Teaching PortfolioFor their first major paper of the semester, my 106 students experimented with how to choose a topic that would most effectively meet the requirements of a given assignment. As a class, students discussed and narrowed down potential topics for a 3-5 page paper. They then individually chose from among three of those topics. This assignment laid the foundation for future assignments, which would give students the freedom to choose topics and develop their ideas independently.
Student Sample: Response 5 -- Image Revision and Analysis
In addition to the two larger papers and the research project, my students completed 6 shorter responses throughout the semester that encouraged them to examine concepts discussed in class and in their readings. Throughout the semester, one of my goals was to challenge students' definitions of composition. Students were asked to examine not only written texts, but also visual and other multimedia texts. This image revision analysis is the final visual rhetoric assignment of the semester, and calls on students to use their knowledge of design elements and fundamentals to break down and re-consider an image through both analysis and revision of the visual text.
Student Sample: Paper 2 -- Writing in a Genre
For their second major paper, students were given a lot of creative freedom. This work sample is not from one of my strongest students, however I chose to include it as an example of students' tendencies to truly make this assignment their own. The best writing all semester typically came in this paper; students enjoyed breaking free of the "academic writing" guidelines and experimenting with a new genre. In class, we discussed genre rules and genre authenticity, and I was always excited and pleased when students connected with their writing on a personal level.
Reasearch Project Samples
Student Sample 1: Research Paper
Student Sample 2: Research Paper
Student Sample 3: Perspectives Video
Student Sample 4: Video Response
My favorite assignment in my English 106 class was the final research project. Students divided themselves into groups of three and, in their groups, chose a single controversial topic that was important to them. They were encouraged to avoid hot-button issues such as abortion, and to instead focus on local concerns that related to their lives as college students. From there, students divided their major topic into perspectives; most often, there were three students per group, so they would divide a topic into three perspectives (for example, with a major topic such as "music piracy," students might divide the topic into "law," "artists," and "pirates"). Students wrote individual 8-10 page research papers on the perspective they chose within their groups, and then came back together with their groups to compose a 6-10 minute video combining the three perspectives. This assignment meshed the video and visual analysis assignments from throughout the semester with the writing focus of the course, and was incredibly gratifying and rewarding to teach. The samples above include two research papers, one video, and one video response, all from different group projects.