Christopher Sean Harris, Professor of Rhetoric & Writing Studies

Christopher Harris running at the Oceanside Half Ironman, 2025
College of Arts and Letters
English
Office ETA612

Christopher Sean Harris began teaching in the English Department at California State University, Los Angeles in August, 2009, and specializes in rhetoric and writing. 

Learn More about Christopher Sean Harris

One Sentence Biography

He/They

Christopher Sean Harris is a professor of writing studies at California State University, Los Angeles who researches digital writing pedagogies, writing across the curriculum, project based learning, and the histories of rhetoric & writing instruction.

Brief Biography

He/They

Christopher Sean Harris began teaching in the English Department at California State University, Los Angeles in August, 2009, and specializes in rhetoric and writing.

As an undergraduate at South Dakota State University, Harris focused his elective studies in minority literature and earned a certificate in European Studies. During his master's degree studies, Harris concentrated on composition-rhetoric and American Literature of the 1800s, writing his thesis about Timothy Shay Arthur's Ten Nights in a Bar-Room and what I Saw There. As a graduate student at Bowling Green State University, Harris concentrated in the history of composition instruction, teaching with computers, and alternative rhetorics, writing his dissertation, First-Year Composition Handbooks: Buffering the Winds of Change, about the ways in which composition textbooks historically have both reflected and guided composition instruction, just as culture breathes life into genres.

Most recently, Harris was a co-editor of the December 2022 special issues of Computers and Composition and Computers and Composition Online, which focus on lessons learned from remote writing instruction during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Full Biography

He/They

Christopher Sean Harris began teaching in the English Department at California State University, Los Angeles in August, 2009, and specializes in rhetoric and writing.

A graduate of Bowling Green State University (PhD in Rhetoric and Writing) and South Dakota State University (BA, MA in English), Harris served four years in the United States Marine Corps ("Just passing time," as Lucas Jackson would say) before attending college. While attending college, Harris worked on the graveyard shift at two factories and a hotel, and he spent his summers building log houses for Twin Springs Log Homes in Hill City, SD. During his free time, Harris enjoys outings with his daughter, endurance sports, and upcycling.

As an undergraduate at South Dakota State University, Harris focused his elective studies in minority literature and earned a certificate in European Studies. During his master's degree studies, Harris concentrated on composition-rhetoric and American Literature of the 1800s, writing his thesis about Timothy Shay Arthur's Ten Nights in a Bar-Room and what I Saw There. As a graduate student at Bowling Green State University, Harris concentrated in the history of composition instruction, teaching with computers, and alternative rhetorics, writing his dissertation, First-Year Composition Handbooks: Buffering the Winds of Change, about the ways in which composition textbooks historically have both reflected and guided composition instruction, just as culture breathes life into genres.
Noteworthy publications include "First Steps with ePortfolios on a Technology-Hesitant Campus," which appeared in the In Computers and Composition Online special issue on Deploying 21st Century Writing on the Economic Frontlines, and “From the CMS Sepulcher, the Phoenix, Moodle Rises," which appeared in the in a Computers and Composition Online special issue on Open Source and Free Software. 

Harris was a co-editor for the December 2022 special issues of Computers and Composition and Computers and Composition Online, which focus on lessons learned from remote writing instruction during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Currently, Harris is working on a longitudinal discourse analysis of artificial intelligence writing, a multimodal analysis of writing instruction of the 1800s, and an article about incorporating virtual reality in the writing classroom.

In the classroom, Harris challenges English majors to consider Zen classical elements of the production of books by both examining how histories of printing and book history have a Western focus that excludes Eastern, Muslim, and Central & South American printing histories. Key to understanding production, rather than consumption, of texts is exploring the parts of a book and bookmaking.

Harris currently teaches a range of courses, including English 5050: Visual Rhetoric, Electronic Literature and Digital Rhetoric; English 3050: Issues in Writing Pedagogy; English 5005: Language and Literacy; English 3100: Readings on the English Language; English 3030: Technical and Professional Writing; English 2030: Introduction to Technical Writing; English 5040: Theories of Composition and Rhetoric; EDAD 626: Writing the Doctoral Dissertation.

