I, too, teach a first year course--some of you probably saw the on-line
version last year.
The on-campus course is divided into a one hour lecture and a two hour
workshop. I teach the lecture and one workshop--the rest of the workshops
are taught by TA's. The workshops are capped at 25 for the TA's and 30 for
me. I have fought hard to keep the workshops at 25. The only reason that
they are at 25 is that I can argue abuse of graduate students if the numbers
go higher.
When I took over the course, it was actually organized into an hour and half
lecture and an hour and half workshop. Can anyone imagine "lecturing" for
an hour and half on writing. Lecturing about writing is like lecturing about
swimming. An hour is bad enough.
However, there are reasons for the lecture. The most important reason being
that the students do not believe the course is "real" unless a faculty
member is involved. Also it does allow me to cut back on some of the TA's
hours and use them to better effect.
The job, however, of bringing in new TA's each semester to teach the course
is exhausting. Most have little teaching experience and, of course,
virtually no experience teaching writing. Through weekly workshops and
through heavily designed teaching material I try to make the experience
worthwhile for them. But it's a slog.
By the way, I have taught a Composition Theory course to Graduate students
on several occasions. It can be fun course to teach
----- Original Message -----
From: Wendy Strachan <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2000 5:37 PM
Subject: Re: Canadian 1st-year writing courses
> Glad you plan to compile all this info, Betsy!
>
> At SFU, enrolment in our first year writing course - as well as in all
> other writing courses - is capped at 17 students and can be taken by
> students at any level as long as they have at least 12 university credit
> hours. Individual instructors are of course free to accept an extra
> student or two if they wish. The second year or 200-level course is a
> follow-up on the first, but the first is not a prerequisite. Students
> taking the second year, more advanced course in academic writing, are only
> required to have any 2 100-level courses.
>
> Wendy
>
>
>
> At 08:21 AM 9/11/00 -0700, you wrote:
> >I'm finding this discussion about class sizes very helpful (I'm printing
> >every one of them so I can get the range clear in my mind and then
> >summarize it for the English Dept). Please, those of you who have
written
> >in without mentioning specific class sizes, can you supply that info as
> >well? Thanks--Betsy Sargent, U of Alberta
> >
> > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> > To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
> > [log in to unmask] or, if you experience difficulties,
> > write to Russ Hunt at [log in to unmask]
> >
> > For the list archives and information about the organization,
> >the annual conference, and publications, go to the Inkshed Web site at
> > http://www.StThomasU.ca/inkshed/
> > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> >
> >
> Wendy Strachan, Ph.D.
> Senior Lecturer
> English Department
> Simon Fraser University
> Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6
> Phone: 604-291-5438
> Fax: 604-291-5737
>
> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
> [log in to unmask] or, if you experience difficulties,
> write to Russ Hunt at [log in to unmask]
>
> For the list archives and information about the organization,
> the annual conference, and publications, go to the Inkshed Web site at
> http://www.StThomasU.ca/inkshed/
> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
[log in to unmask] or, if you experience difficulties,
write to Russ Hunt at [log in to unmask]
For the list archives and information about the organization,
the annual conference, and publications, go to the Inkshed Web site at
http://www.StThomasU.ca/inkshed/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
