Assignments
MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS
We have developed the following activities and projects in collaboration. Sometimes one of us is the “expert,” sometimes the other. Below you’ll see a list of activities with a brief explanation, and an indication of which of us might be considered the lead teacher of that activity/project. Full descriptions of these assignments, including any handouts that might accompany them, will appear on their respective, individual blog pages as the assignment nears.
(1) Weekly responses to & summaries of readings (Joyce & Cheryl)
You will be posting responses to each of the weekly readings for this class. Postings can be informal, but they should be well-articulated, balanced, and (hopefully) interesting. Online postings, as a genre, tend to be anywhere from a paragraph to a page in length — with a paragraph being kind of skimpy to a page being a bit over-long. In general, you shouldn’t worry about the length of your post as much as you should attempt to create posts that are useful, interesting, and thoughtful. Each of the classes will also be creating (for their partner class) 2 Video Responses to readings and 2 text-based summaries of the discussions that have occurred regarding readings.
(2) Article-length Research Project (Cheryl & Joyce)
Participants will have two options for their article-length project. One option will be to create a pedagogy-article for the Praxis section of the online journal Kairos, and the 2nd option will be to create an article for the new ISU Writing Program Archive. While these articles are not lengthy (we estimate between 5-7 pages of finished text) they are both genres that may be new to you, and thus will require some research, analysis, and significant revision.
(3) Classroom Ethnographies (Joyce)
Essentially, these are classroom visits with an ethnographic approach. Each participant will be asked to make a class visit to some course that is engaged in writing pedagogy, and to complete an ethnographic account of that class’s activities. The class visited need not necessarily be a “writing course,” but the class must be engaged in discussion of/practice of writing on the day of the visit (e.g., one might visit a literature class, but on the day when a writing project is being discussed in detail).
(4) Class Manifestos & Individual Revisions (Cheryl)
Each class (as a group) will create a manifesto that focuses on an issue related to writing instruction or literacy acquisition. In addition, each individual participant will create a manifesto (which will lead, ultimately to their Teaching Innovation Proposal).
(5) Teaching Innovation Proposal (Joyce & Cheryl)
Each class participant will create either a proposal that outlines some change in or innovation to the pedagogies practiced in the ISU Writing program, or he/she will create a grant proposal for a grant from the Center for Teaching and Learning.