Currently, teaching assistants teach four courses over two semesters and/or tutor in the Reading/Writing Center or the Digital Studio. Our staff generally ranges from 120-130 members, consisting of M.A. and Ph.D. candidates who are pursuing course work in creative writing, literature, and rhetoric, along with several adjunct instructors. We typically reach 5,800 or more students each semester through ENC 1101, ENC 1102 (and its equivalents ENC 1142, 1144, and 1145), ENC 1121, ENC 1122, and ENC 1905.
Teaching Assistant Training in the Summer
To be selected for teaching First-Year Composition, new TAs must be proficient readers and writers who have been accepted into the graduate program. For those TAs without any previous teaching experience at the college level, we provide course work and internships to prepare them for the classroom.
During the six-week summer training program, new TAs enroll in two courses, LAE 5370 Teaching English in College, and LAE 5946 Teaching English as a Guided Study. This program of study supports new TAs in several important ways. In these classes, new teachers begin to visualize and design their first courses. They are also offered the opportunity to practice techniques by writing students’ assignments, participating in peer groups, and so on; they discuss evaluation by examining and responding to student papers. In addition, the new teachers learn one-to-one conferencing skills by observing several hours in the Reading/Writing Center. Finally, they intern in a senior TA’s summer session first-year writing class. The new teacher sits in on the class, plans and presents part of the course, and has the chance to discuss evaluation and grading with that TA.
Teaching Assistant Training During the Initial Academic Year
During the fall and spring semesters, new TAs with no previous experience (those in the summer program) and TAs who are new to this program (those with at least one year’s previous experience teaching writing elsewhere at the college level) participate together in a year-long mentoring program. Each TA meets weekly in LAE 5948 with a discussion group of peers. TAs read articles, keep teaching journals, and use those meetings to discuss and share strategies. This discussion group allows TAs to examine their growing expertise and raise questions that might otherwise go unasked.
Continuing Training and In-Service
After their initial training year, continuing TAs invite faculty members and fellow teaching assistants to their classes each subsequent year. These visits allow TAs to share teaching discussions with professors in different areas of English studies. Professors write letters of support for the TAs which are kept on file in the first-year writing office. These visits also keep professors current with the pedagogy of the first-year writing program.
During the academic year, TAs attend workshops and program meetings and have the chance to work on a variety of committees including the First-Year Composition Committee and the McCrimmon Committee. Experienced TAs are known to devote an extraordinary portion of their "free" time to sharing teaching advice with those new to the program.
Resources
Dr. Deborah Coxwell Teague, Director of the First-Year Composition Program, Emily J Dowd and Liane Robertson, Assistant Directors to the First Year Composition Program, and Claire Smith, Program Assistant to the First-Year Composition Program, work closely with every TA to assure that the Program runs smoothly and efficiently.
Each year, experienced TAs are chosen to assist the Director of First-Year Composition. These TAs are an invaluable resource for new and continuing teachers; they are available regularly to discuss program and teaching concerns. The First-Year Composition program assistants, Emily J Dowd and Liane Robertson, also maintain the First-Year Composition Teaching File (referred to as FYC file throughout this guide). Copies of support materials for teaching and for this guide are kept in this file and may be checked out from the assistants. The assistants help teachers integrate these materials into class plans.
The Reading/Writing Center (RWC)
Our Reading/Writing Center began in the late 1960s, in the earliest days of such centers. It was one of the first in the South, and Professor Marian Bashinski, its founder, traveled to over 50 campuses in the Southeast as a consultant to those wishing to design such centers.
The Reading/Writing Center, located in Williams 222-C, is devoted to individualized instruction in reading and writing. Part of the English Department, the RWC serves Florida State University students at all levels and from all majors. Its clients include a cross-section of the campus: first-year students writing for composition class, upper level students writing term papers, seniors composing letters of applications for jobs and graduate schools, graduate students working on theses and dissertations, multilingual students mastering English, and a variety of others. The RWC serves mostly walk-in tutoring appointments, however it also offers three different courses for credit that specifically target reading, undergraduate-level writing, and graduate-level writing.
The tutors in the RWC, all graduate students in English with training and experience in teaching composition, use a process-centered approach to help students at any stage of writing: from generating ideas, to drafting, organizing and revising. While the RWC does not provide editing or proofreading services, its tutors can help writers build their own editing and proofreading skills. Our approach to tutoring is to provide guidance to help students grow as writers, readers and critical thinkers by developing strategies to help them write in a variety of situations.
