Name: Jianfen Chen
Date published: 2021
Course level: First-year
Course title: English 106: Introductory Composition
Course description: English 10600 is the standard 4-credit hour composition course for students at Purdue. English 10600 is grounded in the idea that writing provides an outlet for sharing and developing ideas; facilitates understanding across different conventions, genres, groups, societies, and cultures; and allows for expression in multiple academic, civic, and non-academic situations. In short, writing is a way of learning that spans all fields and disciplines. This section of ENGL 10600 focuses on academic writing & research, or, the ways that we communicate in and with scholarly communities and disciplines. In this course, we’ll explore…
- What it means to compose as a scholar (not just “writing,” but designing, drafting, revising, presenting, creating content, etc.)
- How to search for and evaluate information, and how to conduct secondary research using library resources and databases as well as popular search engines and media
- How to be an ethical researcher and writer
- The conventions for communicating with a variety of audiences, including scholarly peers and laypersons
- How different technologies and media change the way that we write, communicate, and share information with each other
- How you’ll incorporate writing and media into your future career
Course philosophy/motivation: “My innermost ideal for teaching is to encourage everyone in my class to pursue their inner passion with writing as their friend, their instrument, their professional tool, their expression channel, and even part of their life. Because of this pursuit, in my class, I work on designing engaging activities to demystify writing and involve everyone to explore and claim their own agency in their writing. Specifically, I attach great importance to genre and rhetorical analysis and conventional writing principles in my teaching as I hold that they are the cornerstones that my undergraduate students can rely on to compose strong and effective writings. Meanwhile, I challenge students to create their own and unique writings building upon the analytical and critical abilities they have acquired in the genre and rhetorical analysis.
When teaching becomes part of my life, I love to think about it as a meeting point where my life journey comes across my students’. Teaching, therefore, is a valuable and privileged moment for me to share my life with my students, to listen to their stories and thoughts, to inspire and encourage them, and to get inspired and encouraged by them. This mindset towards teaching makes me revere it, respect it, and more importantly, enjoy it. I think I am blessed to have received inspiration, encouragement, and support from my dearest teachers, and teaching is a way for me to pass on all these blessings to my students who deserve them.”