Week Three: Possible Teaching Assignments Based on My Teaching Philosophy

A significant part of my teaching philosophy involves the big R: how is what I am teaching relevant? We discussed how adult learners need to feel like what they are being taught has value. The first assignment I graded consisted of two parts: the student wrote about their writing experiences and then they analyzed a short letter. The first half of the assignment was usually clear and focused, while the second half was usually a bit more convoluted. This observation leads me to my second guiding star: students write the best if they are writing about something they understand. If composition is mostly focuses on how writers construct their text, I want give my students lots of control over what they are writing about. The hope is that since they have already mastered the subject matter so we can just focus on the writing.
I am hoping to use these assignments when I teach composition next year, so they are designed to supplement their learning within the established curriculum, and not add too much to their work load.
The first assignment that I would like to do with my students was inspired by our class discussion; Dr. Rice mentioned how most of the incoming freshmen have not read a book from start to finish in years. I will ask my students to pick a book, any book appropriate for their reading level, and read it throughout the semester (I will provide a book list if they need ideas). Three times during the semester, they will turn in a short response to the book, and tell me what they think. At the end of the semester they will turn in a book review. This would give them a chance to read a book and react to it.
Next, every other week each student will bring in a one page essay about anything they want. It can be a how-to paper, persuasion, a story about their weekend, etc. The idea is, again, to let them write about something they know really well so the writing is the focus. They will split into pairs or small groups, and share what they wrote. This is a chance for some collaboration and peer revisions.
Another assignment that I would like to try is having the students write a letter, and send it. Again, they can choose the receiver and subject matter. They can email a friend or family member, write a complaint or complement to business, etc. The hope is for them to notice the choices they make when writing for different audience and different purposes. I would like for them to start recognizing the impact that they words make on their audience.
Finally, I hope to demonstrate in class the different effects different writings can have. During one lesson I would like to show them three different text of similar subject matter, but utilize the three different rhetorical appeals. This idea is touched upon by the three articles they will read for the regular course work. However, I would like to make the examples more applicable to their everyday lives. In my fist blog post I gave the example of three different reviews for products. This lesson would be similar to that. This would be a simple way for the students to start talking about choices and how different choices yield different results.

I have not yet taught composition, and I am excited to get the chance. I would like to make my assignments have an element of choice, so the students can express themselves, and be grounded in relevance so they see how writing effects them in the real world.