Overview

The FEP program serves two distinct student populations. FEP provides a sequence of writing courses for first year students. FEP also provides training and a pedagogical practicum for graduate student teaching fellows.  The following objectives are presented in two parts reflecting the two student populations served by the FEP.
 
Part I – FEP Writing Courses for First Year Students

Part I describes the curricular objectives of the FEP sequence of courses. These objectives are cast as the knowledge, skills, and competencies expected of students who pass the FEP sequence.
 
Rhetorical Knowledge: a student with an understanding of rhetorical knowledge should:

  • Focus on a purpose.
  • Recognize authority as culturally /rhetorically situated.
  • Recognize the interdependence of message, purpose, and audience.
  • Respond to different rhetorical situations through the manipulation of conventions, format, and structure.
  • Understand and articulate the relationship between reader, expectation, and genre as attended to in their writing.

Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing: a student passing the FEP sequence of courses should be able to demonstrate the following critical thinking, reading, and writing skills and competencies:

  • Recognize and interpret conventions of format, structure, voice, tone, and diction as markers of distinct rhetorical situations.
  • Identify and distinguish various genres, forms, and styles of prose, poetry and drama.
  • Recognize common, critical terms specific to the study of rhetoric, prose, poetry and drama.
  • Evaluate and identify persuasive evidence, concepts, and arguments.
  • Integrate individual thought with the ideas of others.
  • Investigate the links between language, knowledge, and power.

Processes: a student with a good understanding of the writing processes should:

  • Be aware that elegant and effective texts are the product of multiple drafts.
  • Develop and use flexible, practical strategies to research, revise, and edit persuasive public statements.
  • Recognize drafting and revising as critical acts of analysis and interpretation.
  • Work collaboratively and understand the social aspects of writing processes.  
  • Learn to critique the writing and critical thought of others and apply these skills to their own writing.
  • Articulate and critique their writing process.                   

Knowledge of Academic Discourse: FEP students should:

  • Understand genres as composed of different conventions and structures that reflect historical, cultural, economic, and political factors.
  • Understand, identify, and Integrate the conventions and practices of critical analysis and academic discourse in their own writing.
  • Compose a persuasive, critical argument making use of primary and secondary sources.
  • Understand and use appropriate voice, tone, and level of formality.          
  • Control surface features such as syntax, punctuation, and spelling.                       

Research Practices and Conventions and Documentation Theory: a student with a good understanding of research and documentation should:

  • Achieve information and archive literacy -- capable of using various forms and methods of information and document discovery and retrieval.       
  • Formulate research questions and develop a plan of investigation.
  • Limit topic scope, define research objectives, and clarify a thesis informed by genre conventions and reader expectations.
  • Evaluate the authenticity, logic, and persuasive force of information, arguments, and sources, and recognize the critical significance of original and derivative texts.
  • Understand the theory behind academic documentary practices, and understand the intellectual impact of plagiarism.
  • Accurately document sources and use notes in a minimum of one academic, documentation style.

Part II – Graduate Training and Practicum for Teaching Fellows

Part II describes the knowledge, skills, and competencies expected of graduate students who successfully complete 2 years of Teaching Fellow training and study. It is assumed new teaching fellows have not only achieved the objectives stated in Part I, but can demonstrate excellence in each area identified.
 
Knowledge of the Discipline of Composition Studies: A successful Teaching Fellow will:

  • Gain an understanding of the history, theoretical movements, and major trends in writing scholarship and pedagogy.
  • Be able to critique past, and future, pedagogical trends and theoretical movements in terms of ontology, epistemology, power, and social justice.
  • Adopt and articulate a pedagogical approach and critical perspective that suits their experience, talents, and skills.
  • Understand how power is articulated in language and see the relationship between subjectivity, language, and power.
  • Be able to adapt the pedagogy to new educational institutions and student populations.

Practical Pedagogy and Classroom Craft: A successful teaching fellow will:

  • Explore and assess a variety of pedagogical strategies for writing classes, including assignment sequencing, assessment techniques, and student conferencing.
  • Read and critique the rhetorical, pedagogical, social traditions, student needs, and expectations of a given educational institution (a specific university, college, or school).
  • Construct teaching materials including statements of teaching philosophy, a syllabus, writing assignment, semester schedules and daily lesson plans as informed by their own teaching philosophy.
  • Articulate the pedagogy, critical perspective, and personal talents and skills that inform their classroom practice and expectations.
  • Protect, serve, and value the needs of their students and not use the classroom for self-aggrandizing purposes.