Spring 2006-07, I am teaching three sections of ENGL 103: Analytical Reading and Writing and one section of WRIT 303: Writing Humor and Comedy (M,W,F 1:00-1:50).

This course is a fiction writing workshop. Its purpose is to help students develop their skill in creating fictional narratives. In addition, students will develop their skill as critical readers of fiction. We will focus on the short story form. Students will write their own short stories, read and critique student fiction, and participate in class discussions about student work and the concerns of fiction writers, including such matters as point-of-view, meaning, plot, scenes, dialogue, description, tone, voice, syntax, editing, character, prose.

This course is a writing workshop devoted to helping students develop their skill in humor and comedy writing. Students will be striving to write humor and comedy of publishable quality and will be becoming strong critical readers and editors. The main course content is the creative work of the students. The focus is on humor and comedy that is primarily intended to be read, rather than performed—this is not a class in writing stand-up comedy jokes, for example. Students may be writing anecdotes, commentaries, short comedy sketches, brief reviews, various special forms, longer commentaries, personal essays, short fiction, longer reviews, longer comedy sketches, and short plays.

This course is an introduction to the various forms of creative writing. Students will read published creative writers and gain experience critiquing student creative work in a workshop environment. Students will write in forms that might include short fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, drama.

English 101 is the first of three interrelated writing courses that comprise the freshman writing sequence at Drexel University. It focuses on exposition—writing essays that inform and explain—for a college-level audience. The main goal of English 101 is to help students do well in all of their college courses by teaching them how to write effective expository essays. Another important goal of the course is to provide students with many of the writing skills they will need to be successful in their post-college careers. English 101 is also designed to help students strengthen their critical reading and critical thinking skills. Students will read a variety of thought-provoking essays designed to improve their ability to read with understanding and to think critically about the ideas and insights the authors of these essays present.

This is the second course in the freshman writing sequence. Students will develop skill in analyzing arguments and in developing and writing their own persuasive essays and critical responses.