Strategies for Teaching First-Year Composition

by Duane Roen (Editor)

Whether the new instructor of first-year composition looks forward to that first class period with anticipation, dread, or a mix of emotions, Strategies for Teaching First-Year Composition offers guidance, reassurance, and thoughtful commentary on the many activities leading up to and surrounding classroom What preparation do I need to teach first-year comp? How do I construct a syllabus? How do I develop effective writing assignments? Why am I teaching writing at all? What’s the place of writing in a university education? The texts included in this collection respond to these questions and many others with ideas, suggestions, and experiences from both veteran and new teachers.

Genres: Nonfiction, Academic, Reference, Education

626 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2002

Reviews

[Matt Sautman · Rating 3 out of 5]

In part this volume is somewhat dated, having been compiled in an era where digital technology in our first-year writing classrooms was a novelty and not ubiquitous, and in an era where prescriptivist approaches to teaching English were more in vogue than currently. Yet there are some useful gems in here that either can help inform a new teacher’s pedagogy or provide sample documents (like Teaching Philosophies and Lesson Plans) that can serve as modes for teachers to make into their own. I don’t recommend this as a book to read cover-to-cover, especially since there are some essays that at least another reviewer on here notes for their brevity and general underdeveloped aesthetic. But as a reference book, I do see this useful for both the novice and seasoned instructor. In isolation though, this could lead to an instructor astray if they are unaware of shifts in composition pedagogy over the past decade and a half since this was published.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a lot in here, but--like most collections--it's uneven in its quality and timeliness. I found the parts about peer review and responding to student writing to be the most useful, both in the examples they provided and in the theoretical backing they illuminated. These days, in contrast, most of us should skip the portions devoted to computers in the classroom as what's here is very dated. Overall, though, this is a collection I can see excerpting in useful ways. It certainly, however, isn't one that is (or was, in my case) worth reading cover-to-cover.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little dated, but overall good information

[Bridgitte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting ideas, and some common sense ones. It's mostly theoretical with some actual assignments, exercises, and approaches. Mostly, it was interesting reading in terms of thinking about the topics, but some of the more interesting essays were too short... 2-3 pages. Good seed of thought, but not an essential read.