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A Sequence of Assignments from English 491R: Writing and the Teaching of Writing

Anne Herrington, Fall 2004

1. Personal/Cultural Literacy Collage

The purpose of this first writing is for you to reflect on your literacy practices:  yourself as a writer and reader --for example, experiences, likes, strengths—and the literacy practices of formative groups and institutions (e.g., family, school, church).  I hope that the process of composing this collection will further your own self-awareness.  The final collages as a group should give readers a further understanding of literacy values and practices, as they reflect our uniqueness, our interactions with specific people, our social/cultural backgrounds.

A Collage?  Think of it as a multi-genre piece.  Like an essay, it will have some overall unity of intention: the overall picture you want to convey about yourself as a literate individual and as also shaped by certain social/cultural contexts.  Unlike an essay, you will select bits from various genres and order them as you wish to create an overall effect that has some underlying unity, but also some variation and texture. 

I'm asking you to use this form to encourage you to view your literacy from multiple perspectives, instead of a single one.   It's also both a creative and disciplined form that invites you to experiment and think about how you want to shape a text to create some overall effect. 

In composing this collage, I'd like you to begin by drafting lots of exploratory bits that together will constitute your "first draft” material.  Think of this exploratory writing as brain-storming writing where you're aiming to try out lots of ways of thinking about your literacy.  The more you generate, the more ideas you'll have and the more material you'll have to work with.  Then, once you have a good bit of exploratory writing, select from that some bits that you think you'd like to use in the collage: revise those and start playing with how to order them.  At this point you may decide to go back to some other bits, omit a few, generate a few others.   I'll also structure time in class for you to consult with one another.

I realize that a comprehensive literacy profile for any one of us could fill a book, so you will need to be selective.  What you want to foreground is your choice.  My only stipulations are that 1) it should fulfill the overall purpose of the assignment; 2) it should not be just a single, long memory, nor a single genre; 3) one of the segments should provide an ethnographic perspective; and 4) it should be consciously crafted and well edited. 

Process and Schedule:
September 16: Exploratory Draft due.  In addition to the literacy memories you’ve already drafted, generate at least 3 more pages.  Also read the Villanueva excerpt (as explained below).

September 21: Mid-Process Draft due for peer review.  For this draft, make selections from your exploratory draft material, add to them as you feel you need to, order your selections, and begin to craft them.

September 23: Final Draft due to submit to me.  I’ll compile these in a class publication that I'll distribute on Sept. 28 and we'll discuss on Sept. 30.

You’ve already gotten a start on the exploratory draft with the writing on becoming literate.  We’ll do some more today using some, but not all of these prompts: (Feel free to try out the others on your own as you work on the exploratory draft.)

1.     Instant definitions of literacy.
2.     Memories/scenes of writing and reading experiences: begin by listing, then selecting from the list and moving in to compose a close-up scene of the memory.  Go back to another item on the list and do the same.
3.    Self-portrait: Close your eyes and imagine yourself in a particular place writing, a place where you often do/have done your writing or where you particularly like to write.  Imagine that place and what's around you.  Describe your surroundings.  Now, come in for a close-up of yourself.
4.    Tell a couple truths and a couple of lies about yourself as a writer, as a reader, as a language user.
5.    Rules you learned in school.  Compose a list of them.
6.     Dialogue: Think of someone who has a different opinion than you about you as a writer, reader, or "literate" person.  Have a conversation with that person.  It might begin with you saying, “I know you think that. . . “
7.     Transform one of your literacy memories from a first person account into a third person ethnographic account in the manner of Fishman. 

Villanueva: 
Read the Villanueva excerpt from Bootstraps: From an American Academic of Color, a personal memoir of his educational experiences, focusing a good deal on his literacy experiences.  I'm assuming that for some, it will prompt other literacy memories that you might want to include in your exploratory writing.  If so, do that writing.  Otherwise, just do some informal writing to think about implications of this passage for teaching; also about the differences/similarities between this first person memoir recollection and Fishman’s ethnographic perspective. 

PRELIMARY:  Due for September 14, the day I introduced the literacy collage: 

Fishman is a cultural anthropologist.  As an anthropologist, she is interested in social/cultural values, beliefs, and practices.   After reading Fishman, do some informal writing addressing the following.  This writing will become part of the exploratory writing for the Personal/Cultural Literacy Collage.  

1.  How does Fishman define literacy? Look back at your own initial definition: does hers reinforce or change or even challenge your own? 

2.  Recall and write some about your own process of becoming literate.  To prompt your memory, make a list of activities and scenes that stand out to you.  Begin with your earliest memories.  Consider home, school, and any other institution that you believe contributed to your particular literacy development.  Then, select ones that are particularly salient, for whatever reason, and write some more about each. 

