Composition: History & Theory: 1980 - 1989
College English Review, Volume 49, No. 5: 1987 (Review I)
Description
CONTENTS
September 1987: NCTE “Guidelines for the Workload of the College English Teacher” : In 1987, the NCTE articulated 10 professional standards regarding English faculty workload; writing class caps for basic and regular courses; literature and language class caps; total student load per term (note advisees); tutoring, writing lab, administrative, professional and scholarly work and reassignment time; and number of preps per term. A selected bibliography attesting to the “richness and complexity of the issues in the teaching of English” followed the guidelines. The guidelines were co-authored / endorsed by 11 CE College Section affiliates. Guideline highlights are as follows:
- 12-hour weekly maximum in-class hours
- 20-student individual writing class cap; 60-student term maximum
- 15-student basic writing individual class cap; 45-student maximum
- 25-student literature and language individual class cap
- 3-prep per term maximum
ADDITIONAL TITLES: “The Historical Necessity for—and Difficulties with—New Historical Analysis in Introductory Literature Courses”; “Teaching Eighteenth-Century Literature in the Pocockian Moment (Or, Flipnap on the Tightrope, Kramnick to the Rescue”; “Policy: Expanding Opportunities: Academic Success for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students NCTE 1986 Task Force on Racism and Bias in the Teaching of English”; “College English: Whence and Whither” (interesting stats on essays submitted to CE); and “Literature in the Basic Writing Course: A Bibliographic Survey”.
CONNECTIONS AND REFLECTIONS (Melanie L.)
We can see the social constructivist influence (Berlin, Harris, Spring?) in “Policy: Expanding Opportunities: Academic Success for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students NCTE 1986 Task Force on Racism and Bias in the Teaching of English.” The goal of this policy was to incorporate cultural backgrounds of students into reading and writing curricula, create a nurturing environment for reading and writing, provide frequent opportunities to read silently and aloud, and write. The policy also urged educators to choose reading and writing materials with “more than token representation of works by nonwhite minorities” to “reflect a diversity of subject matter, style, and social and cultural views” (550-551). This article also focused on the use of classroom writing as valid reading material and called for an end to skill and drill exercises. Teachers were called to evaluate “students writing in a way that fosters critical thinking” (550-551)
Date of Upload
3/14/09