Your Theory of Teaching Article
The goal of this paper is for you to explore one composition theory that you feel is connected to Your Teaching Vision and Your Teacher Story. This is also an opportunity to explore a theory that is of interest to you. It might be a new theory or one with which you are already familiar. Either way, you should do some new reading to learn what is being discussed in the current literature about this theory.
Composition Theories
Here are some of the most common Composition Theories/Composition Pedagogies:
- Process Theory
- Expressive Pedagogy
- Rhetorical Theory
- Cognitive Theory
- Social Constructionism
- Post-Process Theory
- Collaborative Learning Theory
- Cultural Studies Theory
- Critical Pedagogy
- Feminist Pedagogy
- Second Language Writing Theory
- Language Theory
- Basic Writing Pedagogy
- Writing Center Theory
- Digital Literacies/Tech Pedagogy/Technology Theory
- Service Learning
- Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC)/Writing in the Disciplines (WID)
- Disability Studies
- Comic Book Pedagogy
- Literary Theory
- etc…..
Paper Overview
- Select one theory to focus on in your paper.
- Provide a general overview of the basic tenants of the theory.
- Describe the most important aspects of the theory.
- Discuss who some of the major proponents of this theory are (identify which scholars are typically related to this theory).
- Explain how you would use this theory to teach writing (or a related subject) to a particular group of students (such as first year writing students at your home institution).
- Explain how this theory supports your vision for teaching and why this theory appeals to you.
Paper Sources
For this paper you should read and cite at least 5 sources on this theory so that you get a good basic sense of how current scholars view the theory.
Paper Guidelines
- This paper should be 10-15 pages in length.
- This paper should be in a 12 point font, double-spaced.
- This paper should include several appropriate references.
Alternate Options
The theory article as I’ve designed it has been a very interesting paper for students to write. However, I also want to stress that I am always open to students trying alternate options. Perhaps you are interested in collaborative theory and want to co-write a paper with someone. Perhaps you are interested in technology theory and want to create a website or hypertext for your project rather than writing a traditional paper. Perhaps you loved writing Your Teacher Story and, working from narrative theory, want to write a longer narrative paper. Any of these alternate paper ideas would be excellent, and a number of students have done them successfully. I’m also open to totally radical ideas which I have not even thought of myself. If you have a cool idea for a paper, I would love to have you work on it. So, if you want to try something a little different, I encourage you to do so. Just grab me after class or via email and we can have a quick conference so I can find out what you plan to do and approve the idea. This is a great chance for you to try something different or innovative, so I welcome anything you might want to try out!