered purpose about the text and evidence a clear understanding of audience. Classroom activities may involve how to engage in critical reading practices and how to use reading for intellectual discovery. The student writing should develop the significance behind the analysis, and teachers should encourage class discussion on thesis statements and organization. Keep in mind that such class discussions must be grounded by the writer’s own goals for the piece. In the third unit, you will be responsible for working with your students to engage in informational literacy. Schedule a visit to the library, discuss how to pose inquiry-based questions to scholarship, and how to engage in ethically-based research. You may either

assign a 1500- to 2000-word inquiry-based paper which evidences the use of academic paraphrase, citation and citation styles, summary, and analysis or break these components down into manageable practices, which culminate in a public-oriented research project. In the fourth unit, you will be responsible for designing a creative-critical assignment that builds on the work of your classroom. You might choose a reflective/revision paper assignment as the fourth unit; you may also choose an alternative unit based on your own particular expertise as a teacher and your students’ interest. The last unit, for example, might be a study of a particular genre or a site of public writing (such as film reviews, a blog, Facebook, etc.). 7. Critical reflection and critical revision (the reasons behind what we do when we write and how we re-think writing decisions) are an essential part of the course. Emphasize these practices throughout your course in both your course assignments and related writing activities. 8. Provide prompt, constructive, honest feedback on students’ writing-thinking. Think about the impact of the “red pen.” Dialogue with your students in the margins and end comments of their papers—motivate them to take risks and help them understand the consequences of their writing choices. All instructors must comment on one set of rough drafts to prompt and support evermore complex and effective writing from students.

Program Outcomes CORE OUTCOMES

Programmatic Goal

Course Objective

Learning Outcome.

Develop intellectual and practical skills across the curriculum, including inquiry and analysis, critical and creative thinking, problem solving.

To develop rhetorical knowledge about texts, language, and writing in varying situations.

To engage in rhetoricallybased classroom discussions and small group activities, posing the question why is it that features of text change and adapt to varying rhetorical situations. Students will be taught the rhetorical situation and critical reading.

Drawing on the rhetorical situation and critical reading, students should be able to demonstrate how features of texts shift and change by contrasting the differences in the papers and projects in their own work which they create in the course. Students will evidence this outcome in their reflective writing directly addressing questions of audience, purpose, and context. (see Learning Outcome #1/#3)

To develop effective communication and academic knowledge practices.

To familiarize students with informational literacy. Students will be trained in writing as a social process.

Using informational literacy, students should be able to design a project proposal and presentation that synthesizes an idea. Students will evidence this outcome in a challenging research project, using effective academic references and developing a clear significance of why their project matters. (see Learning Outcome #1/#2)

To develop intellectual curiosity about language, including the language(s) a student brings with him or her to the classroom and future writing situations.

To develop a social learning environment, which approaches writing as an intellectual activity among peers. Students will trained in how to negotiate conventions and expectations. Students will be trained in peer review, peer workshop, and sentence workshops.

Students should be able to call on their own meaningmaking resources to provide reasons for other students in the course to approach their own writing differently. Students will evidence this outcome by developing reasoning through the course about language, knowledge, and power. (see Learning Outcome #3)

Acquire tools for effective civic engagement in local through global contexts, including ethical reasoning, intercultural competence. Integrate and apply learning, including synthesis and advanced accomplishment across general and specialized studies, adapting them to new settings, questions, and responsibilities, and forming a foundation for lifelong learning.

Programmatic goals are statements of what we all as teachers of our program intend our students to achieve. They are written in general, broad terms, and in response to the mission statements and beliefs of the institution. These goals are the intended results of our curriculum. Since they are programmatic goals, they apply to both English 111x and the 200 level writing courses.

A learning objective-outcome is a slightly more specific wording than a programmatic goal. Outcomes and objectives describe the intended results or consequences of our instruction in the course. There is a subtle difference in the way that course objectives and outcomes are written. For example, a course objective is more teacher-centered because it is about what the teacher intends to cover in the class. A course objective often describes the plan of how the teacher will instruct toward the outcome. However, a learning outcome is more student-centered since it describes what it is that the learner should learn. Both outcomes and objectives are interested in the consequences of instruction; however, they are written slightly differently on the chart (previous page) to emphasize what you should be doing as an instructor (objective) and what you should be assessing for your students (outcome). We’ve worked hard to ensure that our material here reflect the various institutional contexts that you’ll be teaching as well as emphasized the philosophy of our program.

What was missing to you in our outcomes? What are some aspects about writing that you will likely want to emphasize in your own English 111x section? Learning Outcomes of English 111x: What can you assume your students will be able to do after they take this course? Learning outcomes differ from plans in that they describe what students will be able to do after completion of the course. Outcomes are results. Good learning outcomes start with a strong verb and then identify how this action results in evidence of learning. You are required to articulate one other learning outcome that is important to your own instructional goals and that is consistent with our program philosophy. When writing a learning outcome, you should be articulating how a student will use something that you are teaching him or her in order to accomplish something. For our ongoing program assessment, these objectives help us understand how well we are helping our students accomplish these actions. I have included questions we should be asking about our unit design to hold ourselves accountable for teaching these objectives.

Learning Outcome 1: Design texts to reflect rhetorical situations. This learning objective draws on rhetorical knowledge about audience, context, and purpose. Students should produce texts that exhibit form and function in their design. We can measure this practice in the diversity of texts that students are writing in English 111x. Is this writer showing a range of rhetorical savvy in this semester’s writing by working with different

23 Dancing Building, Prague. Frank Gehry

purposes, contexts, and audiences? Does form follow function in the texts this student composes? For example, are visual design elements consistent for this purpose for a particular audience? Is an introduction written for a specific audience or a generalized audience? Are details selected so that they reflect the writer’s purpose in the assignment as well as orient the audience to the idea of the paper?

Learning Outcome 2: Introduce, analyze, and synthesize sources for specific rhetorical purposes. This learning objective means that writers will be able to understand not only the socially expected uses of citation, but also why a correct use of citation is important and functional for academic literacy. That is, the reasons behind citation styles. We can measure this practice by how appropriately a writer makes informed, ethical decisions about citation. Did the writer select an appropriate citation style for this writing? Does an inquiry project evidence that the writer knows how to use citation accurately and for Analysis: Breaking down effectiveness? Is a writer able to negotiate what information is “given” and which information is Synthesis: Putting back together “new” in a research conversation?

Learning Outcome 3: Reflect on previous writing to identify its constraints. This learning objective will likely involve repeated experiences of peer review, recursive processes, and rhetorical situation teaching so that students can understand how constraints are present in any writing situation. We can measure this ability by focusing on students’ reflective writing to learn if writers are identifying constraints or problem situations in the course that they had success in solving or complicating for A constraint is a limit. Constraints further inquiry. Teachers can ask if risks are range from social conventions to space being taken in this writer’s work. Is the limitations to audience considerations. writer herself identifying the risks taken in Basically, there is no such thing as writing in specific or general terms? Are “free” writing. reasons given for this writing decision? Is this student exhibiting a-rhetorical or rhetorical reasoning? Is a word intentionally misspelled for a rhetorical effect? Is more than one language or code being drawn on in this text? Does the writer leave questions answered or open? How does this writer negotiate a constraint in a rhetorical situation?

