Question about first time teaching in the fall.

[BrookeSnow]

Hi everyone,

 

I have a graduate assistantship starting this fall. I will be responsible for teaching a freshman composition class. I will have full responsibility for designing the class, teaching, grading etc. I am trying to get my hands on an advance copy of the university-made collection of essays. I feel kind of like I cannot do anything until I know what the student will have to read.

 

Is there anything I can start doing now to prepare for this? Like picking out a semester long theme or something?

[Glamour_Girl]

Okies, first of all, first-time poster, long-time reader, so, cheers!

 

Sometimes a lot depends on the particular uni, cos many times a university's freshman comp division will have a set goal for what they want the TAs to teach and how they want them to teach the courses, at least that was my particular experience of the TA.

 

On the other hand, if you end up teaching comp for another department (example: the director of ESL knew I had a TA and wanted me to teach composition for ESL), then the design of the course could be very much up to the instructor, at least that was my experience at this particular school.  Something to consider.

 

Ask the director of composition for the texts well before the semester begins, that should give you a very good idea of the general direction of the course.  Failing that, a basic composition course should cover the, well, basics.  So, you'd be covering the different types of academic essays and how students can effectively write these essays.  For me, one of the core requirements of a comp course has always been about how to teach a student to think and therefore *write* critically.

 

Good luck!   

[somethinbruin]

Hi there! I know that at Kent they make their GA's do a summer semester course to introduce them to teaching the course (I considered Kent for my MA a few years ago, but ultimately chose somewhere else). I assume you will get most of your materials then. But that doesn't really help you start preparing now, does it? I bet if you wait another week or so, until after post-semester activities have wound down, the director of first-year composition might be willing to send you example syllabi, let you know the texts, and maybe even get you exam copies of the books/reading. Send him/her a polite e-mail and see what you can get your hands on.

 

You also can start thinking about the basic elements of composition that you're probably going to have to teach, no matter how the course is structured: the rhetorical triangle, textual summary and analysis, development of argument, crafting thesis statements, topic sentences, organization, etc. Look around the web for handouts and exercises that you can crib from other areas/instructors.

 

Also, I agree wholeheartedly with Glamour_Girl. You're going to spend a good amount of your time teaching students how to think critically, so have that in mind when you read the texts you're going to assign them. Think about ways to engage them with the text. How can you get them involved in the process of reading and writing? I always joke that I will teach through interpretive dance if it gets my students into the lesson. It hasn't come to that yet, but I have been known to toss a hackie sack around the classroom to keep them on their toes. (To them, not at them, mind you. I also bribe with junior frosty coupons...best $1 I ever spent at Wendy's.)

 

Basically, I would encourage you to think about how you would like to be taught writing. When you were coming into undergrad out of high school, what were you most nervous about? Most of my students would say that they're good at having opinions (lord, do they have opinions...), but feel pretty lost about how to back those opinions up through ethical arguments, research based evidence, and analysis that weaves the two together. That's where you're going to spend most of your time.

 

Do you have to do a themed course? If so, I would recommend going with something broad so that you can get a lot of mileage out of it. If you get too narrow you run the risk of alienating students who have no interest in that particular area. But broadness gives you some latitude.