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TESOL429TeachingWriting
Fall2016

Instructor
Name: Brother Wolfersberger
E-mail: maw44@byuh.edu

Phone: 675-3628

Texts/Materials
1) Thereisnotextbookforthiscourse.
2) AccesstoCanvas.
Major Questions
In order to be an effective ESL/EFL writing teacher, you need to be able to answer the following two questions:
1. What knowledge do I need in order to be an effective writing teacher?
a. During this class, we will work to obtain some of this knowledge.
2. How best can I apply that knowledge when teaching?
a. During this class, we will practice applying our knowledge to teaching situations.
The goal of the course is to empower you so that you can answer these two questions.
Note that the main goal of the course is NOT to complete the assignments or pass the tests or write the papers. Those tasks
are only helpful if they bring us closer to answering the major questions.

Am I Learning?
So, how will we measure your progress toward answering the major questions for the class? Well, in order to learn, you
have to do something. So, the next question is what will we do in order to answer the major questions for the class? And
the answer to that question is found in the learning activities described below.

Learning Activities
1) Reading and Other Class Work (30%)
I believe in reading to learn. And I believe the best place for this to happen is outside of class. And I believe that
reading needs to be done before the class in which we discuss the reading. I believe our time in class is best spent
discussing, evaluating, manipulating, clarifying, extending, and applying the ideas in the readings. Therefore, do not
assume that I will give you all of the information you need to know in a class lecture. Besides, I am not a rock star. I
am not able to sustain an engaging lecture for a whole class period. If I tried to do that, I would put you to sleep, and
that is not helpful for learning.
Besides reading, we will complete other activities such as preparing lessons, writing lesson plans, responding to
writing, and assessing writing samples. You will need to do much of this outside of class time.

2) Teaching Journal (40%)

One of the major projects for this course is teaching students. This experience will help you understand what
knowledge you need and how to apply that knowledge to teaching (our course objectives). We will have a number of
different teaching opportunities this semester. We will teach EIL students, the English Exchange class, and we will
teach each other.

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For this assignment, you will write journal entries about each teaching experience. There are two main purposes for
writing journal entries about your experiences. First, I believe that we learn by reflecting on our experiences, and
writing down our reflections forces us to clarify our thoughts. In other words, writing about your experiences will help
you to better understand how you answered the two major class questions within a real teaching situation. Second,
your journal is the means by which both you and I will be able to evaluate what you have learned.
Guidelines: The length requirement for this paper is as long as it takes to explain what you did and what you learned. I
am interested in the depth of your thinking on what you learned throughout this experience. Some people are good at
writing this very succinctly; other people need to write quite a lot before they can clearly describe what they have
learned. The paper is due on Monday, October 24th.

3) Tests (30%)
The tests will mostly measure the first major question of the class: What knowledge do I need in order to be an
effective writing teacher? The tests will cover topics that arise from our teaching as well as topics we discuss in class.