Curricular Sequence Our curriculum draws on John Dewey’s image-metaphor of a “forked road” situation. Dewey uses the idea of being at a crossroads and the decision making that occurs at a crossroads as a metaphor for the cognitive processes that forms a critical thinking 24

process. First, the traveler/writer must recognize that there is a choice to be made. That is, they have to observe that there is in fact a choice in this situation because there exists multiple possibilities (observation). Once the traveler/writer recognizes the forked situation, it is appropriate to then investigate the options of each possibility (analysis). The process of analyzing options often results in recognizing the consequences of each option that helps to place the traveler/writer in a position to exercise judgment to make a choice (synthesis). Now our traveler/writer understands that the decisions made on the trail were because of a culmination of reasons and circumstances that may possibly change on another day. Another traveller might make a different choice, just as they might also use the forked road experience for their own future situations (reflection). The metaphor presents decision making as a constructed process, located in a specific time and place under certain conditions. Embedded in the metaphor is the fact that we also are a result of past decisions that lead to the "forked road" situationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and in order to improve our journeys we should learn from our past experiences. What weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done is e-x-t-e-n-d that metaphor for our curriculum, and although students are always generating options, analyzing them, synthesizing them, and reflecting on their reasons, each unit highlights one of these processes. This fall you will be teaching a progressive sequence for English 111x, which involves four separate units. The first three units each stress a cognitive processâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;observation, analysis, and synthesis. The fourth unit is up to the individual instructor. We embed reflective writing during and between each unit to enable writers to transfer what they are learning about writing in the course. In each unit description, we provide general prompts to help you imagine how you will design the activities and writing assignments for the first three units. We also include a sample assignment with a student paper. We received permission from all the student authors to use their writing with their complete names for the purposes of sharing their written response to the assignments. Students were personally selected as examples based on the success of their compositions, which we annotate to highlight specific feature of the unit.

Does the sequence make sense to you? What other models do you have for sequencing a writing class? ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

Unit One: Observation—Working with Ethnographic Methods The first essay will involve students making use of a variety of physical observations to compose an essay. Ground this inquiry for your students so that all of them are writing on a particular place and the language that circulates in that place. Design your activities to support your students’ progress in crafting an inductive essay which uses description analytically. It’s a good idea to set up this unit as a chance to talk together about what inquiry means. In this unit, we want to enhance our students’ abilities of observation and to recognize potential options/roads before them. This unit may involve a class trip to the museum or somewhere else on campus or may ask students to bring their notes to class from where they, as individuals or in small groups, observed a setting. 

Unit one places emphasis on generating possibility from surroundings and selecting from that possibility.



Unit one essay assignments are based in inductive logic, which produces an insight about a part-to-whole understanding.

Assignments should do each of the following: 

Present observation as a necessary part of the writing process.



Orient the class to the writing process, to each other, and to you.



Spark intellectual curiosity in the development of an essay.

Thoughts on observation—ideas for texts? ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

Observation—Working with Ethnographic Methods

Sample Assignment

OUR INQUIRY: What attitudes about language are found in social environments? Our course conversation is about attitudes and language. What does your given scene offer us as a class? (Insight) One way to spark intellectual We will share these essays with curiosity is to ask a series of each other. Bring 3 drafts to questions. class for Peer Review Workshops next week. How will you set up your scene in order to establish the insight you reached through the systematic observation? How will we learn from you what you want us to? (Rhetorical Situation) PROCEDURE: Choose a specific location where people go to interact, communicate, exchange ideas. Places can be on campus or off campus. Rule 1: You may not interrupt the activity of that place. Remember you are an observer. Go there with a notepad and a writing utensil. Write furiously. Try to capture exact phrases, pauses, etc. with your notes. Also include details such as time of day and location. Rule 2: You may not make judgments or interpretations of the attitudes at the scene. Remember—you are an observer there, not yet a judge. Reviewing your notes later, ask yourself “Where are the attitudes in the scene?” “What stands out?” “What patterns emerge?” “What is surprising?” Rule 3: You may not start this process with a point already determined and then back it up with your observational notes. Remember inductive not deductive. Then, compose an essay. Rule 4: You may not change your insight in order to fit a pre-fabricated organizational pattern for your essay; instead, adapt your organization to fit your insight. (This is difficult to do.) Choose inductive v. deductive presentation. Inductive: Start with the specifics and construct the big picture. Specific General Deductive: Start with the big picture and use specifics to revise it. General Specific Whitney Fisher Silent Coffee As an observer there are many places that I could go, I for one chose to watch the interactions at Barnes and Noble at four o’clock on Friday. I went with an open mind and sat with my black cherry soda at a small table. At first I thought that perhaps this 28

Observation—Working with Ethnographic Methods

Sample Assignment

was not the best place to go, due to the fact that no one was talking in the Starbucks area. Everyone was sitting by themselves, absorbed in their own world. There were people on their laptops, people reading books and some simply sitting, enjoying their overpriced coffee. Even though everyone was quiet I decided to try my luck anyways. I waited in the silence for a total of fifteen minutes before a single word was spoken, not including the ordering of drinks and the banter from behind the Starbucks counter. In the silence I watched as people went about their business, slowly. A couple people left and a couple people came, never filling the cafe up completely. At one point two young men seemed to notice each other, they exchanged a light greeting before one took their coffee and departed. I was beginning to wonder if anything would ever happen. Then finally someone started talking. An older gentleman was seated at a table next to mine; it was he that was the first to speak. The man recognized another older man, probably around fifty, and called to him. The conversation is as follows; “Jim! Hey.” Seated man said. Jim turned towards him; he had previously been looking over the Starbucks counter. “Rick! How ya been?” Jim walked over to his friend quickly and reached out with his hand, grasping the others in a firm shake. “Good as good can be, for now at least.” Rick sat back in his chair and took a long drink from his coffee. “How’s things going with you?” “Pretty good, I just thought I would get some coffee as I was walking past.” “Nothing like a good cup of coffee.” The man smiled at his friend, taking another gulp of his coffee. Jim barked a laughed, “I wouldn’t call it that good.” “Na, but it beats no coffee.” The young man behind the counter called Jim’s name, holding the coffee out in front of him. “Well I’d better be off, I’ll see you later.” “Yep, have a good day.” Rick gave his friend another firm shake before watching his friend walk away, coffee in hand. Silence fell back over the people gathered in the Barnes and Noble Starbucks. A few tables ahead of me two teenagers talked quietly. A woman and a man. I was too far away to understand what they were saying, all I could understand was mumbling. I probably could have heard better if I had gone and sat closer but I decided against it. I didn’t want to risk seeming like a creepy eavesdropper. They appeared to be happy, the woman was smiling. She laughed several times while I was watching her and the man had a continual smile on his face.

Here’s one way to spark intellectual curiosity with the student’s writing.

For an entire hour only silence reigned. After some internal debate I decided that things were not likely to 29

Observation—Working with Ethnographic Methods

Sample Assignment

change. I collected my notebooks from the table and wandered to the door, leaving Barnes and Noble. As I was walking to my car I thought to myself what type of attitude Starbucks had. I had spent the entire time inside not thinking about what attitude was present. The air about the café was similar to that of a library, in my opinion. Even though it was a commercial location people were treating as if they couldn’t speak. At the same time everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. All the time I was in there I noticed not a single unhappy person; everyone seemed so content being in their own world. It was casual, there were no business meetings going on or angry breakup fights. Everyone seemed to just go with the flow. Relaxing with a good book or surfing the internet. Or as was the case with the older men, just enjoying a ‘good’ cup of coffee.

Unit Two: Analysis—Interacting with a Difficult Text

The second essay will involve students making use of textual observations and analysis to compose an essay. Ground this inquiry for your students by selecting challenging, but rewarding texts for your class discussions and activities. Design your activities to support your students’ progress in crafting an essay that “teaches” an insight, or interpretation, from the analysis. A goal of the unit is to have students experience multiple possibilities for analysis. They will then select from those possibilities in order to shape one analysis into an interpretive essay for an academic audience. In this unit, we want to challenge all students, and the teacher, to use texts as lenses for other texts, in order to uncover a given text’s assumptions. This unit focuses on critical reading as well as reading strategies of difficult texts (such as active reading and close reading). Many assumptions are not accessible on the first read and all require another perspective to realize. We are inviting the students to experience this phenomenon and enter these conversations. 

Unit two places emphasis on defining the concept of academic analysis and working with students to help them feel comfortable with what is asked of them when they write for other classes. In this way, be prepared that students will likely engage the unit with what they already know about analysis (which is often literary in nature). Push them beyond their comfort zone!



Unit two essay assignments will likely draw on both inductive and deductive logic. Students will be asked to interact with a difficult text and use their analytical process to say something of significance to an academic audience about it.

