I am teaching two very different writing classes this semester and I am excited about my plans but a bit worried about juggling the two without dropping balls (combined with the flaming swords and sharp knives I am already juggling as part of my administrative duties for the National Writing Project). I am teaching first-year writing (aka Writing I or Eng 100 at my institution) and professional writing (which is a 300-level class).
I have two primary goals
for my first-year writing students. I first and foremost want them to develop
as reflective and self-regulating writers but I also hope to increase their
understanding community and collaboration. I think focusing on those two
aspects of writing development will set a strong foundation for their continued
growth and development.
Our first week of classes
(which officially begin tomorrow) will include elements of both. I will
continue to use Twitter to help us develop classroom community which includes
individual and class Twitter feeds, introducing ourselves via Twitter, and socializing via Twitter. In addition, I’m asking students to keep a journal to
record their reflections on weekly topics, discuss those topics as a class, and
Tweet about those topics as well.
Our first weekly
reflection and discussion topic will focus on writers. I posted a prompt on the
class blog that included the National Conversation on Writing’s video “Everyone’s a writer” and some interviews with students about how they define themselves as writers.
My goals for my
professional writing students are more sophisticated versions of those for Eng
100 (at least I’m consistent). I also want my professional writing students to
develop as reflective and self-regulating writers, but our focus in this class
will be on discourse community, audience, and genre.
I am also using Twitter
for this class and they have the same initial Twitter assignments and, in fact,
will engage in similarly-structured reflective assignment that includes a cycle
of reflective journal posts, class discussion, and Twitter posts.
Our first weekly
reflection and discussion topic for professional writing will explore what we
mean when use the term professional writing and what they hope to learn from
the class. I share some definitions that others have given and then bring it
back to the study of rhetoric sharing with them a personal blog of mine about
rhetoric as well as the "In Defense of Rhetoric" video. I then conclude with a
selection of Drucker’s “The Age of Social Transformation” about knowledge
workers. Hopefully I haven’t set too ambitious of an agenda. I guess I’ll find
out this week.
I can’t wait to begin our
discussions. Do you think my students are excited, too?
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