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English 830: Teaching Composition — The Writing Process

Required Materials and Tasks

Due July 14 Tuesday: Required Readings–The Writing Process

Class Activities

Act 1: Opening (1 hour)

Part 1. Journal Writing: Your Writing Process (15 minutes)

  • Think of something you recently wrote
  • What steps did you go through to write that piece?
  • Is there anything else you could have done to improve that piece of writing?
  • Will you follow these same steps to write your course syllabus?
  • How will these two processes be the same and/or different?
  • Is there anything different you do to go about writing certain pieces of writing, say a job application versus a letter to a family member to a paper for course/journal article?
  • Are there any parts of your process that you don’t think would work for your students?
  • Are there any other important aspects of the writing process that you think might be important for novice writers but not for expert writers?

Part 2: Some Music to Go with Your Writing

Part 3. Small Group Discussion (15 minutes)

  • As a group, discuss the writing processes each person used
  • What common elements are important?

Part 4. Full Class Discussion (15 minutes)

  • Each group will report back on what they learned about the writing process

Part 5. Mini Lecture: The Writing Process (10 minutes)

  • “Teach Writing as a Process Not Product” by Donald Murray
    • The Leaflet (November 1972): 11-14
    • Core Implications of Teaching Writing Process:
      • The text of the course is the student’s own writing.
      • The students finds his [or her or they] own subject.
      • The student uses [her or they or] his own language.
      • The student may write as many drafts as necessary.
      • The student may write in any form.
      • Mechanics come last.
      • The writer needs both unpressured time and a deadline.
      • A grade finishes a paper the way publication does.
      • Each student write must explore the writing process individually.
      • “There are no rules…All writing is experimental” (p. 5).
    • “What is the process we should teach? It is the process of discovery through language. It is the process of exploration of what we know and what we feel about what we know through language. It is the process of using language to learn about our world, to evaluate what we learn about our world, to communicate what we learn about our world” (p. 4).
    • “Instead of teaching finished writing, we should teach unfinished writing, and glory in its unfinishedness.” (p.4)
    • “The writing process itself can be divided into three stages: prewriting, writing, and rewriting” (p. 4).
    • As the teacher, “we have to be quiet, to listen, to respond. We are not the initiator or the motivator; we are the reader, the recipient” (p. 5).
    • “We must listen carefully for those words that may reveal a truth, that may reveal a voice” (p. 5).
  • Peter Elbow: Writing Without Teachers (1973)
  • “Freewriting Exercises” by Peter Elbow
    • Writing without Teachers. New York: Oxford UP, 1973. 3-11.
    • “The most effective way I know to improve your writing is to do freewriting exercises regularly. At least three times a week. They are sometimes called ‘automatic writing,’ ‘babbling,’ or ‘jabbering’ exercises. The idea is simply to write for ten minutes (later on, perhaps fifteen or twenty). Don’t stop for anything. Go quickly without rushing. Never stop to look back, to cross something out, to wonder how to spell something, to wonder what word or thought to use, or to think about what you are doing. If you can’t think of a word or a spelling, just use a squiggle or else write ‘I can’t think what to say, I can’t think what to say’ as many times as you want; or repeat the last word you wrote over and over again; or anything else. The only requirement is that you never stop” (p. 3)
    • “What happens to a freewriting exercise is important. It must be a piece of writing which, even if someone else reads it, doesn’t send any ripples back to you. It is like writing something and putting it in a bottle in the sea…Freewritings help you by providing no feedback at all. When I assign one, I invite the writer to let me read it, but also tell him to keep it if he prefers” (pp. 3-4).
    • See Neil Gaiman: Send writing out in bottles and see if anyone sends the bottle back.
    • “Writing has the advantage of permitting more editing. But that’s its downfall too. Almost everyone interposes a massive and complicated series of editings between the time the words start to be born into consciousness and when they finally come off the end of the pencil or typewriter onto the page. This is partly because schooling makes us obsessed with the ‘mistakes’ we make in writing. Many people constantly think about spelling and grammar as they try to write. I am always thinking about the awkwardness, wordiness, and general mushiness of my natural verbal product as I try to write down words” (pp. 4-5).
    • “But it’s not just ‘mistakes’ or ‘bad writing’ we edit as we write. We also edit unacceptable thoughts and feelings, as we do in speaking” (p. 5)
    • “The habit of compulsive, premature editing doesn’t just make writing hard. It also makes writing dead. Your voice is damped out by all the interruptions, changes, and hesitations between the consciousness and the page. In your natural way of producing words there is a sound, a texture, a rhythm–a voice–which is the main source of power in your writing. I don’t know how it works, but this voice is the force that will make a reader listen to you. Maybe you don’t like your voice; maybe people have made fun of it. But it’s the only voice you’ve got. It’s your only source of power” (pp. 6-7)

Intermission 1 (10 Minutes)

Break (10 minutes)

  • We’ll take a short break

Act 2 (1 hour)

Part 6. Mini Lecture (10 minutes)

