Applying Rhetoric to the Teachin= g of Writing

Rationale

One of the intended outcomes for this course is that students will “have a more complete understanding of the nature of rhetoric and how it relates to the teaching of writing.” Although each of your assignments = will demonstrate this to one degree or another, particularly the latter part of = the outcome, the Reading Journal is one place that students can clearly demonst= rate that they have gained a more complete understanding of the nature of rhetor= ic.

An purpose of the Reading Journal assignment this seme= ster is to allow us, as a group, to read a broad body of rhetorical theory which will help prepare us for our own writing project: a book for the NCTE TRIP Series (working title: Applying Rhetoric to the Teaching of Writing). Thus, the more different things we= read, as a group, the more helpful this assignment will be.

Assignment

Maintain a reading journal containing bibliographical = citations for, brief summaries of, and responses to selected readings. Each entry should also include an indication of the number of pages read. Students should expect to re= ad between 60-75 pp. each week, for a total of 120-150 pp. in preparation for = each class. Your reading journal s= hould be uploaded to our Wiki each week. More about that later . . .

Rhetorical Situation=

Topic: Your weekly reading selections

Audience: Instructor and classmates

Purpose: To inform them about what you’ve been r= eading and how it has influenced your thinking; also to gather thinking which we c= an synthesize as we develop the theoretical portion of our TRIP book.

Ethos: Your Reading Journal will help develop a strong= ethos as an informed co-author of our TRIP book.=

Sources of Readings

The syllabus contains a list of suggested readings from which to choose in preparation for each class period. However, students are more than welcome (encouraged, in fact) to identify their own readings. Ideally, student-selected readings= will be relevant to the topic for the week and contribute to the students’= own work in the course. (Thus, if= you are preparing a teaching demonstration designed to introduce the concept of audience to a ninth grade class on a week when the topic is “Exploring Contemporary Rhetorics & Composition,” you might want to read from James Porter’s book, Audience and Rhetoric, which is on the li= st of suggested readings. You mi= ght also, however, want to read Walter Ong’s article, “The Writer’s Audience is Always Fiction,’ which is not on the list!

Format

Although you are welcome to develop a specific format = that works best for you, each entr= y in your Reading Journal should include the following elements:

summary of the reading (what i= deas from this reading will we want to take into account as we compose the theoretical portion of our TRIP book; that is, what ideas are the most relevant to the teaching of writing?)
Why are they important ideas = to share? How do they relat= e to other ideas we’ve found in our reading?)

Submission Deadline<= /h2>
Please bring hard copies of your Reading Journal entri= es to each class meeting. I will co= llect them at the end of class (after you’ve had a chance to discuss them w= ith your classmates) and return them at the following meeting.

Evaluation

Your Reading Journal constitutes 20% of your grade for= the course. My evaluation will be= based on the quantity of reading you complete and the quality of your responses. =