English 405 – Intro to Composition Studies Dr.

Dom Ashby
(14105; 3 credit hours) dominic.ashby@eku.edu
Eastern Kentucky University 859-622-3086
 
Fall 2018 MWF 12:20–1:10 Wallace 327
Office: Mattox 308
Student Hours: Mondays 1:30–3:00, Tuesdays & Thursdays 2:00–3:00, and By Appointment

Course Description
An introductory course surveying theories of composition and applying these theories to the instruction of
composition.
Prerequisites: ENG 102 or 105 or HON 102; ENG 301/ENG 310

Required Texts
Lindemann, Erika. A Rhetoric for Writing Teachers, 4th ed. Oxford UP, 2001. ISBN: 978-0195130454

Tate, Gary, et. al. A Guide to Composition Pedagogies, 2nd ed. Oxford UP, 2014. ISBN: 978-0199922161

Course Goals
Students will:
● Engage in activities of discovery and critical thinking about the role of the teacher of writing, the
purposes of writing in the classroom, and the relationship of Composition to English Studies.
● Explore concepts and arguments regarding the nature and process of writing.
● Expand their perspective about historical, political, and social views of literary, literacy, and
language practices—particularly regarding issues related to culture and diversity.
● Evaluate, revise, and express their perspective in writing and speaking, both in-class and online.
● Practice learning skills: formulating questions, working in partnership, note-taking, listening,
explaining.

Student Learning Outcomes for Undergraduate Courses in the Department of English

● Students will demonstrate the ability to apply criticism/theory to texts and/or to analyze texts for
rhetorical/historical/cultural contexts, literary techniques, and/or connections to other texts in/out
of class.
● Students will demonstrate the ability to compose effective, discipline-appropriate texts.
● Students will demonstrate an understanding of the characteristics of literary/rhetorical contexts,
periods, genres, theories, and trends.
● Students will demonstrate the ability to conduct research, to assess sources, to effectively
synthesize their ideas with those of others, and to correctly document that research.

English Department Student Learning Outcomes for Teacher Education

● Students will use critical and creative thinking.
● Students will communicate effectively.
● Students will analyze how diverse authors create a variety of texts within linguistic, historical and
theoretical contexts; how those texts may be critically interpreted; and how to teach students to
create and interpret texts of their own.
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Course Policies
Mutual Respect
I encourage vigorous and lively debate in this class and within our university community. However,
personal insults on an individual person’s race, class, gender, sexuality, or ability will not be tolerated.
Practice empathy and help maintain our classroom and university as a safe and inclusive place.

Email
I will post class updates and reminders to our class email list, so please check it regularly. I will only
respond to email inquiries regarding the class that come from an official EKU email account—this policy
is to protect your privacy, as I have no way of verifying that an email from another service (e.g., gmail,
yahoo, hotmail) is actually from you. I make a great effort to respond to emails in a timely manner and
generally will get back to you within 24 hours during the week (usually much sooner—I check several
times a day, but not every minute), 48 hours on weekends. If you have emailed me and not heard back
within that timeframe, do not hesitate to email again—my not replying may mean that your message was
caught in a spam folder or otherwise misdirected. (Also, make sure that you have typed my email address
correctly!)

Cell Phones, Laptops, and Handheld Devices

Students are asked to be respectful with their use of cell phones and other handheld devices during class
time. Please be kind and considerate to yourself, your classmates, and me! How would you feel if you
were making a speech or presentation and no one was paying attention to what you had to say? Please
leave all text messaging and updating for after class—you may go outside of the classroom to take a call
or text in the case of emergencies. I will ask you to put your phone away at the start of class and I expect
it to stay away for the rest of class. There will be times when you will be asked to use features of your
smartphone for a specific purpose in class, but phone use during class time is not acceptable classroom
behavior.

Student Accessibility
The University strives to make all learning experiences as accessible as possible. If you are registered
with the Center for Student Accessibility (CSA), please request your accommodation letters from the
CSA. CSA will transmit your letter to the course instructor(s). It is recommended that you discuss the
accommodations needed with your instructor(s). If you believe you need an accommodation and are not
registered with the CSA, please contact CSA by email (accessibility@eku.edu) or by telephone at (859)
622-2933. A student with a “disability” may be an individual with a physical or psychological impairment
that substantially limits one or more major life activities, to include, but not limited to: seeing, hearing,
communicating, interacting with others, learning, thinking, concentrating, sitting, standing, lifting,
performing manual tasks and working. Additionally, pregnancy accompanied by a medical condition(s),
English 405—Intro to Composition Studies Page 3

which causes a similar substantial limitation, may also be considered under the Americans with
Disabilities Amendments Act (ADAAA).

