engaging students in college writing courses

Entertaining Ideas

In Composition

By Crystal Barletta

The Text as the Engager

Using the Composition Anthology “Literature: Reading and Writing the Human Experience” as a basis for the reading material.

The readings have been selected to interest, excite, and get a response from students in Composition.

Selected Readings

“Young Goodman Brown” Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

“Good Country People” Flannery O’Conner (1903-1964)

“The Man Who Was Almost a Man” Richard Wright (1908-1960)

A Doll’s House Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)

Proposed Assignments

Assignment #1 : “Young Goodman Brown” Argue for or against the proposition that what

Young Goodman Brown experienced actually occurred.

Assignment #2: “Good Country People” Write a persuasive essay in which you

convince the reader that you are someone other than yourself and have ulterior motives which have not been disclosed. Use a persuasive tactic such as innocence or experience to persuade the reader as Manely Pointer persuaded Hulga.

Assignment #3: “The Man Who Was Almost a Man” Consider whether Dave proved his

manhood by leaving. What does it mean to be a man? Write an essay in which you examine what it means to be a man. Choose someone from history (1800-2004) who either took responsibility when they made a mistake or someone who rebelled by leaving.

Assignment #4: A Doll’s House Write an essay in which you compare the

writing styles of Wright and Ibsen (other than the fact that the first is a narrative and the later is a play). Does the language, tone, and the fact that although both Dave and Nora rebel by leaving the situation, as well as the setting and gender difference justify one’s leaving over the other?

Pedagogy

Theorists that reflect my pedagogy: Patricia Bizzell Kenneth Bruffee David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky Peter Elbow Walter J. Ong Rebecca Powell

Technology

Blackboard: http://blackboard.fau.edu Weekly online journals Open discussion groups Digital Drop Box E-mail