English 830: Teaching Composition Chapter 11 — Teaching Pedagogy Statements

Chapter 11 Required Materials and Tasks

Due July 24: Required Readings–Teaching Philosophies

• Haugen, Lee. (Accessed 2022). Writing a teaching philosophy statement. Iowa State University Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching.
• Fulkerson, Richard. (2005). Composition at the turn of the Twenty-First Century. College Composition and Communication, 56, 654-687.
• Cotton, Kathleen. Teaching composition: Research on effective practices.
• Duffelmeyer, Barb Blakely. Not Just Showing Up to Class: New TAs, Critical Composition Pedagogy, and Multiliteracies
• Tinto, Vincent. (Sep. 26, 2016). From retention to persistence. Inside Higher Ed.

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Chapter 11 Class Activities

Part 1: Theme for English B (10 minutes)

• Hughes, Langston. (1951). Theme for for English B.
  • Poem written in 1948 and published in 1951
  • Hughes uses the idea of an English writing assignment to explore the topic of freedom
  • 
• The instructor said,
        Go home and write
  
        a page tonight.
  
        And let that page come out of you—
  
        Then, it will be true.
  I wonder if it’s that simple?
• 
• Video Poem: Morgan, Jaime, & Shorter, Wayne. (2008, May 22). Langston Hughes’ theme for English B.
  • Excellent version of the poem set to the song “Footprints” from legendary jazz artist Miles Davis
• Other Video Versions of the Poem
  • Video Poem: Gemini, Young. (2019, Jan. 2). Theme for English B.
    • Directed by Caleb Neal
    • An excellent performance of the poem which captures it spirit nicely
  • Video Poem: Jermaine. (Sep. 27, 2015). Theme for English B by Langston Hughes
    • Featuring photographs of Hughes
  • Video Poem: Albers, Bethany (2017, Apr. 3). Theme for English B digital poem.
    • Highlights the words of the poem on key graphics and set to music
  • Video Poem: Murrieta, Erica Gomez. (2019). Theme for English B by Langston Hughes.
    • Made by 3 high school students
  • Video Poem: Manjo, Baby. (2020, Mar. 30). Theme for English B
    • Set to guitar music

Part 2. Journal Writing: A Little Pedagogical Poetry (15 minutes)

A good teacher is…

make a list
of teaching words
on page from you
and try to make the words
come out true.

Part 3. Small Group Discussion (20 minutes)

• Take the words and ideas each person came up with
• Combine them into a group poem about teaching
• You will probably need to add a few extra lines to make it all come out right

Part 4. Full Class Discussion (15 minutes)

• Talk about the Pedagogy Poems

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Part 5. Journal Writing: Pedagogical Beliefs (15 minutes)

Let’s start our exploration of pedagogical beliefs by having you write answers to the following questions:

• Why am I teacher?
• Why does teaching matter to me?
• What are my central goals as a teacher?
• How can I help students find their own voices in my classroom (one of the points raised by Hughes)?

Part 6. Small Group Discussion (15 minutes)

• Discuss people’s thoughts about teaching

Part 7. Full Class Discussion (15 minutes)

• Discussion of why teaching matters

Part 8. Break (10 minutes)

• We will take a short break to re-energize everyone

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Part 9. Overview of Composition Pedagogies (10 minutes)

• The Principles of Process Theory
  • Donald Murray (1972) outlined the following implications which emerge from Process Theory:
    • The text of the course is the student’s own writing.
    • The student finds his [or her] own subject.
    • The student uses [her or] his own language.
    • The student may write as many drafts as necessary.
    • The student may write in any form.
    • Mechanics come last.
    • The writer needs both unpressured time and a deadline.
    • A grade finishes a paper the way publication does.
    • Each student write must explore the writing process individually.
    • “There are no rules…All writing is experimental” (p. 5).
• The Principles of Post-Process Theory
  • Thomas Kent (1999) explains that there are three primary assumptions about the act of writing agreed upon by Post-Process Theorists:
    1. Writing is public
    2. Writing is interpretive
    3. Writing is situated
• Social Justice Pedagogy
  • The five key principles of Social Justice Pedagogy:
    • Equity
    • Access
    • Diversity
    • Participation
    • Human Rights
  • Chapman, Thandeka K., Hobbel, Nikola, & Alvarado, Nora V. (2011). A Social Justice Approach as a Base for Teaching Writing. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(7), 539–541.
  • McCoy, Shane A. (Winter 2020). Writing for justice in First-Year Composition (FYC). Radical Teacher, 116, 26-36.
• COMIC Book Pedagogy
  • This is a new pedagogy that Dr. Pagnucci has been developing in collaboration with a number of IUP doctoral students and IUP alumni
  • If you have an interest in using popular culture in the classroom, then Comic Book Pedagogy is for you!
  • The key principles of COMIC Book Pedagogy are:
    • C is for Cool where we use comic books and other pop culture materials to get students excited about learning
    • O is for Our Selves and Others where we focus on our Holistic Well-Being
    • M is for Multimodal Composing where we help students to use technology to compose in a broad range of forms
    • I is for Inclusion where we help students to learn to value diversity and to empathize with others
    • C is for Collaborative Learning where we help students to learn and write together
• Major Composition Pedagogies
  • Key Composition Pedagogical Articles
  • Composition and the Teaching of Grammar

Part 10. Small Group Discussion: Pedagogical Principles (15 minutes)

• Now that we’ve talked over some key ideas, let’s see if you can, as a group, define your own set of core Pedagogical Principles
• Keep the number small
• You’re trying to decide what things are the most important to focus upon

Part 11. Full Class Discussion: Pedagogical Principles (15 minutes)

• What key teaching principles did your group decide upon?

Part 12. Final Thoughts (10 minutes)

• Honeycutt, Ben. The teacher appreciation song.
  • by Ben Honeycutt

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Assignments

• Due July 25: DRAFT of Your Teaching Pedagogy Statement
  • Your final task for ENGL 830 is to write a Teaching Pedagogy Statement
  • Hopefully this statement will capture many facets of your thinking from this course about how to best teach college composition
  • We will take some time in class to workshop your Teaching Pedagogy Statement
• DUE July 26: Course Requirement–Teaching Pedagogy Statement
• Due July 25: DRAFT of Your Teacher Website
  • We will spend the first half of the class working on your website to further enhance it
  • You want to include some information about yourself, perhaps some pictures, and some information about your home and/or university
  • You are working to get your English 830 documents included on the websites
  • If you have time, you might create a page to highlight some of your research interests
  • We will spend the last half of the class having each person take 5 or 10 minutes to INFORMALLY show their website
• DUE July 26: Course Requirement–Teacher Website
• DUE July 26: Course Requirement–Course Rationale
• Due July 26: Special Personal Object
  • If possible, please bring to class a small object that is significant to you
  • If you can’t physically get the object, then, again if possible, get a photograph of the object
  • Also, if possible, get a picture of the room in which you normally keep this object

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For Those Who Need a Little More Time! 🙂

• FINAL DUE DATE: July 31
  • Feeling like you need more time? You may grant yourself an extension if you need it.
  • Simply send Dr. Pagnucci an email saying what you are still working on for the Final Due Date