Illinois State University
English Department

ENG 510, Professional Seminar in the Teaching of English


Paula Ressler
Director of English Education
352 STV, Fall 2003
Mondays 5:30-9:20
Office 323C STV
Phone: (309) 438-7798
E-mail: pressle@ilstu.edu
Fax: (309) 438-5414


Course Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my colleague, Doug Hesse, for generously sharing his own course syllabus and bibliography for English 510 with me. Our informal conversations about the course--its high points and what could use further development--have been tremendously helpful. I am sure that my students will benefit from this collaboration.


Course Description

In this course we will explore several areas of pedagogical theory and practice in English Studies: Language Arts Pedagogies, including Rhetoric, Composition, and Drama Pedagogy; Linguistics Pedagogies; Critical and Postmodern Pedagogies; Multicultural Pedagogies; Feminist Pedagogies; and Queer Pedagogies. Students will study a selection of texts from these areas; read research-based articles, and explore additional texts focused in their own areas of concentration. One of our collective tasks will be to weave together a wide variety of pedagogical ideas and practices to facilitate teaching and learning in all areas of English Studies. Students also will develop an internship proposal, a draft course syllabus, and a comprehensive exam synthesis with annotated bibliography.

Format of Course

The course meets for four hours per week, Monday night from 5:30-9:20 p.m. The syllabus for the course, which will be subject to negotiation and revision as needed, will be posted and kept up-to-date on the class Web Page. The Web Page address is: http://www.ilstu.edu/~pressle/ENG_510. Sometimes we will spend the four full hours in class, at other times, 2-3 hours. Discussions about texts will continue on a class Web Board for 1-2 hours per week, where students will post their own weekly responses to readings and instructor questions, as well as a weekly response to a peer's text. The Web Board address is: http://webboard.ilstu.edu/~ENG_510f03.

Students will come to class prepared to discuss, develop, engage in, and reflect on assigned readings about theoretically-based pedagogical practices and ideas. In addition, students and instructor also will create demonstrations to illuminate particular pedagogical theories and practices and raise important pedagogical questions. At the end of the semester, students will present their revised internship proposals and synthesis questions to one another.

 


Assessment

Assessments will be based upon keeping current with readings and engagement in discussions and demonstrations in class; timely responses to texts and Web Board postings; regular and helpful responses to a peer's writing assignments on the Web Board; timely and thoughtful preparation of the courses' major assignments: preparation of internship proposal and draft syllabus, and synthesis statement and questions with annotated bibliography.

Accommodations

Any student needing to arrange a reasonable accommodation for a documented disability should contact Disability Concerns at 350 Fell Hall, 438-5853(voice), 438-8620 (TTY).

Course Schedule

Week 1
Monday, Aug. 18

Course Introduction, and Teaching Autobiography

Classroom Discussion and Demonstrations
  • Discuss how this is a web supported course and what that will mean.
  • Responding to peer's writing.
  • What is pedagogy?
  • Discuss assumptions about teaching and learning.
  • Begin teaching autobiography.
    • Who are you as a teacher and how were your ideas shaped?
    • What are some principles you believe in about teaching and learning?
    • How do these ideas relate to what you know about your students or who your students will be and their learning needs?

Assignments
  • Read Fisher's No Angels in the Classroom, pp. 1-110.
    • Come to class on Aug. 25 prepared to discuss issues of "Experience" and "Authority" in feminist teaching.
    • Post your 1-2 page response on the Web Board to the questions of experience and authority as they may affect your own classrooms.
    • Draft and post a revision of your teaching autobiography that incorporates these concepts.
  • Respond to someone else's teaching autobiography.

 

  

Week 2
Monday, Aug. 25

Fisher, No Angels in the Classroom

Classroom Discussion and Demonstrations
  • Guest: Dr. Susan Burt will discuss research requiring IRB approval.
  • Discuss pp. 1-110 in Fisher's No Angels in the Classroom.

Assignments
  • Read pp. 111-221, No Angels in the Classroom.
    • Write response to these chapters, focusing on issues of "Care," "Safety," and "Difference" in feminist teaching.
    • Post your response to these chapters.
    • Respond to one person's Web Board posting from part I and part II.
    • Incorporate response to Fisher's ideas in part II about feminist teaching into your teaching autobiography.
   

Week 3
Monday, Sept. 1

Labor Day Holiday--Continue Fisher discussion on Web Board.

Assignments
  • Read Scholes, The Rise and Fall of English, part I.
  • Write and post response to Scholes, part I.
    • What do you think of Scholes' analysis of the rise and fall of English and how might his ideas influence your pedagogy? Was there anything surprising in his analysis?
   

Week 4
Monday, Sept. 8

Scholes, The Rise and Fall of English, part I. Also check Sharon Crowley's, Composition in the University: Historical and Polemical Essays.

Classroom Discussion and Demonstrations
  • Groups present on Fisher, part II.
  • Discuss Scholes, part I.