During the fall and spring semesters, the RWC is open Monday through Thursday from 10 - 6 and Friday from 10 -2. Hours of operation vary in summer. Visit the RWC web site writing.fsu.edu/rwc or call 644-6495 for information.
Strozier Tutoring Location
A satellite RWC location at Strozier Library provides tutoring to students where they congregate most often, and where writing and research can co-develop. This location includes more evening hours to align with student needs. Late-night tutoring is also offered at this location during peak times in the semester when students are up late writing mid-term or final papers.
The Strozier location serves only walk-in appointments on a first-come, first-served basis, but students can sign up in advance the same day they want an appointment at the tutoring area. Hours vary by semester, but are updated on both the RWC web site and the Strozier Library web site at the start of each semester.
Digital Studio
The Digital Studio provides support to students working individually or in groups on a variety of digital projects, such as designing a web site, developing an electronic portfolio for a class, creating a blog, selecting images for a visual essay, adding voiceover to a presentation, or writing a script for a podcast. Tutors who staff the Digital Studio can help students brainstorm essay ideas, provide feedback on the content and design of a digital project, or facilitate collaboration for group projects and presentations.
Students can use the Digital Studio to work on their own to complete class assignments or to improve overall capabilities in digital communication without a tutoring appointment if a work station is available. However, tutor availability and workspace are limited so appointments are recommended.
To make an appointment e-mail us at fsudigitalstudio@gmail.com or visit the Digital Studio in Williams 222-B. Hours vary by semester and are updated at english.fsu.edu/rhetcomp/digital.html
The Computer Writing Center (CWC)
The First-Year Composition Program provides writing classes in two PC-equipped classrooms. During a planning year (1988-1989), TAs under the direction of Dean Newman set up and designed our first classes and wrote a teachers' guide. Currently, we offer many sections (18 students per section) of computer-assisted composition each term. In the summer of 2000, the lab/classrooms underwent extensive updating, including the transition from Macintosh Apple to PC machines.
Our computer-aided instruction (CAI) program has become popular with both TAs and students. Students have the opportunity to enroll in these classes by choice since these sections are designated as CAI in the course list. Besides learning to write, revise, and edit, using the best current technology, students learn the technology itself. TAs are required to attend a meeting each semester before classes begin, as well as participate in several workshops throughout the course of the semester, in order to review new and existing hardware and software, discuss issues of technology and writing, and discover new techniques for teaching computer-aided writing.
Other Teaching Opportunities
Honors courses (ENC 1121 and 1122) are taught by TAs each semester. CARE sections of 1101 and 1102, for first-generation college students, are taught by TAs each semester. TAs design and teach 1142 Imaginative Writing, 1144 Article and Essay Workshop, and 1145 Special Topics courses each year.
Over the years, the writing program has designed a curriculum that reflects the best research and theory in the field of composition and rhetoric. In general, we support a process approach to teaching writing, and our goals and practices are based on the recommendations and position statements of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), the two professional organizations that connect members of our field. Any new writing teacher would do well to become a member of both those organizations, to subscribe to their journals–particularly College Composition and Communication and College English, and to participate in their regional and national meetings.
Work in composition and rhetoric has shown that the process approach is sound, but we have also learned that there is no single best process approach, just as we know that no two writers work in exactly the same way. The focus on process is intended, then, to help each student to become a more expert writer, based on some current understandings of how individuals produce exemplary texts. To accomplish this goal, we have designed a curriculum that, with some inevitable programmatic constraints, allows a teacher to develop her or his best version of process instruction. The following sections of this Teachers' Guide describe our general pedagogical positions and programmatic constraints and then offer several versions of our curriculum based on the same required texts. We expect you to review the available strands and adopt one that best suits your developing understanding of writing instruction and your teaching strengths and preferences.
In addition, throughout this guide we offer many types of practical teaching advice: from first-day suggestions, to explanations of ways to enhance group work, to discussions of evaluation methods, and so on. The information is meant to augment but not to replace our summer training courses and our two semester sequence of teaching seminars.
