Nuts & Bolts: A Practical Guide to Teaching College Composition

by Thomas Newkirk, Elizabeth Chiseri-Strater (Designed by), Jane Harrigan (Illustrator)

In "Nuts & Bolts," editor Thomas Newkirk details the evolution of the University of New Hampshire's writing program, drawing heavily from the oral culture -- or "lore" -- of the program. Then seven experienced practitioners contribute chapters dealing with the issues that beginning writing teachers often struggle with:
How can I sequence a writing course? How can in-class writing exercises develop writing What is the place of reading in a writing course? What is my role in writing conferences? How can I help students self-evaluate? How do I teach editing? How should I grade? "Nuts & Bolts" deals with these questions in a lucid, jargon-free, and specific way. While filled with examples of student work and classroom exercises, it is more than a sampler of things that "work." Each contributor is careful to show how classroom work comes out of careful thinking about course objectives; readers are invited to eavesdrop on this decision making process.

An unabashedly practical book, "Nuts & Bolts" will be the single most useful book a college writing teacher could own.

Genres: Teaching, Writing

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Thomas Newkirk is a teacher and author who worked for 39 years at the University of New Hampshire.

Reviews

[Alissa Wilkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a useful book, actually - mostly for the newbie, but I would imagine that the seasoned teacher might find something here. There are lots of actual practical suggestions for teaching revision, grammar, topics, and a lot more. I plan to return to it over and over again.

[Katie]

Full of good ideas for teaching comp if you're willing to put in lots of one-on-one time with students...