Request for New Course
EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
DIVISION OF ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
REQUEST FOR NEW COURSE
DEPARTMENT/SCHOOL: _ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
COLLEGE: ARTS AND SCIENCES
CONTACT PERSON: CATHY FLEISCHER_____________________________________________________________
CONTACT PHONE: 487-4220
CONTACT EMAIL: CATHY.FLEISCHER@EMICH.EDU
REQUESTED START DATE: TERM___W__________YEAR___2014________
A. Rationale/Justification for the Course
Writing and Public Policy has been offered twice as a “Topics In” course for the MA in Written
Communication in the English department. As the MA program shifts away from the Topics In Model to one of
restricted electives, we propose moving this course to a regular offering. The course serves graduate students in
both the Teaching of Writing and English Studies for Teachers MA as a restricted elective that focuses on
current (and sometimes controversial) issues of writing and writing pedagogy, how public policy impacts
writing instruction, and how teachers and citizens might learn to write in public genres in order to participate in
the discussion.
B. Course Information
1. Subject Code and Course Number:
WRTG 580
2. Course Title: Writing, Teaching, and Public Policy
3. Credit Hours:
3
4. Repeatable for Credit? Yes_______
No____x__
If “Yes”, how many total credits may be earned?_______
5. Catalog Description (Limit to approximately 50 words.):
Graduate seminar on how public policy impacts writing instruction at the secondary and college level.
Emphasis on genres and strategies teachers and citizens can use to write and speak publicly in order to add their voices
to the conversation.
6. Method of Delivery (Check all that apply.)
a. Standard (lecture/lab) x
On Campus
x
Off Campus
b. Fully Online
c. Hybrid/ Web Enhanced
7. Grading Mode:
Normal (A-E)
x
Credit/No Credit
8. Prerequisites: Courses that MUST be completed before a student can take this course. (List by Subject Code, Number and Title.)
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9. Concurrent Prerequisites:
Code, Number and Title.)
Courses listed in #5 that MAY also be taken at the same time as a student is taking this course. (List by Subject
10. Corequisites: Courses that MUST be taken at the same time as a student in taking this course.
(List by Subject Code, Number and
Title.)
11. Equivalent Courses. A student may not earn credit for both a course and its equivalent. A course will count as a repeat if an equivalent
course has already been taken. (List by Subject Code, Number and Title)
12. Course Restrictions:
a. Restriction by College. Is admission to a specific College Required?
College of Business
Yes
No
x
College of Education
Yes
No
x
b. Restriction by Major/Program. Will only students in certain majors/programs be allowed to take this course?
Yes
No
x
If “Yes”, list the majors/programs
c. Restriction by Class Level Check all those who will be allowed to take the course:
Undergraduate
Graduate
All undergraduates_______
All graduate students___x_
Freshperson
Certificate
Sophomore
Masters
Junior
Specialist
Senior
Doctoral
Second Bachelor________
UG Degree Pending_____
Post-Bac. Tchr. Cert._____
Low GPA Admit_______
Note: If this is a 400-level course to be offered for graduate credit, attach Approval Form for 400-level Course for Graduate
Credit. Only “Approved for Graduate Credit” undergraduate courses may be included on graduate programs of study.
Note: Only 500-level graduate courses can be taken by undergraduate students. Undergraduate students may not register for
600-level courses
d. Restriction by Permission. Will Departmental Permission be required?
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Yes
No
x
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(Note: Department permission requires the department to enter authorization for every student registering.)
13. Will the course be offered as part of the General Education Program?
Yes
No
x
If “Yes”, attach Request for Inclusion of a Course in the General Education Program: Education for Participation in the Global Community
form. Note: All new courses proposed for inclusion in this program will be reviewed by the General Education Advisory Committee. If this
course is NOT approved for inclusion in the General Education program, will it still be offered? Yes
No
C. Relationship to Existing Courses
Within the Department:
14. Will this course will be a requirement or restricted elective in any existing program(s)? Yes x
No
If “Yes”, list the programs and attach a copy of the programs that clearly shows the place the new course will have in the curriculum.
Program
MA in Written Communication
Required
Restricted Elective
x
Program
MA in English Studies for Teacher
Required
Restricted Elective
x
15. Will this course replace an existing course? Yes
No
x
16. (Complete only if the answer to #15 is “Yes.”)
a. Subject Code, Number and Title of course to be replaced:
b. Will the course to be replaced be deleted?
Yes
No
17. (Complete only if the answer #16b is “Yes.”) If the replaced course is to be deleted, it is not necessary to submit a Request for
Graduate and Undergraduate Course Deletion.
a. When is the last time it will be offered?
