Attendance and Participation: See my attendance policy. I hate to have one, but experience has taught me it is sometimes required to persuade students to attend regularly.

Learning & Teaching Log: The purpose of this log is twofold: (1) to learn by writing and (2) to keep a record of your learning process in this class.  The major part of the log, totaling about 2 to 3 1- to 2-page entries per week for the semester (28-32 entries), will consist of Reading Responses (your comments on and reactions to assigned and relevant readings), Reflections (your thoughts, memories, and observations of literacy instruction and learning); and Teaching Activities and Assignments (designed by you).  Additionally, you should keep your in-class writing activities and informal writings in your Log as a record of class engagement and participation; this is a second section of the log. (If you keep the log in a 3-ring binder with tabs, you can combine "Responses & Reflections"; designate a separate section for "Teaching Activities" and another section for "Participation.")

During the first two-thirds of the semester, you should plan to write at least one reading response and/or reflection per week.  (If you need suggestions for reflections, see list of suggested topics.)  You may also write about your small-group discussions, about writing activities we do in class, etc.  You will probably develop more Teaching Activities and Assignments in the last third of the semester. 

Web Page: We will devote some class time to writing Web pages as well as exploring the Web to see what uses other teachers and classes are making of the Web. You may develop your Web page to present an assignment or classroom activity or to link to useful education sites.

Assigned Short Papers:

Informal Writing, due 1/28:  This is a "get-acquainted" writing, and the topic is very open-ended.  I want to know something about you.  You may want to use the suggestions on the schedule page (who you are as a person, what your goals are as a teacher, what you like about teaching and learning, how you feel about reading and writing), but do not feel that you must address all of these topics, or address them in this order.  Since this is an informal assignment, you won't need to revise this, and I won't comment on essay structure, editing, etc.

Informal Writing, due 2/11:  Select a short essay, story, poem, or other text that you wrote at some point prior to this semester.  Revise your text, or a portion of it, trying out some of the techniques that Katie Wood Ray discusses in Chapter 2.  Note: It's fine to rewrite just a couple of paragraphs or a page of the text. Hand in both the original and the revision. [Participation Activity]

Reflection on Read-Aloud Activity, due in Midterm Portfolio:  Write a short reflection on this activity, describing your group's process and your involvement in it.  Evaluate the effectiveness of this activity. [Participation Activity]

Responding to a Student Text, due in Midterm Portfolio 3/10: Read a couple of the student texts available (online or in class) and decide what kinds of comments you would make to the student.  Write a short paper in which you set priorities for the student's revising, and establish what you would say in written comments and/or what you'd say in a conference.  What principles have you followed in responding?  What priorities do you see in responding to the text? [Portfolio Paper]

Annotated Book List, due in Midterm Portfolio 3/10 and again, with additions, in Final Portfolio [Portfolio Paper]: Read a substantial number of books from my list, which includes books that Katie Wood Ray mentions, YA books that I have mentioned in class, and recommended books available in our library. You are practicing "reading like writers," noticing any elements of technique that you think might be used in the classroom as Ray recommends. The techniques may be identified as the features she calls attention to throughout Wondrous Words, or you may give your own names to these features. You should begin keeping an annotated book list, with annotations including the features you have identified. By the end of the semester, your list should include 15 to 25 books. The length of the books determines the length of your list. If you select only picture books, you will be aiming for 25. If you select only chapter books, you will be aiming for 15. (If you read whole YA books, we may negotiate the requirement further.) If you read a mix of chapter and picture books, your total count will be somewhere between 15 and 25; we can talk about this on an individual basis. At midterm, you will submit the beginning of your list, with a minimum of 5 books. As you know, the reading time for these books is short. The work comes in with the analysis of features, which you have already begun practicing with the "classic" books I listed for a classroom activity.

Midterm Portfolio: Your portfolio consists of your Portfolio Papers and your Learning & Teaching Log. Please include a short cover letter or essay to introduce the portfolio, highlighting any aspect of your learning so far in the class.  You may comment, for instance, on the reading-writing links we've established in class, the usefulness of textbook readings, any challenges or improvements in your writing that you have noted, etc.

Writing + Peer Response + Reflection, due 3/31: Write a short creative or expository text on a topic of your choosing. One possibility is to think of a metaphor for teaching that works for you. (See mine. ) Get peer response in class on 3/26. Revise as much as you feel is necessary. Write a reflection focusing on any elements of your writing process, but do be sure to comment on the effectiveness of the peer response activities practiced in class. [Portfolio Paper]

Revising, Revisited, due 4/7: Select another text you have written in the past. The ideal text is a class paper written at least a semester ago.  This assignment can work well with a paper that you weren't particularly happy with or with a paper you enjoyed writing.  You are going to revise this paper in some significant ways.  You may reconceive your paper in another genre (say, as a letter or a poem), for a different audience (say, your first class when you begin teaching), or in a different style.  You may take on a different writing persona, if that's appropriate.  If your paper is long, you may want to select only a portion of it.  Do make substantial and significant changes in your text.  You will turn in the original paper, your revision, and a rationale.  The rationale is a short paper that describes the kinds of changes you've made and gives your reasons for making these changes.  What you're doing is telling your audience how you made the text different and why you made the choices you made, or, to put it another way, what you hoped to accomplish in this version of the text. In your rationale, you may also want to note what you are learning about revision from all of this reading we are doing. [Portfolio Paper]

Revisiting and Revising Baseline Knowledge, due in Final Portfolio:  Revisit your brainstormed list from the beginning of the semester.  Consider what you would add to it.  Reflect on what you know about writing as the semester ends. (You may want to think about writing this in terms of what you would tell someone who asked you what you think about how writing should be taught in schools today.)  This paper will probably be 4-5 pages long, and it may be longer if you prefer. [Portfolio Paper]

Final Portfolio:

The final portfolio for ENG315 should include the following:

• Cover essay or letter: Use this to highlight the strengths of your portfolio.  What do you want me, as the assessing reader, to pay the most attention to in determining your final grade?
• All short papers, revised as desired. When including multiple copies of the same paper, please put the most recent revision on top and clip together earlier drafts, comments, etc.
• Complete Learning & Teaching Log--please paperclip together the portions I have previously read. If you have added to entries completed before the portfolio was previously handed in, please include a cover sheet for the log that indicates where revision has occurred. The last entry of the Learning & Teaching Log will be--
• A short guide to your Webpage, including the address and any brief descriptive commentary you want to include. This can be as short as a couple of sentences and should not exceed a double-spaced page.