The First Year Writing (FYW) Program is committed to preserving autonomy and pedagogical freedom for faculty in alignment with contemporary research in writing studies and literacy. Though we seek to preserve this autonomy, we also work to maintain a unifying set of expectations for the program and for our first year students’ learning. Unlike what is commonly portrayed of progressive education, IWS believes that faculty autonomy and freedom require even more structuring, rigorous expectations, ongoing collaboration, and unilateral transparency. In order to achieve these nested goals, as FYW faculty, we submit syllabi to a communal, digital space and are expected to communicate with colleagues and the director about our classrooms’ curricular experiences. The expectations that are listed below serve as a framework for our collective approach to syllabus design (these are explained in more depth and detail in the faculty handbook). As FYW faculty in IWS, our syllabi represent all of the following principles and beliefs of IWS: * Program Learning Objectives (PLOs) are pragmatically evident and communicated to students * 3-5 pages of writing are assigned each week * Writing projects are sequenced and move toward the goals of a final portfolio * Technology is incorporated for writing/writing-to-learn * Process approaches are used to facilitate students’ meta-awareness of their writing * Non-fiction and cross-disciplinary readings are dominant rather than an over-reliance on literature and creative writing
* Grammar and MLA standards are taught in context * Reading assignments align with the context and purpose of the course rather than the contents of a textbook * Writing assignments align with context and purpose of a given assignment rather than rhetorically-autonomous “modes” * Office hours and conferencing are communicated clearly * Expectations for student visits to the Writing Center are incorporated * Assessment procedures are clearly represented * Weekly or daily calendar of events for students’ writing/reading assignments is provided * University attendance policy for FYW is provided * A tardiness policy (along with other issues about classroom dispositions) is communicated * University plagiarism policy is offered Each semester, the FYW program director will read faculty syllabi in the context of this expectation list. For comments and questions, please contact the director of First Year Writing, Dr. Carmen Kynard at kynardc@stjohns.edu