Attendance
Students are expected to attend class and actively participate in all aspects of the learning process. This
includes class discussions, written work, and in-class activities. National and local studies have shown a
direct correlation between attendance and grade performance. Therefore, attendance is mandatory.
Students who miss more than 10% of the regularly scheduled class meetings due to unexcused
absences are subject to failing the course. This means you cannot miss more than 4 sessions due to
unexcused absences. Additional absences will result in a reduction of your final course grade by 1
letter grade for each additional absence (e.g. a B becomes a C at 4 unexcused absences, a D at 5, and
an F at 6).

For the purposes of this course, "excused absences" include verifiable medical or family emergencies,
university approved activities (accompanied by a university excuse), illness (yours or a family member’s),
absences related to pregnancy, and other absences as outlined in the University’s “Student Absence from
Class” policy
(http://policies.eku.edu/sites/policies.eku.edu/files/policies/4.1.6_student_absence_adopted_12.1.14.pdf).
When requesting that an absence be excused, students should be prepared to document the reasons for the
absence. Students whose absences are not excused will not normally be allowed to make up tests, quizzes,
and/or assignments.

Students who anticipate having a high number of excused absences should contact their instructor
as soon as the situation arises so that they can make arrangements for how to handle missed class
time. Late arrival or early departures from class that are unexcused will be considered in the tabulation of
absences as well.

Academic Integrity
Students are advised that EKU’s Academic Integrity policy will strictly be enforced in this course. The
Academic Integrity policy is available at
http://studentrights.eku.edu/academic-integrity. Questions regarding the policy may be directed to the
Office of Academic Integrity.

Evaluation Methods
In this course, you will complete a number of writing assignments focusing on developing facility with
academic discourse conventions. Each major assignment will include a drafting and revision process,
during which you will receive feedback from your instructor and your peers, before you turn in a final
draft. I will also ask you to complete frequent reading-response blog posts. Your final course grade will
be determined based upon the following criteria:

To earn an A in the course, students should:

English 405—Intro to Composition Studies Page 4

● Complete at least 12 blog posts and comment regularly on peers’ posts. Posts are largely free of
typographic and grammatical errors.
● Complete all major projects, meeting the requirements for length and content, and completing
each project in the full spirit of the assignment.
● Contribute regularly and substantively to class discussions, peer review, workshops, and other in-
class activities.
● Create an ePortfolio that represents themselves and their work professionally and accessibly for
an outside audience.
● Not miss more than the allowable absences as described above in the absence policy.

To earn a B in the course, students should:

● Complete at least 10 blog posts and comment regularly on peers’ posts. Posts are largely free of
typographic and grammatical errors.
● Complete all major projects, meeting the requirements for length and content on the majority of
them.
● Contribute regularly to class discussions, peer review, workshops, and other in-class activities.
● Create an ePortfolio that represents their work in a way that is accessible to an outside audience.
● Not miss more than the allowable absences as described above in the absence policy.

To earn a C in the course, students should:

● Complete between 7 and 9 blog posts and comment occasionally on peer posts, at least 50% of
the time. Additionally, the posts might occasionally be: off topic, show only a cursory reading of
the article being commented on, or short on length.
● Complete all major projects, but might not meet all of the requirements for many of them.
● Contribute to class discussions and participate in peer review, workshops, and other in-class
activities.
● Create an ePortfolio.
● Not miss more than the allowable absences as described above in the absence policy.

To earn a D in the course, students should:

● Complete 5 or 6 blog posts and comment occasionally on peer posts; or, blog posts are regularly
off topic (not about the reading or written in a way that demonstrates the writer did not read the
article); or might regularly be below the length requirement.
● Have at least made progress on all major projects, even if not all are completed.
● Make some contributions to class discussions and other in-class activities.
● Make progress on an ePortfolio, but the ePortfolio might be incomplete or not be successful at
connecting with the purpose or audience of the project.
● Not miss more than the allowable absences as described above in the absence policy.

