ENGL 505B

Next year, I will be bidding farewell to 106 and teaching 106i, the composition course designed for international undergraduates. Although 106 and 106i fulfill the same requirements, there are a few differences between the two. Among them:

* Students have access to laptops during every class.
* There are more conferences.
* Students choose one topic and explore it throughout the semester through five (?) different genres of papers.

I will learn more about this approach in the first orientation session later this week and during the practicum next fall. Until then, I'm trying to anticipate how I can make good use of my conferences and the technology I will have available.

For technology, I will incorporate many of the same ideas I used in 106 and from ESL writing classes I have taught in the past. This includes blogging, online research strategies, PowerPoint and other software, in-class writing and editing papers using the track changes/comment functions.

During the conferences, I anticipate an increased focus on linguistic issues. I address errors by coding them (not correcting them) and requiring students to keep an editing record. This allows students to recognize patterns in their errors and become more focused editors. Once patterns have been identified, I may address linguistic issues more explicitly.

Any other suggestions?