The assignments should do each of the following: 

Present analysis as generative for thinking. How can you set up this unit so that your students arrive at multiple interpretations?



Invite students to recognize the multiplicity of meaning in the texts under study. Consciously, provide students with a gestalt-like frame for their own work in analysis. The goal again is to show them the “choices” of possible analysis, so that they are selecting one over other possibilities. That is, analysis isn’t presented as the way to get to “truth”; instead analysis offers many possible truths that the writer is considering and weighing in terms of writing the paper.



Discuss the roles that close reading and active reading—each an essential aspect of observation—will play in student papers. For example, you may wish to include how their discussions and small group activities in class can be drawn on to help them move between inductive and deductive reasoning for their paper. How can you craft assignments that encourage students to test their close reading with more general understandings of the text-context and also invite a general understanding of context to inform their close reading?



Create a space for writers to consider differences between starting inductively v. deductively, in terms of organization. Invite discussions about organization and 31

Unit Two: Analysis—Interacting with a Difficult Text

choices into your writing classroom, i.e. the five-paragraph essay draws on deductive logic by starting with general statements and moving to a more specific thesis. But, what are alternatives, here, that might be provocative for students to consider? 

Focus on functional resources (evidence, diction, perspective) upon which writers and texts draw in order to make their academic positions matter. One possible intersection may be the range of choices for how a writer constructs their ethos in academic writing. For example, what kinds of uses of “I,” which kinds of evidence, and which interpretations of evidence can help build meaning? These functional pieces of academic writing are not only mirrors of an academic context, but they are also a writer’s tools in terms of being used to either challenge or support the assumptions of a text.



This paper must exhibit citation practices, employing textual evidence, paraphrase, indirect, and direct citation. Consider again the range of ways writers draw on other texts to inform their writing and position.

Unit Two: Analysis—Interacting with a Difficult Text

Sample Assignment

OUR INQUIRY: What matters in my interaction and interpretation of critical essays? John Dewey, a founding father of the U.S. philosophical school of Pragmatism, brought up that there’s “a world of difference between having to say something and having something to say.” For this paper, your goal as a writer is to work toward “having something to say.” This is a subtle reverse of how in the past you might have been asked to analyze. You might, for example, be accustomed to being Address the misunderstandings a prompted to say student may bring to a text explicitly. something based on a suggested analytical frame (e.g. compare and contrast the use of water in two stories or what is main idea in the passage below). A lot of times this kind of analysis helps your reader (who more often than not is also your teacher) learn that you’ve read the assignment or that you understand the material being taught to you. I assume you have practiced this skill before. You are now being prompted to discover what you must communicate after some serious thinking about these two texts “Visualizing the Disabled Body” and “Understanding Comics.” Each of you should be discovering multiple somethings that you could say; however, when it comes time to write your draft, you won’t make use of all of them in their entirety because they won’t be as compelling, interesting, and important to peoples’ lives as the ultimate something you will, finally, decide to write about. I’ve provided you with a few limits, or constraints, for this assignment (your welcome). I’ve chosen two essays that you are to use as a springboard or a ramp for your own insight. I’ve also limited the scope of your analytical writing to four – five pages only. Finally, I’ve imposed a conventional constraint which relates to who you are writing to, an academic audience familiar with the essay you’ve chosen. Remember a text really can be anything. Certainly the specific essays that Davis and McCloud offer are one example of a text, but so is an advertisement in a magazine or the American Disabilities Act which can be read through the lens of either Davis or McCloud. So, based on your analytical interaction with either Davis’ “Visualizing the Disabled Body” or McCloud’s “Understanding Comics,” you must compose a minimum of a four page, maximum of five page, analytical discussion of a particular something that interests you. You must write about this keeping in mind that this is a special kind of conversation, an academic conversation, which means just like there are conventions when you hang out with your friends (certain language that is used and certain language that is not used) there are also conventions in this conversation. Namely, how you frame your problem, how you interact with another’s perspective, and even, how you format your paper. We will discuss this in more detail together. 33

Unit Two: Analysis—Interacting with a Difficult Text

interpretive possibilitiy two interpretive possiblility one

Sample Assignment

interpretive possibility three

Assigned Text

In writing this paper, I will be grading with three things in mind— 1) Rhetorical Situation: Your “something to say” is your purpose, but you are not simply writing your purpose to me to demonstrate that you’ve read or that you know how to use academic citation. Instead, you are writing this purpose to an audience that is familiar with either Davis or McCloud—that means that Davis or McCloud are also members of your audience. How will you effectively communicate your analysis to this audience? 2) Process: You are expected to arrive to class on October 11 with a complete draft, printed and ready for peer discussion and interaction. In your process, you should consider multiple options for analysis and not settle on the easiest or most obvious path. In fact, what makes writing fun and exciting is to pick the most challenging and difficult. How else can you stay engaged with what you are writing about? 3) Conventions of the Conversation: A necessity of this assignment will be that you directly cite another’s words, summarize, and introduce them in the paper. I’ll be looking for how effectively and expertly you do so in the final paper. If this is a new requirement for you, seek out help. I have office hours, you have each other, and the Writing Center is a great resource. OUR INQUIRY: What attitudes about images are found in these texts? Where do they come from? Are they conscious or unconscious? How do they relate to other aspects of our lives? REQUIREMENTS

Unit Two: Analysis—Interacting with a Difficult Text

Sample Assignment

Our course conversation is about attitudes and language. What does your given text analysis offer us as a class? (Argument) Imagine your essay being read by an academic audience, including either Davis or McCloud or another person who you introduce in your final analysis. How will you create a space for an academic reader in your essay as your job is to prompt them to respond (Rhetorical Situation) Challenge yourself. Take risks. Bring 3 drafts to class for Peer Review Workshops next week. (Process) PROCEDURE Choose either Davis or McCloud, after spending some time with both. Rule 1: You may only choose only one or the other, no comparisons. Read with a purpose and read selectively. Repeat. Try to capture exact phrases, words, etc. that puzzle and make you question in your reading notes. Rule 2: Try out at least two separate analyses. Don’t assume the text means just one thing and that there is only one reading. Decide if you want to apply your reading of Davis or McCloud to another text, that is, use Davis and McCloud as a lens for something else or if you would rather interact with the analysis as it is written by Davis or McCloud and question its assumptions or how it makes itself meaningful. Rule 3: No simplistic Davis or McCloud would agree or disagree, or, “in my opinion” analyses allowed. Then, compose an essay. Rule 4: You may not change your insight in order to fit a pre-fabricated organizational pattern for your essay; instead, adapt your organization to fit your insight. (This is difficult to do.) Choose inductive v. deductive presentation. Inductive: Start with the specifics and construct the big picture. Specific General Deductive: Start with the big picture and use specifics to revise it. General Specific

