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Welcome to English 403
Teaching Writing in Secondary Schools

By now you are immersed—or soon will be—in the life and culture of junior or senior high school. In the classes you observe, students will be writing and learning to write more effectively. For this course the school will be your laboratory. Your task is to find out as much as you can about the teaching and learning of writing - from your mentor teacher and other teachers in the school, from the students, from the curriculum, and from the classroom environment itself. Additional resources are the required readings in the two texts, In the Middle, and A Community of Writers. What you see in the school and what you read in the texts may not always agree (nor will the two texts always agree), but this is a good thing. The more you learn, including the diverse approaches to and goals for teaching writing, the better equipped you will be to design a writing program appropriate to your students, the school’s curriculum, and your own teaching style once you are a full-time English teacher.

This class is designed to be taken in conjunction with your student teaching internship. The lessons in this course will ask you to observe writing environments and students writing, and to talk to students and teachers about writing, writing processes, activities for teaching writing, and environments that stimulate and support writing. The instructions for the lessons are located under "lessons" on the navigation bar on the left. Many of the activities, including discussions, turning in your assignments, your homepage, and calendar can all be found by clicking on the "Blackboard" button also on the left. To begin this class, I recommend reading the syllabus first to get orientated. If you have any questions consult the help section or contact me directly.

During your internship you will observe many classroom environments and talk with teachers. The lessons in this course are designed to focus your observations and discussions with teachers on writing, writing processes, activities for teaching writing, and environments that stimulate and support writing. In many of them, especially Lessons 2-6, you are asked to interview teachers, interview students, examine student writing, and observe students engaged in writing processes. I recommend that before you begin Lesson 2 you skim through the lessons that follow so that when you talk to teachers, you may collect information that will be useful in more than one lesson. While working on Lesson 1 you may begin Lesson 2, and other lessons as well. It’s not a bad idea to read ahead, especially for lessons that require reading of several chapters in the books. However, you do not want to get ahead of everyone in the discussions. So if you read ahead, take notes in your journal and wait until the week of the lesson to enter the discussions. The due dates are important, so keep those in mind.

Your Resources

For most lessons you will read in the two texts, In the Middle by Nancie Atwell (2nd ed.) and A Community of Writers, by Zemelman and Danels. In addition, your mentor teacher and other English teachers in your school will be equally valuable resources. Their experience working with the curricular, state, and district expectations and the realities of the school environment give them added perspectives. You may find that what you read in the books does not match what you see in the classroom. If so, you have a great opportunity to explore with your mentor teacher the backgrounds of his or her teaching practice, to discover how teachers make decisions that shape the classroom. Your mentor teacher is your ally in this journey.