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Winter quarter course for future teachers: English 471 (VLPA, fieldwork, optional W)

Submitted by Caterina Rost on December 9, 2016 - 6:00pm

English 471: The Theory and Practice of Teaching Writing (SLN 14379, TuTh 1:30-3:20, VLPA; W option) will be taught by Prof. Anis Bawarshi, who served for ten years as Director of UW's highly regarded Expository Writing Program.

Through reading and fieldwork, English 471 introduces students to the various approaches that guide the study and teaching of writing, ranging from methods for teaching students how to produce texts to methods for assessing these texts.  The course will also examine the research and theories that underscore these methods, assumptions that guide these approaches, and consideration of whose interests they serve, so that all members of the class can become more self-reflective readers, writers, and teachers. English 471 provides an opportunity to think about what it means to teach writing, to develop and share our own goals for teaching writing, and to generate and articulate practices that will help us achieve these goals. Coursework will include keeping a reading journal, conducting a brief teaching ethnography, preparing a bibliography and curriculum design presentation, and creating a teaching portfolio.

Students in English 471 will have an optional service-learning component, offering an opportunity to work in local K-12 classrooms (three to four hours each week) as tutors, mentors, and writing coaches. Those who opt to do service learning will have the option to register for additional credit hours of English 491, if they choose. For those who participate, the service learning in this course will fulfill 30-40 of the observation hours that students are required to complete prior to applying to the UW Masters in Teaching program.

Information about English 471 is available from the instructor at bawarshi@uw.edu.

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