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last.updated 8.05.09

 

Pedagogy Project & Rationale


Purpose

To give you the opportunity to create a usable document after studying various English Studies pedagogies and to demonstrate that you can apply what you have learned. This project asks you to design and justify a pedagogical practice for a specific English Studies context.


Instructions–Invention

Choose an English Studies context that you are teaching in or would want to teach in. This project will give you the opportunity to rethink your current practices and/or develop a proposal for a new instructional opportunity. These opportunities may include...

  • a professional writing, literature, or creative writing course
  • doing a workplace writing workshop
  • a WAC workshop
  • mentoring or professionalization for writing faculty
  • teaching an English studies course in an online context

Choose what you want to focus on in this context. For example, you may decide to...

  • descriptively outline the entire course or workshop
  • provide a detailed outline of a specific unit or project
  • propose a descriptive plan for mentoring or professionalization
  • include teaching tools you develop

As you make these decisions, consider the 2500-4000 word, single-spaced scope of the project.

You will want to develop an informed understanding of the instructional context by drawing upon the research that you did this semester. Also, if you plan to develop your pedagogical project for a specific context–which is encouraged–do some field research to get a better sense of this context.

Instructions–Writing Pedagogy Project

Develop a 50 word abstract that briefly explains the pedagogical situation.

Compose an 2500-4000 word, single-spaced description of what you will be doing for this pedagogical situation. The instructor or your peers in this class, if the situation arose, should be able to use this document to teach what you have proposed with very few questions.

The choices that you make about the context and the scope of the project will determine how you structure this document and how much detail you use. As you make these decisions, think about how you want to actually use the document that you produce beyond this course.

Instructions–Writing Rationale

In addition to designing the pedagogy, you will also justify the pedagogical decisions that you have made. Therefore you will include a 750-1000 word rationale with your pedagogy project. In this rationale you will address...

  • what is your instructional goals for the pedagogy you developed?)
  • what are the pedagogical issues that informed your design? what have English Studies scholars said about these issues? (use the assigned readings, the readings that you did for the wiki, any other relevant scholarship that you read, and personal experiences–although this support should not be used to the exclusion of engaging with the theoretical discussion)
  • how does your pedagogy reflect your position on these issues? (point to very specific practices in your pedagogy to illustrate your point)
  • how might the practice of the pedagogy you developed contribute to the larger conversation about English Studies pedagogy in this context? (your response to this will probably draw upon everything above; you may also choose to use your personal experiences as support, but again not to the exclusion of the theoretical support)
  • sources that you reference should be cited using a MLA, APA, or another appropriate citation format.


Criteria

Logistics:

  • 50 word abstract
  • 2500-4000 for pedagogy project; 750-1000 words for rationale
  • both will be single-spaced
  • This document is due on November 5 , 2009 as a hard copy at the beginning of class
  • 200 points

In addition to the general evaluation criteria, the instructor will be looking for evidence of...

  • a sense of audience–is the pedagogy project written so another person could teach what you have proposed with little trouble? is the rationale written to the instructor to demonstrate how the pedagogy project is the application of current scholarship in a specific pedagogical situation?
  • an informed understanding of the English Studies pedagogy in the context you have chosen
  • an ability to articulate your pedagogy to another audience, as well as explain why you will (or they should) adopt this approach
  • a well-supported rationale that clearly connects to the pedagogy you designed
  • appropriate use of conventions, including MLA, APA, or an appropriate citation formatting