Cassandra Glebavicius English 111x Major Essay 2:Textual Analysis 35

Unit Two: Analysis—Interacting with a Difficult Text

Sample Assignment

“Visualizing the Disabled Body” brings forward the idea of everyday events of the interactions between “normal” and “disabled” people in everyday life. “Normal” people come into contact with others who are different from themselves, and based on the visual interpretations one receives, we as a society conclude that such people are “different”, and thus “disabled”, as proposed by Davis (18). The posed question brought up however, is why society envisions “disability” and makes various connections when coming into contact with an impaired, or simply “different” body than what is familiar to them, what attributes of a particular individual makes them “disabled” or different from oneself, and what degree of physical impairment makes the connection of being disabled, compared to simply being limited. Davis takes control of our imagination, evoking the adverse affect one would receive from various visions when he describes them in an unknown way to his reader; making the idea of making love a clumsy and embarrassing interaction between two by adding to the description a disabled person, describing one of the most beautiful statues in the world with grotesque language such as “Her left foot has been severed, and her face is badly scarred, with her nose torn at the tip, and her lower lip gouged out,” giving his audience the ability to visualize what normally is a gorgeous symbolic woman as a scarred and ugly being. Similarly, Davis provides a new light into what we already know; the monster of Frankenstein, as we all know to be unbearably ugly and horrendous, yet Davis puts particular attention to various attributes so that we see the small beauty associated with certain characteristics the monster itself holds. The fact that we see Medusa as an ugly woman with snakes for hair is because we are taught that within the story society is told. Medusa, “once a beautiful sea goddess,” is turned to the hideous monster we associate her name with today, the “winged monster with glaring eyes, huge teeth, protruding tongue, brazen claws, and writhing snakes for hair” that follows the myth. Medusa first represents the “embodiment of beauty and desire,” and then forcedly becomes the “embodiment of ugliness and repulsion” (1920). The end result is continuous in the image people hold of Medusa. Davis also brings to the table the comparison of the relishing Venus de Milo to that of the visually disrupting quadriplegic Pam Herbert. Davis states the physical “mutilations” of both figures and compares them, challenging that the visual of both would be considered “physically repulsive” and “without erotic allure” based on the thought evoked, to that of a “normal” person. He then raises the question as to why the Venus de Milo is an icon of beauty, while Pam Herbert is a “focal point for horror and pity”. However, within the text, Davis answers his own proposal; “Disability is a cultural phenomenon rooted in the senses.” Thus, disability, in the sense of Davis, is an idea, or thought, placed in the minds of society through culture, and can be turned ugly similarly to that of the Venus de Milo, with the right ideas. The Venus de Milo is an idea, the icon of a battered woman. Disability is an idea, a politically correct term that society has labeled as an accepted difference. However, when using the right ideas, one has the power to change the meanings of words; such as an accepted term, or a famous statue. Every word or signifier holds an idea, and with repetition and word choice, Davis changes this idea held within society. Davis creates altered ideas of “disability”, and the “Venus de Milo”; both which already hold accepted meanings.

Unit Two: Analysis—Interacting with a Difficult Text

Sample Assignment

By describing the Venus de Milo with such word choice and vivid terms such as “severed”, “gouged”, and being “covered with scars”, Davis evokes an idea; one that condescends the original idea of beauty connected with the Venus de Milo, thus turning a beautiful thing into a repulsive figure (16). Similarly, Davis creates a new meaning to “disability”, by describing it as a “fragmentation”, “disruption”, and “dysfunction”; evoking a new idea that condescends the original idea of acceptance connected with the term “disability,” thus turning a politically correct choice of a word into degradation (18-20). Davis asks why “the impairment of the Venus de Milo [doesn’t] prevent people from considering her beauty,” but what isn’t apparent is the idea of the Venus de Milo, for her impairment is exactly what makes her beautiful. The idea of her beauty lies within her flaws, because through culture, we have been led to perceive the Venus de Milo as a beautiful woman, but we have been led to perceive the disfigurations she carries to be repulsive in nature. The image we receive when coming into visual contact of a disabled person is a conscious one, but the idea we recognize from the image is unconscious. The representations we see, as recognized by Davis are based on the “nature of the subject” rather than the “qualities of the object”; the problem lies within the “observer” rather than the “observed.” We as a society label disabled people as fragmented, based on the visual perceptions, which are translated into “psychodynamic representations” due to the conclusions we draw from familiarity (17). In addition, Davis brings the comparison of Frankenstein’s monster to that of a disabled person. Again stating similarities between the two, he then separates the two, stating the creature is a “monster rather than a person with disabilities” (21). Though the creature has similar aspects to that of a person, disabled or not, such as being “well proportioned…with long black hair, [and] pearly white teeth” (22) like that of a “normal” person, and is “inarticulate, somewhat mentally slow, and walks with a kind of physical impairment” (21) like the characteristics that may follow a disabled person, Davis argues that the monster is neither normal, nor disabled, but a different category; a monster. Again, the separation is marked by the ideas related with one another; such that “disabled people are to be pitied and ostracized; monsters are to be destroyed; audiences must not confuse the two.” Based on the view the audience is presented with toward the monster, one concludes that the beast is horrendous and, not disabled, but dangerous due to the representations society relates with the idea of a “monster.” This connection is posed again through the idea that the monster is a visual interpretation and “evocative of the fragmented body” (22). We as individuals tie meanings and visions to specific ideas that are introduced to us. Since the moment a child can learn, “each individual assigns good and bad labels” based on what we know and are introduced to; from the splitting of “the good parent from the bad parent,” or the labels of “whole and incomplete, abled and disabled, normal and abnormal, functional and dysfunctional” as stated by Davis (18). These all are ideas we are introduced to because we are equipped with what Davis refers to as the “abled gaze” (17). This creates a “disruption in the visual, auditory, or perceptual field,” because something is different, or in terms of industrial productivity, not as functional as a normal body (18). This then shifts the ideas of the different 37

Unit Two: Analysis—Interacting with a Difficult Text

Sample Assignment

perceptions of disabilities we associate with, to that of grouping different disabilities as either “’disabling’ (bad) or just ‘limiting’ (good)” and the idea that if one is “disabled” they are devaluated (19). This explains why one may feel little pity or possibly not even recognize the impairments of a person with glasses, or a broken How would you engage this leg, yet feels uncomfortable and writer in her writing of guilty when coming into contact disability in regard to the with an individual of drastic rhetorical situation? differences. This idea forces those with the “abled gaze” to How would you prompt further see others differently, pity them, work with disability and this or turn away in embarrassment, notion in the upcoming as Davis states “even if that synthesis unit? position is not warranted” (17). People don’t want to recognize these differences, but turn away or avert their attention to something else so as to seem as though the difference had gone unnoticed, but as Davis states, the aversion of turning one’s head too fast is just as much an insult as staring. The fact of society is that we do have an image of the disabled person; we know they are different, and that is unlikely to change. Abled and disabled people alike must understand that disability is that of Davis’ theory, “a cultural phenomenon rooted in the senses.” The reaction to the disruption of the visual and perceptual field of a disability is something that in such a position, an individual is unlikely to control, however hard one may try. Disability in the broadest sense is an idea, and nothing more. What kinds of texts are you considering assigning for students during this unit? What was difficult in your own process of learning academic analysis? ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

Unit Three Synthesis: Practicing Informational Literacy for Rhetorical Purposes

This unit helps students navigate and access information in order to shape it into knowledge for a specific purpose and/or audience. In this unit, decide what genre of research you will be expecting students to draw on for their inquiry. All teachers will be required to take their class to the library (observation), engage in primary and secondary analysis to aid in the development of an inquiry, write ongoing research memos, and culminate in either a final inquiry-based project emerging from this process. 

Unit three places emphasis on inquiry-based knowledge construction. It is not a “demonstrate” your research about a “topic.” It is not use research to “back up” a preconceived point. This is a key objective of this unit. One that will likely necessitate reflective practices for the students, as research—for many—is often reduced to displaying or demonstrating arguments for the teacher.

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A unit three project is a proposal for a class presentation. Rather than a traditional research paper, we ask students to apply the research process to something the student is interested in—it is student-led inquiry that produces something of student design.

All teachers should ensure that certain practices are being modeled in this unit, despite the variety of ways to teach the proposal/presentation format. It is your responsibility that students understand the reasons why these practices make up ethical knowledge construction. For example, what is academic dishonesty? Why is important to reference where a source comes from? What impact would it have on what we collectively know if people only skimmed their sources and selected material from the first two pages of a source? Some activities/assignments which help students along in their proposals and presentations include the following: 

Library Access

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Research Memos: Short writing throughout the process that reports on research findings and is assigned to promote continued inquiry

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Annotated Bibliographies

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Activities which help them generate some differences between primary and secondary research

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Analysis of Evidence: From what position does the research speak? How do you know? What’s the difference between “peer-reviewed” and USA Today?