Catalog Descriptions
First-Year Composition Mission Statement
First-Year Composition courses at FSU teach writing as a recursive and frequently collaborative process of invention, drafting, and revising. Writing is both personal and social, and students should learn how to write for a variety of purposes and audiences. Since writing is a process of making meaning as well as communicating, FYC teachers respond to the content of students’ writing as well as to surface errors. Students should expect frequent written and oral response on the content of their writing from both teacher and peers. Classes rely heavily on a workshop format. Instruction emphasizes the connection between writing, reading, and critical thinking; students should give thoughtful, reasoned responses to the readings. Both reading and writing are the subject of class discussions and workshops, and students are expected to be active participants of the classroom community.
Course Goals and Objectives: Outcomes
In ENC 1101 and ENC 1102, students work to develop their own thinking through writing. The First-Year Composition Program sees the aims–goals and objectives–of the courses as outcomes for students, and we share the position adopted by the Conference on College Composition and Communication regarding "‘outcomes,’ or types of results, and not ‘standards,’ or precise levels of achievement . . . [that] we expect to find at the end of first-year composition" (from the WPA Outcomes Statement). The aims lie in several areas:
Rhetorical Knowledge
By the end of first-year composition, students should
Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing
By the end of first-year composition, students should
Processes
By the end of first-year composition, students should
Knowledge of Conventions
By the end of first-year composition, students should
Composing in Electronic Environments
By the end of first-year composition, students should:
Please note: If you include the most important of these outcomes on your Course Information Sheet, your students will understand that your class consists of more than minimum numbers of papers, attendance policies, and word counts.
In order to achieve the objectives and goals above, all students are expected to draft, revise, and polish four papers or about 20-25 pages of polished text with several drafts of each paper; regularly write ungraded, extended, informal texts (usually a combination of journals and exploratory writing, in class or outside of class); read and respond to a significant number of peers’ drafts and papers; discuss in large and small groups the content, process, and other elements of writing such as audience, structure, purpose; attend at least two substantive conferences with the instructor; attend all class sessions; contribute meaningfully to discussion. In ENC 1102, students are required to complete a research project in conjunction with at least one of their papers.
Papers
Your students will generally be writing four papers and three or more drafts for most of those papers; the individual strands that follow list the different types and numbers of papers suggested for a strand. Each course should allow students to meet the Gordon Rule word count through a number of ungraded and graded writing opportunities. Students also will learn to develop and improve a paper through revision. When possible, you’ll want to allow several opportunities for exploratory, in-class writing and also chances for students to choose or individualize a topic. There is a benefit for you in this: student-defined topics allow for greater writer engagement and keep a teacher from having to read 25 to 50 papers on the same subject.
If you grade papers individually, rather than use a modified portfolio method (a discussion of portfolio grading appears later in this guide), consider weighing grades according to the following percentage scale:
Paper 1 = 10-20% of the final course grade
Papers 2-4 = 60-80% of the final course grade
Participation = 10%-15% of the final course grade
Important notes about above percentages:
This system allows you to grade on improvement and in sequence and to have flexibility in assigning percentages to any paper. Remember that students must complete all required assignments to pass the course. Additonally, all students must receive a mid-semester grade-in-progress in all sections of FYC.
Journals
Your students will be asked often to engage in exploratory writing. The exercises that you assign for journal writing will not necessarily pertain directly to individual paper assignments. They are intended to supplement the strategies used to develop the essays by allowing students to practice and explore through sustained, informal, ungraded writing. Because the journal is a course requirement, students must complete a journal, or at least some of the individual journal assignments, in order to pass each course. Journal assignments are places for exploratory writing, and any earnest effort to tackle an assignment should be acceptable. The writing for the exercises should be evaluated S/U: to earn an "S" the student need only complete the assignment in good faith. Although journal writing is required, journals do not need to be assigned any percentage weight as above. If you do assign journals a percentage weight, the total should not be more than 10-20% of the final grade.
Because grammar and usage are unimportant considerations in exploratory writing, teachers should ignore them (or their absence) in students’ journals. Teachers should collect journals periodically, check them for completeness, and write positive comments only wherever appropriate in the margins. In some classes, journals will be shared only between student and teacher. In other classes, students will share journals with peers on a regular basis. Always let your students know who their readers will be. When you read journals, it is particularly helpful to use a highlighter to single out vivid images, effective specifics, or interesting ideas, and to add a marginal word or two to indicate exactly what’s praiseworthy. The total word count for journals should be approximately 2,500. If a student mentions suicide in a journal or any other written work, you need to report any suicide entries to the Director of First-Year Composition.
