095 + Norming

We just had a really good norming session, like a grad school seminar, and I want to get some notes down while the discussion is fresh in my mind, so that I can bring this material forward to the rest of the writing committee.

Issue #1 --

The bar for entry into 095 is fluency. What does this mean exactly? Are we focusing too much on principles other than fluency in 095, to the detriment of our students; most participants agreed than in 095 they are imagining how to get students into 101, or hoping that their students will progress into 101; however, this intention introduces elements into the course and curriculum that are not a part of the departmentally stated function of the course.

If, as we say, 095 is about fluency, then we should be focuing on that first and foremost, and rhetorical context and principles should be secondary to that. Kyle and Lynne explained how they are conducting their 095 courses, and they are focusing first and foremost on fluency. For Lynne, she required students to produce 20 pages of freewriting in the first 8 weeks. Kyle's requirements were similar, although he organized the writing in the course thematically -- I can't recall exactly what the theme is atm, but it has something to do with positive human emotions, defining them, finding examples of them, completing multi-genre work around them -- and from this mass of material, Kyle asked his students to produce an essay. He reported that his students were forced to make decisions about what to cut, what order to put this material in, and in doing so, consider audience.

This is brilliant because while it purports to teach fluency, it's also teaching rhetoric, just from a slightly different angle. Students are learning rhetoric based on the need for it, a personal need, and through ownership of their own words, they are moved to this point.

So, all of this begs the question: should 095 just be about fluency. Focus on fluency. To get out of 095, you must demonstrate fluency, nothing more.

The advantages of this is that students' introduction to writing can be focused on writing as a human activity rather than writing as an academic activity.

Turn 095 into a true workshop course?

096 becomes introduction to rhetoric and composition, where essential rhetorical principles are defined and applied systematically.