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Genre analyses of proposals

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Class rubrics about presentations

Unit Three Synthesis: Practicing Informational Literacy for Rhetorical Purposes

What makes you nervous about teaching unit 3? ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

Unit Three

Synthesis

Sample Assignment

INQUIRY: How do my interests in the attitudes I discover in academic research conversations and my own experiences connect? I chose Paulo Freire’s “The Banking Concept of Education,” Jared Diamond’s “Soft Sciences are often Harder than Hard Sciences,” and Peter Drucker’s “Beyond the Information Revolution” to get you all thinking about the nature of academic knowledge, as well as attitudes about that knowledge that weld a kind of power, revealing themselves in the most unexpected of places. Your job is to use inquiry to discover a particular disciplinary attitude showing up in a place, conversation, or way of thinking that is not conventionally associated with academics. A google search with the terms “definition of attitude” brought up this definition to the top of the heap. 1. A settled way of thinking or feeling… Settled. Imagine sand being poured into a pitcher of water, at first the water is murky, but then as the sand settles to the bottom of the pitcher, the water becomes clear again. As you move the pitcher or go to pour the water to use it for some purpose, the sand begins to move as well, and the water becomes murky. The notion of settled in relation to “attitudes” in our definition interests us because attitudes about knowledge often go unnoticed, especially when a water pitcher is allowed to rest for a period of time. Yet, an unnoticed attitude does not mean it disappears. A big reason for this assignment is because I believe that as beginning students at the University, the attitudes you will choose to investigate are also ones you likely will come across, and perhaps, have already been aware of, as they may have already contributed to some of the decisions you have made such as declaring a major at UAF. My hope is that this assignment directly contributes to a sense of integration in your social life with your academic interests. I also believe attitudes shape and are shaped by our choices and how we are understood and how we understand ourselves and others in profound ways. In sum, this is about synthesis. It’s your job to achieve it, and then, share it with us. I will be evaluating your proposal/presentation with three things in mind: 1) Rhetorical Situation: Did you write a proposal that imagined your audience as deciding to either accept or reject your idea? Do you come off as a writer as knowledgeable and in control of what you are proposing? Is your presentation engaging? Is your handout something you think the audience would want to keep as a record of what you presented? 2) Process: You are expected to attend all classes, making visual progress toward the proposal/presentation deadline. 3) Conventions: Are you drawing on and making use of the research process along the way? Have you made progress from the second major to this one in regard to drawing on sources and explaining their significance? Steps which lead to Research Proposal and Classroom Presentation. 41

Unit Three

Synthesis

Sample Assignment

Our time in class will be focused on helping you all achieve these steps with clarity and understanding. For this purpose, it is essential to miss not a single hour of class. 1. Choose a discipline/major that interests you. (Include reasoning in your research proposal.) 2. Use the library databases to locate articles in that discipline’s peer-reviewed journals. (Include bibliographic data about these sources in your research proposal. Follow the bibliographic style of the discipline.) 3. Scan several articles until you have located an attitude to investigate. Document this step by using your weeklies as research memos that communicate to me what you are finding/discovering about the attitude of a discipline through your reading of its conversations. You can then draw on these memos as you draft your proposal. 4. Once you have conceptualized for yourself a single attitude in a research conversation of the discipline’s scholarship, look for it elsewhere, outside of an academic conversation. (Include how you will do this in the research proposal.) 5. Draft a research proposal for workshop on November 15. Bring two copies, one to hand into me and one for you to read out loud to your peer group. The proposal must be 3-4 double-spaced pages. Write the proposal to your peers, proposing your project which aim is to connect the attitudes of the University to the attitudes outside the University. Write yourself as the expert on the attitude in terms of the academic conversation, but also include your reasons about why you wish to learn more. Argue what you hope to uncover by looking for the attitude elsewhere (hypothesis), and why you think learning more will lead to a significance for either the academic audience or your life as a student/social person. 6. Revise your proposal based on workshop and bring a copy to a conference with me, scheduled sometime during the week of Thanksgiving Break. You will sign up for the conference during class on November 15. 7. Prepare based on our conference and continued inquiry a presentation for our class. The presentation should be 7-10 minutes long and you need to prepare a handout. Due in class November 29.

Yana Kurichenko ‘Good Old Age’ Vs ‘Bad Old Age’ I am requesting five minutes of this class time to propose a topic about the need for respect and value of elderly people in our society. It is important for the following reasons; we are all heading toward old-age, and there is a great need to change our attitude toward the way we view the elderly. As we age, we find ourselves in a society in which elderly people are considered useless and at times not respected or fully recognized for their life experiences and 42

Unit Three

Synthesis

Sample Assignment

knowledge. The attitudes towards the elderly people are significantly shifting and it is a worldwide concern. Aging is an inevitable fate of all people. What is the fate of an elderly person in the American society; is this the kind of fate you would want for yourself? It is important for the American society to recognize that we are all heading toward old age. Therefore it is crucial that we take action to ensure that we will have a better future during our adulthood by making it better for the elderly people that are present today as well as loving and valuing them for their knowledge and life experiences. In an article by Reiko Yamato, called, “Changing Attitudes towards Elderly Dependence in Postwar Japan”, Yamato approaches and researches the shifting attitudes towards the elderly people in Japanese culture. Japanese society has cultural traditions considering familism; the eldest son takes his bride into his parents’ house and lives with his parents. The eldest son is responsible for taking care of his elderly parents and in return he inherits all their property and belongings. This tradition was legally institutionalized before the end of the Second World War, but was officially renounced after the War. ( Koyano, 2003) Following this event, the living conditions of elderly people in Japan have significantly changed. In the 1940s to 1950s almost 90% of the people over 65 years of age lived with their children. After the 1960s however the number of elderly people living with their children continuously decreased while the number of elderly people living alone or in elderly couple households has increased. In 2000, 49.5 percent of elderly people lived with their children, 14.5 percent lived alone and more than 30 percent lived in elderly couple households. The attitudes in the Japanese culture have changed so that “… more and more people are seeing elderly dependence on children as less desirable.” (Yamato, 2011) According to Yamatos study, today the Japanese society’s attitude towards the elderly has significantly changed and more of the Japanese youth do not have positive attitudes toward the elderly. In American history, we have also undergone many changes that have formed American society’s attitude toward elderly people. Professor Luke Gormally in his article, “Human Dignity and Respect for the Elderly,” describes the shifting attitude towards the elderly in America: “In our Christian past old age was seen as an integral part of a spiritual journey which gave meaning to the whole of one’s life.” In his article he says that the conditions of old age, the frailty and dependency were understood as “… belonging to the given order of life - as inescapable in character - and as having a positive role in disposing us to the fulfillment for which we were made by deepening our awareness of our dependence on God.” Therefore, old age was seen positively. In the nineteenth century however, old age was seen more from a physical perspective. ‘Good old age’ was free of disease and frailty and was seen as a reward for healthy living and ‘bad age’ was seen as the result of unhealthy and ignorant living. Focus became more on the physical condition and because the physical decline is unavoidable, old age is not seen as positive and lacks value. According to the American Healthcare Association, about 1.5 million Americans live in nursing homes. It is estimated that anyone over 65 years of age will have a 43% chance of spending some time in a nursing home. Gormally writes, “This pervasively negative sense of the frailty and dependence which overtaken the elderly is the broader cultural context for a radical tendency in 43

Unit Three

Synthesis

Sample Assignment

contemporary philosophy which would deny value to the lives of those elderly who have lost control of their lives in the sense of having lost the capacity of selfdetermination.” (Gormally, 2011) Old-age has lost its value and respect. Because of today’s emphasis of the health condition which determines ‘good’ and ‘bad’ old age, lots of effort is put into preserving health. Healthcare facilities are using the benefits of modern technology and medicine to preserve life and prolong healthy living for the elderly people. For people that don’t receive these benefits,“…within an inner-worldly perspective these human beings are failures, for they are no longer healthy or in control of their lives. And the radical philosophical proposal is that they too should be regarded as disposable.” However the fate of the physical decline is unavoidable therefore the respect and the value of the person should not be based upon his or her physical condition. There are many reasons why we should love and accept elderly people. First they are our past and without the past there is no future. We should value them for their life experience, knowledge obtained from over 65 years of life and words of wisdom and instruction for follow generations to consider when going through life. Our society needs to accept debility and dependence. We need to deconstruct the attitude of self-sufficiency and autonomy in our society and learn to help each other. Aging is an unavoidable fate of all people. The changing attitude toward the elderly is a worldwide concern. In America, elderly people are at times viewed as useless and inefficient citizens. We cannot change the nation’s attitude about something but we can begin with ourselves and make a difference. We can pass that attitude to our children, friends and people that are around us. Moreover we can express the attitude of respect and care to our aging parents; honoring our parents.