Term
Year
b. Is the course to be deleted required by programs in other departments?
Contact the Course and Program Development Office if necessary.
Yes
No
c. If “Yes”, do the affected departments support this change?
Yes
No
If “Yes”, attach letters of support. If “No”, attach letters from the affected department explaining the lack of support, if available.
Outside the Department: The following information must be provided. Contact the Course and Program Development office for
assistance if necessary.
18. Are there similar courses offered in other University Departments?
If “Yes”, list courses by Subject Code, Number and Title
Yes
No
x
*Note: Department of Political Science has been included in discussion of course and course title and has
indicated support for this course.
19. If similar courses exist, do the departments in which they are offered support the proposed course?
Yes
No
If “Yes”, attach letters of support from the affected departments. If “No”, attach letters from the affected department explaining the lack of
support, if available.
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D. Course Requirements
20. Attach a detailed Sample Course Syllabus including:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
Course goals, objectives and/or student learning outcomes
Outline of the content to be covered
Student assignments including presentations, research papers, exams, etc.
Method of evaluation
Grading scale (if a graduate course, include graduate grading scale)
Special requirements
Bibliography, supplemental reading list
Other pertinent information.
NOTE: COURSES BEING PROPOSED FOR INCLUSION IN THE EDUCATION FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE GLOBAL
COMMUNITY PROGRAM MUST USE THE SYLLABUS TEMPLATE PROVIDED BY THE GENERAL EDUCATION
ADVISORY COMMITTEE. THE TEMPLATE IS ATTACHED TO THE REQUEST FOR INCLUSION OF A COURSE IN THE
GENERAL EDUCATION PROGRAM: EDUCATION FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY FORM.
E. Cost Analysis (Complete only if the course will require additional University resources.
Fill in Estimated Resources for the
sponsoring department(s). Attach separate estimates for other affected departments.)
Estimated Resources:
Year One
Year Two
Year Three
Faculty / Staff
$_________
$_________
$_________
SS&M
$_________
$_________
$_________
Equipment
$_________
$_________
$_________
Total
$_________
$_________
$_________
F. Action of the Department/School and College
1. Department/School
Vote of faculty: For ____30______
Against ___0_______
Abstentions ___0_______
(Enter the number of votes cast in each category.)
Department Head/School Director Signature
March 5, 2015
Date
2. College/Graduate School
A. College
College Dean Signature
Date
B. Graduate School (if Graduate Course)
Graduate Dean Signature
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G. Approval
Associate Vice-President for Academic Programming Signature
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WRTG 580: Writing, Teaching, and Public Policy Professor: Dr. Cathy Fleischer
Contact Information:
Email: cathy.fleischer@emich.edu
Office: 603A Pray-Harrold
Office phone: 734-487-0151
Office hours: Wednesday 3 – 6:30 (and by appointment)
Introduction to the Course:
Welcome! I’m excited to be working with you this semester on a topic that I am passionate
about…and that I hope is important to you as well: the role of teachers in public discussions about
schooling and particularly about the teaching of writing.
The terms that make up the title of this course—writing and public policy—might at first seem
distant from each other. But in the 21st century, they’re not as far apart as you might think. At the
K-12 level, public policy has a visceral impact on reading and writing instruction; at the postsecondary level, the effects are not quite as clearly defined, but the connections are becoming closer
all the time. As writing teachers we feel the affects of public policy (from standards to teacher
testing to student assessment) on a daily basis, but generally assume we have no say in how those
policies play out in our classrooms.
In this course we’ll look at the relationship between writing instruction and public policy and learn
how to use our own writing to impact the conversation. We’ll focus on how to make some conscious
decisions about when, whether, and why we might enter public discussions about writing instruction
and practice ways of expanding our voices so that we can enter those conversations smartly and
safely.
We’ll spend a lot of time this term talking about the connections between these terms and the issues
that impact teachers: how legislation, corporations, and the media impact how writing is perceived
by the public; how various educators and citizens have responded to these perceptions; and how
teacher voices (like yours!) might make a difference. I’m particularly excited that a number of wellknown community organizers, teachers, and teacher educators have graciously agreed to help us this
semester: We will have guest Skypers and visitors for several of our classes.
Course goals:
-­‐ To develop a framework for understanding the relationship between public policy and K-16
writing instruction
-­‐ To become critical readers of public documents surrounding K-16 writing instruction, such
as legislation, policy documents, curricular frameworks, etc.