POST:  Following the submission of the individual final drafts: 

Assignment for the Collage Publication
Read and enjoy.
Write a written response as follows: 
     What stands out to you in these collages?  What do you like and/or find striking?
     All but one of you attended U.S. public schools.  From these collages, what do you infer are dominant literacy values and practices in these schools? 

In-Class Discussion of the Collage Publication
We began with everyone reading a short segment from their collages, reading around in turn, just to hear their voices, enjoy, and make the collages more present for the discussion. 

Then we discussed what we liked and found striking. 
Then dominant literacy values and practices, as inferred from the collages. 

Then in groups of four, I asked them to identify implications for teaching.  Those were reported out and I then typed them out and distributed them the next class. 

2. Open Choice Writing Collection

Objectives:

Here are the details.  I present them to serve as guides as you work on the project and as basic criteria for evaluation.  I've developed them to try to encourage you to experiment and also write on things that interest and matter to you and in ways that you want.

Process: expectations and criteria for evaluation  (50 %)
From startto finish: experiment, generate text, reflect, and revise, and reflect some more on your process throughout.  DO NOT USE ANYTHING YOU’VE WRITTEN FOR ANOTHER PURPOSE. 

Write a minimum of 3 rough draft pages by Oct. 7.  Compose an additional 2 to 3 draft pages for Oct. 8, for a total of 5 to 6 rough draft pages.  They should include at least three different genres.  The more you generate and experiment with initially, the more you’ll have to select from to revise and craft. 

Select from the rough draft pages and revise two to three selections to mid-process point.  If it works better for you, you might revise at least one to mid-process point for peer feedback in class on Oct. 14 and then do the other revising for feedback soon after on your own time.

Actually revise, that is, make some changes--particularly in going from rough to mid-process pages, even if it means you experiment with a new tack that you ultimately do not follow.  You can always go back to the previous draft if you don't like the effect of the new version.  Use the early revisions as a chance to re-see and experiment.

Keep a process log throughout.  In it, record when you work on something for this assignment, what you were doing, and how you assess it/feel about it/what choices and decisions you made.  Use the log both to trace your process and talk with yourself throughout it.  Once you’ve finished your collection for Oct. 21, complete a thoughtful process letter in which you a) highlight key points and decisions as you worked from beginning to end; b) comment on anything that's salient about you as a writer, and c) comment on what you were trying to accomplish with each selection that you chose to revise to a final draft.

Final "Collection": expectations and criteria for evaluation (50%)
Include at least two selections in at least two genres, using that term loosely: at least one is to be non-fiction of some sort.  By saying "at least," I am not implying that more than two is better, just that more than one is expected.  I am also not assuming that these selections will be related in anyway.  That is, this is not expected to be a collage of related selections that constitute a whole, just two or three pieces of writing. 
Be the equivalent of 3 to a maximum of 4 single spaced pages long.
Be free of grammatical, spelling, and typographical errors.
Be well written according to criteria appropriate to the genre. 


3. Inquiry Project: Exploring a question or issue related to writing, teaching writing, or literacy

For this project, I ask you to explore a question or issue of interest to you and compose a text that has some purpose for teachers or prospective teachers who have as much knowledge as you and your colleagues in this class.   By explore, I mean find out more about something that you genuinely want to know more about and to develop your thinking about this question: that is, as you do the research and think about it, to make your own sense of it.  Then, compose a text that is shaped by your thinking and achieves a purpose you want to accomplish.  For example, that purpose might be to help readers better understand a given concept by sorting out different ways of conceptualizing it or to help readers better understand different approaches to teaching something--in either case, you’d focus on differences that have some significance.  You might want to examine an issue, again to understand it better and/or to persuade us of the nature of an issue.  You might want to develop an argument for a certain position or pedagogical approach.  We’ll talk about more specific possibilities as you proceed.  Right now, your focus should be on deciding what you want to spend some time investigating and thinking about. 

More specific purposes for doing the project:

Some More Specific Guidelines (If you wish to propose some change given the nature of your project, see me.  I’m open to adjustments.  Honest.)

Since the aim is for you to extend your knowledge, I want you to do some research and use it.  Your final text should use at least 7 to 8 good sources, at least 5 of these should be other than course readings and should be article or book-length works.  It’s fine to draw on other sources as well, e.g., web-based sources, surveys, and, with permission from those interviewed, interviews.  (If you wish to interview, see me about obtaining informed consent.) In addition to these sources, it’s also fine to include your own experience and/or observations. 

The final text should also use MLA conventions for in-text citations and the Works Cited page. 

Scope of the final text?  To give you a general idea, here’s a suggested length:  12 to 15 double-spaced pages.  If you do the project collaboratively, I assume your final text would be on the longer side of that range. 

