RWS 609
Richard Boyd
X44599
Boyd4@mail.sdsu.edu
Fall 2012
AH 3169
Hrs: T: 2-4; W: 3-4
REQUIRED TEXTS:
All of our readings will be available either on-line (through the SDSU library or links provided
on Blackboard) or as handouts provided by the instructor; these texts will be indicated in the
schedule of readings.
SCHEDULE:
Week 1: Introductory Matters
Week 2: What Does It Mean to Teach Writing?
Finkel, “Teaching with Your Mouth Shut,” (handout provided by instructor)
Young, “When Teaching Restrains Discovery,” (available on Blackboard)
Elbow, “A Method for Teaching Writing,” College English 30.2 (1968)
Faigley, “Competing Theories of Process: A Critique and a Proposal,” College English 48.6
(1986)
Week 3: The Writing Process
Murray, “Teach Writing as a Process not a Product” (available on Blackboard)
Dartmouth Writing Program, “Teaching the Writing Process,” (available on Blackboard)
Sommers, “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers,” College
Composition and Communication 31.4 (1980)
Week 4: Assignment Design; Responding to Student Writing (part one)
Word Works, “Number 80: Designing Assignments,” (available on Blackboard)
Wallace, “Syllabus,” (available on Blackboard)
Roiphe, “The Extraordinary Syllabus of David Foster Wallace,” (available on Blackboard)
Frus, “Pedagogical Theory and Practice: Responding to Student Writing,” (available on
Blackboard)
Dartmouth Writing Program, “Diagnosing and Responding to Student Writing,” (available on
Blackboard)
Week 5: Responding to Student Writing (part two)
Sommers, “Responding to Student Writing,” College Composition and Communication 33.2
(1982)
Harvard Writing Project, “Responding to Student Writing,” (available on Blackboard)
Tobin, “Tensions in the Writing Conference: Two Case Studies,” (handout from instructor)
Week 6: The Challenge of Error
Shaughnessy, from Errors and Expectations (handout from instructor)
Williams, “The Phenomenology of Error,” College Composition and Communication 32.2
(1981).
Hartwell, “Grammar, Grammars, and the Teaching of Grammar,” College English 47.2 (1985)
Haswell, “Minimal Marking,” College English 45.6 (1983)
Week 7: Grades and Assessment
Elbow, “Grading Student Writing: Making It Simpler, Fairer, Clearer” (available on Blackboard)
Yancey, “Looking Back as We Look Forward: Historicizing Writing Assessment,” College
Composition and Communication 50.3 (1999)
Kain, “The Finland Phenomenon: Inside the World’s Most Surprising Schools,” (available on
Blackboard)
Week 8: Teaching Argument
Dartmouth Writing Program, “Teaching Argument;” (available on Blackboard)
Wheeler, “Toulmin Model,” (available on Blackboard)
Stygall, “Toulmin and the Ethics of Argument: Teaching Writing and Argument,” (available on
Blackboard)
Lamb, “Beyond Argument in Feminist Composition,” College Composition and Communication
42.1 (1991)
Week 9: Collaborative Learning and Group Work
DUE: Response to Student Writing Project
Dartmouth Writing Program, “Collaborative Learning/Learning with Peers,” (available on
Blackboard)
Rollinson, “Using Peer Feedback in the ESL Writing Class,” ELT Journal 59.1 (2005)
Sullivan, “Making Group Work Count,” (handout from instructor)
Hall, “Politics of Peer Response,” (available on Blackboard)
Week 10: Working with Second Language Writers
Zamel, “Responding to Student Writing,” TESOL Quarterly 19.1 (1985)
Harris and Silva, “Tutoring ESL Students: Issues and Options,” College Composition and
Communication 44.4 (1993)
Ellis, “Current Issues in the Teaching of Grammar: An SLA Perspective,” TESOL Quarterly 40.1
(2006)
Johns, “Coherence and Academic Writing: Some Definitions and Suggestions for Teaching,”
TESOL Quarterly 20.2 (1986)
Week 11: Teaching Reading in a Writing Class
Scholes, “The Transition to College Reading,” Pedagogy 2.2 (2002)
Elbow, “The War Between Reading and Writing, and How to End It,” Rhetoric Review 12.1
(1993)
Rowlands, “Reading Rhetorically, Writing Rhetorically,” (available on Blackboard)
Fife, “Using Facebook to Teach Rhetorical Analysis,” Pedagogy 10.3 (2010)
Week 12: Constructing a Teacherly Persona
Pena, “Moving to the Front of the Classroom: English Graduate Students as Composition
Instructors,” (available on Blackboard)
Farber, “Teaching and Presence,” Pedagogy 8.2 (2008)
Dean, “Multicultural Classrooms, Monocultural Teachers,” College Composition and
Communication 40. 1 (1989)
Week 13: Thanksgiving Holiday (no class)
Week 14: Issues of Classroom Authority
Tompkins, “Pedagogy of the Distressed,” College English 52.6 (1990)
Graf, “A Pedagogy of Counterauthority, or the Bully/Wimp Syndrome,” (handout from
instructor)
Bizzell, “Classroom Authority and Critical Pedagogy,” American Literary History 3.4 (1991)
Week 15: Teaching Writing in a Digital Age
Rosenberger, “Siri, Take This Down: Will Voice Control Change Our Writing?” (link available
on Blackboard)
Yancey, “Made Not Only in Words: Composition in a New Key,” College Composition and
Communication 56.2 (2004)
George, “From Analysis to Design: Visual Communication in the Teaching of Writing,” College
Composition and Communication 54.1 (2002)
Final: TBA
Graded Assignments:
 Responding to Student Writing (3-5 pages)
 Weekly Response Journals (2-3 pages)
 Seminar Paper (10-15 pages) OR Final Examination
Weekly Response Journals:
Each Thursday, students will submit a two to three page response to the week’s readings.
This response is intended to be a “conversation” with one or more of the readings, rather
than a summary of the content of those essays. All journals must be turned in within one
week of their due date in order to receive full credit. The responses will be scored on a
three-point scale, with points tabulated at the conclusion of the semester in the following
manner (13 total journals):
39-34 total points = A
33-29 total points = A28-25 total points = B+
24-21 total points = B
20-18 total points = BBelow 18 total points=Let’s not even go there!
Evaluation:
Responding to Student Writing Essay:
Weekly Response Journal:
Seminar Paper/Final Examination:
Contributions to Seminar:
20%
30%
40%
10%
Learning Outcomes:
To respond in writing to historical and current issues in composition research and pedagogy.
To respond in writing to student compositions in light of current research.
To evaluate student learning outcomes related to composition instruction.
To analyze composition textbooks and assignments in light of current research.
To explore and write about pedagogical issues through articles published in current journals in the field.