The Gordon Rule
The Gordon Rule is a university writing requirement which students meet by taking a combination of courses designated "Gordon Rule" courses. Some history, literature, and humanities classes carry a 3,000 word writing requirement. The Gordon Rule stipulates that students must write 7000 words in ENC 1101 and ENC 1102 (3500 per course). Any student who completes all the assignments will easily meet the required word count. In fact, 7,000 words is substantially less work than a normal 1101 or 1102 course requires. A more typical, good goal to set is 12,000-15,000 words. Please do not ask students to count words. If you design a solid draft-oriented class, students will inevitably be writing more than the minimum number of words. In fact, you might want to let them know this during your explanation of the Course Policy Sheet at the beginning of the semester.
Students must pass ENC 1101 with at least a C- in order to qualify for Gordon Rule credit. Students who receive a D for the final course grade will receive liberal studies credit but must make up the Gordon Rule words. These students should consult with their advisers, with the Office of Undergraduate Studies (3300 UCA), or with the First-Year Composition program assistant (Claire Smith) for their options in selection of courses to make up those words.
In the spring semester, students often ask their ENC 1102 teachers if they may contract for extra writing to make up Gordon Rule words lost because of failed courses or because they were exempted from coursework but not from the Gordon Rule requirement. You may not contract with students for extra Gordon Rule work in ENC 1101 or ENC 1102. These two courses already bear a heavy load of the Gordon Rule, and any extra writing a student feels she can do for you should be part of the regular coursework.
Textbooks
Two textbooks are required for ENC 1101: The rhetoric text is On Writing: A Process Reader, by Wendy Bishop; the editing text is The New McGraw-Hill Handbook for Writers, FSU edition. You are strongly encouraged to use Our Own Words: A Student’s Guide to ENC1101 and ENC 1102.
Three textbooks are required for ENC 1102: the reading text is Beyond Words which can be found at Bill's Bookstore; the research text is The Curious Researcher by Bruce Ballenger; and the style guide is The McGraw-Hill Handbook, 2nd Edition, which students should have kept from ENC 1101.
YOU MAY NOT REQUIRE ADDITIONAL OR ALTERNATE TEXTBOOKS. Two copies of each required text will be on reserve in Strozier Library. You may supplement the textbooks with short readings suggested in the strands, if they follow fair use copyright guidelines. In addition, most teachers also ask students to provide a journal notebook and a dictionary. Students should expect a reasonable amount of expense for photocopying their own drafts to share with peers and teacher.
Grammar and Writing Classes
At this time, the Florida legislature, having paid to have students taught grammar and usage from kindergarten through high school, refuses to pay to have the same students taught the same material in college. First-year writers are therefore by legislative mandate expected to begin ENC 1101 with a command of standard grammar and usage. Mandates do not equal reality–some students don’t exhibit the assumed facility. However, our courses are not designed directly to teach the rules of grammar and punctuation, particularly according to the old skills and drills model, because we know that skills methods that proved ineffective in K-12 schooling will continue to prove ineffective in the writing workshop. In designing the First-Year Composition Program, we emphasize a holistic approach to writing instruction. Students learn to develop ideas and communicate them by writing complete texts, developing sentence level expertise via discussion, conferences, redrafting and revising, and careful editing of work before final class presentation.
Certainly some students come to us with underdeveloped abilities; some are unable to utilize the conventions of standard written English. We realize that students who are not grammatically fluent may be seriously disadvantaged as editors of their own work or each other’s, and their grades will suffer if their papers are ungrammatical or incorrectly punctuated when presented for final course evaluations. Clearly, students with serious weaknesses in technical control are ill-prepared to excel on the CLAST and are likely to be frustrated by the gap between their preparation and our expectations.
On the first day of class, you should ask all students to complete a short piece of writing on a set or exploratory topic. Use this writing to help decide if there are some students who could benefit from enrollment in ENC 1905 through the RWC. Students may take ENC 1905 simultaneously with ENC 1101. ENC 1905 is a supplement to–and not a substitute for–ENC 1101, but it offers students a chance to earn college credit while building the technical skills their writing courses demand. Since students can only register for ENC 1905 during the official drop/add period, you will need to get writing samples from your class during the first meeting, and to contact writers as quickly as possible. It may be best to have writers put their local phone numbers on their writing samples.
