Composition 105 Reflection
In Fall 2010, I taught a specific FYS section of Composition 105: Social Constructions of
Gender. I extended this theme to include race and sexuality. Students composed four formal
essays, and one in-class essay:
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Essay 1 – descriptive narrative;1
Essay 2 – comparative film analysis;
Essay 3 – informative essay on the social construction of gender;
Essay 4 – persuasive position paper (written in conjunction with a collaborative
multimedia project);
In-Class Essay – critical thinking paper that applied our class discussion of the social
construction of gender to a particular gendered issue in Afghanistan.
Approximately one month was spent developing each essay. For each, the process included
reading and discussing texts (including films); brainstorming and developing essay topics
(including Ctools Discussion Board and Wiki posts); formulating thesis statements; composing
essay drafts and engaging in peer review activities; and submitting a final draft.
I have included the Learning Outcomes2 for COMP 105, and my explanation of how I achieved
these outcomes.
Effectively revise writing and give useful feedback in response to the writing of
others, including (though not limited to) feedback on grammar
For every essay, students engage in a peer review activity the day the first draft is due.
Generally, students work in groups of three and closely read and comment on each other’s papers
based on a document with specific guidelines. When students submit their final drafts, they
include this peer review document so that I can assess peer comments. I assign points for these
peer review sessions, and in order to receive the full amount of points, students must provide
thoughtful peer advice in the form of written comments.
Recognize a range of academic and nonacademic genres and conventions and use
important academic conventions in writing
Our textbook Rereading America included several selections from both academic and
nonacademic genres. I also supplemented the semester with texts from both genres. Academic
writing conventions were stressed and practiced for each project. We began the semester with
readings from a nonacademic genre: the personal narrative. Students then wrote their own
version of a narrative to practice description and narration while maintaining a focused [implied]
thesis (included in materials). This was also a practice in developing ethos. Their next
assignment was a comparative film analysis. We viewed the film American Beauty and
discussed the film genre. I assigned sample film reviews from The New York Times and Salon,
and an academic article published in Perspectives on Political Science which analyzed three
films to support the author’s theory about the American Dream. This article gave students
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See COMP 105: Project 1 Prompt and Reflection.
I integrated the COMP 105 Learning Outcomes with my COMP 110 sequence.
insight into how to “academically” write about a nonacademic genre. Our next unit focused
heavily on the social construction of gender, and we read several articles on gender, ranging
from sociological studies on gender construction to a New York Times feature article on a
gendered issue in Afghanistan. Here are sample criteria for how I addressed academic
conventions for the project on gender (included in the essay prompt):
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Thoughtfully inform your audience on the social construction of gender
Propose an effective thesis
Analyze this thesis by providing claims and detailed evidence from at least two course texts and
your cultural object
Effectively cite from course texts using appropriate signal phrases and parenthetical citations;
Use an effective structure that carefully guides the reader from one idea to the next;
Be thoroughly edited so that sentences are readable and appropriate for an academic paper.
The semester ended with a research oriented position paper paired with a collaborative
multimedia project. For the final essay, we heavily discussed credible versus non-credible
research. One particular lesson addressed evaluating web sources so that students could
responsibly identify differences between scholarly and non-scholarly sources.
Demonstrate knowledge of important rhetorical concepts such as audience, purpose
and context, and apply these to the writing process
I define these rhetorical concepts the first week of class, and refer to them often over the
semester. The students’ first assignment is to perform a rhetorical analysis of a visual
(advertisement, public service announcement, piece of photo journalism, etc.)
Understand that rhetorical concepts operate in other academic disciplines
This outcome was implicit in the pairing of my Comp 105 course with a psychology course on
gender. The rhetorical concepts we discussed were directly applied to their texts assigned in the
psychology course. Our course readings also crossed academic genres – sociology, political
science, literature, and film. We also spent time discussing the idea that writing, in itself, is a
process and skill with immense interdisciplinary value (i.e. “the critical thinking and rhetorical
skills learned in this course will apply to every aspect of your academic and professional lives”).
Read critically a range of texts
I used the textbook Rereading America and supplemented it with other readings and visual texts
(including films). We started the semester reading personal narratives. The second project
centered on the theme of popular culture; we read two articles that addressed how pop culture
serves as a societal critique, and viewed the film American Beauty which I paired with a chapter
from Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. For the third unit we read theoretical and expository
texts that explored social constructs of gender, and viewed a documentary on hip-hop culture.
Students engaged in research for their final position paper which required them to read a variety
of outside sources. To encourage critical reading skills, I assigned reading responses and
discussion groups. A large portion of class time is spent discussing and analyzing texts.
Begin to go beyond an either/or debate on an issue or topic to a more complex
rendering of perspectives
I stress the “complex rendering of perspectives” and often assert that issues can never be
rendered solely as two-sided. Further, I assign texts that present multiple viewpoints. Further,
the final project provides students with the opportunity to visually present multiple viewpoints of
an issue, both in their essays and in their collaborative digital video.
Control voice, tone, style and other aspects of writing
I encourage students to develop their own voice. I also stress an understanding of audience and
clarify a particular targeted audience for each essay. I also address tone and make explicit
connections between tone and ethos.