Welcome to Wavelength, a resource for First-Year Writing faculty and students.
This resource exists in three main parts: a general guide (‘Pedagogy, Principles, Practices’) that treats topics such as pedagogy, outcomes, assessment, and accessibility; a ‘Narrative Syllabus,’ in which the principles noted in ‘Pedagogy, Principles, and Practices’ are put into practice; and ‘Student Writing with Teaching Resources,’ a collection of student writing samples and teaching materials sourced from you, our instructors, and your students; and a collection of student writing with its own introduction and resources (‘Student Writing’).
Wavelength is also meant to work hand in hand with the FWP website, which offers lots of resources for teaching EN101 and EN102, including our First-Year Writing Standard Syllabus.
Wavelength can be used with or without a textbook—although given the high cost of textbooks, and with so many free teaching resources in the public domain, we hope that Wavelength becomes your go-to source for teaching First-Year Writing at UA.
Wavelength is built on several principles:
- Students benefit from a classroom environment in which they find support for the challenges they will face;
- Students need to write, and write frequently, in a variety of ways and for a variety of purposes;
- Students should discuss their written work as much as possible, to the extent that student writing becomes the main text within and main topic of each class;
- Students benefit from seeing examples of writing practices, especially other students’ writing; and
- Students should reflect on their own growth as writers as much as possible.
As writers, we know that the work of writing is an organic and ever-changing process. In much the same way, the teaching of writing continues to evolve. Wavelength, in turn, is intended to be a perpetual work-in-progress. It will grow and develop as UA’s First-Year Writing program grows and develops. I hope that this document will reflect our own work as writers, our own best teaching practices, and ongoing developments in the field of rhetoric and composition in ways that you will find useful.
You are always welcome to contribute materials, suggest revisions, and ask questions. I want you to engage! And please don’t hesitate to contact me or any member of the First-Year Writing administrative team with questions, comments, and concerns.
All my best,
Luke Niiler
Director
First-Year Writing Program