Curriculum Guide

RHET 0310 Composition Fundamentals

Official Description:

Practice in writing, with an emphasis on developing fluency and editing. This course does not fulfill the core curriculum requirement and is intended for students who are not ready for RHET 1311. Institutional credit only; final grades are A, B, C, or NC. Three credit hours.

This course is cross-listed with RHET 1311: Composition I as part of UALR’s Accelerated Learning Program for composition. You must be concurrently enrolled in each section, and if you decide to add/drop the class you must do so for each corresponding section. When you pass both courses (RHET 0310 and RHET 1311), you will be eligible to take Composition II (RHET 1312). This is a great opportunity for you to succeed at developing the writing skills necessary to become a successful college and workplace writer.

A few points to note about this accelerated learning composition class:

• ·Separate assignments and homework will be assigned for each course.
• ·A separate grade will be given for each course.
• ·You must pass both courses with a C or better to advance.

Curriculum:

Composition Fundamentals is taught on the studio and ALP model. It meets directly after RHET 1311. Students in this class receive extra time to work on their assignments with supervision, guidance, and assistance from their instructor. The instructor can offer supplemental peer review activities and miniature assignments that help scaffold the work they do in 1311. Fundamentals may address issues of language diversity and academic writing, with contextual and holistic approaches to grammar and mechanics.

The official description for Fundamentals describes extra assignments, and says students receive a separate grade. While true, it's best to align 0310 and 1311 assignments as much as possible. Fundamentals students may complete additional smaller and scaffolding assignments. In turn, completing or neglecting these assignments could lower their grade. However, we strongly recommend instructors do not add major assignments to 0310. Therefore, 0310 and 1311 grades should be roughly equivalent.

RHET 1311 Composition I

Official Description

Prerequisite: A minimum ACT English score of 19, a minimum SAT I verbal score of 450, or a grade of C or higher in RHET 0310 or RHET 0321. Students will focus on organizing and revising ideas and writing well organized, thoroughly developed papers that achieve the writer’s purpose, meet the readers’ needs, and develop the writer’s voice. Final course grades are A, B, C, or NC. Students must complete this course with a grade of C or greater to take RHET 1312. Three credit hours.

Curriculum

RHET 1311 introduces students to basic concepts of rhetoric and writing including the rhetorical triangle, the appeals, and writing processes. Students also begin to develop information literacy in this course by using newspapers, magazines, and primary sources such as government reports and archives. Typical assignments include personal essays, memoirs, rhetorical analysis, op-ed pieces, and exploratory papers on local history, career interests, or cultural trends. These projects often have a multimodal component, such as PowerPoints and Prezi presentations. The ultimate goal is to produce 15-20 pages of polished writing submitted via an electronic portfolio.

Required Assignments

• Personal Essay or Literacy Narrative
• Rhetorical Analysis
• A 6-8 page, open-ended research paper with 5-8 sources
• Multimodal project (PowerPoint, Prezi, etc)
• Reflection Essay
• Digital Course Portfolio

RHET 1312 Composition II

Official Description

Prerequisite: RHET 1311 with a C or greater or equivalent. Practice in writing, with an emphasis on academic forms. Students will focus on analysis, argumentation, research, and documentation writing. Final course grades are A, B, C, or NC. Three credit hours.

Curriculum

RHET 1312 focuses more exclusively on advanced models such as the rhetorical situation, Toulmin method, and Rogerian forms of argumentation. This course is devoted to academic writing, not simply within institutional contexts but also as a form of public discourse. Students learn how to form complex research questions and arguments, support claims with evidence, and become familiar with academic journals. Typical assignments include advanced rhetorical analysis, synthesis essays, annotated bibliographies, research papers, infographics, and PSAs.

