Teacher Resources: Composition Discussion Group

About the Composition Discussion Group (CDG)
Founded in the Spring term of 1997, the Composition Discussion Group (CDG) meets about every three weeks to discuss recent readings and issues in composition pedagogy and to provide a forum for instructors of composition to network, share ideas, and discuss each others' work.  The mission of the group is to constellate the world of composition outside of Rutgers as a way of understanding the broader context of our working lives. Discussion is led by Richard E. Miller, Associate Director of the Writing Program.

Joining Us
If you are interestedin joining the CDG, contact Barclay Barrios and ask to be put on the Composition Discussion Group mailing list, where we post information on readings and meetings.

Bibliography of Composition Discussion Group Readings
The Composition Discussion Group has examined a number of texts and issues since its inception.  Readings were generally selected to help us think about developments in the Writing Program at Rutgers. A selection of past topics and bibliographies is included here. 

Spring 1999
Seeking ways to improve support for weaker students to help deal with an increasing failure rate in basic composition courses at Rutgers, our group addressed issues associated with basic writers (with special attention to the pioneering work of Mina Shaughnesy).

Trainor, Jennifer Seibel & Amanda Godley.  "After Wyoming: Labor Practices in Two University Writing Programs." CCC 50.2 (1998): 153-181.

Shaughnesy, Mina.  Errors and Expectations: A Guide for the Teacher of Basic Writing (1976) New York: Oxford UP, 1979. Introduction and "Vocabulary."

Lewiechi-Wilson, Cynthia & Jeff Sommers.  "Professing at the Fault Lines: Composition at Open Admissions Institutions." CCC 50.3 (1999): 438-62.

Boquet, Elizabeth.  "Our Little Secret: A Life of Writing Centers, Pre- and Post-Open Admissions."  CCC 50.3 (1999): 468-82.

Smitherman, Geneva.  "CCCC's Role in the Struggle for Language Rights."  CCC 50.3 (1999): 349-76.

Yancey, Kathleen Blake.  "Looking Back as We Look Forward: Historicizing Writing Assessment."  CCC 50.3 (1999): 483-503.

Fall 1998
The group hosted a visit by Joseph Harris to discuss his book, A Teaching Subject, and we read and discussed Richard E. Miller's newly published book.  Discussion often turned to the institutional place of composition and its function in the university, with consideration of the "abolition" movement. 

Miller, Richard E.  As If Learning Mattered: Reforming Higher Education.  Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1998.  Introduction and Chapters 1, 2, and 6.

Harris, Joseph.  A Teaching Subject: Composition since 1966.  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997.  Chapters 2, 3, and 5.

Crowley, Sharon.  Composition in the University: Historical and Polemical Essays.  Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 1998.  Chapters 1, 11, and 12.

Geisler, Cheryl.  Academic Literacy and the Nature of Experts.  RPI, 1994.  Chapters 2 and 5.

Spring 1998
With the advent of articulation agreements between Rutgers and all New Jersey community colleges, and the founding of the New Jersey Writing Alliance (an organization that brought together representatives from various community colleges with members of the Rutgers Writing Program to discuss common writing standards), our group turned to questions of teaching writing in the 2-year college and to the issues involved in teaching students from nontraditional college backgrounds.  We also touched upon the question of "experience" as a term for thinking about writing. 

Tinberg, Howard.  Border Talk: Writing and Knowing in the Two-Year College.  Urbana, IL: NCTE, 1997.

Pickett, Nell Ann. "The Two-Year College as Democracy in Action."  CCC  49.1 (1998): 90-98.

Smith, Jeff.  "Students' Goals, Gatekeeping, and Some Questions of Ethics."  College English  59.3  (1997): 299-320.

Schutz, Aaron and Anne Ruggles Gere.  "Service Learning and English Studies: Rethinking 'Public' Service." College English  60.2 (1998): 129-49.

Tompkins, Jane.  "Pedagogy of the Distressed."  College English 52.6 (1990): 653-60.

Responses to Tompkins in College English 53.5 (1991): 599-605 & 53.6 (1991): 714-17.

Pinsky, Robert.  "The Saving Vulgarity of Poetry."  Profession (1997): 31-34.

Lu, Min Zhan & Bruce Horner.  "The Problematic of Experience: Redefining Critical Work in Ethnography and Pedagogy."  College English  60.3 (1998): 257-77.

Fall 1997
As the Writing Program began introducing full time instructor positions to mitigate the explosion in part time instructors at the University, our readings and discussion turned to labor issues and to the question of "community" versus "contact zone" in composition. Many instructors were commonly teaching Mary Louise Pratt's "Arts of the Contact Zone" essay in Expository Writing, so that text often hovered in the background of our discussion. 

"Statement of Principles and Standards for the Postsecondary Teaching of Writing." (a.k.a.: "The Wyoming Resolution). CCC 40.3 (1989): 329-36.

Eldred, Janet Carey.  "The Technology of Voice."  CCC 48.3 (1997): 334-409.

Harris, Joseph.  "The Idea of Community in the Study of Writing."  CCC 40.1 (1989): 11-22.

Horner, Bruce.  "Students, Authorship, and the Work of Composition."  College English 59.5 (1997): 505-29.

Miller, Richard E.  "Fault Lines in the Contact Zone."  College English  56.4 (1994): 389-408.

Varnum, Robin.  Fencing with Words: A History of Writing Instruction at Amherst College during the Era of Theodore Baird, 1938-1966.  Urbana, IL: NCTE, 1996.

Spring 1997
We began our group by "reading around" in composition to get a sense of the theoretical landscape, and in order to define composition at Rutgers in relation to "the field of composition" (as it has come to be defined only within the past few years).

Slevin, James.  "What Does It Mean to Be in Composition?" Paper read at MLA.  Washington, DC, December 1996.

Bartholomae, David.  "Writing with Teachers: A Conversation with Peter Elbow."  CCC 46.1 (1995): 62-71.

Elbow, Peter.  "Being a Writer vs. Being an Academic: A Conflict in Goals."  CCC 46.1 (1995): 72-83.

"Interchanges: Responses to Bartholomae & Elbow."  CCC 46.1 (1995): 84-107.

Miller, Susan.  Textual Carnivals: The Politics of Composition.  Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1991.  Chapters 3 and 4.

Berlin, James.  "Rhetoric and Ideology in the Writing Class."  College English  50.5 (1988): 477-94.

Ohmann, Richard.  English in America: A Radical View of the Profession.  New York: Oxford UP, 1976.  Chapter 6.

Corbett, Edward.  "Approaches to the Study of Style."  Teaching Composition: Twelve Bibliographical Essays.  Ed. Gary Tate.  Fort Worth: Texas Christian UP, 1987.  83-130.

Spellmeyer, Kurt.  "After Theory: From Textuality to Attunement with the World."  College English 58.8 (1996): 893-913.