Fortunately for these students and for us, the RWC can help writers with non-standard usage. While tutors will not proof read and edit students’ work for them, they can help students develop editing and proof reading skills in the context of their essays and on a one-to-one basis. We prefer that students come to the Center voluntarily and with a purpose. Please do not accommodate all first-year composition students. But, you may consider offering extra credit for a tutorial combined with the student’s written narrative of what was discussed during the session and how the tutorial played into the revision or corrections the student made. (Writers can also obtain advice and practice on taking the CLAST.)
Let students know about the RWC’s services several times during the semester and also list its hours in your Course Information Sheet. Those not enrolled in ENC 1905 are welcome to use the Center on a walk-in basis as often as they like during the course of the term; they can’t get college credit for any work they do there on a walk-in basis, but they can get support and help for improving their writing.
Course Information Sheets
You should provide your students with a tentative day-by-day syllabus specifying assignments and class activities for several weeks at once. One advantage of such a syllabus is that it keeps both class and teacher on track so the semester doesn’t run out before the assignments do. One disadvantage is that it reduces the teacher’s flexibility, making it harder to slow down or to try a new approach when the class needs to follow a different direction than you had envisioned during week one and making it harder to speed up when work goes very smoothly and a project is completed quickly. If your plans change, put a new three-day plan on the board every Monday.
It is very important, however, that you provide every student with a Course Information Sheet. Your information sheet should list the course requirements, identify the texts you are using, explain the demands of the Gordon Rule, and discuss positive aspects of the class–your goals, beliefs, and general expectations. The sheet must contain your name, the location and phone number of your office, your office hours, the First-Year Composition Mission Statement (p. 9), and the statement on plagiarism (below). It should also specify in unambiguous terms your policies on attendance, conferences, papers, basic grading procedures, and possibly manuscript form. Remember, this is the first piece of your writing that students read, and it can sometimes set the tone for the semester. You’ll find an example of a Course Information Sheet later in the Guide .
Plagiarism
Many of our students plagiarize inadvertently. They are aware that direct quotes must be attributed to a source, but somehow they have the feeling that any source that is rendered into their own words has been rendered into their own work. Recycled papers from high school or other college courses are also considered plagiarism. We must help students understand the variety of forms plagiarism can take, and we must speak seriously to those who may contemplate using a paper from a friend or a fraternity file. You can view both exercises online: click to view the Plagiarism Exercises for 1101 and 1102.
In the first place, explain that we are likely to catch them; skilled as we are in reading, we are likely to notice when the style of one of our students transforms into the style of another, unfamiliar, person. In the second place, plagiarizers will be making all sorts of work for themselves since no paper can be accepted without invention assignments and drafts, and plagiarizers will need to invent "invention work and drafts" with a convincing resemblance to someone else’s polished draft. A third reason for students not to plagiarize–despite all the pressures of time and the anxiety about grades–is that the possible rewards just don’t merit the real and serious risk. Finally, since we do advocate student sharing of ideas, responses to drafts, and intervention in each other’s texts–even collaborative assignments–the best protection against willful or unintentional academic plagiarism is a well-run writing workshop class where students are engaged in their own writing and the community knows each person’s work.
Your Course Information Sheet must contain the following statement:
Plagiarism is grounds for suspension from the university as well as for failure in this course. It will not be tolerated. Any instance of plagiarism must be reported to the Director of First-Year Composition and the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Plagiarism is a counterproductive, non-writing behavior that is unacceptable in a course intended to aid the growth of individual writers. Plagiarism is included among the violations defined in the Academic Honor Code, section b), paragraph 2, as follows: "Regarding academic assignments, violations of the Academic Honor Code shall include representing another’s work or any part thereof, be it published or unpublished, as one’s own."
A plagiarism education assignment that further explains this issue will be administered in all first-year writing courses during the second week of class. Each student will be responsible for completing the assignment and asking questions regarding any parts they do not fully understand.
