Building a Composition Class

I have three Composition II classes this semester, for a total of 5 classes, which is an overload, but there were extenuating circumstances. This however is not a single prep.

Since today is the first day of class, I wanted to share how I build my composition courses. First, a general overview. How composition was modeled for me makes sense to my brain and is good pedagogy, so it's what I use. We have three major writing assignments (MWAs), each a specific genre, and each MWA has two low stakes assignments (LSAs) that are the parts and pieces of the MWA which they get feedback on so ideally by the time the MWA is complete they've gotten feedback and had time to revise with this in mind. I also do a portfolio rather than a final exam which includes a piece that is a major revision, a piece where the genre is revised, brief paragraphs for each where they reflect on changes they made and why, a reflection on the priority student learning outcomes (SLOs) for the department, and a more personal reflection on how they feel about their writing, done as a cover letter to me.

When I built and paced out my syllabi, I put in dates for all these, put in dates for grade conferences, in class workshopping, introduction of mentor texts, and times for mini-lessons (to be determined). What I did not put in were any details about these things. The reason I did not is because I do not choose them. Today, during the beginning of my class, students took 3 Google Form surveys. The first was about them, and covered pronouns, concerns, things they're worried about, skills with documents, that kind of thing. The second was them voting on when they wanted me to be available in my office. The third asked them to choose what we were going to cover in class this semester.
First, they chose the 3 genres that will be our major writing assignments. This class chose argument/position, flyer/webpage, and profile.

Next, they told me the topics they were interested in. I use these to choose the mentor texts we'll use as models.

 Finally, I asked them to self-identify some topics for mini-lessons.

If you've never used Google Forms, it does some really cool things. The first is that it auto creates visuals from the responses. So it was really easy for me to see what they chose. Since research and profiles were tied, I wanted to make sure they did some heavy research lifting for the profile.

Once class was over and I was back in my office I sat down, looked at the responses, and plugged in the MWAs into the syllabus. Then I wrote the bones of the assignments:

Major Writing Assignment 1: Profile

Rhetorical Situation:
You've been asked to write a profile on a famous person for TIME magazine.

LSA #1: Choose who you want to research, and why

LSA#2: Title, outline of topics, where to find the information, citation

MWA #1: Write the profile

Major Writing Assignment 2: Argument/Position

Rhetorical Situation:

You’ve been asked to write an article for WIRED magazine about the ethics of an app.
Argue for or against its ethical application.

LSA #1: Choose the app, annotate the terms of service

LSA#2: Organizer for pro/con

MWA #1: Write the article

Major Writing Assignment 2: Flyer/Infographic/Webpage

Rhetorical Situation:

Choose a topic or issue that is important to you.
Write a specific rhetorical situation (genre, audience, purpose).

LSA #1: Annotate a sample of what you’re creating, write rhetorical situation

LSA#2: Plan out, storyboard

MWA #1: Create the flyer/infographic/webpage

For the last MWA since students had chosen a variety of topics that tied, I wanted to open it up. Also by the end of the semester I want them using the skills they've learned so writing their own rhetorical situations.

As we work on each as a class we will discuss (and I'll write down on class notes, done in Google Slides, and made available to them) the elements each should include. They will use these to create and we will use them as reference during our grade conferences.

Next, I needed to look at the topics and choose mentor texts for each of these genres. As program coordinator, I'm building a document for composition instructors that lays out the genre approach, and supplies resources, so I went to look there first. I put those links to mentor texts into the syllabus.

I've talked about this approach before, and the pushback I've gotten is "I'd love to do this but this is too time intensive." This took me 36 minutes. And the payoffs will be huge. On their exit tickets today the majority of students said they were excited to get started in class. Choice and to a certain extent engagement is already built in. More importantly for me, this is a class culture builder. For their exit tickets I asked for one thing they learned, one question they had, and one thing they wanted me to know.
Some of the things they put under learned:

• In this class I learned we are not writing for the professor
• Writing is more than just writing for the teacher or professor
• Many mentioned the Weapemeoc tribe from my land acknowledgment I opened with as part of my "where are we?" focus
• In each aspect of your life there are genres and a certain jargon used
• I learned that we will focus on different perspectives not just mine and/or the professors

The students also in class did mini discourse community notes- identified four areas of their life and wrote down what each read and wrote, then the specific genres and jargon. Then I asked them to think about the job they had or wanted and what they read and wrote, what genres and jargon was used.
I wrote up the answers to their questions (no attendance policy, no I'm not straight edge) for the first slide we'll go over next class, and learned all kinds of things about them from that last prompt.

My students know that their interests, narratives matter. That they matter, from the first day. This is very important to me. And everything else we do in class enforces this.

