Moving Away from Textbooks Toward Student Centered Texts in the English Writing Classroom

I will discuss how to teach basic writing and composition courses that focus on student texts rather than textbooks. I will also talk about student centered ways to use open source resources like Purdue OWL and writingspaces.org, as well as freely available videos like Do You Speak American? and Talking Black in America. These resources provide sociolinguistic grounding, as well as discourse/instruction about common writing issues. I have been teaching composition courses without a textbook for nearly 20 years, and I will share key components of how I accomplish all the course objectives for a writing course at varied two year college levels, as well as how focusing on student texts increases student engagement and investment in the writing process.