The Graduate Certificate in Teaching Writing formally recognizes the achievements of the graduate students who serve in the Arts & Sciences Writing Program. Graduate students who teach in the program receive extensive training and teaching experience. The spring prior to their first semester of teaching, new teaching fellows and graduate writing fellows complete a two-credit seminar in the teaching of writing (WR 698). They also take a two-credit teaching practicum in their first semester of teaching (WR 699), and after that they receive professional development and supervision as they teach seminars of their own design, typically WR 120 (First Year Writing) in the fall and WR 151, 152, or 153 (Writing, Research & Inquiry) in the spring.
Students who receive a Graduate Certificate in Teaching Writing should
- Successfully design a WR 120 and WR 150-level course (including syllabus, assignments, and assessments)
- Successfully teach a WR 120 and WR 150-level course (including creating lesson plans and offering formative and summative feedback)
- Reflect on their teaching practices for career-long improvement
- Learn about Writing Studies as a discipline
Requirements
To earn the certificate, graduate students must teach in the Writing Program for at least two semesters, fulfill their responsibilities as teaching fellows or graduate writing fellows as described above, attend one Writing Program faculty seminar, and submit a teaching portfolio documenting their development as teachers during their semesters with the program. GWFs who join the Writing Program in 2023 or later are also expected to participate in a Collaborative Mentoring Initiative group during their first year of teaching.
Writing Program faculty seminars typically meet for three or four sessions each and provide the Writing Program’s teachers with the opportunity to explore current scholarship on various topics related to writing and writing pedagogy. Seminars offered in recent semesters include “ESL Now,” “Linguistics, Grammar, and Teaching Writing,” “Teaching for Transfer,” and “Student Motivation and Engagement.” More information is available on the Faculty Seminars page at Teaching Writing.
Teaching portfolios are coherent collections of teaching materials (e.g., syllabi, assignments, representative student work) accompanied by a framing introduction. Such portfolios provide students with an occasion to reflect on their development as teachers and help them prepare to be competitive job candidates. Here are three sample portfolios.
In sum, the requirements for the certificate are the following:
- Successfully teach in the Writing Program for two semesters
- Successfully complete WR 698, a two-credit seminar that prepares incoming graduate-student instructors for their first teaching assignment in the Writing Program
- Successfully complete WR 699, a two-credit teaching practicum that guides graduate-student instructors through their first semester teaching in the program
- Participate in ongoing supervision required of all graduate-student instructors*
- Attend one (four-session) faculty seminar
- Submit a teaching portfolio
NOTE: GWFs who join the Writing Program in 2023 or later are expected to participate in a Collaborative Mentoring Initiative group during their first year of teaching and to follow these new teaching portfolio guidelines to qualify for a Graduate Certificate in Teaching Writing.
When you have completed these requirements, submit your portfolio to writing@bu.edu. If you have any questions about the Graduate Certificate in Teaching Writing, please email the Director.