Ruskaya Skazka A rich merchant had an only son. His wife died when the son was five years old. The merchant was like a mother and a father to the son, raising his son with love and care. Then the son got married and continued living in his father’s home. The wife however did not appreciate the fact that her husband’s father was living with them. She insisted that her husband had all right to property. The husband objected to her: "Do not worry, because I'm an only son, eventually I’ll inherit all the property." But she continued to persist that he should inherit it all now. Day after day she continued bringing up the conversation, and finally the son told his father: "Father you are very old. It must be difficult for you to cope with things and deal with all the money calculations. Why don’t you give me control of trade and income?" The merchant, an experienced man in worldly affairs, agreed, and gave his son all right to dispose of the property and the keys to the safe. Two months later, the daughter decided that the old man must liberate his room, because his coughing and sneezing was of great disturbance to her. She told her husband: "Honey, I'm due to give birth soon, and I think that we have the right to occupy a room with a veranda. I think it would be more convenient for everybody if your father lived in the shed in the backyard." The husband loved his wife, and, considering her an intelligent woman, always complied with all her desires. The old man moved into the yard, and every night they would bring his meals in a clay bowl. 44

Unit Three

Synthesis

Sample Assignment

The day came when their son grew up, had an affectionate character and was an especially clever child. The boy loved to spend time with his grandfather, and found great joy in listening to his grandfather’s funny stories and jokes. Once again, after spending hours sitting in the lap of his grandfather, the boy ran back into the house and noticed that his parents were searching for something. After dinner, the little boy asked his parents what they were looking for. The father replied: "Why, your grandfather’s clay bowl is lost somewhere. It’s time to carry him his dinner. Have you seen it?" The five-year old child replied with a sly smile: "Yes! I have it! I took it, and now it is safely stored in my trunk. ““Why would you put the bowl in your trunk? Go bring it,” said the father. The boy replied, "No, Dad is it for me. I want to keep it for the future. Wouldn’t you need someone to also bring you dinner when you become old like grandfather?” Suddenly they realized that they will also be old one day and that they will have to live in the shed. They realized their mistake, and they were ashamed of their behavior. After that, they began to treat the old man with care and respect.

Unit Four: Teacher’s Choice For this unit, you must work within the following constraints and expectations: 

The semester schedule—how much time do you have to accomplish what you set out to do?

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Rhetorically-based inquiry (examples include investigating dictionaries and how definitions are written, blog writing, re-mediating a previous unit’s text, film reviews, composing a “This I believe” assignment from NPR, etc.)

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Write your own learning objective for the unit. Keep in mind how the unit works with the other experiences of the course.

Any ideas for this unit? ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________

Unit Four: Teacher’s Choice

Sample Assignment Major Essay 4: Reflection/Revision/Response John Dewey describes critical thinking as a forked road situation. I like to apply the forked road to writing—since decisions we make as writers lead us somewhere just as they also don’t lead us somewhere else. We are able to make choices of direction because of past choices we have made— any choice is a limit on direction, as well as full of possibility. For your final paper, I’m providing you a list of options. You should choose the one that interests you and provides you with a challenge to help you investigate your writing or another’s writing in the class. Each of these writings is designed to be short, but powerful—they must you

1. Choose a sentence you wrote from the semester (from a major essay, to a weekly, to an in-class writing). Provide some context about this sentence for me—introduce it and explain where it comes from in terms of our class. Why are you choosing it? Provide a sentence history. You should interpret the decisions you made in the sentence and argue why they are significant in some particular way to you as the writer. You should fully interpret these choices, perhaps rewriting the sentence and showing the nuances and distinctions that interest you. 2. Write a response to a person in the class who did a presentation that you found particularly significant in some way. Provide some context about why you chose their presentation for response. Use the resources provided for the presentation as part of how you respond. Share what was worthwhile about their synthesis. Discuss in detail a particular aspect of what you started thinking about. 3. Describe your ideal writing-thinking situation. What does it look like? What happens when you can’t achieve the “ideal”? What are alternatives? 4. Fill a page with 30 sentences about what you learned in this class. Carefully arrange the sentences so that as we read the sentences a progression develops. 5. Fill a page with a single sentence that describes the progression of our class. Only one sentence. One. An entire page. 6. Choose a paper from your semester and revise it so that it is one single-spaced page and includes one image. 7. Make a word collage from your weekly writings that constructs an argument about language and reality. Use different fonts and a key so I can see which weeklies you are drawing on in the collage.

Unit Four: Teacher’s Choice

Sample Assignment

8. Revise a weekly in a manner that pleases you/teaches you something. 9. Write a letter to your future self about what you learned about writing in this course. 10. Develop a metaphor for how you understand a process of thinking-writing. 11. Fill a page with a definition of what writing/language is not. 12. Create a model of how meaning-making works—include a key on how to read the model. Provide a context of how you are inviting the model to be read/understood. 13. Rewrite your analysis paper as a dialogue between you and Davis/McCloud. 14. Rewrite your analysis paper as a comic strip with a discussion of representations. 15. Explain to a ten year-old the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning (include pictures).

Fifth Grade Smarts Idealistic Play One Act, One Scene By Addison Cox Two students A boy A public coffee shop, folks and their children about ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ Students working among piles of paper, center of room with individuals around adjacent tables Student A: (Sighing) This essay really tests my nerves. I can’t keep in mind the ideas of inductive and deductive reasoning. (Leaning back, minding others’ business) Student B: (Focusing on task at hand) It’s simple dude, remember what I’ve just told you? (Looks up at A) Deductive reasoning is applying generalizations to arrive at something specific; Inductive reasoning, which must be your guide, is beginning with specifics and approaching a conclusion, or generalization. Student A: (Whining) Why should I write with inductive reasoning? Couldn’t I just… can’t I just…

Unit Four: Teacher’s Choice

Sample Assignment

Student B: Why should you ever be so general? You do not see the, uncertainty behind it? Student A: The only uncertainty I see is my own… (Pointing) I am certain this kid, with his unconstrained mind would understand these ideas better than me. Reading a book. Oh, my God… Student B: (Doubtful) Oh I don’t think so. There wouldn’t be much hope for us… Or, you, in that case. Student A: Hey kid! Boy: (At the adjacent table, nervously) Hm? Student A: (To the boy) You wouldn’t happen to know what ‘inductive,’ (pause), and ‘deductive’ mean, would you? (Another pause, confused look upon boy’s face) Didn’t think so. (To B) Well, go ahead… Student B: (To A) What are you trying to prove? if we’re smarter than a fifth grader? Student A: (Quickly, under the breath, as if speaking in secret) I’m trying to prove you wrong, it’ll give me a leg up later and distraction for now, look how our generation will be blown out of the water soon by these kids… I mean look, he’s reading a book! What were we doing at 10? 11? Not at a coffee shop being shared marginal notes by our mother’s. Student B: (To the boy, direct and unwilling) Do you know what they mean? Boy: (Properly, not minding his book) No, what do they mean? Student A: (As if smelling a nasty odor) Oh my… look you have his full attention! He will run me one day… Student B: They are both different ways to form a conclusion— Student A: (Cutting him off, slowly to boy) Do you know what a conclusion is? Boy: (At A, deliberately) I’m concluding this conversation. (A is dumbfounded, mouth open) Student B: (To his self) Maybe we are out of luck… (Back to boy) Anyways, to form a conclusion inductively, we must base off of our experiences, what we have seen, read— (slowly) specifics. We must begin there at our details to come up with a conclusion, a general rule… follow? Boy: (Still with full focus) So… (Student A still amazed, listening) Student B: (Thinking overly for minute, to boy) You think your mommy is pretty smart right? Boy: I call her mom, but yeah.

