What would you like to read in the spring? During December and January, I hope to be able to settle upon a book to purchase for our group, and I am turning to you for your input.
As you know, this brown bag group will meet monthly to discuss a pre-selected chapter from one of our texts. This group may also occasionally host guest speakers/facilitators, such as representatives of the Learning Center and Feinberg Library.
We should be able to get copies of the St. Martin's Guide to Teaching Writing (6th Ed.) for free; so, if people are interested in this volume, that would involve little more than contacting our Bedford/St. Martin's representative, Lori Butcher.
I would, however, also like to order for each of you a copy of one of two books that have been mentioned as possible texts for our group:
(1) John Bean's Engaging Ideas
(2) Donald Murray's The Craft of Revision (5th Ed.) (Thanks for the recommendation, Greg!)
In posting this blog entry, I am initiating a specific conversation on which of these three books you would like to have our group read. As your "vote," I would like those of you who can during late December and early January to provide a brief, written position on which of these books you'd like to have our group read. In formulating your position, I would like you to consider how these books and their tables of address our proposed meetings' themes.
Our proposed meetings' themes include the following:
(1) students’ acculturation to college,
(2) using computers to teach writing,
(3) how to teach analysis and support critical thinking in ENG 100 and 101,
(4) how to teach students not to plagiarize,
(5) how to teach students argumentation,
(6) how to work with the Learning Center and Feinberg Library in teaching writing at Plattsburgh,
(7) how to teach revision
(8) how to differentiate instruction to accommodate diverse learners
The tables of contents for these texts are located at the following sites:
Bean (when you get to this page, click on the "look inside" feature)
Murray
St. Martin's Guide
I have for your perusal a copy of each of these books in my office on the bookshelf immediately to the right of the front door.
I am really excited about this group, and I thank you in advance for any thoughts you have on these proposed readings. Again, if you could share your thoughts by early to mid January, this will enable us to get started perhaps in the second week of spring.
In the meantime, thanks again for all of your hard work, and please have a great, much-deserved break.
Tom
4 comments:
Hi all,
Since I'm switching our blog conversation over to this "blogger" site, I'm going to copy and paste in the comments offered so far by other group members. Here is Nichole's:
Hello Reading Group Members!
I am going to give the Blog a try.
I would vote for either the St. Martin's or the Bean.
I think that Murray's text is a fabulous in-depth look at the revision process. And I cannot deny that it offers a lot of sound advice. But Bean or the St. Martin's Guide are wider in their scope.
While Murray's text definitely has wide applications, for our first attempt at a Reading Group to support ENG100/101 instructors, Bean or the St. Martin's Guide will capture the greatest amount of concerns we raise as composition instructors.
Anyone else's thoughts?
Nichole
Here is Tricia's comment:
Regarding the choice of a text, I already have the St. Martin's text (fifith edition). I like both of the others but lean toward the Bean as it seems to have a broader focus. I especially like it's emphasis on critical thinking. However, I like Murray a lot. I've used other texts of his, so either would be fine with me.
Tricia
Dear Tom,
I’m having trouble posting on your blog, although I’ve been able to read what’s there from you and others. So please forgive this email, but I thought you’d rather have it in some form soon than to get nothing “late.”
As for the St. Martin’s Guide, it has much to recommend it, not least the readings at the end (a combination of classic readings/authors with newer articles on pressing current topics). I also feel that the sample course plans and syllabi in Chapters 1 & 2, not to mention sample assignments in Ch. 4, might be hugely helpful to beginning teachers. My hesitations: the text appears to be pretty dense, although I think it less so on actual reading. Also, I checked through the various references to “revision” and found the treatment woefully sketchy, although that comes as a reaction following a close reading (and deep appreciation of readability) of Murray’s Craft of Revision, 5th ed. I do feel that revision in its largest sense(s) is vital to the learning of the writing craft and an essential skill for College Writing I and II.
Re: Engaging Ideas, I find it user-friendly in layout and writing style, with plenty of examples and ideas. The text requires a bit of to-ing and fro-ing when using the index (again, for something like “revision”), but the various essential topics are fully covered. Part 4, “Reading, Commenting On, and Grading Student Writing,” is useful, clear, and simple in a good way—let’s say that it gets the instructor thinking about the various challenges and dilemmas of the topic area. What the book doesn’t offer is the step-by-step initial planning stages (course outline, syllabus, what to do in the first week[s]) that the St. Martin’s Guide covers. What might be helpful is to direct truly new-to-the-fold teachers to the St. Martin’s Guide (early chapters) while using Engaging Ideas as a general guide/idea source, and one that busy, more experienced instructors (referred to directly in Ch. 1) could more easily dip into for ideas or support, if not read thoroughly.
The Craft of Revision: It may be my problem (years in teaching, senility, taste?), but I find Murray’s most recent edition (5th) to be essential. As he says, writing is revision from the moment a thought occurs through the many stages that it may take to become a “final” (never!) draft. His own writing samples and many other primary sources (student drafts, interviews with writers, quotations from other writers) all serve to illustrate, captivate, and educate his reader…and I would say that this applies to any level of writer from College Writing I (or perhaps beginning with II) through us (mature writing instructors/writers). I would not overlook this text for beginning instructors, although they might want one of the other two as well. Lacking? An index, but the Table of Contents is minutely detailed. I would certainly choose this text for my own edification and delight, but as a companion to one of the other two.
My final choice of an ubertext (or at least a first text) for our study group is Engaging Ideas, but I would draw from the other two for supplementary/complementary material.
All the best,
Greg
Hi all,
Lauren, you sent this comment to me on 12/2, and I thought the rest of the folks might be interested in hearing it.
Here is Lauren's comment:
"I use a big St. Martin's textbook (I think it's titled _The St. Martin's Guide to Writing_) when I teach in the spring (i.e., in the
non-biology-related class), so _The St. Martin's Guide to Teaching
Writing_ would probably work well for me.
"However, it is also true that the last time we assessed the composition program, it failed in the category of revision, so _The Craft of Revision_ might be of more general use."
So, there are some more thoughts. Thanks, Lauren.
Tom
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