First-Year Composition Course Drop Policy
This course is NOT eligible to be dropped in accordance with the "Drop Policy" adopted by the Faculty Senate in Spring 2004. The Undergraduate Studies Dean will not consider drop requests for a First-Year Composition course unless there are extraordinary and extenuating circumstances utterly beyond the student's control (e.g.:death of a parent or sibling, illness requiring hospitalization, etc.). The Faculty Senate specifically eliminated First-Year Composition courses from the University Drop Policy because of the overriding requirement that First-Year Composition be completed during students' initial enrollment at FSU.
Attendance
Regular (and prompt) attendance is a course requirement–as it must be in a course so heavily weighted toward in-class writing and peer responding. University policy states that students are in danger of failing if they accumulate more than two weeks worth of absences–more than four TR or MW classes, or more than six MWF classes. University policy also states that students involved with university-sanctioned events (including but not limited to athletics, band, ROTC, academic honor societies, and nursing) should not be counted absent on days scheduled by those programs as service work for the university. Students must obtain from their advisors in these programs a signed statement on FSU letterhead noting the scheduled events for the semester. This document needs to be turned into the teacher by the end of the second week of classes. This is the student’s responsibility; without this letter the student will be counted absent on those days. Also, on the day the student returns to class, all work due must be turned in at the beginning of the class and the student will be responsible for that day’s assignment as well.
Does this mean that a student involved in university-sanctioned events should be allowed to miss as many days as necessary to participate in those events, along with four TR or MW classes, or six MWF classes? Not necessarily. Students involved in these events must be active participants in your class, just like all other students. If a student tells you he or she will have to miss five classes to attend university-sanctioned events, make it clear to that student that he or she cannot expect to miss an additional four classes on top of that. The student would miss too many classes to be considered an active participant. In that case, the student should be advised to drop ENC 1101 or 1102 and take it another semester when he or she would be able to be an active participant.
Unfortunately, the First-Year Composition Program cannot mandate a specific number of absences at which a student automatically fails your course. As a general rule, students should miss no more that two weeks worth of class. A student is in trouble on the fourth absence in a TR or MW class, or on the sixth absence in a MWF class. If the student misses more than that, you must make a judgment call. Please discuss any specific case about which you have a question with the Director of First-Year Composition or her FYC Program Assistants.
Tardiness
Some teachers have strong feelings about tardy students. Any policy you devise to address tardiness should be fair and be included in your information sheet. You may not prevent a student from attending class if he/she is late.
Conferences
Students are required to sign up and show up for a minimum of two 15-minute conferences with the teacher. Discussions for making the most of conferences appear later in this guide. Because you will probably choose to cancel some class meetings in order to permit time for these conferences, the question of attendance should be addressed: your course information sheet should make clear that a student who fails to appear for his or her scheduled conference will have an absence added to his total. One absence for one missed conference is the general rule.
Late Papers
Teachers cannot include an 'I do not accept late work' statement in their course policy sheets. In a class in which all major writing assignments must be completed for students to pass the course, we must accept late work. However, you should spell out penalties, if any, for turning work in late. Some teachers permit students to turn in any one paper late without explanation, but impose a grade penalty for the second submission. Some grant extensions on a paper due date, provided the student asks in advance of that date for the extra time. Some simply drop every late paper one letter grade. The important thing is to make your own rules, whatever they are, perfectly clear to your students at the outset of the term. Do not let a student continue the course with papers outstanding; students MAY NOT turn in three or four essays the last week of class and still complete a process workshop.
Manuscript Form
All final or portfolio drafts should be typed. Beyond that, specify what you prefer. Some teachers find it easier to evaluate and annotate single-spaced papers which have a very wide right-hand margin, and still others insist that every shared draft be typed. Some teachers respond online to students' drafts. Again the essential thing is that your students understand your rules. Also, we encourage the use technology to enhance the writing classroom experience; see the discussion later in this guide on ways to help your students engage in digital discourse.
Office Hours
Let your students know when you will be in your office ready to answer their questions or look over their writing. If you’re teaching two classes, you should schedule a minimum of five regular office hours each week. Encourage students to seek you out during these hours, but offer to make appointments at other times with students whose schedules make it impossible for them to see you. It is not a good idea to conference with students at off-campus locations; conferences should be held in your office.
Writing Assignments and Classroom Activities
Suggested writing and reading assignments and classroom activities are provided in the teaching strands that make up the bulk of this guide. New teachers are urged to follow a single strand consistently (not jump from strand to strand) in order to offer a pedagogically coherent class. At the same time, all teachers will want to enlarge, modify, and improve upon the suggestions offered here. Those teaching the course for the second or third time will naturally find it easier to use the syllabus selectively. The teaching process–like the writing process–alters to reflect the personality of the practitioner.
