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

Courses Available for Assistant Instructors

Graduate student instructors have the opportunity to teach several lower-division courses in the DRW. While most AIs begin by teaching the standardized RHE 306 curriculum, other courses in the Department offer graduate students the opportunity to develop their own syllabus. These courses include the following (you can click on any course to access a curriculum guide):

RHE 309S: Critical Reading and Persuasive Writing
A writing course designed to teach advanced rhetorical analysis and advocacy on public issues.

RHE 309K: Topics in Writing
A writing course focused on studying and practicing methods of rhetorical analysis within the contexts of disputed issues of academic, political, or cultural significance.

RHE 310: Intermediate Expository Writing
Intensive writing workshop, focusing on style and readability.

RHE 312: Writing in Digital Environments
A writing course focusing on using, interpreting, and analyzing traditional and emerging technologies.

RHE 315: Introduction to Visual Rhetoric
A writing course designed to teach students to analyze and produce visual and non-verbal forms of rhetoric.

Instructor Training and Professional Development

The DRW offers some of the most comprehensive teacher training in the country for graduate students. During the first semester that instructors teach RHE 306, they attend a three day orientation session (the week before classes begin) and enroll in 398T, a graduate course that further orients students to RHE 306 as well as rhetoric and writing pedagogy generally. In 398T, instructors receive practical resources for managing the day-to-day development of their own courses, a theoretical understanding of the underpinnings of RHE 306 and of rhetoric's function in the university and society generally, and further resources for developing future courses and for professional development. Aside from the training received in 398T, instructors can further their professional development by teaching a variety of courses within the DRW, by working in the UWC and the CWRL, by incorporating technology into their courses, and by serving on departmental committees or working as assistant directors for the department.