Unit Four: Teacher’s Choice

Sample Assignment

Student B: Say… “Every adult I know is smart; every adult in here is reading. All adults are smart.” From experience and these details we can conclude something about all adults. Do you follow? Boy: (Looking questionably at student A, who has been resting his chin in his hands) I think so… what about de-duc-tive? Student B: Deductively coming up with a conclusion is taking—instead from details and experiences—from very general rules, or common facts, and forming a specific conclusion. Say… “Every bird with wings is a flying bird; penguins have wings; penguins are flying birds.” Although, in reality—(Cut off again) Boy: (Completing his sentence) Penguins don’t fly… Student B: (A bit shocked) Exactly. So you see where I’m coming from? Boy: (Nodding) Yeah… (Interrupted by his mother) I have to go, thank you. (Nod toward A) He’s got it, too. Student B: (Smiling at boy) What a kid, he’ll be back. (Continuing his task) Silence for a few moments Student A: (Utterly Curious) Penguins don’t fly?

Policies for Graduate Teaching Assistants Attendance Policy: What to do if I must miss a class? Teaching assistantships are designed so that a total of twenty hours are spent tutoring in the Writing Center and fifteen dedicated to facilitating a class. Serious illness and/or a University-sanctioned activity are the only reasons that warrant you ever missing a class. You may not cancel or get your classes covered because of a travel schedule. In the event of serious illness, you must notify the English front office and the Director of Composition immediately. Always report the event of a missed class to the Director of Composition. Whenever possible teaching assistants will provide an alternative class meeting or additional office hours for students who would like to make up a missed class. If a university-sanctioned event presents a conflict, you are responsible for getting a substitute or guest speaker for your course. To ensure a positive culture on the eighth floor, appropriate compensation for a substitute or guest speaker is collegial and expected. A good rule of thumb is to estimate the amount of time required and to compensate accordingly. See the Director of Composition if you have questions about fair compensation.

Syllabus Policy: What do I need to communicate to the English Department about my class? After your class has settled into a routine—certainly by the second week of a new semester—you must provide two important pieces of information about your specific course—a list of working e-mail addresses for each student enrolled in the course, and your syllabus. This allows the English Department to contact your students in case of a class cancelation and to keep a record of the class schedule and policies. Attach these pieces of information in an e-mail to the Director of Composition and CC: Julia Parzick, Administrative Secretary. Please save each document with an appropriate file name (i.e., lastname.documenttype.course#.semesteryear).

Syllabus Policies: What do I need to communicate to my class on my syllabus? All teachers must follow the syllabus requirements for UAF. You can access this checklist online. Include this statement on your syllabus as well: Writing classes taught at Fairbanks campus require mandatory attendance. Because writing courses depend on class discussion, peer review of writing, in addition to lecture and presentations, our classes share a baseline attendance policy. Students enrolled in writing classes must attend 80% of the class in order to receive a passing grade.

First Days Policy: What should I be sure to do the first days of class? How you approach the first day of class sets up student expectations for the course; during the first days of class, students should write. Select from the prompts below, considering options based on what you are interested in learning from your students on

the first day. Keep in mind that what you choose for them to reflect on should shape your teaching approach. Often students will ask about a particular format, and they are smart to ask this question, as it should reveal to you the relationship between a student and a teacher. I answer this question by asking them to write me a letter, and to include details about their linguistic background. 

How do you assess written work in your daily life as a reader/writer?

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How has your education shaped your view of what it means to be a good writer?

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How have you learned what makes a piece of writing successful?

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How have you developed intellectual curiosity about language and texts?

Read to better understand what expectations/experiences students are bringing to your course—their reflection will help you shape your approach. If you happen to have any concerns after reading this student writing, discuss them with the Director of Composition. In particular, if students share details about language background (such as languages they know beyond English), advise the Director as soon as possible, since this demographic data will help us better understand the resources our students come to our class with.

Early Semester Attendance Policy: What should I pay attention to? Attendance in our writing classes is mandatory, and likely, mandatory attendance may be a new concept for many of our students. For example, the school system in Fairbanks does not have an attendance policy, so many students for the first time are experiencing what mandatory attendance means. Stress the importance in class and on your syllabus of attendance and participation. Communicate with your students about their absences, and use the Early Warning Program (you will receive an email from the Director of Composition) to communicate students who, early on in the semester, are not attending class. This program is designed with student success in mind, and Composition teachers often have insight into first year students and their struggle adapting to UAF. However, in the first two days of your class, expect some section switching on the part of your students. If a student has not contacted you to say that he or she will miss the first day of class, drop that student from your roster and add in the next waitlisted student who did attend the class, and has been on the waitlist the longest time. A waitlisted student who does not attend either of the first two meetings, should not be added. If you have no students on your waitlist, there is no need to enforce this policy. Advise students on your waitlist to continue attending class through the second week as a lot of section switching takes place. Julie and the Director of Composition will make our best effort to keep you informed of which sections have seats available so that you can appropriately advise your students.

Enrollments Caps & Waitlists: What are they? English 111x has an enrollment cap of 25 students. English 211x and English 213x have an enrollment cap of 22 students. 52

You will be able to check your student roster on UAOnline under Faculty Services as soon as you are officially noted as instructor on record. Until that time Julie Rafferty will provide you with rosters. Once a section has filled with 25 students, student still wanting to register for the section can place themselves on a waitlist. Waitlisted students will be automatically added in the order they registered if the enrollment drops below 25. Once classes begin, UAOnline no longer manages the waitlist. The waitlist is now your responsibility (see policy above).

Special Permissions: What am I responsible for as the teacher on record? As the teacher on record for your section, you may have students contact you for special permissions, such as granting an override for enrollment, prerequisites, or placement. Simply advise the student to contact the Director of Composition. The Director will promptly communicate with the student the policy, CC-ing the teacher on the communication. Composition teachers may not sign permission slips allowing students to enroll who do not meet the course’s prerequisites. Also, under no circumstances, should a Composition teacher permit a course overload. This decision carries serious consequences for future teachers and students, as enrollment caps often “grow” if they are not carefully controlled. We must always argue for our writing classes to be smaller, not larger.

Placement Policy: How are students placed in my course? Students are placed into your course through various tools to ensure their success. These tools include ACCUPLACER, SAT, COMPASS, ASSET, and ACT test scores. If a student has a question about their placement, or if students contact you directly to seek your permission to take your course, then you need to tell the student to talk to the Director of Composition. Reply to the student in the email introducing that you are forwarding their request to the Director of Composition by CC-ing sstanley2@alasaka.edu in the communication. An instructor should not grant permission without consultation with the Director of Composition. This is to ensure your resources are devoted to teaching, not administrating your own course.

Office Hours and student conferences: How else can I work with my students? Teaching assistants will designate two hours a week toward office hours. Encourage your students to come to your office hours, as one-on-one writing instruction is the best way for writing to improve and writers to learn. In addition, schedule a minimum of two individual conferences with each student; to accommodate these conferences, you may cancel a maximum of six hours of class time per semester in reasonable proportion to the number of students in your courses.

Students with Disabilities: What should I do if I have a student with a disability? Students provide you with documentation (a letter) from Disability Services. You must follow the accommodation instructions set forth by Mary Matthews. Teachers should never assume to diagnose students. Though Disability Services will be addressed during orientation, if you have questions about this process, please see the Director of Composition.

