Rarely in graduate school (if ever) are graduate students in English Studies given a chance to reflect on what it means to teach “English” — why do we bother? To what end(s) are we teaching? What difference does it make if an English course is required or elective, taken by students as part of the “general education” curriculum or by “majors” in the discipline? What does it mean to teach writing at the college level, how is that different from teaching writing in K-12 settings? What does it mean to teach writing and reading in a literature or film course? Why even teach literature or film or writing? And how? And how might answers to these questions help new teachers to construct their syllabuses, teaching philosophies, assignment sequences, etc?
English 7960 investigates the types of courses that are open to teachers at the two-year college, courses ranging from basic writing and first-year writing to introductory literature and language courses, rhetoric and technical/business writing courses, film and theater courses, creative writing courses, grammar courses, and even special topics courses that teachers can construct based on their own expertise and values. In English 7960, we will explore the politics implicit in teaching English to early undergraduates and confront the problems that are specific to two-year college students and faculty.