English 725 Syllabus, p. 1
English 725: Place Conscious Teaching and Writing
Missouri State University
7:00-9:00 p.m.
Tuesday Jan. 14, March 18 and May 6--Siceluff 324
and Weekly Online
Dr. Cathie EnglishSiceluff Hall 229
Office Phone: 417-836-6589
901 South National Avenue
Springfield, MO 65897
/ Office Hours:
Mondays 9:00-11:00
Tuesdays 3:00-5:00
Wednesdays 12:30-3:00
Or by appointment
Place Conscious Writing and Teaching
‘Everyday places desperately need our attention—partly because they are changing so fast, and not always for the better, but also because tremendous benefit it to be gained from a personal involvement with our own locality.’ ~ Clare Walker Leslie, from Into the Field: A Guide to Locally Focused Teaching.
This course will focus on developing our understanding of place conscious writing and pedagogy through a seminar format that will be predominately online with three face-to-face meetings. The course was developed within the framework of the National Writing Project and its core beliefs about teachers, that is, that the best teachers of writing are teachers who write and the best instructors of teachers in a professional development model is other teachers. NWP believes in school reform that occurs when teachers form partnerships and networks across grade levels that enable teachers to support each other in the improvement of their writing as well as research and inquiry into writing and literacy. With that in mind, this course will focus on writing, networking with others, reflection and improvement of teaching, and finally, acting publicly to improve education at our local or regional level. The course will be divided into three units, i.e. the background or history of place conscious writing, development of place based education curriculum units, and our own personal place conscious writing.
Course Expectations: Participants will be informed about the concept of place conscious education, explore ways to develop place conscious curriculum in their own classrooms or future classrooms and write about their own experiences with place. Students are expected to participate in all course work, including course readings and well developed responses to these readings that will take place on our online discussion board. Each of you should also provide developed responses to each other’s online postings. Students will also be actively engaged in the work and discussions of this course, developing a rapport and support system that is professional, intellectual, and constructive. It is the responsibility of each member to provide articulate, thoughtful responses to each other. The responses to the week’s writing should be posted by noon on Friday each week unless otherwise noted in your class schedule. The course readings will be available via our university’s Blackboard site. You must know your user name and password to access Blackboard. I will demonstrate on the first class meeting how to access what you need on Blackboard. As stated above, the course will be divided into three units with the following expectations:
UNIT ONE: Complete the readings for each week. Post one original response to the reading. Post responses to the written responses of your classmates on the online discussion board. We will also create a deep map and classroom blog detailing our place conscious learning. The classroom blog should also be a place for personal reflection on our readings and discussion each week (in lieu of keeping a learning journal).
UNIT TWO: Prepare a place-conscious unit, and if you are teaching, implement it into your classroom, that is, if you are teaching in a K-12 school or as a graduate assistant in composition. As you prepare this unit, work with each other each week so that you can receive feedback upon your unit. Be sure to distribute the document you are working on ahead of time via a medium of your choice, e.g. Google documents, Blackboard, email, etc. Please include an Author's Note to guide the response. (The guidelines for Author’s Notes are on Blackboard). Provide a written response to each group member. We will each provide a written formal response to each other’s final unit plan.
UNIT THREE: Personal Writing Unit.Be sure to distribute ahead of time the piece that you want discussed; prepare an Author's Note to guide the response. Provide a written response to each class member.
COMPLETED WORK: Submit your finished Teaching Unit following the template provided. Submit 1-3 finished pieces of personal writing to be included in an anthology (real paper or on-line).
Course Texts (All will be available in pdf format or as links on Blackboard):
Bishop, Sharon. "The Power of Place," from English Journal, vol. 93, no. 6
Brooke, Robert. "Place-Conscious Education, Rural Schools, and the Nebraska Writing Project's
Rural Voices, Country Schools Team," from Rural Voices: Place Conscious Education and
the Teaching of Writing.
---. Introduction to Writing Suburban Citizenship: Place Conscious Education and the
Conundrum of Suburbia. Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 2014.
Desser, Daphne. “On Location in Hawai’i” from Composing Other Spaces. Douglas Reichert
Powell and John Paul Tassoni. Eds. New York: Hampton, 2008.
Donehower, Kim, Charlotte Hogg, and Eileen Schell, “Toward a Sustainable Citizenship and
Pedagogy” from Rural Literacies. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2007.
Boulton, Ian and Jennie Fleming. “Principles for Practice: What is Social Action?” from Writing
for a Change: Boosting Literacy and Learning Through Social Action. San Francisco: Jossey-
Bass, 2006.
Flower, Linda. Community Literacy and Rhetoric of Public Engagement. Carbondale: Southern
Illinois UP, 2008.
Grabill, Jeff. “On Being Useful” from the Public Work of Rhetoric: Citizen Scholars and Civic
Engagement. John Ackerman and David Coogan. Eds. Columbia: U of South Carolina P,
2010.
