Fulfills Professional Preparation and required of all new Teaching Assistants.

English 537 is a teaching practicum designed for new teachers of English 101 at the University of New Mexico. It also accommodates students who are interested in writing pedagogy but are not currently teaching UNM’s introductory, undergraduate writing course.

Teaching practica tend to feel schizophrenic; that is, some coursework aims to support new teachers in very practical ways, while other work introduces teachers to the rich literature on writing theory and writing instruction. To address the first aim, we’ll spend time each week honing your expertise in the arts of creating sound writing assignments, conducting class discussions, organizing peer reviews, responding to student writing, working with program outcomes, using media, and running good face-to-face conferences. We’ll take plenty of time to talk about the issues you bring to the table and to share practical strategies. To address the second aim, we’ll begin exploring current scholarship on the teaching of college writing, and you’ll grapple with the ethical and theoretical underpinnings of your developing classroom practice.

Assignments are designed to support both course goals. You’ll be writing and revising documents that circulate in your classrooms; you’ll review books and articles on writing theory and practice; you’ll write proposals for submission to the very large conference of college writing teachers held each spring (this coming year in New York!). Finally, you’ll assemble teaching portfolios that will serve you in several ways: job search, efficient course preparation for UNM teaching, conference presentations, leadership in the UNM Rhetoric and Writing program.

English 537 is a three-credit graduate course that fulfills the pedagogy requirement for all English graduate students. If you are a teacher in our program, a B in the course keeps you in good standing.