Students will earn an F in the course if they:

● Complete 4 or fewer blog posts and/or if blog posts are off topic or short of the length
requirements (e.g. might write 6 posts but they’re all short of the length).
● Make no progress on one or more of the major assignments (i.e. completely skip one or more
assignment).
● Don’t contribute or rarely contribute to class discussions and/or other class activities.
● Don’t make any or much progress on the ePortfolio (i.e. the ePortfolio has no or very minor
changes and is basically still just the course blog).
● Miss more than the allowable absences as described above in the absence policy.
English 405—Intro to Composition Studies Page 5

Overview of Assignments
Blog Posts and Responses
These are meant to be low-stakes writing opportunities where you can explore and practice concepts and
ideas covered in the readings and course discussions. You should complete these entries on time, respond
to the topic, write at least 300 words (for reference, this paragraph is 152 words), and employ some basic
proofreading.. In addition, I would like you to respond substantially to at least two of your peers’ posts
each week. Blog posts are due most weeks; on weeks when there are readings on multiple days, you may
respond to any of the readings—however, you must post before the class meeting we are scheduled to
discuss that reading. On the course schedule, you’ll see a column indicating which weeks a blog is due.

In your posts, consider some combination of the following questions (which you do not need to answer in
order or even separate them out; you can address other ideas in addition to or instead of these questions—
they’re just here to help you to get started):
● What is important/interesting about this reading?
● What does it bring up that you haven’t considered before?
● How does it challenge other things you’ve read or believe about writing and/or teaching?
● What is at least one thing from the reading you’ve seen used in a class or an assignment?
● What is an activity/project you could use from the reading in a class that you might teach?
● What are some key terms/concepts and/or important quotes that you want to remember form this
reading?

Literacy Narrative
I’ll ask you to write a short (~2 to 3 page) literacy narrative as an experiential project. We’ll be applying
concepts from the readings to the writing process of this essay. Once the essay is complete, we will
practice holistic grading and your classmates will evaluate the essay.

Response paper 1: The Concerns of Composition

What is writing? What does it mean to teach composition? What have been some of the
struggles/challenges/motivations/agendas driving composition pedagogy? Which do you see as being
most compelling today, and why? How will these issues shape you as a teacher of writing? This paper
should be 1200–1500 words (~4–5 pages in Times 12 font with 1-inch margins).

Audio Essay: This I Believe (about Writing)

Practice with non-alphabetic composition as well as a personal statement about your values as a
writing/literacy/language arts teacher. This may be a statement about the process of writing, the value of
writing, what writing can do, teaching writing…or something else writing-related. Ground the essay in
something personal, in your experience as a writer and learner. In addition to crafting the script of your
audio essay, also think about how you might include music, other recorded voices and sounds, or effects
to enhance your audio essay. We’ll work with the Noel Studio during this project. The final audio essay
will be about 3 to 4 minutes. While working on this project, we’ll also discuss the place of New Media in
Composition Pedagogy.

Response paper 2: Applying Best Practices

This paper will focus on the best practices of writing instruction and how to apply them in school systems
that are shaped and guided by a variety of sometimes conflicting goals and expectations. This project
should be 1500–2100 words. Choose one of the two options below, or see me to propose your own
variant:

1. How will you put your knowledge and values as a writing/literacy/language-arts specialist to
work in the classroom? What do you see as the best practices of composition pedagogy? How do
English 405—Intro to Composition Studies Page 6

these practices apply to the grade level(s) you will teach? Along with this position statement,
create an example assignment prompt or sequence that represents how you would put it in action.
Explain how your prompt or sequences fits with what you’ve identified as best practices.

2. Combine personal narrative with research from our textbooks to reflect back on your experiences
as a K–12 learner. From your perspective now as an advanced college student, what things were
more effective and what things less in regards to your growth as a learner, writer, and thinker?
Use the ideas of the authors we’ve covered in class, alongside your own experiences, to explain
what worked well and what didn’t. Use this to make an argument about effective writing
pedagogy.

ePortfolio
As we near the end of the semester, I will work with you to transition your blog and your course writings
into a more polished ePortfolio. The goal for this final project is to make your work ready to share with
others. Many job seekers use ePortfolios as a way to showcase their work to potential employers, graduate
schools, grants or scholarships donors, and other professional audiences. Whether you share this
ePortfolio with others after the class is over is up to you, but by completing this project you will develop
the skills to create a very useful tool for your future career search.
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Weekly Schedule for ENG405

Fall 2018
Schedule is subject to change. Changes will be announced in class (when possible), on Blackboard, and
via email; emergency cancellations or changes will be announced via email and Blackboard—please
check your EKU email account regularly.

You are responsible for keeping up with material covered and assignments due on any days that
you miss class.

Week Readings, assignments, and activities Blog Post?

