Required Materials
Elaine Showalter, Teaching Literature (Blackwell, 2003)
Wilbert J. McKeachie and Marilla Svinicki, Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory
for College and University Teachers 12th edition (Houghton Mifflin, 2006)
Literary work, TBA
Selected readings from the journal Pedagogy, available through Project Muse
Electronic Media
For an general introduction to electronic formats for teaching/learning, see
USF Academic Computing Home Page.
Electronic Discussion We will be using the USF Blackboard system and the
discussion board I have created for this class. You can gain access to it through My USF.
You are automatically registered by virtue of being registered for this course.
My website: information on class, assignments
and links to other important sites on literature, etc.
Other important websites are listed following the assignments.
Schedule
Jan. 11
Class 1: Passion and Practice
Articles in volume 5 of Pedagogy: Abram Van Engen, "Reclaiming Claims: What English Students
want from English Profs" and Calvin Thomas, "Moments of Productive Bafflement, or Defamiliarizing
Graduate Studies in English," in Pedagogy 5.1 (2005) 1-35, available online through Project Muse.
Part One: Advice from the experts -- something to discuss
Jan. 18
Class 2: Showalter, chaps. 1-3; McKeachie, Intro, Chaps. 1, 4-6.
Select outside literary work. Sign up for Presentation dates.
Jan. 25
Class 3: Showalter Chaps. 4-7
Feb. 1
Class 4: McKeachie, Chaps. 12-14
Feb. 8
Class 5: Showalter, chaps. 8-10, Conclusion
Feb. 15
Class 6: McKeachie, chaps. 15-18
Part Two: Practicals - Review presentations
Feb. 22
Class 7: selected readings from Pedagogy
Practical: What kind of teacher are you? Learning and Temperament
Review: Designing Assignments -- Roberta
Mar. 1
Class 8: selected readings from Pedagogy
Review: Concerns of a syllabus: texts -- Kathy
Practical
Mar. 8
Class 9: selected readings from Pedagogy
Practical: Concerns of a syllabus
Review: Ashley
Discuss teaching Gatsby
Mar. 22 Class 10: selected readings from Pedagogy
Practical: Teaching Methods -- lecture vs. discussion
Review: Maria
Mar. 29
Class 11: selected readings from Pedagogy
Practical: Evaluation and transparency
Review: Bob
April 5
Class 12: selected readings from Pedagogy
Practical: Gauging Understanding
Review: CR
Apr. 12
Class 13: Student Teaching -- Ashley-Bob
Apr. 19
Class 14: Student Teaching -- Roberta-Kathy
Apr. 26
Class 15: Student Teaching -- CR-Maria-John
Practical: Teaching Philosophy, due for class.
** Students who anticipate the necessity of being absent from class due to the
observation of a major religious observance must provide notice of the date(s)
to the instructor, in writing, by the second class meeting.
Graded Assignments
Attendance/Participation 25%
Weekly Posts (14) 25%
Review of Teaching Resource 25%
Teaching Unit 25%
Description of graded assignments
Weekly Writings – Class Discussion Board
All members are required to participate in the electronic
discussion board maintained through Blackboard. Writing assignments will vary
from week to week, depending on the topic and activity for each class. In
general, each student will be expected to write a 200-300 word, original document
in response to the readings or topics for the week. These are due to be posted
by the day before class, or Tuesday by midnight. Students are expected to engage
in a class conversation rather than to submit isolated essays; therefore it is
also expected that students read each of the posts before class. This forum is
also open for other relevant discussions.
For general information on weekly posts to discussion board, including instructions
for registering, click on Postings.
Read the posts of your classmates before composing your post (obviously, not everyone
will be able to do this in entirety.) Contribute something original to the
discussion, even if it is only a relevant question. As you will discover, I
believe the key to learning is asking the right questions.
Posts are graded on a scale of 1 to 3 for effort, not rightness or wrongness. If I do not
respond to your post, then you can assume it received full credit.
Please devote some thought to these posts, because they will constitute a
large part of our discussion material.
You will be responsible for reading ALL the posts before class discussion,
even if (especially if) you posted early.
** In case of server malfunction, bring a hardcopy of your
post to my office by Tuesday noon.
Presentation on Teaching Resource:
Each class member will make one presentation on a teaching resource to be selected through
the bibliographies in Showalter or McKeachie, or through your other course reading.
These resources can
be in the form of an article, book, website, DVD or CD or video (or other). The student
will be responsible for providing access to the material in some form so that
other members of the class can participate in the evaluation. In other words,
provide copies of an article (online or on paper), bring in the book to share,
have the CD to play in class, etc.
In the interest of coherence, the resource should reflect in some way the concerns
of the topic for that particular day, but this is not restrictive. In general
choose a resource that you are genuinely curious about and believe will be helpful.
Your presentation can be informal, but provide some basis of evaluation for class
members to discuss. Please provide answers to the following questions:
- What is the resource? Title, author(s), format, publication information including date, price, availability, etc.
- What is it about? (Summary of contents.)
- How is it organized?
- How is it helpful?
- What is the audience?
- In what situations could it be used?
- What are its strengths/weaknesses?
- How would you rate it?
Students will be responsible for signing-up for review presentations
during the middle six weeks of the semester. The student should prepare an evaluative statement
based on the above information to be included in the online annotated bibliography.
As a class, we
will be continuing the online annotated bibliography begun by the LAE 6389 class of S04. Please
see Annotated Bibliography from LAE 6389 Spring 2004
. After each presentation, students will be asked to submit a formal
entry into the annotated bibliography that we will construct as an
ongoing project during the class. Final date for last entries will
be the Wednesday of finals week or May 3.
Entries should follow standard MLA formatting. The annotation should be
written in clear, full sentences. These annotations can be as long as
the resource merits.
Please submit as Microsoft Word Files or plain text so that I can format it easily.
Teaching Unit
The parameters of this assignment will be discussed in class and decided as a group.
This syllabus is subject to change.
Related Sites
PET (Project for Effective Teaching) Resources: bibliography of
pedagogy resources aimed to help the new teacher in his or her craft. Maintained by Williams College for its new faculty.
50 Alternatives to Lecture suggestive list of instructional options;
from Teaching, Learning and Technology at SUNY
USC Pedagogy Resources
Teaching Goals Inventory The
Center for Teaching at The University of Iowa is pleased to bring the Teaching Goals Inventory to you online.
Teaching Bibliography
from the Center for Teaching and Learning at Cornell University
Electronic Archive for teaching the American Literatures The Electronic Archives are created and maintained by the
Center for Electronic Projects in American Culture Studies (CEPACS) at Georgetown University's American Studies Program.
NCTE homepage National Council of Teachers of English
Teaching Literature Bibliography Linked from the syllabus of a (far more structured)
Teaching Literature class by Prof. Byron Hawk at George Mason University
Teaching Temperaments:
On learning Styles: From the Georgia State Master Teacher Program, this site
offers information on how temperaments inform different learning styles and strategies for adopting teaching methods
to meet these different styles.
Jungian Typology test: an online test from a site entitled Humanmetrics.
Kiersey Temperament Sorter: Commercial website that provides updates Kiersey's Please
Understand Me,
including "A Modern Guide to Temperaments."
There are numerous other resources available. Please contact me with additional information.
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