Sample Syllabus: W1 : Writing Program : Hanover College

Sample Syllabus: W1

ENG 178A Office: CLA 217

D. Battles Office Hours: MWF 3-4

Fall Term (or by appointment)

Sample Syllabus: W1

Below is a sample breakdown of class time, for the Fall term, indicating days allocated for writing instruction. This is just a model for you. You can find a list of W1 Writing Objectives, along with Lesson Plans and Exercises for teaching each of the writing skills on the Writing Webpage (writing.hanover.edu). Feel free to adapt any of these materials to your particular course needs.

How it works: The "lesson" portion of the class period takes roughly ten minutes, and the rest of the period is devoted to walking students, step by step, through the components of, say, the Thesis, or the Introduction for their upcoming papers. (It's not a rehearsal; it's real). Students come away from each class period with a concrete outcome: a working thesis, a working Introduction, or a well-crafted body paragraph that they can use as a model for the rest of the paper. These techniques also work well in one-on-one paper conferences, or in small-group workshops. You can find a useful guide to Workshop Models on the Writing Webpage.

For the third paper, students take the solo flight, applying the techniques we mastered in the first two papers with minimal coaching. Students meet with me one-on-one to discuss the Thesis and Outline for this paper.

Note: "Evening Hours" on this syllabus indicates a two-hour evening block of time, on the Monday before a paper is due, where I am available at the Duggan Library for drop-in help. Many students bring their laptops and stay the entire time, and I move from laptop to laptop. I love this.

The Plan

Week 1 (9/4-9/8): Introduction and Overview

M: Introduction

W: course content

F: course content

Week 2 (9/11-9/15): Content

M: course content; hand out assignment for Paper One

W: course content

F: Topic vs. Thesis; Thesis and Outlining of Paper One.

Week 3 (9/18-9/22): College Writing

M: Building great paragraphs and topic sentences (Evening Hours, 6-8pm in Duggan Library)

W: Handling Opposition; Using literary evidence like a pro (bring your story with you).

F: Beautiful Paragraph Transitions. Paper One Due (bring a hard copy, or bring it on your laptop). (We use this class period to craft the paragraph transitions on their completed papers).

Week 4 (9/25-9/29): Content

M: course content

W: course content

F: course content

Week 5 (10/2-10/6): Content

M: course content

W: course content

F: course content

Week 6 (10/9-10/13): Content

M: course content

W: course content

F: course content

Week 7 (10/16-10/20): Review and Midterm

M: Review

W: Midterm

F: Thesis and outlining of Paper 2

Week 8 (10/23-10/27): College Writing

M: Fall Break!!

W: Paragraphing for Comparative Analysis.

F: Active Voice! (We do the sample exercise first, and then students revise the paragraphs they wrote in the previous class period).

Week 9 (10/30-11/3): College Writing

M: Types of Introduction; the Good Lead Sentence; (Evening hours, 6-8 Duggan Library)

W: The Conclusion

F: Peer Editing Workshop for Paper 2. Bring one hard copy of your paper to class.

Week 10 (11/6-11/10): Content

M: Paper 2 final draft due.

W: course content

F: Library Instructional Session (meet in Duggan Library lobby)

Week 11 (11/13-11/17): Content (and one-on-one meetings to discuss Paper 3)

M: course content

W: course content.

F: course content

Week 12 (11/20-11/24): Content (and one-on-one meetings to discuss Paper 3)

M: course content

W: Thanksgiving!!

F: Thanksgiving!!

Week 13 (11/27-12/1): Content (and one-on-one meetings to discuss Paper 3)

M: course content

W: course content

F: course content

Week 14 (12/4-12/8): Wrap-up- and Review

M: (Evening Hours, 6-8 Duggan Library)

W: course content

F: Exam Review; Paper 3 Due