What should the final text look like?  What kind of genre?  It could be an essay written for a professional journal such as English Journal, guided by a purpose such as I’ve suggested above.  Within this broad frame, there is still room for choice.  It could also be a stand-alone resource guide for teachers with an overview essay on a given topic and an annotated bibliography of key sources that readers might want to consult.  It may be done collaboratively.

How to come up with a topic or question to focus on?  You might start with something related to yourself as a writer. You might also start with a question about literacy.  Or a question about a particular teaching approach or issue for teaching.  Or a concept of writing. Your Personal Literacy Collage, Open Choice Collection, process letters, and reading log might prompt ideas.  You might also look ahead to other course readings for ideas. 

Try to come up with more than one possibility so you have some options if one turns out to be a dead-end or not so feasible.  You might want to begin with something you already have a little knowledge about but about which you want to extend your understanding or pursue a related question.  Don’t select something about which you’re already set in your views and don’t really feel you need or want to find out more. 

My role throughout this project is to organize the project to keep you working on it, assessing where you are, and moving forward; introduce possible sources; help you navigate the library; and, in general, assist each of you in response to your questions or requests of me.

Key Due Dates: 
Tuesday, Oct. 26: “I” Search. 
Tuesday, Nov. 2: Proposal for Inquiry Project
Tuesday, Nov. 16: Progress Report
Tuesday, Dec. 7: Full Draft due, for in-class peer review. 
Tuesday, Nov. 30, Thursday, Dec. 2, and Thursday, Dec. 9: In-class presentations on something related to your research. 
Wednesday, Dec. 15: Final Draft with all previous work due to me by 3:00 p.m.

Details Regarding the Process:
*”I” Search:  approx. 1 to 2 pages, typed or neatly hand-written.  What’s one possible question or issue you’re thinking of pursuing, what do you already know about it, and what do you still want to know? If you’re not sure what you want to pursue, then try doing this for two possible questions or issues as a way to try out possibilities.  I encourage you to write speculatively: e.g., I might want to focus on . . . I’m interested in it because. . . Some things I know. . . . I wonder about . . . . ).  In short, informal, but still with thought and care put into it. 

*Proposal: approx.  2 pages.  Typed.  Now, focus in on a specific project.  The purpose of the proposal is two-fold: to move forward with your thinking and planning and get formative feedback from others, including myself.  Here's what I'd like you to include:
1)      What's the topic or general area that you're interested in researching? Identify at least one or two possible focusing questions or angles.
2) Why are you interested in it?  In other words, what’s the source of your interest?
3) Briefly, what do you already know or have hunches about?
4) What sources do you already know about?  Where might you look or go to research the topic?
5) Questions of me and others? (You might have already alluded to these in the previous sections.
Address these questions in whatever order and combination works best for you.  You need not note them by number unless you wish to do so.  Again, I encourage you to write speculatively (e.g., I think I want to... One possible source might be ... but I'm not sure about ... I've been wondering why ... or how... ) and in ways that invite feedback (e.g., Do you think x is too broad a topic?  I was thinking I might. . . but I wonder if...   ).  In encouraging you to write speculatively, I am not implying that this proposal can be done hastily: put serious thought into it and use it to begin to shape and plan your project.  Some initial brain-storming writing may help. 

Progress Report: Purpose: to take stock of where you are and what you still need to accomplish and figure out.  As with the Proposal, this report is also to serve as a basis for consulting with others, classmates and me both.  Here's what I'd like you to address in this report:

In-class Presentations:  Even if you're not working collaboratively on the inquiry project, I want you to collaborate on these presentations. (For example, folks whose projects have some commonalities may join together for the presentation.) Each group will have up to 10 minutes multiplied by the number of group members for presentation and discussion.  I want you as a group to plan how to use that time so that it is time well spent for all of us:  I do not expect each of you to summarize your full study.  Indeed, as a group, you may even decide to have us do some activity that relates to something in your research.

On the day of your presentation, each of you is to have copies for all of us of a one-page hand-out for your study, written for us as a resource: focus/guiding questions; most interesting/important findings/conclusions; key sources. (If you get it to me by 10:00 a.m. that day, I'll make the copies.)

Full Draft: This draft should be a complete, readable text that you've already worked on to the best of your ability.  That is, it won't be your first thoughts.  Still, I assume that it will be a draft: it's okay not to be completely satisfied; okay to have questions about it; okay not to have it fully edited yet.  We'll talk about how to arrange peer feedback so it can be most effective for you.  I'll also provide feedback.  If you finish it sooner and want feedback from me sooner, fine.  I’m happy to do so.  Just let me know.

How will I evaluate?  60% for the final manuscript; 40% for all preliminary work and presentation.  I’ll average the two together for the grade. 

Updated September 3, 2008

 

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