In addition to being writing-intensive courses, first-year seminars are introductions to very specific fields, subject matter, and disciplines. Though it’s important to make the majority of your readings content related, it’s not a bad idea to introduce students to writing as its own field of study.
One way to do this without taking up too much time is to assign short readings or videos that discuss writing explicitly. You can discuss these texts briefly on days devoted to peer review or writing specifically. Here are some of our favorites!
Toni Morrison’s 1993 Nobel Lecture on the power of language
James Baldwin’s “If Black English Isn’t a Language Then Tell Me, What Is?”
Jenny Zhang’s “The Importance of Angsty Art” reflects on how college writing courses shape our ideas about ourselves and our writing.
Zadie’s Smith “That Crafty Feeling” provides helpful language for talking about yourself as a writer (are you a macro planner or a micro manager?) and thinking about writing as a complicated process that involves many writers and readers.
The University of Massachusetts Writing Program created a Glossary of Rhetorical Terms that provides definitions of common language for writing.
Excerpts from John Warner’s “Why They Can’t Write” that discuss writing education and expectations of college writers.
Fan Shen’s “The Classroom and the Wider Culture: Identity as a Key to Learning English Composition” is a personal essay that “describe[s] and explore[s]” the “experience of reconciling [the author’s] Chinese identity with an English identity dictated by the rules of English composition.”
Excerpt from Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime that explores the relationship between language, identity (esp. race, class, gender), and power in South Africa.
Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” thinks through accented English and how different dialects and Englishes shape individual’s life opportunities.
Gloria Anzaldúa’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” is a comprehensive and personal dive into the politics of language, standardization, and education.
David Dzaka’s “Resisting Writing: Reflections on the Postcolonial Factor in the Writing Class” describes the tensions between Ghanian writing education and US writing education.