Teaching Resources

First-Year Writing
Montclair State University

On this page you will find a diverse range of handouts, lesson plans, sample assignments, reference sheets and class exercises for use in the instruction of ENWR 100, 105 and 106 provided by multiple instructors with experience in all three courses. While many of the materials below are designed for one particular course in the program, they can be modified to suit the needs of your own course(s) and even considered for use with courses in other disciplines. Please note that the content below, though organized according to the target areas of the First-Year Writing curriculum, represents a variety of approaches to teaching writing at Montclair State University.

Sample Syllabi and Course Proposals for 100, 105 & 106
EX = In-class Exercise; WS = Worksheet; AS = Assignment

Analysis & Reading Strategies
EX - Applying Concepts for Stronger Analysis - 106 (Keohane) - DOC : PDF
EX - Developing Beyond Plot Summary through Mulan - 106 (Maloy) - DOC : PDF
EX - Reading Gothic Elements in The Yellow Wallpaper - 106 (Gonzalez) - DOC : PDF
EX - Thinking with and Against Other Writers (Keohane) - DOC : PDF
EX - Two Ways of Seeing - 106 (Hamilton) - DOC : PDF
WS - Making Connections - Writing with Professional Writers (Keohane) - DOC : PDF
WS - Metatext - Critical Reading (Whitney) - DOC : PDF
WS - Sample Rhetorical Analysis of Kincaid's "Girl" - 106 (Logan) - DOC : PDF

Theoretical / Critical Approaches
WS - Lenses for Reading Literature - 106 (Maloy) - DOC : PDF
WS - Literary Criticism Approaches - 106 (Moss) - DOC : PDF

Prewriting
EX - Brainstorming - 100 (Maloy) - DOC : PDF

Central Claim
WS - Central Claim & Draft Revision - 106 (Keohane) - DOC : PDF
WS - Central Claim & the Larger Idea (Maloy) - DOC : PDF
WS - Central Claim Development (Reid) - DOC : PDF
WS - Coming Up with a Central Claim (Behlman) - DOC : PDF

Development
EX - Utilizing a Variety of Support (Reid) - DOC : PDF
WS - Linking Support (Reid) - DOC : PDF

Organization
WS - Revising Organization - Reverse Outline (Isaacs) - DOC : PDF

Clarity of Prose
AS - Style Journal Assignment (Butler) - DOC : PDF
EX - Effect of Tone - Understanding Audience & Reader (Hamilton) - DOC : PDF
WS - Editing - Four Common Errors (Isaacs) - DOC : PDF
WS - Editing - Four More Common Errors (Isaacs) - DOC : PDF
WS - Fixing Error Patterns (Maloy) - DOC : PDF
WS - Second Proofreading Workshop (Isaacs) - DOC : PDF
WS - Sentence Checker - Punctuation, Run-ons & Fragments (Hamilton) - DOC : PDF
WS - Teaching Clarity (Isaacs) - DOC : PDF

Documenting & Utlizing Outside Sources
EX - Documentation Strategies (Isaacs) - DOC : PDF
EX - How to Write a Summary (Gonzalez) - DOC : PDF
EX - Quoting Round-Robin (Gonzalez) - DOC : PDF
EX - Summarizing & Quoting (Isaacs) - DOC : PDF
WS - Five Suggestions for Using Quotations (Maloy) - DOC : PDF
WS - MLA Citation Style for Anthologies (Keohane) - DOC : PDF
WS - Summarizing, Paraphrasing & Quoting (Maloy) - DOC : PDF

Revision & Peer Review
EX - Criterion Based Peer-Review (Isaacs) - DOC : PDF
EX - Evaluative Peer-Review (Dowd) - DOC : PDF
EX - Introduction & Conclusion Workshop (Moss) - DOC : PDF
EX - Peer-Review - Eleven Questions (Art) - DOC : PDF
EX - Postwrite Self-Review - 106 - DOC : PDF
EX - Revising the First Draft - 100 (Maloy) - DOC : PDF
EX - Revision Peer-Review (Isaacs) - DOC : PDF
EX - Revision Questions for Writers (Isaacs) - DOC : PDF
EX - Standard Peer-Review - DOC : PDF
EX - Writer's Reflection (Isaacs) - DOC : PDF
WS - Generation More Writing / Loop Writing (Isaacs) - DOC : PDF
WS - Revising Introduction & Conclusion (Isaacs) - DOC : PDF
WS - Revision Checklist (Maloy) - DOC : PDF

Evaluation
EX - Mid-Semester Evaluation (Mullen) - DOC : PDF