Gruchow, Paul. "Rosewood Township," from Grass Roots: The Universe of Home. Minneapolis:
Milkweed, 1995.
---. "What We Teach Rural Children," from Grass Roots: The Universe of Home. Minneapolis:
Milkweed, 1995.
Gruenewald, David and Gregory A. Smith. Eds. “Making Room for the Local.” Place-Based
Education in the Global Age: Local Diversity. New York: Routledge, 2008.
Haas, Toni and Paul Nachtigal. Place Value: An Educator’s Guide to Good Literature on
Rural Lifeways, Environments, and Purposes of Education. Charleston, WV: ERIC
Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools, 1998. Print.
Thomas Hothem. “Suburban Studies and College Writing: Applying Ecocomposition.”Pedagogy
9.1 (2009): 35-59. Project MUSE. Web. 5 Jan. 2014.
Jackson, Wes. "Matfield Green," from Rooted in the Land: Essays on Community and Place.
William Vitek and Wes Jackson. Eds. New Haven: Yale UP, 1996.
Joliffe, David. “The Community Literacy Advocacy Project” from the Public Work of Rhetoric:
Citizen Scholars and Civic Engagement. John Ackerman and David Coogan. Eds. Columbia:
U of South Carolina P, 2010.
Lands, LeeAnn. “A City Too Busy to Reflect.” from Writing America: Classroom Literacy and
Public Engagement. Sarah Robbins and Mimi Dyer. Eds. New York: Teachers College Press,
2004.
Mayer, Danny and Keith Woodward, “Composition and Felt Geographies.” from Composing
Other Spaces. Douglas Reichert Powell and John Paul Tassoni. Eds. New York: Hampton,
2008.
Mutnick, Debra. “Reflections on ‘Writing City Life’” from Composing Other Spaces. Douglas
Reichert Powell and John Paul Tassoni. Eds. New York: Hampton, 2008.
Price, John. “First Miracle of the Prairie” from Not Just Any Land: A Personal and Literary
Journal into the American Grasslands. Lincoln: Bison Books, 2007.
Robbins, Sarah. “Classroom Literacies and Public Culture.” from Writing America: Classroom
Literacy and Public Engagement. Sarah Robbins and Mimi Dyer. Eds. New York: Teachers
College Press, 2004.
Sobel, David. "Building a Three-legged Stool of Academic Achievement, Social Capital, and
Environmental Quality," from Place-Based Education: Connecting Classrooms and
Communities. Barrington, MA: Orion Society, 2004.
Swan, Susan. “From Urban Classroom to Urban Community” from City Comp. Bruce
McComiskey and Cynthia Ryan. Eds. New York: SUNY Press, 2003.
Welch, Nancy. “Making Space” from Living Room: Teaching Public Writing in a Privatized
World. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2008.
Grading: Your final grade will break down as follows:
Engaged participation, facilitation, and collaboration: 35%
Personal Place Conscious writing: 20%
Place Conscious Curriculum Unit: 45%
Class Schedule:
Unit I—What is Place Conscious Education?
Tuesday, Jan. 14—Introduction to the course and place conscious education. You will be given instruction on how to use Blackboard and Weebly. We will begin creating our deep maps in class and will complete them on our own. For the first two weeks our readings will be an introduction to place consciousness. Please read George Ella Lyon’s “Where I’m From” and Mary Pipher’s “Know Thyself.” Choose one chapter from Haas and Nachtigal’s Place Value (a link to a pdf version of the book is on Blackboard). Post comments to your reading to our online discussion board by Friday, January 17.
Week of Jan. 21—Please complete your deep map, take a photo of it and post your deep map legend on your blog. Please post a link to your blog on Blackboard. For this week, read Derek Owens’ “Place” and Daphne Desser, “On Location in Hawai’i” from Powell and Tassoni.
Post comments to online discussion board by Friday, January 24.
Week of Jan. 28—This week’s readings focus on place conscious or place-based pedagogy. For this week, read Sharon Bishop’s "The Power of Place," David Sobel’s "Building a Three-legged Stool of Academic Achievement, Social Capital, and Environmental Quality," Robert Brooke’s introduction to “Writing Suburban Citizenship,” and the first two chapters of Linda Flower’s Community Literacy and Rhetoric of Public Engagement. Post comments to online discussion board by Friday, January 31.
Week of Feb. 4—This week’s focus is the place-conscious education model. Our readings focus on various models of place-conscious or place-based education. For this week, Robert Brooke’s "Place-Conscious Education, Rural Schools, and the Nebraska Writing Project's Rural Voices, Country Schools Team," Paul Gruchow’s "What We Teach Rural Children," from Grass Roots: The Universe of Home, David Gruenewald and Gregory Smith, “Making Room for the Local” from Place Based Education in a Global Age and Debra Mutnick’s, “Reflections on ‘Writing City Life.” Post comments to online discussion board by Friday, Feb. 7.