Week 1 M—Introductions; course overview Yes (intro
8/20–8/24 blog after
W—Read Ronald on Style, PDF
Friday’s
F—Meet in Mattox 310 to set up blogs; write introductory post class)
Week 2 M–Read Lindemann, A Rhetoric for Writing Teachers (RWT) Ch. 1, 2, & 3 Yes
8/27–8/31 “Why Teach Writing?” “What is Writing?” and “What Does the Process
Involve?” (These three chapters are short—together, they come to 31
pages)
W—Read RWT Ch. 7 “Prewriting Techniques.”
Mini-lesson on finding Creative Commons images for your blog.
F—Read Sadaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day
In-Class writing: literacy moments; assign Literacy Narrative
Week 3 M—Labor Day; No class meeting Optional
9/3–9/7
W—Read RWT Ch. 9 “Teaching Paragraphing.”
F—Full Draft of Narrative due; peer review
Week 4 M—Revised Narrative due; Read RWT Ch. 14 “Responding to Student Yes
9/10–9/14 Writing.”
W—Practice grading
F—Read RWT Ch. 5 “What Do Teachers Need to Know about
Linguistics?”
Week 5 M—Read A Guide to Composition Studies (GCS), “What is Composition Yes
9/17–9/21 Pedagogy? An Introduction.”
W—Read GCS “Process”
F—GCS “Literature and Composition”
Week 6 M—Read GCS “Research Writing” Yes
9/24–9/28
W—Read GCS “Expressive”
F—Assurance of Learning Day; no class meeting
English 405—Intro to Composition Studies Page 8

Week 7 M—Read GCS “Feminist” Yes

10/1–10/5
W—Read GCS “Community Engaged.”
F—In-class writing—what might Feminist and Community Engaged
pedagogies look like in the classroom? Work with Common Core
benchmarks.
Week 8 M—Read GCS “Critical” Optional
10/8–10/12
W—Introduce Response Paper 1; in-class writing
F—Writing workshop: working with sources; integrating sources
Week 9 M—Fall Break; no class meeting Optional
10/15–10/19
W—Read RWT Ch. 10 “Teaching about Sentences”; practice sentence
combining
F—Peer review: have a full draft.
Mini-lesson on adding pages to your blog.
Week 10 M—Revised Response Paper 1 due. Introduce the audio essay project Yes
10/22–10/26 (listen to some samples). Brief overview of Audacity software. Visit
Creative Commons music sites.
W—Read Bronwyn Williams, “Tomorrow Will Not Be Like Today” (pdf)
and GCS “New Media”
F—Borsheimm, Merritt, and Reed, “Beyond Technology for Technology’s
Sake” and Jacobs’ three short essays “Rock and a Hard Place,”
“Reimagining Multiliteracies,” and “Multiliteracies Assessment” (pdf).
In class, draft assessment criteria.
Week 11 M—Watch walk-through video. Bring in draft script. Peer review scripts. Optional
10/29–11/2 Revisit assessment criteria.
W—Studio time.
F—Studio time.
Mini-lesson on embedding media into your blog.
Week 12 M—Audio Essay due. Listen to essays in class. Yes
11/5–11/9
W—Read RWT Ch. 6 “What Do Teachers Need to Know about
Cognition?”
F—Read RWT Ch. 8 “Shaping Discourse”; look at the Common Core
genres; in-class writing: how can we teach genre flexibility?
Week 13 M—Read RWT Ch. 13 “Developing Writing Assignments”. Introduce Yes
11/12–11/16 Response Paper 2
W—Working with sample writing assignments
F—Read RWT Ch. 15 “Designing Writing Courses”; Look at some sample
syllabuses
Week 14 M—Read article on ePortfolios; mini-lesson on fonts Optional
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11/19–11/23 W–Thanksgiving Break; no class meeting

F–Thanksgiving Break; no class meeting
Week 15 M—From blog to ePortfolio: revising your coursework for an external Working
11/26–11/30 audience on
ePortfolio
Mini-lesson on embedding documents (e.g. your resume or sample
assignment sheets)
W—Response Paper 2 due for peer evaluation
F—Workshop on menu design; workshop on visual rhetoric
Week 16 M—Usability testing your ePortfolio Working
12/3–12/7 on
W—Conferences
ePortfolio
F—Conferences
Finals Week The final exam period for our course is Wednesday 12/12, 1:00–3:00. Yes (final
During this time, you will showcase your portfolio in a poster session-style reflection)
setting for your classmates and some guest faculty.