Certain characteristics of human learning are, in my mind, inexorably linked: reading, writing, and the ability to think. Because these things are connected by language (though of course, thinking involves images, feelings, and conceptual judgments as well), an increased ability in one area is more than likely to positively affect the others. Writing clearly (and, yes, the grammar constructs that go along with this) teaches students how to organize thoughts on both sentence and textual levels and shows how certain thoughts can bleed into each other, contrast in vital ways, or serve as analogues. Excellent writing and grammar instruction offer more than a way to put thoughts down on paper--they foster in students the ability to increase the quality and complexity of their thoughts. The other side of the writing coin is reading. If we see expressive writing as purely ego-centered, then reading becomes the other-centered balance. Though the benefits of reading are far too many to enumerate here, a few positive factors include:
-increased vocabulary
-exposure to differing viewpoints, styles, and genres
-a sort of undefined grammar instruction (absorbing the mechanics of sentence structure, rather than having them hammered into one's head by use of worksheets)
-fostering a love of literature in some students
-ability to make some students who "hate English class" see benefits in reading/writing pertinent to their lives
The end of composition studies, in my reckoning, is to balance different learning strategies and concepts (different teachers will approach the "how" of this differently) so that students can:
1) write in a variety of styles for a variety of audiences, but always in a way that is clear and grammatically correct
2) become associated with academic writing, literature, and functional composition (business memos, resumes, reports, etc.)
3) be able to have and organize more complex and nuanced thought processes
It is my belief that if a student can improve in one of these areas over the course of a semester, the other areas will be positively affected as well. The purpose of composition studies has implications that reach far beyond the classroom. Reading, writing, and critical thinking abilities will play a part in every person's life; it is the end of composition studies to be the beginning step in a life-long process of understanding and organizing concepts.
In this context, the "how" of composition studies becomes less relevant than the "why." Different strategies work for different teachers and sets of students--many teaching methods are not "better" or "worse" than others. As a result, teachers have a wonderful wealth of resources in choosing how to structure a class and reach the goals they have set in their teaching philosophies, including: peer evaluation, group projects, individual writings, diverse readings, grading rubrics and strategies, etc. I would personally like to see a study done about the ways that diversity of teaching methods (as opposed to the "normal" lectures/tests/term paper formula) affect learning and retention. Strategies evolve over time as we learn more about how people learn and as the "average student" keeps changing. Will this continue, or might we actually reach "a day with no composition?" In my opinion, there will always be a need for writing and reading instruction as a way of teaching critical thinking skills. The process may change radically so as to be hardly recognizable, but a world committed to literacy (one hopes we will stay at this enlightened state, if not evolve it further) must be a world committed, in some way or another, to composition studies.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
Teaching Transfer
I was thinking during our class today about how to create assignments that deal with the ideas of transfer and audience.
Perhaps one assignment might be to write three different e-mails seeking to set up an appointment. Permutation 1 would be: write to a good friend and ask them to meet you for coffee. Permutation 2: write to one of your professors (preferably one who at least knows you by name) asking for an appointment to discuss an assignment. Permutation 3: write to whoever answers the info@whatever.com emails (i.e. begin with Dear Sir or Madam:) requesting an appointment to meet with someone in their office (an example might be an email to Lubbock Lake Landmark requesting a guided tour). As a class, the students could go over these emails and think about what makes them different, even though they are similar(ish) in intent.
Another assignment I thought might be more helpful in audience is to pick a topic in current issues (environmentalism, politics, social trends, etc.) and research it. Then the students could create four different projects from the same information. 1: write a blog post about the topic, 2: write a short editorial to a newspaper whose reader base is far more conservative/liberal than the topic would usually appeal to, 3: write a letter about the issue to a US Congressperson or Senator, and 4: create a flyer advertising an informative event about the topic. The same information in this assignment would lead to four radically different ways of approaching audience and conveying information. A blog post would probably be more personal and make use of inside/esoteric humor or comments. For the editorial, the writer would need to tone down certain viewpoints and make sure not to alienate the reader base. A political letter would need to be free of error and emotional appeals. The flyer would incorporate visual components and require and informational/listing format.
