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First-year composition

Who teaches it

Although the field has continued to grow, it continues to depend on contingent labor, as only a small portion of those who teach writing have been professionally trained to do so and have fulltime professional positions. Graduates of these programs represent only a small percentage of the many people who teach writing, and thus training and preparation programs have developed to support and train graduate students to do this work. As the CCCC Committee on Part-time/Adjunct Issues reported in 2001, the bulk of Composition classes in the U.S. are still taught by part-time employees, adjuncts, and graduate assistants, often within English departments otherwise staffed by tenured or tenure-track Literature faculty (Conference on College Composition and Communication Committee on Part-time/Adjunct Issues, 2001). In fact, Bousquet (2004) estimates that “as much as 93 percent of all [Composition] sections are taught by graduate students and other ‘disposable’ teachers."

Conference on College Composition and Communication Committee on Part-time/Adjunct Issues. (2001). Report on the coalition on the academic workforce/CCCC survey of faculty in freestanding writing programs for fall 1999. College Composition and Communication, 53(2), 336-48.

Bousquet, M. (2004). Introduction: Does a “good job market in composition” help composition labor? In M. Bousquet, T. Scott & L. Parascondola (Eds.) Tenured bosses and disposable teachers: Writing instruction in the managed university (pp. 1-8). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.

Reflective writing

Reflective writing is an analytical practice or habit of mind in which the writer describes a real or imaginary scene, event, interaction, passing thought, or memory, adding a personal reflection on the meaning of the item or incident, thought, feeling, emotion, or situation in his or her life.

Many reflective writers keep in mind questions, such as "What did I notice?", "How has this changed me?" or "What might I have done differently?" as a way of learning from their experiences.

Thus, the focus is on writing that is not merely descriptive. The writer revisits the scene to note details and emotions, reflect on meaning, examine what went well or revealed a need for additional learning, and relate what transpired. Kathleen Blake Yancey notes that refection "is the dialectical process by which we develop and achieve, first, specific goals for learning; second, strategies for reaching those goals; and third, means of determining whether or not we have met those goals or other goals."

Reflective writing is also analyzing the event or idea (thinking in depth and from different perspectives, and trying to explain, often with reference to a model or theory from the subject.) According to Kara Taczak, "Reflection is a mode of inquiry: a deliberate way of systematically recalling writing experiences to reframe the current writing situation."

Reflective writing is regularly used in academic settings, as it helps students think about how they think. In other words, it is a form of metacognition. It is frequently assigned to postsecondary students, and is particularly useful to students in composition, education and health-related fields as it helps them reflect on their practice. One study showed that students who were assigned reflective writing during a camp developed greater self-awareness, had a better understanding of their goals, and were better able to recognize their personal development.

Reflective writing is also useful to improve collaboration, as it makes writers aware of how they sound when they voice their thoughts and opinions to others.