Course Objectives:

- to train you to be a helpful and effective writing tutor

- to give you practice in responding to student writing

- to introduce you to the fields of composition studies and writing pedagogy

- to encourage you to reflect on your own writing habits and processes

Requirements:

1. regular attendance (no more than 2 absences without just cause, please; I insist on this not because I want to cultivate orderly or submissive behavior, but because the participatory-style inquiry methods of the course require that everyone be present to participate -- in other words, the course aims to promote interactive learning)
2. assigned readings on pedagogy and writing theory -- see schedule below
3. a reading journal due in class every Tuesday
4. in-class discussion of assigned readings and of sample student essays
5. tutoring work: at the drop-in desk in Mudd, or for a writing intensive course, or both
6. an essay (7-10 pages) to be drafted and revised over the first half of the semester (assignment suggestions will be given later); final draft due in class on Thursday, Oct. 12
7. an essay (10-12 pages) on any subject related to the course, to be drafted and revised during the second half of the semester; final draft due in King 139 on Monday, Dec. 18
8. a workshop-style presentation to the class, focusing on the draft-in-progress of your 10-12 pp. essay -- presentations should be about a half hour in length (I'll circulate a sign-up sheet after fall break so that we can schedule the presentations)

Texts:

• Working with Student Writers: Essays on Tutoring and Teaching, ed. Podis/Podis -- available at college bookstore
• Cross-Talk in Comp Theory: A Reader, ed. Victor Villanueva -- available at college bookstore
• Lives on the Boundary: A Moving Account of the Struggles and Achievements of America's Educational Underclass, by Mike Rose -- available at college bookstore
• Also: selected handouts (articles from professional journals and various tutors' essays received too late for inclusion in WSW) will be distributed according to the schedule below.
• Online sources for writers and teachers: An excellent collection of links to online resources for writers is available at http://www.oberlin.edu/~exposwrt/owl/

schedule of group meetings and readings

Week 1: Tuesday, September 5:

For the first class period, will spend some time introducing ourselves, reviewing the syllabus, and discussing tutoring assignments. We will also look at some sample journal entries from past years and, as time allows, do some informal writing in response to a questionnaire I will hand out. For Thursday, please complete the questionnaire and bring it with you to class.

Week 1: Thursday, September 7:

Bring the completed questionnaire to class. We will discuss our answers in detail. We will also continue to review tutoring assignments for the semester, and we will try to organize the practice tutoring sessions scheduled for next week (see below).

Assignment for next week: Please read the selections listed under "Week 2" and write your first journal entry in time to bring it to class on Tuesday, September 12. In general, I would ask you to try to do the coming week's reading over the weekend so that you will be ready to write your journal entry to bring to class each Tuesday. I will often ask you to read an excerpt from your journals as a way of initiating class discussion, and I will usually collect your journals at the end of class on Tuesdays so that I can respond to them and return them to you on Thursdays. Ideally, your journal entries will play a crucial role in shaping class discussion and in suggesting any changes we should make as the semester progresses.

Note: We need to discuss how we want to set up the practice tutoring sessions for next week (e.g., should we attempt to seek out and persuade veteran tutors to come and do some tutoring demonstrations, or should we practice tutoring each other, or perhaps both?)

Week 2: September 12 & 14

Readings (to be read for this week, preferably by Tuesday's class)

In Working with Student Writers (hereafter WSW):

1. "Introduction" (pp. 1-7)

2. Section I. "Tutoring Writing: Practical Advice" (pp. 9-14)

3. "Working at the Drop-In Center," by Katie Gilmartin (pp. 15-21)

4. "On Working with a Class," by Tisha Turk (pp.23-32)

5. "Speaking the Written Voice," by Alicia Koundakjian (pp. 33-37)

In Cross-Talk in Comp Theory (hereafter CT):

6. "Teach Writing as a Process Not Product," by Donald M. Murray (pp. 3-6)

Handout:

7. "Joe says, "Communication, what kind of communication?" by Charlotte Byrd

Note: The first journal entry is due in class on Tuesday, September 12.

