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Preceptor in Expository Writing: Studio 10-Studio 20 Writing Course Sequence

Employer
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Location
Cambridge, Massachusetts (US)
Closing date
14 Oct 2020

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Preceptor in Expository Writing: Studio 10-Studio 20 Writing Course Sequence
School    Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Department/Area    Harvard College Writing Program

Position Description    
Each preceptor teaches one or two sections per semester of ten students per section, including significant one-on-one conference time with students. Because course enrollments fluctuate, preceptors may be asked occasionally to teach Expos 20, with section sizes of 15 students. The position is for three years, renewable for a term of up to five years, contingent on performance, enrollments, curricular need, position availability, and decanal authorization. Salary and benefits are competitive. Preference will be given to candidates with Ph.D.s or other terminal degrees in fields that are taught at Harvard College, including fields in the sciences and social sciences, or to candidates with MFAs; who have experience teaching fundamental analytical reading and writing skills and sentence skills at the first-year college level; who demonstrate a lively interest in issues of writing pedagogy and an innovative approach to the teaching of communication skills (for example, engaged scholarship, design studio model, the use of multimedia, or digital learning); and who enjoy collaborating with colleagues on assignment design and program development. 

Please see the Harvard College Writing Program’s website for additional details. 

The University and Program have a strong commitment to diversity among faculty and staff, and we encourage applications from under-represented groups. 

Basic Qualifications    
Doctorate (or Doctorate nearly completed) in traditional liberal arts discipline taught in Harvard College, including fields in the sciences and social sciences, or MFA, or terminal degree with relevant experience teaching writing in a field taught in Harvard College.

Additional Qualifications     
We welcome applications from candidates with experience and expertise in the teaching of writing in STEM fields, the social sciences, or public policy; with experience and/or strong interest in teaching engaged scholarship writing courses, integrating multimedia and digital learning into course design and class activities, or designing innovative capstone projects.

Special Instructions    

For the first round of the application process, please submit the following items:

  • your CV
  • a cover letter explaining your philosophy of teaching writing to underprepared undergraduate writers and relevant undergraduate teaching experience.
  • a separate Statement of Teaching Philosophy in which you discuss your approach to teaching underprepared writers and any experience you have had working with this student population, uploaded to the “Statement of Teaching Philosophy” field. Candidates are welcome, but not required, to submit an additional document addressing their general teaching philosophy to complement the required application materials. This optional statement should be uploaded to the “Other Statement” field.
  • a sample of your writing (no more than 10 pages of academic or expository prose) uploaded to the Applicant Document field “Writing Sample 1.”
  • your teaching materials from current or past courses (syllabi, writing assignments, and the like), particularly those relevant to the teaching of underprepared undergraduate writers, uploaded to the Applicant Document field “Sample Syllabus.”
  • In a paragraph, please describe a possible capstone assignment for Studio 10 (the Hiring Committee understands that the proposal is just a sketch and offered in the absence of course logistics and detailed Writing Program budget guidelines; we are interested in seeing how the capstone you propose might help students write to a wider audience than just the course instructor, might give students practice in presentational skills, and might provide students with a satisfying culminating experience in the course). Students would complete the capstone in the final week or two of the semester. The capstone should be related to one of the three papers in the course. Please upload the capstone assignment document to the “Note” field.
  • your comments on a student paper uploaded to the Applicant Document field “Paper 1.” Instructions for commenting on a student paper are as follows: Please read the two student drafts, posted below, and choose one on which to comment.

Student Essay 1

Student Essay 2

We’ve included the essay assignments, posted as pdf files below, to give you some context for responding to the draft.

Assignment Prompt 1

Assignment Prompt 2

Please address your comments to the student writer of the paper. The draft itself is a Word document. Save a copy of the essay with your comments to the student about how to revise this draft. You should include both the margin notes you make on the draft itself as well as your end comments. Please do not comment on every writing issue in the student paper; instead, focus your margin and end comments on the issues that you think are most important for the student to work on for the revision. Upload this document in the ARIeS system to the field “Paper 1.” If you hand-write your notes, please make sure the penmanship is legible. Please also make sure that the comments are legible when scanned into a PDF. You should be aware that ARIeS automatically converts Word documents into PDFs. In order to ensure that your margin comments are converted properly, you might consider converting to PDF before uploading the document and double-checking. (If you are using the MS Word function to create margin comments, the ARIeS uploader/ PDF converter will sometimes not clearly indicate what multiple comments on a line of text refer to.) You might consider using a number system to reference margin notes.

Candidates who are invited to the second round will be asked to submit the following:

  • letters of recommendation. The Harvard ARIeS online hiring system will contact references to request letters of recommendation. (To use your Interfolio account to submit letters of recommendation, please see instructions via Interfolio);
  • records of strong teaching (preferably official records of student evaluations for courses taught).

For information on how to navigate the ARIeS system, please see the ARIeS Faculty Hiring page

Contact Information    
Harvard College Writing Program
Hiring Committee
One Bow Street, Suite 250
Cambridge, MA 02138

Contact Email    expos@fas.harvard.edu 

Equal Opportunity Employer    
The University and Program have a strong commitment to diversity among faculty and staff, and we encourage applications from under-represented groups. We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions or any other characteristic protected by law. 

Minimum Number of References Required    3    
Maximum Number of References Allowed    3      

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