English 120
Winter 2006
Unit Three: Writing at EMU/Genres of School
Overview:
It probably goes without saying that lots of writing takes place on a college campus. There’s writing everywhere: on bulletin boards, on coffee cups, in emails, in papers written for classes, and even in chalk on the ground. And yet we often think of “school writing” as only what we write within courses—but there’s so much more that takes place in a context like ours here! Together we’ll explore how writing is defined in college, both here and in other college contexts. In the longer unit project, we’ll wrestle with this central question: What are some of the competing or complementary values for writing at a university? Additionally, we’ll consider: What kind writing takes place here? What genres are valued? What genres remain hidden—and why is this important? Ultimately, you’ll look for moments of tension, moments of uncertainty, moments where definitions collide or overlap. To consider these questions in rich, complex ways, we will gather, share, and consider evidence from a variety of sources, including interviews, artifacts, and readings.
Readings:
Suskind, “Fierce Intimacies”
Collins, “Commencement”
Orfield and Wald, “Testing, Testing”
Exploration One: Interview of a Graduate Student
For our first Exploration, we’ll interview some graduate students who are taking a graduate-level course on the theory and practice of teaching college-level writing. We’ll use this interview to consider how writing happens for a particular graduate student in one particular context and program at EMU. They’ll interview you about your experiences as a writer; you’ll interview them about what they write; how they write it; and why. You’ll take detailed notes in your interview and then, for your Exploration, you’ll write a 1 ½ - 2 page detailed description and analysis of the interview material. How does your partner define him/herself as a writer in school? What kinds of writing does s/he do? Why? What makes her successful/not?
Exploration Two: EMU Genre Museum and Expectations of School Writing
Before class on Thursday February 23, everyone needs to collect 5 examples of writing from anywhere on campus and write “museum blurbs” about each one. We’ll want to get as wide of range as possible—we’ll talk about this in class. Using these samples, we’ll create a “EMU Genre Museum.” (5 examples, 1 paragraph or so about each example—of course, we’ll discuss what these will look like.) Then, we’ll post these in our classroom. Exploration Two asks you to, first, simply peruse and enjoy the museum. Then, write in reaction to what you see here, generally. What is “academic” writing in this space? What genres are represented here, and what does that “say” about EMU? Then, choose at least two seemingly different kinds of writing that intrigue you—because they’re surprising, because you’d never thought of them as “school” writing, because they intrigue you. For the rest of your Exploration, focus specifically on these two pieces of writing: what are they about? How have the writers written/arranged these, and how are they effective/not for you as a reader? What might the writer have had to know/learn in order to write these genres? What do these genres more specifically “say” about EMU life, and why do you think this?
Exploration Three: Genres in the Academy
We’ve read and worked in class with three different readings that are about, in some way, the “genres of school.” Cedric is overwhelmed by a variety of new kinds of communication that he encounters, for example; Billy Collins writes about the odd genre that a commencement address is; and in “Testing, Testing,” the authors discuss the detrimental effects of a common school genre: the standardized test. For this Exploration, please choose one of these readings to “converse with” in more detail. Please explore one ‘genre of school’ that the writer(s) discusses. What’s been your experience with this genre? What connections can you make to other readings (if any)? To class discussions? What does this kind of writing add to university life, or does it?
Unit Three Writing Project:
For this writing project, we’ll work on the following (and these need to be included in your Writing Project):
--A sense of direction—a ‘center’ to your writing project, a focus;
--Direct connections with and evidence from at least two of the readings;
--Direct connections with and evidence from specific examples of writing at EMU (these can be from the Genre Museum, but they don’t have to be).
What’s due the day this is due:
In a stapled packet, you’ll want to turn in
- a Cover Letter, addressing some/all of the following: what was your writing process like as you wrote this unit’s writing project? What challenges did you encounter? How did you address, or attempt to address, those challenges? What breakthroughs did you have? What’d you learn about yourself as a writer in this project? What do you wish you’d have done but perhaps you ran out of time, or you didn’t quite know how to do? And, again, consider the writing strategies listed below: any that you feel you particularly learned more about? Any you’d like to make sure you learn more about in the future? [1 page]
- Your Writing Project, 5 pages, double-spaced, normal fonts and margins, MLA in-text citations and a Works Cited page
- Your class colleagues’ written response
- Explorations One, Two, and Three
- Any in-class work connected to this unit project
******************
In addition to the writing strategies emphasized in Units One and Two, in this unit we’ll be working on:
Rhetorical Analysis: Focusing on a purpose for writing that balances audience expectations with the desires of the writer;
Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing: Engaging in multiple modes of inquiry using text (field research: interviews; text-based; field research: artifacts);
Processes: Increasing your confidence responding to and critiquing your own and others’ work;
Knowledge of Conventions: Practice identifying and addressing patterns in your writing that unintentionally diverge from patterns expected by your audience.