I know it can feel scary to give up control in a classroom. I know it seems like this is a lot of work. But the payoffs, the benefits are amazing.

I'm excited today went well, and look forward to meeting the rest of my classes tomorrow.

Setting Up My Office, Setting a Tone

My last couple of years teaching high school I transitioned to grade conferences held in class, dumped teaching the canon, and got rid of my teacher's desk. While these may seem like totally separate events they were all connected, part of active choices on my part to better serve my students. One of the many reasons I was able to do these things was because of the people I follow on Twitter, and the exposure I got from them about better pedagogy and anti-racist teaching.

The last few years I've thought a lot about the power structures that exist in education, how they impact my students, and the harm of replicating innately white power structures does to students. Often in my Twitter feed there are voices and narratives that should be complementing each other but aren't. There are voices about how students learn, that are not interacting with the voices about how poverty, institutional racism, and trauma affect students. Or voices that challenge educators who when reporting on research about how students learn do not acknowledge that this research is how white students learn. I guess I wish all the parts of my Twitter feed spoke to each other. That K-12 teachers were listening to the college professors, that all were listening to and learning from the trauma and anti-racist work being done and shared by excellent folks.

A few months ago as I was sharing my ditch the teacher desk thoughts on Twitter I shared too what getting rid of these structures might look like at the college level. Now that I'll be teaching at the college level, I want to expand some of my thoughts, using the real world example of me setting up my campus office this past week.

So, I had a couple of clear ideas about what I wanted my office to do. I did not want my desk to be the focus. I did not want it (especially this set up) to be how students interacted with me. I did not want a desk between us, representing a power discrepancy.

So, I asked my department chair for a table, and he graciously wandered rooms with me until we found a surplus table that would work. The table is against a blank wall that I really want to make a student contribution collage thingey. It is also against a wall with multiple outlets so students can plug in laptops/phones as needed. When you open the door, this is what you see:

The conference table has pens, markers, Post-Its, paper, stapler, tape. On the wall to the right is a 4' white board that I bought and my favorite poster, Map of Manuscript Earth. I want this to be a working space, a space where students and I can collaborate and work through things together.

On the other side of the office is  my desk and shelves. There is a filing cabinet, which frankly I'm just dumping stuff in because I don't really deal with paper. The shelves are mostly empty. I think I want to have a "want one take one" reading shelf, of just cool books. On top is a board game of Miltonopoly a student made as a final project and my Paradise Lost poster. My sweatshirt has funny ducks on it. The shelf above my desk has Archie McPhee toys. On the bottom shelf are several crates- tissues with motivational sayings, granola bars, rubber ducks. I brought in my old printer, copier, scanner, because this is invaluable for lots of reasons. I am lucky to enjoy and be able to work from my home office. I don't go to coffee shops or need to go anywhere else for quiet. But I know too that I'll be spending a lot of time in my office, so I wanted my desk space to be somewhere I could work. One of the first things I did was rerun the computer cables so they were neat, and everything was in a good working space.

I have  deck of cards, and Othello in my office. This is new. I'm hoping that students who are maybe nervous about seeing a professor, for class or advising, could play and talk. We'll see. Othello is a cool ass game regardless. I have my apple cinnamon plug in just like I always had in my classroom. Students always commented on how nice my room smelled.
In the past negative comments on evaluations have included "she teaches like she's in high school." And this is valid- I scaffold more, I'm more aware of pedagogy, I am transparent in why we do the things we do. My thought process for my office was very much informed by my time teaching high school. I think these things are important.

I opened the blinds, one because I love the view and natural sunlight, but too, I like how it opens the space which is a really nice, big space already.

I tinkered with comics to put on my door, and decided to play a bit with the posting office hours and class schedule bit.

I used Google Slides because it's easier to move things around in it. Especially because I'm new, I wanted to do more than just post hours.

I'm hoping that all of these things together set a specific tone. One that is welcoming to students, comfortable. A space that breaks down some power dynamics. That values students. That gives them a space. That too, lets people know the kind of teacher I am.

For me, these conscious decisions are an extension of my classes which ask the students to see where they are in what we study. That asks them to use their own interests to explore our subject matter. That builds things with them. They're also an extension of things like not policing behavior, accommodating all students, and making my course and content accessible for all.

There will be a lot of new things this year, and a steep learning curve. Frankly, setting up my office was the last recognizable thing I've done. I don't know what it's going to be like to be a professor- what the day to day routine will be like, service, committees, advising. I know how to create a syllabus, choose readings, set up a space, but past that? Whole new, unfamiliar world. So I don't know what this semester or year will be like but I am grateful for all the lessons I've learned the last few years that make me feel secure in the kind of teacher I want to be, and how I want my students to feel.

I guess I'll figure the rest out.