Also: This week we will attempt to do some practice tutoring in class

Week 3: September 19 & 21

Readings

In WSW:

1. Section II. "Perspectives on Peer Tutoring" (pp. 39-44)

2. "Training Peer Tutors for the Writing Lab," by Leonard A. Podis (pp. 45-51)

3. "Peer Tutors and Institutional Authority," by Jeremiah Dyehouse (pp. 53-57)

4. "Peer Tutors: What the Teacher Can Learn," by Leonard A. Podis (pp.59-65)

In CT:

5. "Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers," by Nancy Sommers (pp. 43-54)

Handouts:

6. "Tutoring Writing: Healing or What?" by Diane Stelzer Morrow

7. "Processing Writing," by Polly Dondy-Kaplan

Note: The 7-10 pp. paper will be assigned this week -- due Thurs., Oct. 12.

Week 4: September 26 & 28

Readings

In WSW:

1. Section III. "Facilitating and Responding to Student Writing" (pp. 67-72)

2. " 'Like, it was, you know what I mean?' ": Conversational vs. Presentational Speech in Student Academic Discourse," by Emily Fawcett (pp. 73-83)

3. "Improving Our Responses to Student Writing: A Process-Oriented Approach," by JoAnne M. Podis and Leonard A. Podis (85-94)

4. "The Dilemmas of Grading," by Noelle Howey (pp. 95-100)

Handouts:

5. "Ode to Our Writing Voices," by Karen Flesch

6. "Strangers in Academia: The Experiences of Faculty and ESL Students Across the Curriculum," by Vivian Zamel

7. "Writing Beyond the Words: How Native Language Can Influence Orientation and Purpose of Academic Writing," by Maria E. Barajas

Note: Begin to tutor each other in class on the first paper.

Week 5: October 3 & 5

Readings

In WSW:

1. Section IV. "Writing in the Classroom: Approaches and Methods" (pp. 101-106)

2. "Perspectives on the Writing Classroom," by Leonard A. Podis (pp. 107-116)

3. "No Answers: Interrogating 'Truth' in Writing," by Noelle Howey (pp. 117-121)

4. "Identifying and Teaching Rhetorical Plans for Arrangement," by JoAnne M. Podis and Leonard A. Podis (pp. 123-137)

In CT:

5. "Grammar, Grammars, and the Teaching of Grammar," by Patrick Hartwell (pp. 183-211)

Handout:

6. "The Phenomenology of Error," by Joseph M. Williams

7. "Glazed Looks and Panic Attacks: The Challenge of Teaching Grammar to Basic Education Students" by Kate Daloz

Note: Continue tutoring each other in class on the 7-10pp. essay this week.

Week 6: October 10 & 12

Readings

In WSW:

1. Section V. "Writer's Block and Authority" (pp.139'142)

2. "Learning from Write's Block," by Jenny Love (pp. 143-150)

3. "Consciousness, Frustration, and Power: The Making of Contextual Writer's Block," by Miriam

4. "Authority Issues in Online Instruction," by JoAnne M. Podis (pp.169-178)

Handouts:

5. "From Silence to Words: Writing as Struggle," by Min-Zhan Lu

6. " 'I Hate Writing Papers So Much I Want to Die!' and Other Problems with Academic Writing," by Bridget Heersink

7. "Writer, Reader, Text," by Audrey Wasser

Note: 7-10 pp. essay is due in class on Thursday, October 12. On the day the paper is due, I will ask you to talk briefly in class about what you wound up saying, what you learned, what the process was like, etc. You should also choose an excerpt to read aloud.

Week 7: October 17 & 19

Week 8: October 24 & 26

Readings

In WSW:

1. Section VI. "Discourse Communities: Issues and Problems" (pp. 179-184)

2. "Scientific Writing: What's So Difficult About It Anyway?" by Anita Stone (pp. 185-192)

3. "Defining a Persona Within the Boundaries of Academic Discourse, or God, I Sound Like a Pretentious Ass," by Elizabeth Schambelan (pp. 193-198)

4. "Traveling the Middle Ground: Bridging the Dichotomies Between Academic and Personal Discourse," by Holly Thompson (pp. 199-206)

In CT:

5. "Inventing the University," by David Bartholomae (pp. 589-619)

Handout:

6. "Reflections on Academic Discourse," by Peter Elbow

Note: In this week's journal, please include an entry that offers a midterm evaluation of the course. We will talk about your views of the course and discuss possible changes to make.

Week 9: October 31 & November 2

Readings

In WSW:

No readings in this text this week.

