Writing at UMM
Understanding Writing: Theories and Practices
Download the application form for Understanding Writing.
Note: Application review will begin on Friday, March 28 in order to distribute permission numbers for registration as early as possible. Applications received later are still considered, but those received before March 28 will have priority. If you have questions, email me.
Understanding Writing is an introduction to composition studies, a subfield of English that focuses not on literature but on the process of writing, with emphasis on how we can best learn and teach writing. The course also prepares students to work in UMM's Writing Room.
Who should take Understanding Writing?
The class is intended for serious writers in any discipline, and may be especially useful for students considering graduate study; I strongly encourage applications not only from English and education majors but from students in other majors as well.
The course is most appropriate for juniors and seniors. Current first-year students are welcome to apply for fall of their sophomore year, but should keep in mind that Understanding Writing is a demanding course that assumes prior writing experience and/or demonstrable interest in writing, tutoring, or teaching; it is aimed at students with wider writing experience than most sophomores have.
Why is there an application for this class?
I require an application for three reasons:
- to ensure that everyone registering for the class will be in a position to do well in it;
- to identify students who have limited academic writing experience and/or whose writing skills are still developing, but whose maturity and intellectual abilities suggest that they are ready to benefit from this class;
- to assess applicants' readiness to begin work at the Writing Room.
What's the best way to prepare for this class or for working in the Writing Room?
I look for people who:
- have taken plenty of classes outside their major;
- have experience writing outside as well as within their majors;
- get feedback on drafts from their professors;
- get feedback on drafts from the Writing Room;
- work on papers with peers, either in class or informally outside of class;
- engage fully in class discussions;
- listen carefully as well as speak thoughtfully;
- are motivated, independent, articulate, personable, and diplomatic.
There are many different ways to approach writing and to be an effective peer writing tutor, and I keep those differences in mind as I review applications; I like class members to have a mix of strengths and experiences, because that makes our conversations more interesting.
Working in the Writing Room
Students who are ready to begin work in the Writing Room concurrently with Understanding Writing will co-enroll in a one-credit practicum (IS 3720), which will cover a two-hour Writing Room shift along with regular staff meetings. (In subsequent semesters, work in the Writing Room is compensated at standard campus rates.) Although it is possible to enroll in Understanding Writing without working in the Writing Room, it's my hope that most people applying for the course will be willing to work in the Writing Room.
Course Description for Understanding Writing
This class pairs intellectual inquiry into the nature of writing and learning with examinations of practical strategies for teaching and tutoring writing. Readings will introduce theories and practices of writing and teaching; discussions and writing assignments will allow us to further explore the issues raised by the readings: producing and revising drafts, assessing audience, constructing sentences and paragraphs, responding to student writing, and tutoring fellow writers. Among the questions we'll be considering:
- How is knowledge created in the classroom?
- How do writers learn to write?
- How is writing taught in school? Why is it taught that way?
- How is writing influenced by a writer's social, cultural, and educational backgrounds?
- How do race, class, and gender inform writing and the teaching or tutoring of writing?
- How is writing shaped by disciplinary conventions? What are the areas of difference and overlap among those conventions?
Our investigation of these issues should help you not only to assist others with their writing but to become more aware of your own writing processes and to develop and grow as writers yourselves.
Writing Assignments
Students in Understanding Writing will keep a required weekly journal in which you reflect on and analyze the week's readings (or, if applicable, your experiences in the Writing Room). These journal entries can be informal in style, but should still be thoughtful and substantive; they will provide the jumping-off points for most of our discussions.
There will be two short papers. The first (4-5 pages) is a literacy autobiography in which you will explore your history as a writer and your relationship to writing. The second (3-4 pages) will be a reflection paper in which you articulate your own philosophies of writing, learning, or teaching.
You will also complete a research project (10-15 pages) exploring an issue related to writing or teaching/tutoring writing. The project may be either theoretical or practical; it may be a traditional academic research paper, a comparative analysis of selected readings, a manifesto, a handbook for future Writing Room staff. You may choose to work individually or to collaborate with other members of the class. Whatever approach you choose, you'll support the project with information gained from primary and/or secondary research. The process for this paper will include a proposal and an annotated bibliography, a draft to be discussed by a small group of your peers, a class presentation based on your research in progress, and a final revised version of the paper to be submitted near the end of the semester.
Required Texts
Cross-Talk in Comp Theory, 2nd ed. (ed Victor Villanueva)
Working With Student Writers (ed. Leonard & Joanne Podis)
St. Martin's Sourcebook for Writing Tutors, 3rd ed. (ed. Christina Murphy and Steve Sherwood)
We will also read some articles from journals in the field, available online through Briggs Library.
Syllabus
I have not yet finalized the new version of the syllabus for this course, but you can take a look at last year's syllabus to get a more detailed sense of topics and readings.
last updated: Saturday, 29-Mar-2008 12:14:08 CDT