This course in Advanced Composition will engage you in some of the pedagogical, theoretical, and political dynamics of teaching writing in elementary, middle, and secondary schools, and colleges as well as offer instruction in sound writing principles in your own work.  

 

Over the course, you will learn about effective teaching practices and the building of curriculum—an effective and inclusive pedagogy for teaching writing (and other subjects) in the classroom.  To this end, the major course assignments require you to read and respond to materials in the writing classroom, and build a final project that allows you to take the ideas in the course materials and use them to create a unit in your own classroom.  By the end of the course, I hope you will all not only delve into the reading and writing classroom but come to know yourselves better as writers and future teachers of our students.

 

It is my hope that you will glean knowledge about writing, and reading practices that include:  scaffolding assignments; looking at what works and doesn’t work so well in the writing classroom; how students relate to reading and writing, and that these aspects will be able to translate to any writing classroom from elementary school to college. 

 

I have, myself, fumbled over the years to find ways to make the writing classroom experience work for my students.  You will have the opportunity to consider some of my successes and my many failures in hopes that you will be able to create your own successful classrooms.