Most ENC 1102 strands do not detail the use of The New McGraw-Hill Handbook; however, the ENC 1101 strands have incorporated readings and exercises from the handbook. In ENC 1101 and ENC 1102, introduce the handbook as a reference tool for students to be used much like a dictionary or encyclopedia. Students generally need an introduction to the features of a handbook since many don’t understand indexing systems and so on. You’ll want to make appropriate assignments from this book on an individual basis. When you respond to student papers, you may suggest that writers read particular sections of the handbook. In conferences with students, you may review a portion of the handbook relevant to the students’ particular needs. Since we require that students purchase The New McGraw-Hill Handbook, please help them understand how to use it and refer to it in productive ways several times throughout the semester. In general, do not use the handbook to fill large amounts of class time (for instance, completing lengthy exercises or testing students on out-of-context grammar knowledge). Again, the handbook is a useful tool for individual writers, allowing them to study conventions and apply conventions to their own writings; the handbook does not make a successful daily classroom text.
Additional Resources
Writing Centers: To learn more about the Reading/Writing Center, see the Guide to the Reading/Writing Center. For more about writing centers and tutoring, see Writing Centers in Context: Twelve Case Studies, edited by Joyce A. Kinkead and Jeanette Harris (Urbana, IL: NCTE, 1993); Writing Centers: Theory and Administration, edited by Gary A. Olson, (Urbana, IL: NCTE, 1984); Intersections: Theory-Practice in the Writing Center, edited by Joan A. Mullin and Ray Wallace (Urbana, IL: NCTE, 1994); and Teaching One-to-One: The Writing Conference, by Muriel Harris (Urbana, IL: NCTE, 1986).
First-Year Composition Outcomes: The full text of the "WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition" is available online.
Gordon Rule: To satisfy curiosity about the origins and purposes of the Gordon Rule, see Senator Jack Gordon’s article, "The Gordon Rule: A State Legislator Fulfills His Responsibility," in New Directions for Community Colleges 16.4 (1988): 23-30.
CLAST: Deborah Coxwell Teague, Director of First-Year Composition and former director of the Reading/Writing Center, discusses the CLAST in "The Clash Between Teachers’ Personal Views of Student Writing and Views Imposed by the State" (ERIC 1991. ED 332 209). The RWC also maintains a library of materials for preparing for the CLAST.
Basic TA Responsibilities
FYC TAs are expected to meet all classes scheduled for the sections they are assigned except when classes are cancelled for conferences. TAs may, however, cancel up to two class meetings per semester due to personal emergencies or to attend professional conferences. TAs are allowed to cancel no more than two class meetings. Doing so may result in loss of their graduate teaching assistantships.
Conferences
All FYC TAs are required to hold two conferences per semester with each of their students.
Office Hours
If you are teaching two classes,
you should schedule a minimum of five regular office hours each week
and post these hours on your office door by the end of the first week of classes.
Course Information Sheets and Syllabi
Every FYC TA must prepare a course information sheet that explains the policies for the section(s) s/he teaches and give every student in the section(s) a copy of the sheet. S/He must also email a copy of the information sheet(s) to the FYC Program Assistants (coursepolicysheets@gmail.com) by the end of the first week of classes.
Drop/Add Week
Do not tell a student s/he has your
permission to add or to drop your class. Students may go through English drop and add, only in the FYC assistant office. If a student has work-related schedule problems or has been in your course in a previous semester, simply tell him/her to see the FYC assistant.
Class rosters are not always available for the first early Monday morning classes, but do your best to account for each student present.
If students claim to be enrolled in your section but aren’t on your roster, send them to the FYC assistant. Don’t let students sit in your class if they are not on your roster.
SPOTS and/or SUSSAIs
You are required to administer SPOTS or SUSSAIs each semester to all your students. Watch your mailbox for handouts with instructions.
Teaching Files
The First-Year Composition program maintains a teaching file for every TA. These files are “open” and you can examine the contents of your file at any time. You are responsible for giving the FYC assistant all SPOTS and SUSSAI reports and comment sheets, mentor reports, and peer class visit reports for your file.