Department of EnglishSummer Teachers of English Project

Teaching First-Year Writing

STEP is currently in hiatus as we revise the program. We hope to run the program again for summer 2027. Information below is about the 2024 program.

You'll learn the fundamentals, theories, principles, and practices of how to teach college composition, beginning first with online work that will lead to you developing and delivering a teaching unit on-site. You will lead TTU first-year students in writing instruction, then respond to and evaluate their work. You'll come away from the workshop with the skills and passion necessary to become a successful college writing teacher.

We will have many fun events you can attend while on-site in Lubbock. You will get a chance to mentor college writers, visit places around the Lubbock area, meet faculty, students and leaders at TTU and in the community, all while experiencing life as a graduate student.

We want to show you all that Lubbock and West Texas have to offer and hope you will choose to make Lubbock your home after college on your journey toward becoming a professor.

The Course

English 5000: Teaching First-Year Writing is taught by a seasoned first-year writing teacher and program administrator. Our First-Year Writing Program is widely recognized as an innovative, successful program that teaches thousands of students every year.

This course is designed to explore a simply stated but rather complicated question: What does it mean to teach college English? Implied in this question are many other questions: Who is teaching? Teaching whom? Teaching what? Where? What are the goals of teaching college English? Why does one want to teach? This course will explore these questions of teaching English studies from a variety of perspectives, exploring the dynamics of teaching and learning in relationship to identity, disciplinarity, location, institutions, power, and more.

Our goal in this course, then, isn't to master any one aspect of teaching, but rather to study together what it means to study teaching and learning in English studies. Readings for the course will include some foundational composition studies theory (exploring what it means to teaching writing and literacy at the college level); Black feminist theory to help us understand the dynamics of power, identity, and institutional location; readings on pedagogical approaches from literary theorists and creative writing teachers; theories of teacher identity and location; and writings by faculty sharing experiences and advice as marginalized faculty working in predominantly White institutions.

The first two weeks of this course will be conducted synchronously through videoconferencing software (Zoom); the second two weeks will be conducted in a face-to-face environment on Texas Tech's campus; and the last week will return to a synchronous online format.

Students in this course will spend the first two weeks observing (via videoconferencing software) a first-year writing course, which they will observe physically during week 3 and guest teach during week 4. Assignments will include 1) a regular "Slice of Life" journal that describes and reflects on course observations and guest teaching; 2) a short project of students' choosing that explores their own intellectual interests in English studies (e.g., a creative writing piece, a short literary analysis, a rhetorical analysis, technical communication documentation); and 3) a draft of a personal statement and resume for an application to graduate school.

During class meetings, we will explore together the central questions about teaching and learning that guide the course, include guest Texas Tech professors to help us explore these questions of teaching and learning English studies, and reflect on our experiences observing and guest teaching a writing course.