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English Department Faculty
Elizabeth Chiseri-Strater, PhD

Courses

ENG 322 | 522 | 590 | 746 | 747 and MLS 610

ENG 322: Teaching Writing (Sample Syllabus)

This course is specifically designed for future teachers of English at the secondary level.

It focuses on how to teach writing to secondary schools students by introducing future English teachers to a range of theories and practices of using writing and reading in language arts classrooms. The overall course goal is for participants to develop a coherent philosophy of literacy instruction based on the range of course readings, researched topics, fieldwork experiences, and self reflections about writing, reading, and learning.

A number of assumptions inform and give shape to the ability to become a teacher, what Donald Schon calls the “reflective practitioner”–someone who learns her art and trade through the process of doing it. Our course will model the kinds of activities and responses that might take place in a secondary school language arts setting so that we can experience these for ourselves: writing in multiple genres, practicing informal and formal writing, learning about teacher response, integrating media and technology, and designing curriculum. Since teachers of writing need to write themselves, we will organize a reading/writing community where we will practice the stages of the writing process by writing together, responding to each other’s drafts, revising, and compiling writing portfolios. The philosophy behind forming this community is that reading, writing, listening and speaking are essentially social acts that gain meaning through dialogue and conversation with others. Language arts teachers need to model their own communication skills in their classrooms by adapting their curriculum for a range of student learning styles and diverse cultural backgrounds.

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ENG 522: Teaching Composition, Theories and Applications (Sample Syllabus)

This course introduces participants to a range of pedagogical theories and research methodologies in the field of Composition Studies to prepare them to undertake their own research projects as well as to interpret the professional literature in the field. We=ll begin by grounding ourselves in contemporary theories and terms that guide current classroom approaches to teaching writing. Then, we=ll explore the wide range of methods used in composition researchBhistorical, feminist, narrative, linguistic, experimental, and cognitiveBin an attempt to understand how different research questions demand different methodological approaches. The major focus of the course is for participants to become competent at reading and evaluating the usefulness and application of research studies for their own teaching of writing.

English 522 is a required course for all students in the M.ED degree in English Education and will cover as well many of the readings on composition list for the comprehensive doctoral exams.

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ENG 590: Literacy, Learning and Fieldwork (Sample Syllabus)

This course considers theoretical, practical, and ideological issues involved in literacy and learning. The course readings and discussions will explore both traditional notions of literacy and orality as well as non-mainstream and alternative literacies. Together we’ll look at early childhood literacy, women’s literacies, academic and spiritual literacies. Our ideas will be tested out through a semester long fieldwork tutoring project at a volunteer non-profit organization in order to better understand the theoretical and practical applications involved in literacy research and instruction. Readings will include Heath’s Ways With Words, Fishman’s Amish Literacy, Daniel’s, A Communion of Friendship: Literacy, Spiritual Practice and Women in Recovery, Freire’s Pedagogy of Hope among others.

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ENG 746: Women Writing Culture

Feminists have written experimentally about both their own cultures and those of others for many years, often with little notice afforded to their unique textual constructions. The focus of this course will be on how selected feminists have researched and written about past and current cultures, including popular culture. The course (cross listed in English and Women and Gender Studies as rhetorical theory) has three parts: feminist rhetorical theory, feminist ethnography, and contemporary feminist culture. We'll start with theories of feminist rhetoric(s) to analyze the difference that gender makes in the writing processes and products. Next, we'll consider feminist ethnographers who have written about past culture(s) and what rhetorical moves claim their texts as feminist. Feminists who address the role that women play in researching and writing about popular culture will make up an ongoing part of the course.

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ENG 746: Theories and Practices in the Teaching of College Writing (Sample Syllabus)

Rationale: This course is designed for teaching assistants new to the UNCG English Department. The focus of the course is on teaching composition and rhetoric within our program and assumes that no matter how much teaching experience you may have had elsewhere, this course will be valuable for understanding both the philosophy and pedagogy of our particular first year writing program. As well the course encourages community building within your group of TA’s whose backgrounds may be very different but whose goals are similar: to help students new to UNCG become fluent, able, and comfortable writers.

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MLS 610: Collecting Narratives: Oral Histories, Interviews and Family Stories (Sample Syllabus)

This is a course in narrative inquiry. Together we’ll read, write, and research stories(texts), storytelling (performances), and methods(research approaches) of gathering and analyzing narratives. In order to consider narrative in as many ways as possible we’ll watch films, listen to guest lecturers and share our research in progress. Since this is a small group, we will be able to run our course as a seminar with everyone contributing to our discussions.

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English Department | McIver 133 | Greensboro, NC 274XX | 336 - 334 - 5311