You’ll notice some patterns as you read the syllabi, and that’s not an accident. All sections of ENG 110 share a common logic by design.

WRITING
English 110 is structured around the writing assignments. We begin with our essays and work back from there, asking: What do we have to do as instructors to prepare our students to succeed at this, and this, and this?

Vocabulary side note on scaffolding:
The term for this approach to writing pedagogy is scaffolding. Our assignments are scaffolded, so our students can work up to their big assignments with a lot of small ones.

With that question in mind, we create lesson plans that train our students in the myriad of small processes—evaluating a source, for example, analyzing a source, and referring to it in a meaningful way—that add up to a college-level essay.

More concretely, we ask our students to write:

• Three formal essays focused on analysis, argumentation and rhetoric;
• At least one research-based project;
• Pre-draft writing, drafts, and revisions (with peer review and instructor feedback); and
• Ungraded informal writing

Vocabulary side note on low-stakes writing:
The term for those last two categories is low-stakes writing. As the counterpart to the high-stakes writing in the first two categories, it is essential to scaffolding.]

READING
The reading exists in the syllabus to support the writing. We keep the quantity of reading small in ENG 110, at about 10-15 pages per week, because the purpose of the reading is less to convey content than to prompt student writing. The readings are chosen carefully with that in mind. They should work together to establish a scholarly conversation that every student can enter in their own way. Our job is to help them find their way.

The readings include:

• Topical sources;
• Texts on rhetoric and writing;
• Scholarly sources;
• Credible non-scholarly sources; and
• Models of writing;

*Which topic do you want to teach?* We request that you select from the first three syllabi on the site (Monsters or Cultural Representation and the Media or Language and Literacy), as learning management system models are provided for you as well.

It’s time to choose, at least in a preliminary way. Let us know and raise any hesitations or indecisions that you want to discuss. And as read the syllabus for the topic you’ve chosen, ask yourself: What do you hope we’ll discuss at the orientation?

You might want to talk in greater detail about:

• scaffolding;
• high/low-stakes writing;
• how the reading supports the writing;
• why the writing assignments look the way they do;
• how the research component works;
• how the syllabus works toward the goals of ENG 110, or the “learning outcomes”; or
• more precisely, what any of this looks like in practice

We want to know. Post your topic on Slack.