RHET-481: Syllabus

****The readings should be read in the order they are listed. Some readings take opposing views, with later ones critiquing earlier ones. Some readings provide overviews that will help you understand subsequent ones, and some are pedagogically oriented and “test out” theoretical readings. Please bring a hard copy of ALL readings to class

CT=Cross-Talk in Comp Theory
WSW=Working with Student Writers
eres=Electronic Reserve

Week 1 Introduction:
Theories of Composition/Oberlin’s Peer Tutoring Program
Sept. 3 Introductions
Sept. 5 Discussion of Readings
Berlin, “Rhetoric and Ideology in the Writing Class” (CT)
Williams, “Models for Teaching Writing” (eres)
Chang, “Contextualizing the Debates” (WSW)
Gilmartin, “Working at the Drop-In Center” (WSW)
“On Working With a Class” (WSW)

Project: After completing the readings, write an informal essay on your
preconceptions about Oberlin’s Peer Tutoring Program—what led you to
apply? What do you think tutoring will entail? Have the readings altered
your assumptions?
Portfolios, Group A due (and every other week until the end of the
semester)

Week 2 Theories of Peer Tutoring
Sept. 10 Discussion of Readings/Presentation
Harris, “Talking in the Middle” (eres)
Murray, “Teach Writing As A Process Not Product” (CT)
Tobin, “Process Pedagogy” (eres)
Olson, “Toward a Post-Process Composition” (eres)
Sept. 12 Discussion of Readings/ Presentation
Gillespie and Lerner, “The Tutoring Process” (eres)
McLeod, “The Pedagogy of Writing Across the Curriculum”
Grimm, “P is for Postmodernity and for Possibilities” and “Toward a Fair Writing Center Practice” (eres)
In-Class Workshop: Mock Tutoring.

Project: Be tutored by someone in the class or an experienced tutor. Take
notes on your experience. Write up your notes, incorporating readings
where appropriate.
Portfolios, Group B due (and every other week until the end of the
semester)

Week 3 The Tutoring Session
Sept. 17 Discussion of Readings/Presentation
Sommers, “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers” (CT)
Macauley, Jr. “Setting the Agenda for the Next 30 Minutes” (eres)
Harris, “Shapes and Purposes of the Conference” and “Conference Activities” (eres)
In-Class Workshop: Mock Tutoring
Sept. 19 Discussion of Readings/Presentation
Delpit, “The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s Children” (CT)
Dyehouse, “Peer Tutors and Institutional Authority” (WSW)
Wingate, “What Line? I Didn’t See Any Line” (eres)

Project: Observe two tutoring sessions by two different tutors and take
notes. Write up notes, incorporating readings where appropriate.

Week 4 Responding To Student Writing
Sept. 24 Discussion of Readings/Presentation
Horvath, “The Components of Written Response: An Overview” (eres)
Sommers, “Responding To Student Writing”(eres)
Brodkey, “On the Subjects of Class and Gender in “The Literacy Letters” (CT)
Sept. 26 In-Class Workshop: Responding To Student Writing
Straub, “Responding—Really Responding—To Other Students’ Writing” (eres)

Project: Write Internal and Terminal Comments on a draft by a classmate.

Week 5 Style, Part I
Oct. 1 Discussion of Readings/Presentation
Williams, “The Ethics of Prose” (eres)
Pryor, “Writing in Academia: The Politics of ‘Style’ (WSW)
Oct. 3 Lanham, Revising Prose 4th Edition
In-Class Workshop on Revision using Lanham and something a classmate
has recently written.

Project: After reading Lanham, revise anything you’ve recently written,
whether an essay for another class, Review article, job application
material, project for this class, etc.

Week 6 Grammar
Oct. 8 Discussion of Readings/Presentation
Hartwell, “Grammar, Grammars and the Teaching of Grammar” (CT)
Blakesley, “Reconceptualizing Grammar as an Aspect of Rhetorical Invention” (eres)
Rapp Young, “Can You Proofread This?”(eres)
Oct. 10 The Bedford Handbook 5th Edition
In-Class Workshop on Grammar using the Hacker and something a
classmate has recently written.

Project: Working with the Bedford handbook, copyedit anything you’ve
recently written, whether an essay for another class, Review article, job
application material, project for this class, etc.

Week 7 ESL
Oct. 15 Discussion of Readings/Presentation
Raimes, “Strangers In Academia” (eres)
Harris, “Tutoring ESL Students: Issues and Options” (eres)
“Working With ESL Students” (eres)
Oct. 17 In-Class Workshop, working with ESL
Mid-Term Reflections/Evaluations

FALL BREAK

Week 9 Academic Discourse
Oct. 29 Taking Stock: Tutoring Thus Far, Planning Second Module
Oct. 31 Discussion of Readings/Presentation
Bartholomae, “Inventing the University” (CT)
Bartholomae, “Writing With Teachers”(CT)
Elbow, “Being a Writer vs. Being an Academic” (CT)
Bartholomae and Elbow, “Interchanges”(CT)

Project: Write a response to the debate in two voices, an “academic” and
a “writer”

Week 10 Style, Part II
Nov. 5 Discussion of Readings/Presentation
Heilker, “The Need for an Alternative Form in Composition Instruction” (eres) and “The Essay as An Alternative Form in Composition Instruction” (eres)
Bishop, “Alternate Styles for Who, What, and Why?” (eres)
Fike and Cook, “Would You Like Some Fries With That?”
Nov 7 Discussion of Past Student Final Projects To be distributed

Project: Alternate Style Assignment; Working with Grammar B

Week 11 Students and Subjectivity
Nov. 12 Discussion of Readings/Presentation
Flynn, “Composing as a Woman” (CT)
Villanueva, Jr. “Considerations for American Freireistas” (CT)
Pratt, “Arts of the Contact Zone” (eres)
Nov. 14 Discussion of Readings/Presentation
Rose, “The Language of Exclusion: Writing Instruction at the University”
Hairston, “Diversity, Ideology and Teaching Writing” (CT)

Project: Your own contact zone

Week 12 Authors and Audiences
Nov. 19 Discussion of Readings/Presentation
Ong, “The Writer’s Audience is Always a Fiction” (CT)
Ede and Lunsford, “Audience Addressed/Audience Invoked” (CT)
Nov. 21 Discussion of Readings/Presentation
Horner, “Writing”(eres)
Faigley, “In the Turbulence of Theory” (eres)

Project: tba

Week 13 What is Composition, Again?
Nov. 26 Discussion of Readings/Presentation
Crowley, “The Invention of Freshman English”
Vitanza, “Three CounterTheses…” (eres)

Project: tba

THANKSGIVING

Week 14 Electronic Rhetoric
Dec. 3 Discussion of Readings/Presentation
Joyce, “New Teaching: Toward a Pedagogy for a New Cosmology”
Sirc, “What Is Composition…?” After Duchamp (Notes Toward a General Teleintertext”) (eres)
Dec. 5 In-Class Workshop: Tutoring with Technology

Project: tba

Week 15 Conclusion
Dec. 10 Presentation of Final Projects
Dec. 12 Conclusion, Evaluations
Dec. 16 Final Projects Due