Preparing College Teachers of Writing

Histories, Theories, Programs, Practices

Edited by Betty P. Pytlik and Sarah Liggett

Provides more extensive coverage—discussing histories, theories, program structures, and practices of TA preparation programs—than any other collection of essays on this topic
The contributors, from twenty-nine different institutions, represent significant geographic and demographic diversity
Addresses the most recent topics in the field: mentoring, reflective practices, evaluation of teaching strategies and student writing, and job preparation
Features optimistic essays that emphasize proven practices

Preparing College Teachers of Writing

Histories, Theories, Programs, Practices

Edited by Betty P. Pytlik and Sarah Liggett

Description

Preparing College Teachers of Writing: Histories, Theories, Programs, Practices offers essential advice to writing program administrators, teachers of methods courses and practica, and mentors of new writing faculty, as well as graduate students studying for professions in writing program administration. This extensive collection discusses the contexts, structures, development, practices, and evaluation of teaching assistant (TA) preparation programs in writing pedagogy. It features essays by thirty-five prominent experts in college composition and three former graduate students who participated in TA preparation programs. These contributors, from twenty-nine different institutions, represent decades of experience as well as significant geographic and demographic diversity.
Focusing on what new college teachers need to learn about teaching writing and what types of programs best facilitate this learning, Preparing College Teachers of Writing answers these vital questions: What are the historical contexts for current TA preparation programs? What theories inform TA preparation programs? How are successful TA programs structured? and What teaching practices have proven effective in preparing TAs for college writing classrooms? The selections cover a wide range of TA preparation structures including summer orientations and theory and methods courses. Several essays address the most recent topics in the field: mentoring, reflective practices, evaluation of teaching strategies and student writing, and job preparation. The essays are optimistic and emphasize proven practices; when contributors discuss program failures, they do so to provide contexts for their programs' changes and subsequent successes. Ideal for courses in teaching college composition, Preparing College Teachers of Writing provides a uniquely comprehensive treatment of this complex topic.

Preparing College Teachers of Writing

Histories, Theories, Programs, Practices

Edited by Betty P. Pytlik and Sarah Liggett

Foreword: Preparing the Professors, Richard Fulkerson
Preface, Sarah Liggett and Betty P. Pytlik
Part I. Histories
1:How Graduate Students Were Prepared to Teach Writing—1850-1970, Betty P. Pytlik
2:Recent Trends in TA Instruction: A Bibliographic Essay, Stephen Wilhoit
3:After Preparing TAs for the Classroom, What Then? Three Decades of Conversation about Preparing TAs for the Job Market, Kirsti A. Sandy
4:When Teaching Assistants Teach Teaching Assistants to Teach: A Historical View of a Teacher Preparation Program, Irwin Weiser
5:TA Education as Dialogic Response: Furthering the Intellectual Work of the Profession through WPA, Darin Payne and Theresa Enos
Part II. Theories
6:The Professionalization of TA Development Programs: A Heuristic for Curriculum Design, Kathleen Blake Yancey
7:Thinking Together: Developing a Reciprocal Reflective Model for Approaches to Preparing College Teachers of Writing, Shirley K Rose and Margaret J. Finders
8:Educating Literacy Instructors: Practice versus Expression, Judith Goleman
9:Too Cool for School? Composition as Cultural Studies and Reflective Practice, Christine Farris
10:Feminist Approaches to Mentoring Teaching Assistants: Conflict, Power, and Collaboration, Rebecca J. Rickly and Susanmarie Harrington
11:Negotiating Resistance and Change: One Composition Program's Struggle Not to Convert, Katrina M. Powell, Peggy O'Neill, Cassandra Mach Phillips, and Brian Huot
Part III. Programs
12:Preparing Graduate Students across the Curriculum to Teach Writing, Katherine K. Gottschalk
13:Creating a Culture of Reflective Practice: A Program for Continuing TA Preparation after the Practicum, Betty Bamberg
14:Experience and Reflection in Multiple Contexts: Preparing TAs for the Artistry of Professional Practice, Chris Burnham and Rebecca Jackson
15:The Three-Part Program for Preparing TAs to Lead Professional Communication Courses at Miami University (Ohio), Paul Anderson, Todd Deluca, and Lisa Rosenberger
16:Preparing College Teachers of Writing to Teach in a Web-Based Classroom: History, Theoretical Base, Web Base, and Current Practices, Christine Hult and Lynn Meeks
17:"What Would You Like to Work on Today?" The Writing Center as a Site for Teacher Training, Muriel Harris
Part IV. Practices
18:Mentoring: Past, Present, and Future, Sally Barr Ebest
19:Mentors, Models, and Agents of Change: Veteran TAs Preparing Teachers of Writing, Wanda Martin and Charles Paine
20:Orientation and Mentoring: Collaborative Practices in Teacher Preparation, Gita Das Bender
21:From Discomfort, Isolation, and Fear to Comfort, Community, and Confidence: Using Reflection, Role-Playing, and Classroom Observation to Prepare New Teachers of College Writing, Michael C. Flanigan
22:Essaying TA Training, Thomas E. Recchio
23:Orientation for Teachers of Technical Writing, Barry Thatcher
24:Learning to Evaluate and Grade Student Writing: An Ongoing Conversation
25:The Teaching Portfolio: Practicing What We Teach, Margaret Lindgren
26:Evolution of a Teaching Notebook: Contents, Purposes, and Assessment, Sarah Liggett
Contributors
Index

Preparing College Teachers of Writing

Histories, Theories, Programs, Practices

Edited by Betty P. Pytlik and Sarah Liggett

Author Information

Edited by Betty P. Pytlik, Director of Composition and Associate Professor of English, Ohio University, and Sarah Liggett, Professor of English, Louisiana State University