English 833: Theories of Composition — Course Chapters (Spring 2023 Course Schedule)

• No Class Meeting
• No Assignments or Readings Due

Chapter 1: Should First Year Composition (FYC) be required? (1995/2020)
Jan. 23 Monday

• The Beginning of the Journey
• Class Meeting Focus: The Abolitionist Movement
• No Readings Due (all readings will be covered in class by Dr. Pagnucci)

Chapter 2: Current Traditionalism (1875)/Writing Process Theory/Expressivism (1970s)
Due Jan. 30 Monday

• “Freewriting Exercises” by Peter Elbow
  • Writing without Teachers. New York: Oxford UP, 1973. 3-11.
• “All Writing Is Autobiography” by Donald M. Murray
  • College Composition and Communication, Vol. 42, No. 1. (Feb., 1991), pp. 66-74.
• Expressivist Composition Pedagogy by Peter Anderson
• “Teach Writing as a Process Not Product” by Donald Murray
  • The Leaflet (November 1972): 11-14
• “Engfish” by Ken Macrorie
  • Uptaught. New York: Hayden Book Co, 1970. 9-18.
• “The Poison Fish” by Ken Macrorie
  • Telling Writing, 4th ed., 1985
• Class Meeting Focus: The Writing Process

Chapter 3: The Dartmouth Conference (1966)/The IUP CAL Conference (2023)
Due Feb. 6 Monday

• “A Brief History of The Dartmouth Conference” by Christiane Donahue (2015)
• “Impact of the 1966 Seminar” by Christiane Donahue (2015)
• “The Dartmouth Conference: Its Reports and Results” by Jack R. Sublette: College English, Vol. 35, No. 3 (Dec., 1973), pp. 348-357
  • Requires login via IUP account
• Class Meeting Focus: Creating a Composition Teaching Vision Statement
• If you have a Teaching Philosophy Statement, you will want access to it BUT do NOT re-read it for now because I want you to start on a vision fresh (you can review your old one after we get going on the new one)

Chapter 4: Teaching Vision Statement Peer Groups
NO CLASS Feb. 13 Monday

• Dr. Pagnucci will be returning from a conference, so there will be NO CLASS on this day
• Your Teaching Vision Statement DRAFT DUE
• Instead of meeting in class, you are to share Your Teaching Vision Statement with 2 classmates
• Read the statements and provide your classmates with some comments
• You can meet together/via zoom or simply send written feedback
• Then revise Your Teaching Vision Statement to submit to Dr. Pagnucci on Feb. 20

Chapter 5: The History of Composition Studies I (Historical Accounts; 1875)
Due Feb. 20 Monday

• Course Requirement DUE: Your Teaching Vision Statement
• “Composition at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century” by Richard Fulkerson: College Composition and Communication 56 (June 2005): 654-687.
• “Four Philosophies of Composition” by Richard Fulkerson: College Composition and Communication 30 (Dec. 1979): 343-48.
• “Contemporary Composition: The Major Pedagogical Theories” by James A. Berlin: College English 44 (Dec. 1982): 565-767.
• “British Invasion: James Britton, Composition Studies, and Anti-Disciplinarity” by Russel K. Durst: College Composition and Communication, Vol. 66, No. 3 (Feb., 2015), pp. 384-401
• Class Meeting Focus: Discuss important moments in the history of Composition Studies
  • The Harvard Composition Program (1875)
• OPTIONAL MATERIAL: The History of Composition Studies II (Historical Moments)

Chapter 6: Cognitivism (1977-1980s)
Due Feb. 27 Monday

• “Writing as a Mode of Learning” by Janet Emig: College Composition and Communication, Vol. 28, No. 2. (May, 1977), pp. 122-128.
• “The Composing Processes of Unskilled College Writers” by Sondra Perl: Research in the Teaching of English, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Dec., 1979), pp. 317-336
• “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers” by Nancy Sommers: College Composition and Communication, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Dec., 1980), pp. 378-388
• “A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing” by Linda Flower and John R. Hayes: College Composition and Communication 32.4 (Dec., 1981) pp. 365-387.
• Class Meeting Focus: Discuss models of the mental processes that writers use

Chapter 7: Literacy Stories
Mar. 6 Monday

• No Assignments or Readings are due for this class meeting
• Class Meeting Focus: Explore your early literacy experiences
• Begin writing Your Teacher Story
• Begin research for Your Theory of Teaching Article

