Seminar in the Teaching of Composition

Fall 2021

Professor

Prof. Dan Libertz, Writing Program Director

Class Time

Wednesdays, 10am-12pm in English Department Conference Room (7th floor of Newman Vertical Campus, room 238)

Course Description

This seminar focuses on the history, theory, and practice of teaching college-level writing.  Our emphasis is on the pedagogical choices we make and how our choices may be informed by theories on teaching and learning to write, our experiences in school (as both students and teachers), and our beliefs about education, writing, and reading. We’ll use our classroom experiences during the semester to talk about the complex dynamics of teaching and learning and develop informed approaches to classroom management, assignment design, and commenting and grading. We’ll also explore larger questions informing the teaching of college writing and English studies more broadly, determined by our common interests.

Course Goals

• Apply and adapt theories of composing process to the teaching of writing.
• Reflect critically about your own teaching and writing practices.
• Design and implement inquiry-based, scaffolded writing assignments that enhance student learning.
• Integrate digital technologies into reading and writing pedagogy in meaningful ways.
• Respond to and evaluate student writing in ways that encourage revision and deep learning.
• Plan and implement interactive course sessions that help students develop transferable reading and writing skills (e.g., invention and research strategies, audience analysis heuristics, reflective habits, critical reading strategies, revision and editing techniques)
• Adapt instruction to the individualized needs of students.
• Develop practical skills in classroom management and course organization.
• Design a course syllabus that achieves the common outcomes of writing program curriculum while also contributing actively to our collaborative culture of innovation.

Texts

• Readings on our course Blogs@Baruch website, linked on our Schedule.