Plagiarism Policy: What to do when you suspect a student of plagiarism? A key objective in our writing classes is to help writers understand the consequences of their choices, and plagiarism carries a serious consequence in academic literacy, resulting in some cases in a student failing a course, and even, being expelled from the University. At the same time, the changing nature of texts and technologies demands for us to recognize the subtle, gray areas that our students negotiate when they are working to synthesize sources and ideas. Such context informs the procedure below, where every attempt is made to discuss the incident with program leadership prior to deciding on a course of action. If you suspect a student of deliberate academic dishonesty, you are required to report it immediately to the Director of Composition. According to the UAF Student Code of Conduct, this includes a student using the same paper twice for different courses without permission from both instructors. You should not address the matter on your own with the student. Depending on the offense, the director may set up another meeting with the instructor and the English Department Chair. This meeting is in full support of you as the teacher, where we will discuss options together. With the instructor’s interest and perspective in mind, an appropriate next step of action will be determined. The Director will formally document the process, writing down the nature of the incident in detail in order to keep a program record. As an instructor at UAF, you are expected to be familiar with the UAF student code of conduct, which discusses academic integrity in greater detail. Please include this code of conduct on your syllabus, and discuss in class the consequences and definition of plagiarism that you are using to determine what makes academic communication ethical and honest. Do not assume students know what you mean by your definition, because for some of your students, in practice, any definition can be “fuzzy” and is also a difficult concept to learn. See http://www.uaf.edu/catalog/current/academics/ regs3.html#Student_Conduct

Troubling Situation Policy: What to do if a student acts out? Writing classes are intimate environments and there can be moments of friction, anxiety, and even fear. Share and report these moments with either your teaching mentor, the Director of Composition, or the Assistant Director of Composition, we will listen to your concern and advise you about next steps. In addition, we may involve the Dean of Students Don Foley as his experience will address any concern. Please don’t manage the situation on your own or assume it will go away on its own, we have resources and support for you. 54

Grading Policy: What are expectations about my grading practices? Teaching assistants will aim to return graded papers to students within a week of receiving them, and they will never keep them for more than two weeks. Teaching assistants will leave their grade books or grade sheets with the front office staff before leaving for summer so that any problems that arise in their absence can be handled with adequate information. No teacher in the Composition program should drop a student from his or her roster if the student earned a C- in a previous writing course. Recognize as a teacher that a grade of C- in a core writing course will likely cause problems for the student down the road. In fact, the English Department strongly encourages us not to assign “C-“ as a grade.

Finals Policy: When and where do I hold my final exam period? In accordance with university regulations, teaching assistants will meet with their class during the final exam period. See http://www.uaf.edu/register/finals/ Note that some finals are scheduled for Saturday. Freshman and sophomore English courses have a special exam period. It is your choice whether to schedule your exam during the period allotted for your section or during the special period. Neither period will present a scheduling conflict for your students. Decide which period you will use before the first day of classes, and include it on your syllabus. If you choose the special period, write “Location to be announced.” As final exams near, Leah will ask you whether or not you will be using the special period. This is for room scheduling purposes. If you and another English instructor teach in the same room but at different times, and you both choose the special period, Leah will find an appropriate room for one of you to hold your final exam. Under no circumstances should you leave town before your final exam period.

Contractual Obligations and Responsibilities According to the English Department Policies and Procedures, Teaching Assistants are expected to conduct themselves professionally in the classroom, Writing Center, and cubicles. Failure to abide by these policies triggers the following procedure: first, you will have a face-to-face warning from the Director of Composition. The second violation results in a written warning through email communication to the following parties: English Department Chair, the TA Selection committee, the thesis advisor, the teaching mentor, and Julie Rafferty. The third violation will result in a hearing after which the TA Selection committee will take a decisive action.

Good Citizen Policy Teaching assistants will follow the department guidelines for the course to which they are assigned, requiring the designated number of papers with the designated word count, and maintaining a commitment to academic writing instruction.

It is your responsibility to notify the Director of Composition in the event of a case of plagiarism or a class cancellation. In the case of a missing a Writing Center shift, you must contact Rich Carr immediately. Writing Center absences that are not handled immediately by making up hours will trigger the procedure described above.

Good Student Standing Policy It is your responsibility to balance your learning and your teaching. You must maintain a 3.0 in order to maintain your TA and make satisfactory progress toward your degrees in order to retain your assistantship. You must also abide by the university’s Code of Student Conduct, http://www.uaf.edu/catalog/current/academics/regs3.html#Student_Conduct

Students First Policy You are teaching because of your students. You should not behave in a manner that makes what we all do appear “unprofessional,” which includes the following: consuming alcohol in your office space, grading student papers in a bar, violating FERPA which includes talking about your students performances in public contexts such as Facebook. We want our students to be valued as human beings and not perceived as a burden to be endured.

Technology and Social Networks Policy Instructors need to be conscious of how they represent themselves and the University on social networking sites. The division between public and private is becoming progressively ambiguous as technology merges personal and professional information. What does this mean for instructors? How should can they exist online and not have it affect their image as instructor, or the image of the university? •

The simplest way to avoid tarnishing instructor or University image is to refrain from publishing any literary text about students – whether they are in particular or in vague generalities.

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Talk about issues privately so that a textual artifact of your self-expression does not exist, and thus cannot be taken out of context and distributed in the same way that a written work could.

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Anything that was written to you under the expectation of privacy should remain private–even if it was written anonymously, and even if you do not mention names.

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If you feel the need to express anxiety or ask questions about teaching, share these things in an organized group of teachers in a private space.

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Privacy Settings on Facebook and other networking websites can be ambiguous. Read the privacy policies of any website you choose to publish personal information. Make sure that you have a clear understanding of these policies.

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While one is teaching at the University, they should not be friends with their undergraduate students on Facebook. Even if the professor does not share personal information on Facebook, the friendship can be construed as fraternization, which other students may view with suspicion in regards to grading. With any and all publication â&#x20AC;&#x201C; whether academic, creative, or on the internet â&#x20AC;&#x201C; be aware of how your words may be perceived by an undergraduate, a professor, or other professional contacts.

Participatory Culture at UAF UAF's English Graduate programs encourage cross-pollination across the curriculum. This develops professional and academic skills aimed to improve learning for students and instructors. In addition to TA orientation and the English 685 course, studentfaculty led events provide opportunities for continued growth as an instructor. We are committed to developing a community and program that learns from one another.

Writealaska.org Write Alaska provides a collaborative space to share lesson plans and course design. It creates an opportunity for instructors to share ideas with a broad audience in a medium that encourages progressivism. There is not one "right way" to teach our curriculum. Different applications for any single resource are possible. We encourage composition instructors practice refining and developing classroom resources and exercises to effectively teach composition.

Professional Development Workshops Professional Development Workshops supplement TA Orientation and 685: Teaching College Composition through the duration of employment or assistantships of the English Graduate programs. These workshops establish community for composition instructors to foster theory, design and practice with one another. Also, engaging with current scholarship within the field to re-invest back into the classroom is another goal. Adjunct faculty and graduate instructors facilitate discussion on pedagogy by choosing themes for discussion ranging from assessment, conventional or otherwise, to backwards designing of syllabi.

685: Teaching College Composition Studying student writing and teaching students to write requires intellectual activity. Intertwined in historical movements, competing discourses, tenuous identity politics, notions of authority and power affect how we engage students in mutual meaningmaking. While the course is designed for beginning instructors of College Composition; members from linguistics, education, literacy studies and other fields may find the course valuable. Participants reflect on their own classroom or peer's, write three position papers, participate in a roundtable group project and also create multiple resources for the Composition Program.

Composition Weekly Every two weeks a short newsletter circulates throughout the department that considers professional topics and pedagogy. Composition Weekly provides information and thoughts for the department and sometimes acts as a reminder to upcoming events. Composition Weeklies will be made available on Writealaska.org.

Writing Center The UAF Writing Center is run by the English Department throughout the year. TAs tutor patrons for five hours a week in person or by phone. Materials brought in for review range from dissertations, personal manuscripts and class essays at any stage of the writing process. From conception to editing, the Writing Center provides TAs with experience helping individual writers compose.

Brownbags Every instructor affiliated with UAF is invited to gather each month for provocative conversation on Composition and Rhetoric. The conversations are held at the Wood Center Pub on the first Friday of the month. Participate in a lively discussion about an article selected to promote our intellectual curiosity and reflective practice. Anyone can nominate an article that would be of interest to a wide range of instructors.

Personnel The Composition Director and the Assistant hold office hours throughout the week during the fall and spring semesters. Their offices are located in the English Department and they will be able to assist you with teaching and adjusting to graduate school in Fairbanks. Finally, the faculty of the English Department participate in a mentoring program that will allow you to experience different personalities and methods in supporting our curriculum.