Chapter 8: IUP Spring Break
Mar. 13-17

• No Class Meeting
• No Assignments or Readings Due

Chapter 9: Social Constructionism (1980s-1990s)
Mar. 20 Monday

• Your Teacher Story DRAFT DUE
• “Cognition, Convention, and Certainty: What We Need to Know about Writing” by Patricia Bizzell: Pre/Text: A Journal of Rhetorical Theory 3:3 (Fall 1982): 213-43.
• “Collaboration and the ‘Conversation of Mankind’” by Kenneth A. Bruffee: College English, Vol. 46, No. 7 (Nov., 1984), pp. 635-652
  • Requires login via IUP account
• “Inventing the University” by David Bartholomae: Journal of Basic Writing, Vol. 5, No. 1, 1986
• “Collaboration and Concepts of Authorship” by Lisa Ede and Andrea A. Lunsford: PMLA, Vol. 116, No. 2 (Mar., 2001), pp. 354-369
• “A Pedagogy of Mulitliteracies: Designing Social Futures” by The New London Group: Harvard Educational Review: April 1996, Vol. 66, No. 1, pp. 60-93.
• Class Meeting Focus: Engage in the “conversation of humankind”
• Peer Review of Teacher Story DRAFT

Chapter 10: Post-Process Theory (1999-2005)
Mar. 27 Monday

• Course Requirement DUE: Your Teacher Story
• “Introduction” by Thomas Kent
  • Post-Process Theory: Beyond the Writing-Process Paradigm, Thomas Kent, ed. (Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1999)
  • Available in D2L
• “Of Pre- and Post-Process: Reviews and Ruminations by Richard Fulkerson: Composition Studies, Vol. 29, No. 2, Fall 2001
• “Post Process ‘Pedagogy’: A Philosophical Exercise by Lee-Ann M. Kastman Breuch: JAC 22.1 (2002)
  • Requires login via IUP account
• “The Death of Composition as an Intellectual Discipline” by Gary A. Olson: Composition Studies, Vol. 28, No. 2, Fall 2000
• “Present-Process: The Composition of Change” by Jessica Yood
  • Journal of Basic Writing, Vol. 24, No. 2, 2005
• Pagnucci, G. S. (2023). The evolution of Daredevil’s Karen Page: From damsel-in-distress to writer-hero. In C. Cravens (Ed.), Geniuses, Addicts, and Scribbling Women: Portraits of the Writer in Popular Culture. New York: Lexington Books.
  • Available in D2L
• Class Meeting Focus: Discuss how writing is public, situated, and interpretive
  

Chapter 11: Can Composition Save the World? (2000s-TODAY)
Apr. 3 Monday

• Stanley Fish (January 23, 2003). Save the world on your own time. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
• Bizzell, Patricia. (2009). Opinion: Composition Studies Saves the World! College English 72(2).
• Williams, Deborah. How First-Year Comp Can Save the World. Inside Higher Ed, 2 Jan. 2020, https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/01/02/benefits-applying-best-aspects-composition-classes-higher-education-general-opinion. Accessed 4 July 2020.
• Five Essential Components for Social Justice Education Heather W. Hackman
• Teaching Social Justice in Theory and Practice By Caitrin Blake
• McCoy, Shane A. (Winter 2020). Writing for justice in First-Year Composition (FYC). Radical Teacher, 116, 26-36.
• Class Meeting Focus: Composition and Social Justice Theory

Chapter 12: Finding Forrester (2000)
Apr. 10 Monday

• View film Finding Forrester
• Bring a snack to share (or have popcorn for students online)
• Your Theory of Teaching DRAFT DUE
  • Your draft may be short (just a few pages) or complete (the full length), whatever suits your needs as a writer best

Chapter 13: Writing Conferences
Week of Apr. 17

• Conference with Dr. Pagnucci about Your Theory of Teaching Article First DRAFT
• Paper conferences will be held either in Dr. Pagnucci’s 506L Leonard Hall Office OR using Dr. Pagnucci’s Zoom Room:
  • Dr. Pagnucci’s Zoom Personal Meeting Link: https://iupvideo.zoom.us/my/pagnucci
  • Dr. Pagnucci’s Zoom Personal Meeting ID: 724 357 1701

Chapter 14: Your Teacher Scholar Journey
April 24 Monday

• Class Meeting Focus: The End of this Course Journey (but not the end of the journey)
• Class Celebration
• Writing a Poem for Your Future Journey

Chapter 15: Your Theory of Teaching Article
May 3 Wednesday

• Course Requirement DUE: Your Theory of Teaching Article
• Upload your Theory of Teaching Article to D2L for feedback
• No Class Meeting on May 1 or on May 3!
• I am giving you a couple extra days to work on completing your final article

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If Only We Had More Time 🙁

Comic Book Pedagogy (2019-TODAY)

• The Avengers Save Composition

Writing and Healing

• Discuss trauma, memory, healing, and embodied writing

Language Theory

• Discuss Mikhail Bakhtin
  
• Discuss Lev Vygotsky