  • “Writing as a Mode of Learning” by Janet Emig: College Composition and Communication, Vol. 28, No. 2. (May, 1977), pp. 122-128.
  • Linda Flower and John Hayes’ Model of the Composing Process
  • Flower, Linda, & John Hayes. (Dec., 1981). “A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing. College Composition and Communication 32(4), 365-387.
    • A seminal article in the field of Composition Studies which offers the first map of the composing process
    • p. 365: “How do writers actually go about choosing diction, syntactic and organizational patterns, and content? Kinneavy claims that one’s purpose in forming, persuading, expressing, or manipulating language for its own
      sake-guides these choices. Moffett and Gibson contend that these choices are determined by one’s sense of the relation of speaker, subject, and audience. Is either of these two claims borne out by the actual practice of writers engaged in drafting or revising? Does either premise account adequately for the choices writers make?” (p. 365).
    • “1. The process of writing is best understood as a set of distinctive thinking processes which writers orchestrate or organize during the act of composing.
      2. These processes have a hierarchical, highly embedded organization in which any given process can be embedded within any other.
      3. The act of composing itself is a goal-directed thinking process, guided by the writer’s own growing network of goals.
      4. Writers create their own goals in two key ways: by generating both high-level goals and supporting sub-goals which embody the writer’s developing sense of purpose, and then, at times, by changing major goals or even establishing entirely new ones based on what has been learned in the act of writing” (p. 366).

Part 7. Writing Protocol Analysis Explanation (10 minutes)

  • This activity is designed to get a person’s first thoughts about writing a document
  • The task is roughly modeled on Flower & Hayes’ writing protocol analysis
  • Form a small group (ideally 4 people)
  • Assign Roles for the activity:
    • One Writer (this person will work for 15 minutes on the writing task)
    • One Note Taker (this person writes down everything they see)
    • One Prompter (this person keeps encouraging the writer to talk aloud and will tell the writer when they have 5 minutes left and when to stop)
    • One Researcher (this person makes notes about observations related to the person’s writing process; they do a bit more distanced thinking
    • If the group has 3 people, the Researcher will also act as Prompter; If the group has 5 people, add a 2nd Note Taker role
  • You’ll get the prompt in a minute
  • We will spread out so that no one is near you as you work
  • Relocate and then you will get the prompt below (wait until everyone is ready)
  • DO NOT Click on the prompt link below until told to do so or you will mess up this activity

Part 8. Writing Protocol Analysis Activity (15 minutes)

  • Have everyone settle into place
  • The writer may write long hand or on a computer
  • When everyone is ready, click the link below
  • The Writer will begin writing and speaking aloud all thoughts as they go

Part 9. Writing Protocol Analysis Small Group Discussion (15 minutes)

  • Take about 5 minutes to have the writer give their thoughts on the process
    • Note Taker, please record some of these thoughts
  • Then have everyone else discuss their thoughts

Part 20. Writing Protocol Analysis Large Group Discussion (20 minutes)

  • Describe the participant’s writing process.
  • What general observations can you make about how the participant wrote?
  • What challenges did the writer face?
  • How did the participant move their writing process forward?
  • How did participant monitor their writing process?
  • What was most surprising to you about this mini research study?
  • How would you revise your study for the future?

Intermission 2 (10 Minutes)

Break (10 minutes)

  • We’ll take a short break

Act 3 (1 hour)

Part 11. Jenkins v. Yood

  • Jenkins argues that composition courses should return to their core mission: teaching students to communicate specialized knowledge effectively, because clear writing is the vehicle through which expertise becomes useful in the world.
  • Yood argues that first-year composition should be valued not merely as preparation for specialized writing, but as a vital place where students learn to write across differences, engage a public audience, and develop as citizens as well as scholars.
  • Who’s right?

Part 12. Small Group Discussion (15 minutes)

  • Create a group map of the writing process

Part 13. Writing Process Videos (7 minutes)

Part 14. Small Group Discussion (15 minutes)

  • Revise your group map of the writing process to make sure you address ideas from the videos

Part 15. Full Class Discussion (15 minutes)

  • Share your writing process maps with the class

Act 4: Closing (15 minutes)

Part 16. Class Wrap-up (5 minutes)

  • Dr. Pagnucci will take time to go over course assignments and answer any questions

Part 17. Parting Thoughts–A Writing Process Song (4:23 minutes)

Assignments

Due July 15 Wednesday: Required Readings–The College Composition Course

Due July 15 Wednesday: Collect Sample Course Syllabi

  • Find 3 different syllabi for college composition courses (or other courses if that fits your teaching needs better!)
    • Bring links/digital copies to share with the class
    • You may use syllabi from other students in the CAL Program (anyone not in this course), from any colleagues you work with at your home university, from a textbook, or from an online source
    • If you wish to use an old course syllabus of yours, it should be one that is quite different from any courses you currently teach (i.e. it should be an old course syllabus with a design you abandoned)

Due July 16 Thursday: First Draft of Course Requirement–Course Syllabus

  • Create or Revise a Syllabus for a College Composition Course Syllabus (or other course if that fits your teaching needs better!)
    • If you have taught college composition before, go over your syllabus and decide how you might improve it
    • If you have never taught college composition, create a new basic syllabus for the course
    • If you wish to work on a syllabus for a different course, you may do so, but the course must require students to do substantial writing
    • You may plan your syllabus for a specific semester or just organize it by weeks (Week 1, Week 2, etc.)
    • You don’t need to include every last detail for your syllabus, but create enough of the course syllabus so we can understand your general plan for the course
    • We will discuss the first draft of your Course Syllabus in class

Optional Material

Optional: IUP’s Most Famous Composition Article

Optional: Sample Writing Process Videos

Optional: A Song about Trying to Connect to How Someone Else Thinks?

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