RHE 398T: Teaching First-Year Writing, Theory and Practice

Broader context of Undergraduate Studies at UT

--The UGS and core curriculum requirements
--Emphasis on the "curricular goals" of the core curriculum and particularly on the bifurcated language--(1) "breadth" of a "broad intellectual context" and (2) "depth and focus of a major."

--The core curriculum: the 08-10 catalog

--The signature course works towards the latter goal,

--RHE 306 (among other elements) works towards the former.

--RHE 306 teaches: * flexible writing skills; * general research skills; * critical skills, such as synthesis, analysis, evaluation, differentiation

--Course Flags and their place in the effort at UGS's goals. UGS's description of writing flag courses for students. UGS's description of a writing flag course for faculty.
--Writing flag criteria. Writing flag form

--What does SWC mean and what's the difference between and SWC course and a writing flag course

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Departmental Context

--RHE 306 is offered by the Department of Rhetoric and Writing

--There are Writing Departments, Rhetoric Departments, and some other departments.

--The designation DRW first signifies a commitment to "rhetoric" broadly defined. It involves some basic precepts to which most faculty in the DRW would agree.

The brief philosophy of rhetoric:

Discourse is situated: kairos

Discourse is suasive: psychagogia

Discourse is can be taught and improved: techne

Discourse is politically charged: zoon politikon

Discourse is ethically charged: ethos/ethe

But we can also think of rhetoric as a habit of mind, an ethos. The rhetorical mind will:

Listen to the other side: audi alteriam partem

Consider arguments based on the process, the procedure, and the outcome

Argue from all sides: utrumque partem

Combine firm conviction with intellectual humility

--The "rhetoric" designation also signifies two things that we are not: (1) professional writing department; (2) department of education (curricular development, educational psychology, etc.)

--RHE 306, thus, is a humanistically conceived, politically charged, ethically attentive, effort at teaching students the tools of persuasive discourse.

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Students--the Human Context

Office of Information Management and Analysis

2010-2011 undergraduate profile

%52.1 White

%49.5 Male

%80.3 from Texas

Mostly in the Liberal Arts (9,784) and Natural Sciences (7,515) [Total Undergrad Population: 34,227]

Average SAT score: 1835 (national average: 1509); Critical Reading 597/501; Writing 598/492

What's the median family income? Generally more than twice the Texas median family income.

How many test out of RHE 306? About 60% are eligible.

What does this mean for RHE 306?

We do not have to spend a lot of time addressing sentence-level writing skills

We can expect them to have some exposure to research and documentation

We are able to address other writing skills, such as paragraphing, connecting evidence to claims, synthesizing ideas, tailoring their work to specific audiences, etc.

We can have a class about rhetoric and writing