-­‐ To understand the implications and impacts of specific policy documents
-­‐ To develop strategies to affect public policy surrounding K-16 writing instruction, including
writing in a variety of public genres: op-ed pieces, blogs, letters-to-the editor, etc.
-­‐ To feel empowered to have a voice in public conversations about writing and writing
instruction!
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Course Assignments Weekly Blog Reading and Writing (15%)
One important step in gaining a voice is to familiarize yourself with the conversations about
education that are ongoing in the public domain. I’d like you to do that in a few ways:
-­‐
Subscribe to either Inside Higher Education (insidehighereducation.com) or Education Week
(http://www.edweek.org/ew/section/free-content/index.html), depending on your interest in
post-secondary or secondary. While you won’t be able to read everything each week, you can
skim through the free content section of each to get a sense of what is going on and choose a
few articles to read.
-­‐
You may also want to sign up for the Literacy in Learning Exchange
(http://www.literacyinlearningexchange.org/) of the National Center for Literacy Education
and receive their free Smart Briefs. Also, if you are an NCTE member (and I hope you all
are!), make sure you are signed up for their Inbox.
-­‐
Again, depending on your interest, you should choose at least one other education blog to
monitor for the term. You will be our eyes and ears on that blog! Please choose among the
following:
-­‐
-­‐
-­‐
-­‐
-­‐
-­‐
-­‐
-­‐
-­‐
-­‐
Not Waiting for Superman http://www.notwaitingforsuperman.org/
Rethinking Schools http://rethinkingschoolsblog.wordpress.com/
Teachers Speak Up http://teachersspeakup.com/
The Answer Sheet http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/
Diane Ravitch’s blog http://dianeravitch.net/
Bridging Differences http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/
Ann Arbor School Musings: http://a2schoolsmuse.blogspot.com/2012/01/three-years.html
Susan O’Hanian’s website: http://www.susanohanian.org/
Confessions of a community college dean: http://suburbdad.blogspot.com/
College Ready Writing at Inside Higher Ed: http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/collegeready-writing
-­‐ Minor Details at Inside Higher Ed: http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/minor-details
You’ll be expected to monitor these, read the stories that you decide are relevant, and share what
you’re learning with the rest of us in a short (200-300 words) weekly post on our Google Site. The
purpose of this post is to inform us about what you’re reading and point out what you think is
interesting and relevant to the interests of the class.
Short writings (10%)
Over the course of the term there will be a number of short writings assigned in class. These too
should be entered on our Google Site for others in the class to read.
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Final project (50%)
Your work throughout the course will build to this final project: an opportunity to pick an issue that
you face as a writing teacher and create an action plan surrounding it to help change the minds of
some identified public(s) on that issue. We’ll move through this project in stages with progress
reports due along the way. Your final work should be collected in a portfolio that includes the
following parts:
1. The issue that you are facing as a writing teacher. The first part is to identify an issue that
impacts you directly in your own context. It might be something about testing writing or
teaching writing in a time of CCSS or why you think narrative writing is important or . . . . You
get to pick!
2. Background information on the issue. This is the part of your project where you can learn in
depth about the issue, thinking about your own circumstances and reading widely in books and
journals about what others in the field are saying about it. Think of this in two parts: (a) What is
the immediate context for your issue? (i.e., how does it impact you and your work?) (b) What
have other scholars and teachers written about this problem?
3. Your action plan to address this issue. Using the approaches we will study this semester, think
about what you can do to make a difference about this issue. Who would you like to understand
the issue more clearly? Who can help make change happen? What do you want these potential
change agents to understand? What can you do to help them understand? For this section you
should include both an overview of your action plan and actual examples of what public
writing/speaking you might produce (a blog with sample entries, testimony you’ll give at a
school board meeting, letter to your principal, a video on YouTube, a handout you’ll give to
parents, etc.) Because this is an action plan, you should have multiple (at least 3) written
documents. (And we’ll talk more about this as the course progresses!)
4. Oral presentation to the class. The oral presentation should be about 15 minutes in length and
should help the class understand more clearly
-­‐
The issue you have identified and explored;
-­‐
How that issue fits into broader questions we’ve explored this term;
-­‐
The overall campaign you have designed;and
-­‐
The genres of public writing/speaking you have selected and why you selected these
particular genres.
Final Reflection on the course and your process (15%) Here, you should address what you have
learned about public policy, writing instruction, and public writing as a result of your work in this
course. You should include discussion of specific course discussions, readings, and/or activities that
have been important to this unfolding understanding.
Participation (10%) As you might imagine, participation in this course is extremely important.
Participation is here defined as presence of mind, body, and spirit for class discussions and activities.
