The Program in Expository Writing invites Johns Hopkins graduate students with teaching experience to apply for one-year positions as Allen Grossman Teaching Fellows for 2009-2010.  Expository Writing courses (060.113/114) introduce students to the principles of academic argument and guide their practice as they learn to embody those principles in their writing.  Teaching Fellows design and teach one topic-based Expos seminar each term and participate in a program of teacher-training workshops in mid-May and late August as well as in pedagogical meetings during fall and spring semesters.  Grossman Teaching Fellows receive a salary of $19,000, plus full tuition waiver.

Please Note: To be eligible for an Allen Grossman Teaching Fellowship, you must have teaching experience and be within the funding of your home department; you must also be able to accept an appointment for the full academic year.  Graduate students who are beyond the funding of their home departments may, in exceptional circumstances, qualify as Grossman Fellows (for further information, contact the Director).

For information about Professor Allen Grossman, click here.

Applications

We expect to hire 8-10 Allen Grossman Teaching Fellows for 2009-2010.  Applications will be accepted between February 18 and March 11, 2009.  Please consult your faculty advisor before submitting an application.  Your application should include the following:

•   A letter, describing your background as a teacher and writer;

•   A curriculum vitae;

•   A proposal for an Expository Writing seminar; and

•   A writing sample of no more than 5-7 pages.

Please send your application by mail (no e-mail please) or deliver it directly to Patricia Kain, Director of the Expository Writing Program, 120 Greenhouse Annex.      

Proposals

Your course proposal should be a 100- to 200-word description of the topic, including some of the major texts you’ll use and the issues or questions that animate the topic.  For specific examples, see the current course listings on our web site.

Here are a few things you should keep in mind when thinking about a potential course:

•   The focus of the course is academic writing.  This means that enabling students to write the essays well rather than coverage of the material is the aim of the course.  One consequence of this aim is fewer readings than is usual in a content course.  Another is that your choice of texts should be guided by their writing value.  A given work may be important in the field, but if students need a whole semester, or longer, to begin to grasp it, another text will better serve your aims.  Think in terms of potential writing assignments rather than of coverage or chronology.

•   Most of your students will be freshmen and sophomores.  Your course needs to be accessible to beginners.  This doesn’t mean the course should be easy (it won’t be easy).  It means that your students must be able to engage the assignments without having acquired years of expertise on the topic.  The course should appeal to a broad range of students.  Name recognition (Emily Dickinson rather than Ivor Winters), a broadly relevant topic, and an important human issue all help to establish that appeal.

•   The topic should draw on your own knowledge.  It should be something you know and care about so that you can define key issues and debates, and some of the underlying questions that make the topic worth writing about.  And it should be open to debate.  Don’t teach anything with a built-in thesis; instead look for the interesting questions.

Proposal Workshop

If you are interested in applying for an Allen Grossman Teaching Fellowship in Expository Writing, you are invited to attend an information session and proposal workshop on Tuesday, February 17, 2009, at 5:00 in Mattin 160.  You'll learn more about applying to teach in the Program and will get feedback on topics you're thinking of proposing for an Expos seminar.  If you plan to attend the workshop, please email Nicole Goode, Senior Academic Program Coordinator, at ngoode@jhu.edu.

Instructorships

Graduate students who are beyond the funding of their home departments and who don’t qualify for a Grossman Fellowship may still receive funding plus tuition waiver as Instructors in the Expository Writing Program.  In certain circumstances, Instructorships are also available for one semester.  Graduate students who may be interested in these teaching options should contact the Director for further information.

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