Assignments
  • Read Scholes, part II.
  • Write response to Scholes, part II. Think about Scholes' proposals to enhance the teaching of English and propose solutions you have for improving the teaching of English? Post on Web Board.
   

Week 5
Monday, Sept. 15

Scholes, part II & Internship Proposals

Classroom Discussion and Demonstrations
  • Discuss Scholes, part II and present your solutions.
  • Discuss structure of internship proposals

Assignments
  • All read ix-13, in Mayher's Uncommon Sense.
  • Read group assigned chapters.
    • Post response to Web.
    • Discuss key pedagogical points in Mayher and implications for teaching and learning.
    • Relate Mayher to Freire and Fisher.
    • Prepare demonstration that will help the rest of the class understand and be able to apply key pedagogical concepts.
    • Be prepared to discuss implications for teaching and learning that are discussed in your chapter as they relate to your subdiscipline.
   

Week 6,
Monday, Sept. 22

Mayher, Uncommon Sense.

Classroom Discussion and Demonstrations

Present Mayher demonstrations and discuss.

Assignments
  • Respond to Mayher demonstrations and post.
    • How did this presentation enhance or impede learning?
    • What suggestions do you have for improving its effectiveness in your sub-discipline?
  • Read Slevin chapters.
   

Week 7,
Monday, Sept. 29

Slevin, Critical Theory and the Teaching of Literature.

 

Classroom Discussion and Demonstrations
  • Present Slevin chapters.
  • Discuss incorporating critical theory into the pedagogy of your subdiscipline.

Assignments
  • Respond to Slevin presentations and the chapter your group presented.
  • Read sample internship proposals.
  • Draft internship proposals.
   

Week 8,
Monday, Oct. 6

Internship proposals.

 

Classroom Discussion and Demonstrations

 
  • Workshop internship proposals.

Assignments

 

  • Revise draft proposals.
  • Draft bibliography and keep up to date each week.
  • Ressler, Dramatic Changes
  • Respond to Dramatic Changes on Web Board.
   

Week 9,
Monday, Oct. 13

Ressler, Dramatic Changes.
Guest, Dr. Tom Crumpler, drama and language arts educator.

Classroom Discussion and Demonstrations

 
  • Discuss theories and practices of Drama-in-Education.
  • Process drama demonstration.

Assignments

 

  • Write and post response to the experience of learning through drama. Include aspects of this pedagogy that seem unclear or difficult?
  • Devise group dramas and prepare to present.
  • Read handout on post-colonial theory.

 

  

Week 10,-Tentative Schedule Follows
Monday, Oct. 20

Process Drama Presentations.

 

 

Classroom Discussion and Demonstrations

 
  • Present dramas.
  • Discuss what they are trying to accomplish and how.
  • Suggest revisions.
  • Read handout on Post Colonial Theory.

 

 

Assignments

 

  • Read handout on Post Colonial Theory
  • Draft syllabus for internship
  • Draft IRB forms

 

 

 

  

Week 11,
Monday, Oct. 27

Post Colonial Theory

 

Classroom Discussion and Demonstrations

 
  • Guest, Dr. Kim Stone, on colonialism, postcolonial literature, and pedagogy.

 

Assignments

 

  • Respond to Dr. Stone's presentation and subsequent class discussion.
  • Draft course syllabus.
  • Read Ladson-Billings, Crossing Over to Canaan.
  • Read supplementary articles on Ebonics and other cultural linguistic issues.
  • Write response to Ladson-Billings discussing cross-cultural implications in your subdiscipline.

 
   

Week 12,
Monday, Nov. 10

Ladson-Billings, Crossing Over to Canaan.

 

 

Classroom Discussion and Demonstrations

 
  • Discuss and demonstrate cross-cultural issues in teaching in your subdiscipline.

 

Assignments

 

  • Revise your teaching autobiography by weaving together or incorporating all the pedagogical ideas we have discussed.
  • Publish teaching autobiography
  • Draft synthesis statement and revise annotated bibliography.
   

Week 13,
Monday, Nov. 17

Pinar, Queer Theory in Education.

 

Classroom Discussion and Demonstrations

 
  • Present and discuss Pinar chapters.
  • What does queer theory contribute to your pedagogical understanding?

 

Assignments

 

  • Write and post response to class discussion and demonstrations.
  • Read selected chapters in Pinar, Queer Theory in Education.
  • Write and post response.
    • How does queer theory impact upon your pedagogy?
  • Respond to someone else's response.

Syllabus, Synthesis Statements and Bibliography, Teaching Autobiography, Internship Proposals.

 
   

Week 14,
Monday, Nov. 24

No class, NCTE convention.

Workshop and share completed syllabus, synthesis statement and bibliography, autobiography, and internship proposals.

 

 

Assignments

 

Continue to workshop together and over Web Board.

Make final revisions for this semester.
   

