Today, continuing Dr. Conwell's mission, Temple is an urban university with a very diverse student population. African American, Asian American, Hispanic, Native American, White, and International students are likely to be in your classes. It is important to recognize that these students may very well differ in the ways in which they learn, and to try to ensure equal levels of encouragement and participation for all of the students in your writing classes. It is also important for instructors to view students from diverse cultural backgrounds as individuals whose culture may impact on their classroom expectations. The purpose of First-Year Writing is to enable students from all backgrounds to read and write clearly and effectively, skills that they will need to excel in whatever course of study they choose.
Students learn critical thinking skills by reading and discussing demanding texts.
English 40 and English 50 acquaint students with the writing process pre-writing, writing, revising, and editing. All writing assignments relate to the theme chosen for the course and are sequenced, with later assignments drawing on work done earlier in the course. Our courses ask students to cite a key set of scholarly texts in their writing. Students are expected not only to apply the ideas learned in the readings but to question and challenge the positions and assumptions of the assigned texts. Students meet with instructors in conference to work on individual writing problems.