Lee Honors College

Lee Honors College

ATYP Writing Skills Course Description - Year one

Abstract: ATYP is an advanced and accelerated program designed to engage and challenge students with a more rigorous and intensive learning experience than most traditional settings. Our program more than meets state mandated standards as outlined in the Michigan Merit Curriculum in a coherent and systematic manner; we provide an environment in which students learn in a university setting with experienced instructors and published writers. The program, which begins in middle school, meets and supplements ninth and tenth grade curricular standards, and over a period of three years, advances the student to the collegiate level, allowing for the possibility of dual enrollment in high school and university. Because our class sizes are small, students receive rich, personalized feedback from instructors and their peers, preparing them well for university. In all three years, students discuss and write about their writing processes and classroom literature analytically and creatively, with equal emphasis upon working independently and in a collaborative atmosphere. 

ATYP Year One

Plan: In year one, students are asked to read, write, and speak about their lives, their world, and the required texts with a focus upon interrelationships, self-reliance, and American, as well as World Literature. As shown below, the GLECs under each Strand from the Michigan Merit Curriculum are addressed.

Strand 1: Writing, Speaking, Visual Expression

Writing and speaking involve a complex process of inquiry and the discovery of meaning. Through writing, speaking, and visually expressing, students understand themselves, communicate with others, advance personal and professional goals, and participate in a democratic society. Effective communication requires an understanding of purpose and audience, and reflects well-developed ideas using appropriate conventions of genre, content, form, style, voice, and mechanics.

Students create a portfolio that demonstrates mastery of the listed expectations under Strand 1. The ATYP portfolio reflects a broad array of genres and writing styles, including narration, description, exemplification, comparison/contrast, process analysis, definition, poetry and other forms of creative writing, an extensive research project and several projects that are presented orally. The emphasis is upon presentation, organization, revision, reflection, and growth. Pieces in the portfolio undergo various editing techniques from peer review to metacognitive writing to one-on-one conference with the instructor. Students also write daily entries in journals, using both prompted topics and free-writes.

Strand 2: Reading, Listening, and Viewing

In constructing meaning while reading, listening, or viewing, students draw upon prior knowledge and engage complex strategies of comprehension and interpretation, and critical thinking. They develop skill, confidence, and independence in understanding narrative and expository texts, including aural, visual, and multimodal works. Students synthesize information through reading, listening, and viewing and also generate new thinking.

ATYP students read several essays, articles, short stories, and poems throughout the year, in addition to one Shakespearean play and at least two novels. Students write rigorous reader responses to the texts in which they critique, analyze, compare, and identify themes and literary devices, as well as construct meaning. They must read one another’s work and listen to peer presentations and speeches, demonstrating appropriate audience skills and providing appropriate feedback. Students are exposed to and analyze multimedia works that support the text in film, audio, and web-based discussion board format. 

Strand 3: Literature and Culture

Students study and appreciate a rich and varied selection of classical and contemporary literary, cultural, and historical texts from American, British, and world traditions. They learn to make meaning from the experiences, ideas, and emotions of others across the ages, applying their understanding to contemporary circumstances.

The literary works for ATYP Year One are carefully chosen by the instructor to be challenging to the student, representative of many cultures, and inclusive of both canonical and contemporary literature. Some of the writers used in the past include: William Shakespeare, George Orwell, William Golding, Walt Whitman, Kate Chopin, Langston Hughes, Malcolm X, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zora Neale Hurston, Shirley Jackson, Sandra Cisneros, Saki, Maya Angelou, Art Spiegelman, Bharati Mukherjee, Toni Morrison, Amy Tan, Kurt Vonnegut, and Ray Bradbury.

Through intense classroom discussion and writing, students are asked to analyze, interpret, and draw connections between the novels, as well as relate the works to their own lives. Students learn historical context behind the works and are encouraged to relate them to modern circumstances.

Strand 4: Language

Language is an evolving tool with powerful, personal, cultural, economic, and political implications. Knowledge of the structures of language (e.g., the history, meaning, and use of words; varying sentence structures and patterns of language; the conventions of standard English) is essential for the effective use of language for varying purposes (e.g., the development of a rich vocabulary, sentence structures for different rhetorical purposes, appropriate speech patterns for different social context). Understanding the political implications of language use is also critical for fostering a democratic society in which all voices are valued.    

Students are taught a variety of rhetorical devices such as persuasion, argumentation, logic, and academic analysis. They are then required to demonstrate knowledge of the appropriate time and setting for use of each rhetorical device in written and oral form. Students are expected to maintain a formal voice in certain pieces for their portfolio and allowed to experiment with voice and dialect in other pieces. As another example, on the web discussion board, students move easily between an academic voice and an informal voice appropriate with their peers. The study of logical fallacies and propaganda ensures that students will analyze texts and listen to speeches with a focus upon political and social implications. Our classroom atmosphere fosters lively debate and discussion with an emphasis upon respect for diverse voices and viewpoints.      

 

Lee Honors College
1903 W. Michigan Avenue
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo MI 5244 USA
Phone (269) 387-3230 | (269) 387-3903 Fax
leehonorscollege@wmich.edu