IDST 298, Fall 2015
IDST 298: Approaches to Teaching Composition
David Lipscomb
Office Hrs: WF, 11-12
NN 335
Welcome to IDST 298, the foundation course for the Writing Center. This four-credit, graded course can be used as an elective toward the
English major or minor. It cannot be taken as a sixth course.
Course Goals:
You will learn:
 Theories of teaching writing, especially tutoring writing
 Approaches to writing tutoring and how to apply them – including how to create a new tutoring tool for the Writing Center
 The culture of writing at Georgetown, including the role of our Writing Center
 Strategies for meeting our clients’ diverse needs, in diverse disciplines, at various levels, from first-year undergraduates to Ph.D.
students, and with varying levels of English language acquisition
 Writing Center Scholarship and how you can contribute knowledge to our own Writing Center and beyond
Requirements
 Your blog (15%): You will create and frequently update your own WordPress blog, providing responses to our readings and comments
on others’ blogs posts.
 Class participation (15%): No unexcused absences are allowed, since we will meet only once per week. Each class will be highly
interactive and essential.
 Research (20%): Your tutoring office hours; session reports; observations of experienced tutors; review of our Writing Database; and
group studio work.
 Writing/projects (50%): Two 5-page reflection essays and a final e-portfolio that will showcase your work in this class, including your
group studio project to create a tutoring tool that current and future Writing Center tutors will use.
 Honor code: In order to be an effective peer tutor, you need to be extremely familiar with the Georgetown University Honor System
(http://honorcouncil.georgetown.edu/system/policies).
IDST 298, Fall 2015
Tentative Schedule: All readings will be posted on our class blog, along with due dates for readings, writings and projects. Readings are
expected to be completed in preparation of the class for which they are listed.
Phase
Observe
Readings & Class Topics
CLASS 1: SEPT 9
GU Writing Center: Mission, Community, and Practice
Readings: The Oxford Guide for Writing Tutors, Chapter 2: “Tutoring
Writing”; Fallon, “Why My Best Teachers are Peer Tutors” (p. 356 in
Oxford Guide)
CLASS 2: SEPT 16
Tutoring Strategies & The Opportunity of a Peer Tutor
Readings: Georgetown Writing Center Handbook (class blog); Harris,
“Talking in the Middle” (blog); Murray, “The Listening Eye” (blog);
The Oxford Guide for Writing Tutors, Chapter 3: “Tutoring Practices”;
Harris, “Strategies for Teaching One-to-One” (Chapter 5 of Teaching
One-to-One: The Writing Conference – available at
http://wac.colostate.edu/books/harris/)
CLASS 3: SEPT 23 (Yom Kippur, so can we meet from 6-8pm?)
Writing Processes and Strategies
Readings: The Oxford Guide for Writing Tutors, Chapter 4: “Authoring
Processes”; excerpts from They Say, I Say:
-Introduction: “Entering the Conversation”
-Chapter 1: “They Say: Starting with What Others are Saying”
-Chapter 4: “Yes / No/ Okay, But: Three Ways to Respond”
-Chapter 5: “And Yet: Distinguishing what You Say from what They
Say”
Research
Observations: You will
observe four tutoring
sessions and read the
related session
reports.
Assignments/Projects
1. On your blog, post short
(<200 words) reading
responses; comment on
others’ posts. I’ll post specific
prompts on our class blog
2. Reflection I (five pages): What
you have learned from
observing experienced tutors
(likely due Oct 14; see our class
blog for more detail on the
assignment parameters)
IDST 298, Fall 2015
Practice
CLASS 4: SEPT 30
Writing Across the Disciplines
Readings: Gopen and Swan, “The Science of Scientific Writing” (class
blog); excerpts from They Say, I Say:
-Chapter 15: “On Closer Examination: Entering Conversations about
Literature”
-Chapter 16: “The Data Suggest: Writing in the Sciences”
-Chapter 17: “Analyze This: Writing in the Social Sciences”
Your Writing Center
office hours: You will
begin tutoring in the
Writing Center
October 4; I will
observe you tutoring
and review your
session reports.
CLASS 5: OCTOBER 7
Tutoring Across the Disciplines; Multimedia & Online Tutoring
Readings: The Oxford Guide for Writing Tutors, Chapter 6: “Tutoring
in and Across the Disciplines” and Chapter 7: “New Media and
Online Tutoring”; McKinney, “New Media Matters: Tutoring in the
Late Age of Print” (p. 365 in Oxford Guide)
Review of samples in
our Writing Database
CLASS 6: OCTOBER 14
Responding to Writers: Revision, Line Editing, & Proofreading
Readings: excerpts from: The Craft of Revision; Sommers, “Across the
Drafts” (class blog); Harris, “Diagnosis for Teaching One-to-One”
(Chapter 4 of Teaching One-to-One: The Writing Conference –
available at http://wac.colostate.edu/books/harris/); Hartwell,
“Grammar, Grammars, and the Teaching of Grammar” (class blog)
CLASS 7: OCTOBER 21
L2 writers
Readings: Williams & Severino, “The Writing Center and Second
Language Writers” (class blog); Thonus, “Tutoring multilingual
students: Shattering the Myths” (class blog)
CLASS 8: OCTOBER 28
L2 writers continued, 10/28
Readings: Leki, “Before the conversation: A sketch of some possible
backgrounds, experiences, and attitudes among ESL students
visiting a writing center” (class blog); Eun-Young Julia Kim, “’I Don’t
Understand What You’re Saying!’ Lessons from Three ESL Writing
Tutorials” (class blog);
1. Post short (<200 words)
reading responses on your
blog; comment on others’
posts. I’ll post specific
prompts on our class blog.
2. Reflection II (five pages):
Notes toward your tutoring
philosophy (likely due
November 4; see our class blog
for more detail on the
assignment parameters)
IDST 298, Fall 2015
CLASS 9: NOVEMBER 4
Discourse and Emotional Intelligence
Readings: Bruffee, “Peer Tutoring and ‘Conversation of Mankind’
(p. 325 in Oxford Guide); Sommers and Saltz, “Novice as Expert:
Writing the Freshman Year” (Blackboard); The Oxford Guide for
Writing Tutors, Chapter 5: “Tutor and Writer Identities”; Lape,
“Training Tutors in Emotional Intelligence: Toward a Pedagogy of
Empathy” (access at https://wlnjournal.org/archives/v33/33.2.pdf)
Create
CLASS 10: NOVEMBER 11
Assign Group Studio Projects: What is “Studio”?
Social Pedagogies and User-Centered Design
Readings: Bass and Elmendorf, “Social Pedagogies White Paper,”
excerpted from “Designing for Difficulty” (class blog); They Say, I Say,
Chapter 14: “What’s Motivating the Writer?: Reading for the
Conversation”
CLASS 11: NOVEMBER 18
Group Studio Projects (continued)
Readings: The Oxford Guide for Writing Tutors, Chapter 11: “Show
Me: Empirical Evidence and Tutor Research”; 2 student-written
articles in The Oxford Guide for Writing Tutors of your choice
CLASS 12: DECEMBER 2
Group Studio Projects (continued)
CLASS 13: DECEMBER 9
Final Critique for Studio Projects
Office hours (cont.)
Create your e-portfolio, including
Group Studio Projects:  Revised reflection papers
 Tutoring tool
Create a tool for WC
tutors or for writing in  (Optional) Column for
Writing Lab Newsletter
a specific discipline
(likely due during exam
period)