In CT:

1. "Writing with Teachers," by David Bartholomae (479-488)

2. "Being a Writer vs. Being an Academic: A Conflict in Goals," Peter Elbow (489-500)

3. "Interchanges: Responses to Bartholomae and Elbow" (501-509)

Handout:

4. "For Whom Do I Write? A Discussion on the Discourse of Academia," by Erin Savage

In Lives on the Boundary, by Mike Rose:

5. Chapter 1

6. Chapter 6 (If you have time, read chapters 2-5, also. Next week we'll read Ch. 7 & 8)

Note: 10-12 pp. essay will be assigned this week (final draft due Dec. 18)

Also: Sign up for workshop presentations

Week 10: November 7 & 9

Readings

In WSW:

1. Section VII. "Empowering Marginalized Learners" (pp. 207-212)

2. "My Hidden Class Consciousness," by Monica Bielski (pp. 213-220)

3. "Writing in Academia: The Politics of Style," by Virginia Pryor (pp. 221-227)

4. "Writing Tutors and Dyslexic Tutees: Is There Something Special We Should Know?" by Jennifer Wewers (pp. 229-237)

In CT:

5. "Diving In: An Introduction to Basic Writing," by Mina Shaughnessy (pp. 289-295).

In Lives on the Boundary, by Mike Rose:

6. Chapter 7

7. Chapter 8

Note: Tutor each other in class on the 10-12pp. essay. Presentations will begin this week or next week (depending on sign-up schedule).

Week 11: November 14 & 16

Readings

In WSW:

1. Section VIII. "Politics of Literacy: Challenging Traditional Approaches" (pp. 239-242)

2. "How Much to Tell? The Role of the Teacher in the Politicized Classroom," by Jennifer Breen (pp. 243-250)

3. "On the Use of 'I' in Academic Writing," by Samantha Sansevere (pp. 251-260)

4. "My Paper," by Alice Peterson (pp. 261-266)

Handouts:

5. "Between the Drafts," by Nancy Sommers

6. Untitled expository writing paper (dated 3/15/99) by Dinah Shepherd

7. "The Hero with a Thousand Voices: The Relationship Between the Narrative and Academic Styles," by Aaron Rester

Note: Tutor each other in class on the 10-12pp. essay, this week. Presentations ongoing.

Week 12: November 21 (No Class on Thursday, Nov. 23: Thanksgiving)

Readings

In WSW:

No readings in this text this week.

In CT:

1. "Rhetoric and Ideology in the Writing Class," by James Berlin (pp. 679-699)

2. "Diversity, Ideology, and Teaching Writing," by Maxine Hairston (pp. 659-675)

Handout:

3. "The Rhetoric of Reproof," by Leonard A. Podis and JoAnne M. Podis

Note: I have listed only three readings this week because we have only one class meeting due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Week 13: November 28 & 30

Readings

In WSW:

1. Section IX. "Identity Issues in the Teaching of Writing" (pp. 267-270)

2. "Caught Between Skin Color and Dialect: A Non-Essentialist View of the Use of Black English," by Monica Anthony (pp. 271-283)

In CT:

Handout:

4. "Standard English? I Speak English But That Ain't My Standard," by An Anonymous Peer Tutor

5. "Fault Lines in the Contact Zone," by Richard E. Miller

Note: Tutor each other in class on the 10-12pp. essay, this week & next week

Week 14: December 5 & 7

Readings

In WSW:

1. Writing Inside Out: Issues of Sexual Identity in the Writing Classroom," by Rebecca Phares and David Schwam (pp. 301-314)

2. " 'The Me Experience': Composing as a Man," by Donovan Hohn (pp. 285-299)

In CT:

3. "Composing as a Woman," by Elizabeth A. Flynn (pp. 549-563)

Handouts:

4. "Writer's Block and Religion Papers: Seeking God and Defining Self at a Secular

Institution," by Andrea Eshelman

5. "The Nervous System," by Richard E. Miller

Week 15: December 12 & 14

Readings

In WSW:

1. Section X. "Problems and Issues in English and Composition Studies" (pp. 315-318)

2. "No Voice, No Vote: The Politics of Basic Writing," by Lauren Podis (pp. 319-324)

3. "Stuck in Composition: Two Anecdotes from the 112th MLA Convention," by Leonard A. Podis (pp. 325-327)

4. "Contextualizing the Debates: A Historical View of Expository Writing," by Grace Chang (pp. 329-336)

In CT:

5. "The Language of Exclusion," by Mike Rose (pp. 525-547)

Handout:

The last class will be held on Thursday, December 14. The final draft of the 10-12 pp essay is due at 4:30 on Monday, December 18 in King 139.