Title: INTERNSHIP IN THE COLLEGE TEACHING OF ENGLISH

PRQ:

Course Description: English 600 supports the new graduate Teaching Interns (TIs) and Teaching Assistants (TAs) in the First-Year Composition program by introducing them to the pedagogy of freshman composition—including theories of composition, classroom management, course preparation and lesson plans, writing assignment design, evaluation of students, and digital technologies for writing. The course proceeds through lecture, demonstration, readings, discussions, and practice teaching designed to develop professional confidence in graduate teaching assistants as they teach the university's core requirement in written communication. In English 600, our assignments will center on the course requirements for English 103 and the demands of teaching First-Year Composition.

Note: 600 may be counted as an applied rhetoric course toward the doctoral requirement for “at least two courses required for the Ph.D. with a pedagogical or applied component from two of the fields of language, literature, and rhetoric” (Graduate Student Handbook 19).

1. Attend the pre-semester seminar August 19-23 and meet three times a week throughout the semester in the designated classroom at the designated time. Please notify one of the instructors in advance if you cannot attend any session.

2. Participate in online and in-class discussion and impromptu activities.

3. Teach a mini lesson to the seminar at the end of the first week of meetings and participate as a leader of class discussion on assigned readings from time to time during the semester.

4. Use webboard and email to communicate with your students.

5. Collaboratively develop prompts for the three-to-four essay assignments.

6. Return student writing within five working days from the time it was submitted.

7. Assemble a draft reflective electronic teaching portfolio including at least 1000 words of reflection. The portfolio must be submitted at the end of the semester to pass.

• English 103 texts TBA

• Irene Clark, Concepts in Composition, Second Edition

• Brock Dethier, First Time Up: An Insider’s Guide for New Composition Teachers

• Erika Lindemann, A Rhetoric for Writing Teachers, Fourth Edition

• Electronic Reserves TBA