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

E 398T planning site

Karate Kid, Lesson One

Karate Kid, lesson 2

Karate Kid, the final lesson

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Start with goals

Three advantages to thinking in terms of goals:
(1) Setting goals will clearly set an agenda for the instructor
(2) Explaining goals will help students to understand why they're doing what they're doing
(3) Knowing goals will allow assessment of one's work later in the semester

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Develop resources to pursue goals.

We will present a range of resources to help you realize the goals of RHE 306. In this orientation, you immediately get 3 types of resources: Assignments (major essays and short writing assignments); Suggestions about teaching Reading, Research, and Writing for Unit I; Suggestions for day-to-day classroom activities during Unit I.

During 398T, we will provide you with other resources to help you pursue the goals of RHE 306: reflective writing exercises, reading about pedagogical practices and theory, discussion about teaching, introduction to people at the university, etc.

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Assess performance and make plans for change

At opportune moments, check to see if students are learning (or feel that they are learning) what you intended to teach them.

Every UT course has a required method of assessment: Course-Instructor Surveys

RHE 306 also gets assessed every year.

We assess orientation with a survey.

The Library Instructional Resources team has developed methods of assessing efforts at teaching research skills in RHE 306

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RHE 306 Description and Goals

RHE 306 – Rhetoric & Writing is a course in argumentation that situates rhetoric as an art of civic discourse. It is designed to enhance your ability to analyze the various positions held in any public debate and to advocate your own position effectively. Your work in this course will help you advance the critical writing and reading skills you will need to succeed in courses for your major and university degree.

You will learn how to
1. identify, evaluate, construct, and organize effective arguments;
2. read critically;
3. advocate a specific position responsibly;
4. conduct library and web-based research and document sources;
5. produce a clean, efficient style and adapt it to various rhetorical situations; and
6. edit and proofread your own and others’ prose.