Week of Feb. 11—This week’s focus is regional history. We will conduct an online brainstorm session on TodaysMeet beginning at 7:00 p.m. (Tuesday Feb. 11) about places of local history and culture that teachers could utilize within his or her curriculum. For this week read, Gruchow’s “Rosewood Township,” LeeAnn Land’s “A City to Busy to Reflect?” and Sarah Robbins’ “Classroom Literacies and Public Culture” from Dyer and Robbins, Writing America, David Joliffe’s “The Community Literacy Advocacy Project” from John Ackerman and David Coogan, The Public Work of Rhetoric and Danny Mayer and Keith Woodward’s “Composition and Felt Geographies” from Powell and Tassoni. Post comments to online discussion board by Friday, Feb. 14.
Week of Feb. 18—This week’s focus in regional ecology. Please visit Blackboard for links to virtual tours of Ozarks natural resources. We will also conduct a writing marathon at the Springfield Conservation Nature Center on Saturday Feb. 22 from 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. for those who can attend. (Attendance is not mandatory). The guidelines for the Writing Marathon are on Blackboard. Please feel free to invite others—family and friends and dogs are welcome. Bring warm coats and writing materials! For this week read Wes Jackson’s, “Matfield Green,” John Price’s, “First Miracle of the Prairie” from Not Just Any Land and Thomas Hothem’s, “Suburban Studies and College Writing.” Post comments to discussion board by Friday, Feb. 21.
Week of Feb. 25—Our final week of reading focuses on connecting to community issues. For this week, read Fleming and Boulton’s, “Principles for Practice: What is Social Action?” from Writing for a Change, Jeff Grabill’s, “On Being Useful” from Public Work of Rhetoric,
Donehower, Hogg, and Schell’s, “Toward a Sustainable Citizenship and Pedagogy,” Flower’s, “Images of Engagement” from Community Literacy and Rhetoric of Public Engagement, Susan Swan’s “From Urban Classroom to Urban Community” from City Comp and Nancy Welch’s, “Making Space” from Living Room: Teaching Public Writing in a Privatized World.
Unit 2—Creating a Place Conscious Curriculum Unit
Week of March 4—Discussion of place conscious curriculum unit examples and templates. Discussion and brainstorm of curriculum unit ideas on TodaysMeet at 7:00 p.m. For the next “meeting” on March 18, post a substantial draft of a curriculum unit to read and respond to on your blog or create a link to it on Blackboard.
Week of March 11 —Spring Break—No assignments.
Week of March 18— Mid-term—Workshop day for curriculum units; responding face to face in Siceluff 324 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. Unit one critique assignment.
Week of March 25—By Tuesday March 25, post a revised version of your curriculum unit on your blog or a link on Blackboard and respond to each other’s revisions.
Week of April 1—Online reflection of the curriculum unit creation process. See Online discussion board for the reflective prompt. You may respond on Blackboard or on your blog (with a link provided on Blackboard).
Unit 3—Place Conscious Personal Writing
Week of April 8—Peer response to personal writing. For next week, post a revised substantial draft of personal writing. Post revisions on Blackboard (or your blog) by Friday, April 11.
Week of April 15—No Classes—Holiday Break.
Week of April 22—sharing of personal writing; post revisions of personal writing by Friday, April 25.
Week of April 29—sharing of personal writing; plans for final face-to-face read around and portfolio sharing on May 6.
Week of May 6—Final read around of personal writing; portfolio share and final reflective letter in Siceluff 324. Course evaluation. Final draft of curriculum unit and personal writing portfolio due.
Finals Week—Celebration Pot Luck at Dr. English’s home, 4900 W Skyler Drive, Springfield, MO 65802.
Campus Policies:
Academic Dishonesty
Missouri State University is a community of scholars committed to developing educated persons who accept the responsibility to practice personal and academic integrity. You are responsible for knowing and following the university’s student honor code, Student Academic Integrity Policies and Procedures, available at www.missouristate.edu/assets/provost/AcademicIntegrityPolicyRev-1-08.pdf and also available at the Reserves Desk in Meyer Library. Any student participating in any form of academic dishonesty will be subject to sanctions as described in this policy.
Nondiscrimination Policy
Missouri State University is an equal opportunity/ affirmative action institution, and maintains a grievance procedure available to any person who believes he or she has been discriminated against. At all times, it is your right to address inquiries or concerns about possible discrimination to the Office for Equity and Compliance, Park Central Office Building, 117 Park Central Square, Suite 111, (417) 836-4252. Other types of concerns (i.e., concerns of an academic nature) should be discussed directly with your instructor and can also be brought to the attention of your instructor’s Department Head. Please visit the OED website at www.missouristate.edu/equity/.