Repair and Instruction Guides 

2005 Honda S2000 Valve Cover Gasket Replacement

How to Build a Recycled Pallet Garden Trellis 

How to Build a Planter Box from Recycled Pallets

How to Replace a Broken Strap on a Pet Harness

How to Remove a Blob from an AnkerMake M5 3D Printer

Playstation 4 Thermal Paste Replacement

OXO Storage Container Lid Cleaning

How to Replace a Hook on a Topwater Fishing Lure

How to Shorten a Belt

PS Vita Slim Battery Replacement

Repositioning a One-Bolt Bike Seat

Replace a Two-Bolt Bike Seat

Royal Kludge RK71 Mechanical Keyboard Switch Replacement

Sony Walkman A-45 Battery Replacement

Telecaster Guitar String(s) Replacement

 

Translation

2002-2011 Chevy Aveo AC Refrigerant Recharge

Alesis TransActive Mobile Battery Replacement

Hoverboard Bluetooth Remote Control Replacement

How to Avoid Losing Your Mobile Device While Traveling

Infrared Remote Control Cleaning

Jura Z5 Grindstone Replacement

Saeco Brewing Unit Gasket Replacement

Sony MV1 CamCorder Disassembly

Teardown of IBM ThinkPad i Series 1200

Tektronix TBS1062 Oscilloscope Disassembly

Troubleshooting VONIX PHONE

Universidad Estatal de California, Los Ángeles editor

 

Wikipedia (meekers)

Artificial Intelligence Rhetoric moderator

California State University contributor, images

Bass editor

Friendsgiving image

History of Printing contributor

Inventio Contributor

Luka Dončić image

Mandala editor

Odile Decq editor

Table Setting contributor

Timothy Shay Arthur contributor

Ultramarathon editor

Universidad Estatal de California, Los Ángeles editor

University of Louisiana at Monroe contributor

Brief Curriculum Vitae

Engaging Assignments

I am ... and I Can ... 
Letter Writing 
Clay Tablets & "Woodblocks" 
Bookmaking 
MLA > APA Primer
Right Speech
Videos from Courses


 Critical Inquiry

Critical Reading Responses 
Annotated Bibliographies 
Word Analysis with a Dictionary
I-Search Essay


Digital Writing 

Multimodal Project Ideas 
Understanding Technical Writing via Posters & Fliers


Rhetoric in the Real World

The Rhetoric of Love, and the Rhetoric of Violence 
Real Historical Features of Rhetoric 
 


Teaching Reflections

Early Field Experience Class Observation Guide for English 3050
Learning Management Systems Ruin Online Workshops 
 

Teaching Materials

Early Field Experience Class Observation Guide for English 3050

Name: 

Course Section/Instructor:

Subject/Grade Level Observed:

I will ask you to write a reflection on your class observations via TPAC, so use this form to help you record what you've witnessed during your observation periods, as it will help you focus your observations and develop comprehensive understanding of how the teaching you observed has unfolded.

After you have completed this observation, use this form as a guide to write a 1000+ word critical teaching reflection. This reflection should describe what you saw and should explain the differences you can see between the instruction you observed, the instruction you are receiving as a writer and future writing teacher, and the types of instruction you imagine yourself delivering in the future.

While you should complete this observation guide for each of your school visits or observations of different lessons or in different settings, you only need to write one critical teaching reflection.

During the observation

  1. Describe the classroom.
  2. How did the educator bring the class to session?
  3. How did the educator introduce the content in the lesson for the day?
  4. How did this introduction focus students’ attention?
  5. Identify and briefly describe the subject matter and/or writing genre of the day's lesson.
  6. What kinds of support or scaffolding did the educator provide to help the students access the lesson? Briefly reflect on how that helped students understand this content.
  7. Did you notice anything else of note?

After the observation

  1. How does the subject matter compare with what you remember from your own learning experience at that level?
  2. How does it relate to what we have been discussing in our class?
  3. Can you think of any other pedagogical strategies that could be used to teach the same lesson/content? If so, give examples; if not, explain why not.
  4. How does the lesson differ from similar content you have encountered at the university level?
  5. Consider a writing activity we have recently discussed in class.
  6. Describe how you would adapt or alter that activity to provide the necessary scaffolding for teaching the same content to secondary school students.