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Shared Notes
ENG 4075/5076 • Writing Pedagogies • Spring 2023
Join from your device: eng4075.chrisfriend.us/notes
Attendance
This class is discussion-driven, and it relies on a sense of community built through consistent,
repeated engagement. Further, your work and understanding of the course material will
improve through regular interaction with the ideas and progress of your colleagues. As a result,
attendance is critical for this class's success.
Everyone is expected to attend all class sessions. The instructor will track attendance at each
meeting, documenting it in Canvas. In my other previous classes, students who attended less
than 80
%
of the class sessions consistently failed the class because they struggled to stay
connected to the work and conversations about the material.
Participation
One cannot participate in a class one does not attend. Thus, attendance is a prerequisite for
participation. If you will miss a class, do the following:
•
Check the agenda slides to see what the class did and what homework was assigned. If any
paperwork was distributed, check the Files tab in Canvas.
•
Reach out to a colleague to learn what you missed from a students' perspective.
•
Connect with your working group and ensure they see your continued engagement with the
course. Make your presence felt.
•
Avoid emailing the instructor unless he needs to take a specifi c action as the result of your
absence.
Grades
The overall grade for this course derives 50
%
from the quality of your participation in class
activities/readings and 50
%
from the quality of your major assignments. You and your
colleagues will assess the quality of your participation at the end of each of the course's fi ve
major units. Additionally, you and the instructor will collaboratively assess the quality of your
work throughout the semester, through feedback and conferences. Grade calculation is as
follows:
•
All major assignments, including teaching philosophies, must be successfully completed (i.e.
passed with a C or above) to qualify to pass the class.
•
5
0
%
participation evaluations
•
20
%
synthesis papers
•
3
0
%
major
project components
, with these considerations:
•
Teaching philosophies are required but will not receive evaluative grades.
•
Project Checkpoint 1 (Week 3) is required but will not receive an evaluative grade.
The following grading scale will be used:
•
A = work that is sophisticated, confi dent, and impressive
•
B = work that is competent and strong
•
C = work that is satisfactory, meeting requirements
•
D = work that falls short of expectations
•
F = work that misses the mark or is incomplete
Blog Posts
Blog posts contribute to your ethos as a scholar and to how others view your participation.
They also help prepare you for in-class discussion of our reading assignments. Completing
blog entries before coming to class also helps you engage with the material through writing-to-
learn practices.
Major Assignments
You will receive written feedback on each of your major assignments, indicating the instructor's
perception of the document's quality and ways you can improve it through revision. If you want
your work re-assessed, or if you want additional feedback for continued improvement, take
advantage of the instructor's offi ce hours by making an appointment. Additionally, if formative
assessment doesn't meet your needs for grade-based feedback, you're welcome to further
discuss your performance during offi ce hours.
Late Work
Major assignments must be completed on their due date. That way, your instructor can provide
formative feedback in a timely fashion.
Any major assignments initially completed on-time can be revised and re-assessed. To get
additional feedback, simply take advantage of the instructor's offi ce hours by making an
appointment. Further, to upload a late assignment (and earn credit for it), you must arrange to
meet with the instructor during offi ce hours within a week of the deadline.
Notes from 2/14
Friend’s defi nition of “composed knowledge”:
Notes from 2/21
Why is failure good?
•
Provides room for improvement
•
Highlights why they’re failing (what skill is lacking); some people learn from their mistakes
•
Feedback Shows what is needed to be learned
•
Gives a writer material to reflect on (direct example); shows progression over time
•
Focuses attention on something specifi c to learn; shows difference between bad and good;
demonstrates that it’s not an accidental success
•
Provides a pivot point after which the same problem does not recur
•
Helps writers (or sports players) notice what needs improvement; also lets them “feel” what it
feels like to do it the right way
•
Lets the person experience the difference between doing it wrong and right so they can
emphasize the right way in the future. Something something learning consequences?
•
Brings experience to mind at relevant moments to focus attention
How can we design writing classes that encourage (not just allow for) failure?
•
Don’t be so strict about fi rst drafts: “Just get your thoughts on the paper,” rather than making
it look fi nal-ish
•
The
expectation
for rock bands is to suck. Design a course that holds failure as the goal so
students have the experience of growth.
•
Cooking class: Screwing up gives chefs an opportunity to learn creative recovery. Failure
here isn’t the end; there’s always an opportunity for comeback. The process of discovery is
important/helpful. (Something something Edison’s 10,000 ways not to do it.)