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Course Policies and Expectations This is a graduate level seminar course. As such, it comes with certain expectations. You should
come to class each week having read the assigned works closely and carefully—with pen or pencil in
hand in order to raise pertinent questions, points of disagreement, moments of clarity and insight.
You should be willing and able to talk articulately about those questions, disagreements, and insights
with your peers—and be willing to adapt your understandings based in those discussions. You
should work hard at your writing (there is some writing due almost every week) as a way to clarify
your thoughts—and be willing to share that writing with your colleagues in the seminar.
This kind of collegial, collaborative class requires that you be present each week—in body and
mind. If you miss more than one class, it will affect your grade adversely; if you miss more
than two, you should withdraw from the class since your grade will not be satisfactory. This
reflects English department policy.
The university has a number of policies surrounding such items as academic honesty, appropriate
classroom behavior, and students with disabilities. If you would like a copy of these policies, please
ask me and I can provide it to you. For our purposes, let me review a couple of items:
•
Plagiarism is never tolerated. Failure to appropriately cite sources or to claim someone else’s
ideas as your own can lead to failure in the course. If you are confused about how to cite a
source, please come in and talk with me.
•
No ringing cell phones, no walking out of class midway through to get a cigarette or for a
bathroom break (I’ll provide a break—I promise!), no coming in late to class on a regular
basis. We need to provide an atmosphere of collegiality and learning here—and those
behaviors are disruptive to the class.
•
Due dates are included in the course schedule. Please abide by due dates so that we all can
keep on track. If you contact me before missing a deadline, I will try to accommodate you; if
not, late work will not be accepted.
Finally. . . Whenever I teach a graduate seminar, I come away with new knowledge and new ways of thinking.
Thanks for the opportunity to think together!
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Bibliography Books and Articles Adler-Kassner, Linda. The Activist WPA: Changing Stories about Writing and Writers. Logan,
Utah: Utah State Press, 2008.
Bomer, Randy and Beth Maloch. “Relating Policy to Research and Practice: The Common Core
Standards,” Language Arts 89 (September 2011): 38-43.
Bruner, Jerome. Actual Minds/Possible Worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard U Press, 1986.
Fleischer, Cathy. Teachers Organizing for Change: Making Literacy Everybody’s Business.
Urbana, IL: NCTE
Ganz, Marshall. “The Power of Story in Social Movements.” American Sociological
Association Meeting, August 2001.
Hall, Cassie and Scott L. Thomas. “’Advocacy Philanthropy’ and the Public Policy Agenda:
The Role of Modern Foundations in American Higher Education.” American
Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, April 2012.
Hesse, Doug. “Who Speaks for Writing? Expertise, Ownership, and Stewardship.” In Who
Speaks for Writing: Stewardship in Writing Studies in the 21st Century, eds Jennifer Rich
and Ethna D. Lay. New York: Peter Lang, 2012.
Kirkland, David. “Listening to Echoes: Teaching Young Black Men Literacy and the Distraction
of ELA Standards,” Language Arts 88 (May 2011): 373-380.
Schniedewind, Nancy and Mara Sapon-Shevin,eds. Educational Courage: Resisting the
Ambush on Public Education. Boston: Beacon Press, 2012
Sheils, Merrill. “Why Johnny Can’t Write,” Newsweek Magazine, December 8, 1975.
Smith, Catherine. Writing Public Policy: A Practical Guide to Communicating in the PolicyMaking Process. New York: Oxford U Press, 2005.
Tyre, Peg. “The Writing Revolution,” The Atlantic.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/10/the-writing-revolution/309090.
Retrieved 1 February 2013.
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Websites and Blogs -­‐
Not Waiting for Superman http://www.notwaitingforsuperman.org/
-­‐
Rethinking Schools http://rethinkingschoolsblog.wordpress.com/
-­‐
Teachers Speak Up http://teachersspeakup.com/
-­‐
The Answer Sheet http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/
-­‐
Diane Ravitch’s blog http://dianeravitch.net/
-­‐
Bridging Differences http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/
-­‐
Ann Arbor School Musings: http://a2schoolsmuse.blogspot.com/2012/01/three-years.html
-­‐
Susan O’Hanian’s website: http://www.susanohanian.org/
-­‐
Confessions of a community college dean: http://suburbdad.blogspot.com/
-­‐
College Ready Writing at Inside Higher Ed: http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/collegeready-writing
-­‐
Minor Details at Inside Higher Ed: http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/minor-details
-­‐
Inside Higher Education: insidehighereducation.com
-­‐
Education Week: www.edweek.org
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