Graduate teaching assistants are too often given only "survival training" to prepare them to teach freshman composition. For the following reasons, the focus of teacher preparation in this area should be on rhetorical theory: (1) the study of theory informs the practice of teaching, (2) the study of theory is likely to give the beginner an increased sense of professional identity, and (3) the study of theory is valuable for its own sake. Southwest Texas State University provides a graduate seminar in the theory and practice of composition. The syllabus, using Lindemann's "A Rhetoric for Writing Teachers," provides an overview of the discipline, covering everything from rhetoric, cognition, and linguistics to the evaluation of student essays. The remaining material in the course consists of readings from professional journals and a sampling of important books written between the early 1970s and the mid 1980s by Emig, Shaughnessy, Moffett, and others. The course makes students think critically about what they do in the classroom, encourages fruitful pedagogical experimentation, and generates an intellectual excitement and a sense of professionalism among the teaching assistants. (A sample syllabus and final paper assignment for the graduate seminar are provided.) (SRT)