Required Assignments

• Advanced Rhetorical Analysis
• An 8-10 page, open-ended research paper with 8-10 sources
• Infographic or Visual PSA
• Reflection Essay
• Digital Course Portfolio

RHET 1320 Honors Composition

For students with superior achievement in English. Fulfills first year composition core curriculum requirement. Honors composition is a one-semester course of first-year composition that accelerates students who scored a 27 or better on the ACT and received at least a B in high school English through the composition sequence. The course focuses on writing with sources and on students’ development of argumentative texts. RHET 1320 exposes students to both academic conventions and writing for real-world audiences and purposes. Three credit hours.

Professional Expectations

Meetings

Attendance matters for teachers as well as students. When you accept a teaching appointment, you're committing to meet your classes during scheduled times for the duration of the semester. Conferences and other professional obligations shouldn't lead to cancellation of more than 2-3 classes in a semester. Please list those dates on your course schedule and arrange for online activities, or a substitute.

Let the department's administrative specialist know anytime you can't meet your classes. If a serious conflict or crisis arises midway through the semester, you must contact the composition director and department chair in writing.

Send an email, or leave a note in our mailboxes. Emails and notes don't need to list specifics, but they should indicate your need to meet about arranging a long-term alternative to standard instruction. Contact them both, and do not assume that information will always pass from one person to the other. You are responsible for ensuring that the relevant administrators (chair, director, admin specialist) know about your situation.

Employment Documents

The department is required to keep the following documents on file for all employees: employment contract, CV, syllabus, and schedule. If you teach for another state institution, the university also requires you to complete a concurrent employment form. See the administrative specialist in the main office for details on this form. Teachers are also sometimes required to undergo online training and provide certificates in accordance with state law. The department chair or composition director will forward this information to you when it's required.

Grading & Attendance

You must provide written feedback to students throughout the semester on their writing. A composition course requires a minimum of three major papers, a reflection statement, and a digital portfolio. (See other posts for details.)

You must keep a grade book in digital format, either in Blackboard, Google Sheets, or Excel. It is important to have a record of students' performance--especially if someone else needs to take over your class due to emergencies or other issues.

You must also submit final grades for students according to instructions sent out by the composition director.

Assignments in composition courses should all be process-based. Students should have the opportunity, and even the expectation, of revising their work.

We discourage exams in the form of multiple-choice questions and short answers. These forms of assessment do not align with best practices of writing instruction.

TAs and part-time teachers should always contact the composition director about students who need an Incomplete, or who will fail due to violations of academic integrity. The composition director will meet with you and the student (if needed) to arrange a plan for completion of missing work. The student must always be informed in advance when receiving grades of this nature.

It's important to take attendance for your class every day. Especially during the first two weeks, you need to verify that your course roster is accurate. Registration errors are not uncommon, and they need to be resolved to avoid complications. In short, no student should be attending your class unless they are officially enrolled. Otherwise, they will not receive credit.

Communication

You should check your email and LMS daily. Always respond to student emails, even if you think a response isn't warranted. Sometimes, you can simply write back to a student indicating they need to review assignment guidelines, or meet with you in person. It is never a good idea to ignore emails from students, even if they have dropped your class or will receive an NC.

You can always simply refer students to the director of composition, or forward their emails with a request for assistance.

We don't expect you to respond to student emails on evenings or weekends. However, standard turnaround for email is 24 hours during the business week.

We can't require you to check email between semesters. However, we recommend that you remain accessible during these periods in the even that students contact you with questions about grades. The composition director will also likely be sending you important information about scheduling and program updates during these periods. If you plan to be away from email, set an away message and make sure we have your phone number in case of serious issues. We do not give you phone number out to students. It is only used by faculty and administrators.

End of Semester

In November, you'll receive an announcement from the director of composition with instructions about logistical items including course evaluations, assessment activities, plagiarism issues, and grade appeals. You must attend to these items in order to remain illegible for reappointment.

It's especially important to submit links to student portfolios at the director's request in a timely manner. Submit them during the same week as you finish grading. The composition program conducts assessments on an annual basis. Failure to submit your portfolios leads to inaccurate and unrepresentative samples.

Technically, your appointment ends once you've submitted final grades. However, it's likely that students and administrators will need to contact you after the semester ends. We suggest you setup mail forwarding in your school account so that you don't miss any important messages.