Week 15,
Monday, Dec. 1

Presentations.

 

Classroom Discussion and Demonstrations

 
  • Complete presentations.
  • Continue discussion of pedagogical theories, practices, and problems you encountered this semester.

 

Texts
All students will read a selection of texts introducing the main pedagogical concepts of the course as well as texts that inquire further into one particular area of interest. Texts marked with an asterisk will be required reading. Not all students will have to read and respond to all required texts. Groups of students will be responsible for several different texts and presenting the ideas in these texts to the rest of the class. Students also will be asked to buy a course packet and read occasional articles from the library linked to the syllabus and ones that I may distribute.


Feminist Pedagogy
*No Angel in the Classroom: Teaching Through Feminist Discourse, by Berenice Malka Fisher. Rowman and Littlefield: Lanham MD, 2001.

Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of Puerto Rican Childhood, by Judith Ortiz Cofer. Arte Publico Press, 1990.Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Routledge: New York, 1990.


Language Arts Pedagogy
*Uncommon Sense: Theoretical Practice in Language Education, by John Mayher. Boynton/Cook Heinemann: Portsmouth, NH, 1990.

Integrating the Language Arts, 2nd ed., by David Yellin, Mary E. Blake, Beverly A. Devries. Holcomb Hathaway Pub.: Scottsdale, AZ; 2000.


Drama Pedagogy
*Dramatic Changes: Talking about Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity with High School Students through Drama, Paula Ressler. Heinemann: Portsmouth, NH, 2002

Building Moral Communities Through Educational Drama, by Betty Jane Wagner. Ablex Publishing, 1999.



Critical and Postmodern Theory and Pedagogy
*Critical Theory and the Teaching of Literature, James F. Slevin (Editor), Art Young (Editor). National Council of Teachers of English, 1996.

*The Rise and Fall of English: Reconstructing English as a Discipline, by Robert Scholes. Yale Univ. Press, 1999.
ISBN 0300080840

Reclaiming Pedagogy: The Rhetoric of the Classroom, Patricia Donahue and Ellen Quandahl (Editors), Southern Illinois University Press, 1989.
ISBN 08093-1534-3

Composition in the University: Historical and Polemical Essays, by Sharon Crowley. Pittsburg: University of Pittsburg Press: , 1998.


Multicultural Education and Critical Race Theory
*Crossing over to Canaan: The Journey of New Teachers in Diverse Classrooms, by Gloria Ladson-Billings. Jossey Bass, 2001.
ISBN 0787950017

Race Matters, by Cornell West. Vintage, 1994.
ISBN 0679749861


Queer Pedagogy
*Queer Theory in Education (Studies in Curriculum Theory Series)William Pinar, (Editor). Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc.: Mahwah, NJ, 1998.

Troubling Intersections of Race and Sexuality: Queer Students of Color and Anti-Oppressive Education, Kevin K. Kumashiro, Ed., Rowman and Littlefield: Lanham MD, 2001.

Lesbian and Gay Studies and the Teaching of English: Positions, Pedagogies, and Cultural Politics, William J. Spurlin (Editor). NCTE, 2000.


Suggested Supplementary Journals and Articles

The Journal on Excellence in College Teaching
http://ject.lib.muohio.edu

Pedagogy
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/ped/

Draft Course Packet Selections (currently reviewing and selecting packet materials):
Dixon-Krauss, Lisbeth, "A Mediation Model for Dynamic Literacy Instruction," 4 pp., http://psych.hanover.edu/vygotsky/krauss.html.

Dyson, Anne Haas, "A Bakhtinian Buzz about Teacher Talk: Discourse Matters in 'What Difference Does Difference Make.'" English Education October 2002, 6-10.

Elbow, Peter, "The Cultures of Literature and Composition: What could Each Learn from the Other?" College English 5 May 2002: 533-546.

Isaksen, Judy L., "From Critical Race Theory to Composition Studies: Pedagogy and Theory Building," Legal Studies Forum 24, 3&4, 18 pp., http://www.law.utexas.edu/lpop/etext/lsf/isaksen24.htm.

Kort, Barry, and Rob Reilly. "Restructuring Education Pedagogy: A Model for Deep Change," Cambridge, MA: The Media Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, {bkort,reilly}@media.mit.edu.

Rice, Jeff, "The 1963 Hip-Hop Machine: Hip-Hop Pedagogy as Composition," College English 54, 3, February 2003: 453-471.

"Critical Pedagogy, Critical Race Theory, and Antiracist Education: Implications for Multicultural Education," Christine E. Sleeter. DRAFT, for publication in J. A. Banks & C. A. Banks (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education 2nd ed., Jossey Bass.

Spurlin, William J., "Theorizing Queer Pedagogy in English Studies after the 1990s," College English, 65, 1, September 2002: 9-16.

Weinstein, Susan, "The Writing on the Wall: Attending to Self-motivated Student Literacies," English Education October 2002, 21-45.