Li 1
Amy Li
Dr. Fisher
ENG 791
December 20, 2015
Portfolio Reflection for Composition Theory and Pedagogy
The readings and assignments we have done for both the Composition Theory and Composition Pedagogy courses have helped (and forced) me to think very deeply about not only how to teach composition, but also of the various ways in which students might learnwriting.
The biggest difference ENG 791 has introduced to my own thinking and pedagogy is the necessity of key terms. While there certainly is a practical side to the implementation of a set list of key terms for Emory’s writing program, teaching students key terms such as genre, evidence, and audience (etc.) goes beyond institutional needs: giving students such a foundation allows them to gain a key to writing beyond the first-year writing seminar, and gives them a common language that makes talking and thinking (and writing) about composition easier. Key terms also help students think about a process or theory of writing. In my ENG 181 syllabus and especially in the latest draft of my ENG 101 syllabus (which I have heavily revised in order to better incorporate key terms), I have mapped out a number of key terms and have planned in-class and at-home assignments which have students think about and practice these terms in their own writing (for an example from Week 2 on the ENG 101 syllabus, see Figure 1 below); I also plan to provide students with sample texts which do a good job of displaying key terms.
Figure 1: Assignments from my ENG101 syllabusrelated to the key term“audience”
Speaking of sample texts, one of the scholars we read in Composition Theory that has been most influential for me has been Amy Devitt. Consequently, I try to provide sample texts written in a certain genre before I then have students write in that genre. These sample texts may be in a different medium, such as a film scene, as in the assignment described/pictured in Figure 2.
Figure 2: “Pie scene” assignment from my ENG 101 syllabus
Another scholar whose work resonated with me was Peter Elbow, who wrote about the importance of expressive writing in a composition setting. As such, many of the assignments in my ENG 101 class deal with expressive writing, which I have termed “personal writing” in most cases. While I have changed one of the high-stakes assignments for the ENG 101 course from a “Personally-Engaged Argumentative Essay” to instead a “Critically-Engaged Personal Essay” (I have re-centered the focus of this assignment because many of our readings are personal essays and also because several of this year’s first-year writing instructors expressed their students’ difficulties with “research” type papers) and will have to revise my ENG 101 High-Stakes Assignment Sheet accordingly, the sections about personal/expressive writing in the assignment sheet (pictured below in Figure 3) will remain a part of the new assignment sheet.
Figure 3: Excerpt from my ENG 101 High-Stakes Assignment Sheet
I have also learned in Composition Pedagogy that I have to allow ample opportunity for students to practice basic skills such as writing summaries. While elements of the writing process, such as summarization and finding critical sources, may seem straight-forward to me, they may not necessarily seem so easy or old-hat to students in these first-year writing seminars. (See Figure 4 for an example of assignments which allow students to practice writing summaries.)
Figure 4: Two different summary assignments from my ENG 101syllabus
These first-year writing courses are not just spaces for students to work on basic skills, but are also spaces to foster critical thinking skills. If “personal” or “expressive” writing features prominently in my ENG 101 course, then the center of gravity of my ENG 181 course (Diversity in Science Fiction) is critical thinking (related to literary analysis). I especially want students to pay close attention to how language, even on the level of single words, can lead to oppression and/or marginality in society. My commitment to such critical analysis informs my teaching philosophy (see excerpt from my Teaching Philosophy statement in Figure 5) as well as in several of the high-stakes assignments for my ENG 181 course (see Figure 6).
Figure 5: Excerpt from my Teaching Philosophy statement
Such critical analysis relates to composition because of its focus on language, and will hopefully lead students to think carefully about language in their own writing in this course and beyond.
Figure 6: Excerpt from one of my ENG 181 High-Stakes Assignment Sheets
Finally, one of the assignments I am most proud of is the “Creative Short Story (with Critical Component)” from my ENG 181 syllabus (see Figure 7 for the assignment description). This assignment allows students to be creative and contribute their own writing to the science fiction genre; the critical component then situates students’ own writing as worthy of critical analysis.
Figure 7: Assignment description for a high-stakes assignment from my ENG 181 syllabus
I hope that this portfolio showcases how I have tried to create critically-engaging but also fun, stimulating writing assignments for students. The next steps for me will be to revise my ENG 101 High-Stakes Assignment to reflect the assignment change I made in the course syllabus, as well as to flesh out writing assignments and lesson plans in my ENG 181 syllabus as I have done in the revised draft of my ENG 101 syllabus.