English 8600: Seminar in Writing Studies & Pedagogy

Fall 2018 | Syllabus

Instructor Information
William P. Banks, Professor
Director, University Writing Program
Office: Joyner 1009
Phone: 252.328.6674
Email: banksw [at] ecu [dot] edu
Office Hours: Monday, 1:00 – 3:00 pm

Introduction
What does it mean to be literate in the 21st century? This course explores that question by looking at two major movements in literacy studies (the “Great Divide” and the social turn), and asking how a new generation of literacy scholarship, rooted in digital and global/transnational frameworks, rewrites traditional ideas of literacy and engages in the ways language can work toward social and restorative justice.

• articulate a working definition of literacy that is both historically and personally relevant;
• recognize major shifts in how scholars have conceptualized literacy practices in both school and public settings;
• apply literacy theories to contemporary social justice concerns in order to understand how we might intervene in contemporary social problems;
• locate, evaluate, and synthesize primary and secondary print and electronic bibliographic sources that contribute significantly to projects developed in consultation with the professor;
• propose and carry out a sophisticated seminar project which demonstrates 1) the ability to postulate an advanced thesis regarding literacy and activism/social justice, and 2) the ability to integrate course texts and individual research in ways that assist in supporting the thesis/argument of the project.

To meet these goals, graduate students will typically read between 150 – 200 pages per week,  post responses to readings/activities on individual blogs, and engage in other projects listed below.

Required Texts

• Arroyo, Sarah. 2013. Participatory Composition: Video Culture, Writing, and Electracy. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP.
• Banks, Adam J. 2011. Digital Griots: African American Rhetoric in a Multimedia Age. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP.
• Castells, Manuel. 2015 (2012). Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age. 2nd Ed. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Cushman, Ellen, et al. 2001. Literacy: A Critical Sourcebook. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
• Jenkins, Henry, et al. 2016. By Any Media Necessary: The New Youth Activism. New York: NYU Press.
• Lankshear, Colin, and Knobel, Michele. 2011. New Literacies: Everyday Practices and Social Learning, 3rd Ed. London: Open University Press.
• Sarafini, Frank, and Gee, Elisabeth. 2017. Remixing Multiliteracies: Theory and Practice from New London to New Times. New York: Teachers College Press.
• Stuckey, J. Elspeth. 1991. The Violence of Literacy. Portsmouth: Boynton-Cook.
• Welch, Nancy. 2008. Living Room: Teaching Public Writing in a Privatized World. Portsmouth: Boyton-Cook.

Projects
The following brief annotations will provide some context for the sort of projects that this course will require this semester. More thorough explanations, where necessary, will become available over the course of the semester through the “Schedule” and “Assignments” links on this website:

• Reading Blogs (30%) — In order to foster both depth and breadth of thinking/coverage in the course, students will be responsible for creating weekly reading blogs in different modalities and genres that synthesize key issues from readings and propose significant questions/problems for the class to address each week during discussion.
• Seminar Project/Drafts (40%) — Around midterm/Fall Break, students will propose an original study that connects literacy and social justice/digital activism. Based on peer and professor feedback, students will use the second half of the course to conduct research, develop an argument/thesis out of that research, and report their findings. Essays will typically be 20 – 25 pages and should be aimed at a particular scholarly journal in the field of literacy/writing studies.
• Seminar Presentation (20%) — As a peer-response activity, students will provide a 10 minute conference-style presentation during the final class meeting of the semester.
• Studentship (10%) — Studentship refers to attending class, participating in face-to-face and online discussions, and meeting assigned deadlines for projects.

Expectations
Obviously, I expect a great deal of commitment from graduate students. By choosing to tackle graduate school, you have plunged yourselves further into the world of the scholar. I hope you will enjoy that work and take advantage of this time to read, write, and think about issues and ideas you haven’t considered before, or to go further than you have in the past. “Reading” in graduate school, especially for doctoral students, is an exhausting activity. While I expect graduate students to “read” everything I assign, I hope that you will learn quickly how to “skim and save.” Do NOT try to read all these texts like you would poems or novels, pouring over each sentence looking for nuances of meaning. Try to get the big picture, isolate the key arguments/points in the text, and keep it archived for future reference. Develop coding and note-taking strategies for helping you to read the text now but will also prove useful in a year or two when you need that text again to remind you of key points and connections to other other texts. Some texts, I expect you to devour; others may not hold you interest. That’s normal. Regardless, I expect you always to have a passing acquaintance with ALL our readings and an engaged friendship with selected others. Obviously, I expect that we’ll have tremendous fun as we work hard together this semester.

Attendance
Graduate students by default should be at every class meeting, especially for a class which means only once each week. Emergencies and problems arise, so I can overlook your missing one week of class, especially since individual students can contribute significantly on the course blog the week they miss in order to “make up” for not being physically present. Missing more than once, however, will impact the course grade. Graduate classes rely on the presence of engaged students to be successful; as such, your absences will jeopardize learning for others, which isn’t acceptable.

Late Work
We all have very busy, trying lives, and as such, there come times when we have to complete some work late. Each student in this class is allowed an occasional late blog response, or other short piece of writing. Midterm and final assignments are set in stone and may not be late. Neither major projects nor drafts of major projects may be turned in late, as turning the drafts in late would invalidate the reason for drafting in the first place and turning in final projects late would prevent me from reading and evaluating them in time to turn in grades at the end of the semester. Students may always turn projects in early.

Conferences
Students should schedule conferences with me when they do not understand comments I’ve made on their projects or when they become confused about the expectations of this course. Likewise, I may require a certain number of individual and/or group conferences during the semester. After midterm, I will schedule conferences to discuss major project proposals.

Academic Integrity
Students are expected to be honest about individual effort and responsible to peer/secondary source materials that are included in their projects. Both plagiarizing and turning in work written partially or completely by someone else are forms of academic dishonesty and carry serious penalties, the least serious of which is a grade of zero on the particular assignment (and thus a D, at best, in the course), but could also result in failure of the class and even expulsion from the university. Students who keep up with their work and consult with their peers and their professor have no reason or need to “cheat.” Since this course is focused on research ethics, I expect that students will see me if they are unsure about how to cite or represent ideas/writing by others so that we can figure it out without ending up in a nasty plagiarism case.

Accommodations for Students with Special Needs
East Carolina University seeks to comply fully with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Students requesting accommodations based on a disability must be registered with the Department for Disability Support Services located in Slay 138 ([252] 737-1016 [Voice/TTY]).