Critical Passages: Teaching the Transition to College Composition

I felt lost entering my first semester as a college composition teacher; I've only taught literature and speech up to this point. This book has been instrumental in preparing my lessons and approach to teaching. It makes sense--students need to know how to THINK before they can learn how to WRITE. I highly recommend this book to all new composition teachers, as well as composition teachers looking to breathe new life into their syllabi.

Finally, a book about how to write beautifully that is beautifully written. I am a professional writer and also teach writing to college freshman and found this book to be invaluable. Herndon and Dombek capture perfectly the most common writing traps and challenges faced by young writers making the rocky transition to college-level writing. More importantly, they detail highly original writing exercises that demand sophisticated analysis and observation of visual art and popular culture. This is a must-read for teachers of writing and anyone who believes that we can, and should, expect more from our young writers.