•
If you don’t provide the form (the 5¶ essay, the fi nished cooking dish, etc.), you allow them
the opportunity to explore as a whole
•
Show the example after their fi rst attempt. What are the differences?
Meta-question: What should the state writing standards be?
What concepts should we teach in writing classes?
•
K-12
•
Exploration of abstract thought
•
Writing with authority (not so much analyzing, citing; perhaps assertion with support)
•
Whatever the state tests say we should teach them, duh.
•
Structure. (5¶ essay, perhaps? It serves a purpose.)
•
Media literacy (there’s more than what’s on the paper)
•
Basic grammar skills
•
Mechanics (commas, periods, dialogue)
•
Critical evaluation
•
Revision
•
Post-secondary
•
Genre ≠ category
•
Grammar brush-up
•
Writing with authority (being present in what you’re writing)
•
Articulating individual beliefs (aka voice)
What should we teach? (March 21)
•
The rationale behind citation systems
•
Audience awareness
•
Genre analysis
•
Research process/philosophy?
What would a 5076 Textbook look like?
•
Book as edited collection a la WAW; how to think per assn, leave formatting to assn sheet
•
No book; the dialogue generates knowledge.
•
Probing, open-ended, discussion-starting questions. What would help initiate knowledge
construction.
Class Discussion 4/11: Progressive Pedagogies
How should technology be used in writing classes?
Replacement for post + 2 replies? Prompt with question, but expect students to be the leaders.
Start and end make a difference, as do hybrid/f2f options.
All classes are necessarily hybrid.
Good discussion platforms: Twitter (for events/trends/news), Insta (for friends), Reddit (for the
weird questions). Twitter allows RT, quote tweets, etc. Discord is good for people who aren’t in
this class. Group chats on Twitter, FB Messenger (good for fi ghting with old people), GroupMe
(for school stuff), WhatsApp.
Cesspools, tunnel vision, echo chambers. Are they inevitable with good chat platforms?
Tumblr: People still use it (post porn cancel)? Ads more than content. Sad, depressing content.
Also art.
WordPress—it’s vast. Twitter, using a class-specifi c hashtag, getting engagement outside the
classroom. Twitter isn’t designed to curate a healthy experience for users, choosing to reward
people for flippant reactions. Twitter’s a place for people to engage in chaotic, performative
outrage, rather than constructive discourse.
Cater to the student and get with the program. Connect with something like Sleeto (sp?),
making lectures interactive.
Have students pose a question, with the hope that others would feel compelled to respond to
something. “WordPress works best because you establish your own. You build it yourself.”
What makes course design “ethical”? What is “rigor”, and what is its
place in education?
Friend: Not using Twitter or Meta. Or Google—oops.
The ethics of the individual teacher come into play, and every choice a teacher makes is a
matter of ethics.
New question: What makes something ethical?
When something does right by the majority of people. How do we determine what is right/
best? Is morality relative?
Erik: Paternalism relates to this somehow. We just don’t know how yet. Friend says it’s anti-
Freire.
How does “best version of yourself” work with someone who is narcissistic, psychopathic/
sociopathic, anti-social, etc? How does that goal fi t with the ideal of ethical classes?
How does technology enhance or inhibit actual learning?
Tech inhibits learning, serving to distract attention more than the audio-visual distractions in
the physical space. Online classes feel like lectures, disconnected despite Zoom calls.
Podcasts hold interest/attention in ways that lectures don’t. The fact that they’re free makes a
difference. They’re for pleasure, not academics.
Face-to-face > Zoom > podcasts. Podcasts are 1:1, non-responsive, and non-group.
Tech gives a false sense of community that doesn’t actually exist. Initial post + 2 replies is the
dumbest. Thing. Evar.
What should schools offer students to help them really use the Internet
productively, safely, and with agency?
MS Teams as potential counter to WordPress. Not supposed to talk in Teams, but they do
anyway. Fifth grade: Immature and no capacity to think critically about publishing content
online. Academically and consistently, not taking it seriously.
Socio-emotional development is two years behind because they’ve been distant for COVID.
Friend’s crazy idea: 5th-grade WordPress installation with fake, throw-away accounts for all
students. Consider digital footprints. Also digital graveyards.
Students could use these sites as the basis of a portfolio, with content that follows them year
on year.
How can writing classes serve to help students self-actualize?
Writing helps students think through the topics with which they are grappling.
Seminar-based classes help students gain dialogue.