Tell me what you think!
Perhaps one assignment might be to write three different e-mails seeking to set up an appointment. Permutation 1 would be: write to a good friend and ask them to meet you for coffee. Permutation 2: write to one of your professors (preferably one who at least knows you by name) asking for an appointment to discuss an assignment. Permutation 3: write to whoever answers the info@whatever.com emails (i.e. begin with Dear Sir or Madam:) requesting an appointment to meet with someone in their office (an example might be an email to Lubbock Lake Landmark requesting a guided tour). As a class, the students could go over these emails and think about what makes them different, even though they are similar(ish) in intent.
Another assignment I thought might be more helpful in audience is to pick a topic in current issues (environmentalism, politics, social trends, etc.) and research it. Then the students could create four different projects from the same information. 1: write a blog post about the topic, 2: write a short editorial to a newspaper whose reader base is far more conservative/liberal than the topic would usually appeal to, 3: write a letter about the issue to a US Congressperson or Senator, and 4: create a flyer advertising an informative event about the topic. The same information in this assignment would lead to four radically different ways of approaching audience and conveying information. A blog post would probably be more personal and make use of inside/esoteric humor or comments. For the editorial, the writer would need to tone down certain viewpoints and make sure not to alienate the reader base. A political letter would need to be free of error and emotional appeals. The flyer would incorporate visual components and require and informational/listing format.
Tell me what you think!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
On Teaching Philosophies
A clear teaching philosophy is, I think, essential for anyone who wants to be a successful teacher, be it of composition, English, or any other subject. All teaching philosophies will be different, as each teacher is different, but hopefully they are informed by modern scholarship on teaching. Teachers who enter a classroom with no clear idea of what they hope to accomplish and how are doing a great disservice to their students. A lucid and practicable teaching philosophy will:
Teaching philosophies will affect almost everything a teacher does from lecture to group work to grading. The anecdote I want to relate will illustrate how a lack of a clear teaching philosophy can negatively affect the classroom. My senior year of high school, my English teacher wasted an opportunity to enrich the lives of twelve high-achieving students. We read canonical works like Macbeth and "Paradise Lost" and were expected to write college-level papers on the readings (it was a class for college credit). She was a complete troll about grammar, taking off five points for each mistake she caught; it was possible in a long enough paper with no editing to make a negative score on an essay. In class, however, we wasted our time reading from the book or listening to her tell personal stories that had no bearing on the class or the material. In a way, that class helped me decide to become an English major because I felt I had been cheated out of something.
In my own teaching philosophy, I would like to teach my students to think. This will be accomplished through the "traditional" methods of reading, writing assignments, group work, and research. I would like to stress that I believe that reading makes students better writers than grammar instruction (though this may need to be a component of some courses). I also want to foster creativity by having projects with visual and/or artistic elements and letting the students choose topics within a certain framework of an assignment (of course, I will always be happy to help students who have trouble in choosing a topic with finding something that will stir their passion). Finally, I want to teach my students to embrace diversity in all its forms while still respecting the expectations of their particular audience.
- Establish the nature of student-teacher relationships. Some teachers may feel that honesty, sharing personal stories, and attempting to relate to students will open up avenues of learning. Others may feel that a certain degree of distance is wise in establishing a classroom hierarchy. Of course, some degree of distance is probably wise, but individual teachers will decide how big the margin should be.
- List goals that a teacher can evaluate later by observing student behavior and writing over the semester. A teacher with a clear philosophy can ask him/herself: did I reach the goals I set for the students and myself? do I need to change some of my goals or expectations?
- Influence the teacher's choice of readings, writing assignments, and class projects. If the content of the course flows across the semester, revolves around a single class topic or issue, or succeeds in getting students to think, this is probably the result of a clear teaching philosophy.
Teaching philosophies will affect almost everything a teacher does from lecture to group work to grading. The anecdote I want to relate will illustrate how a lack of a clear teaching philosophy can negatively affect the classroom. My senior year of high school, my English teacher wasted an opportunity to enrich the lives of twelve high-achieving students. We read canonical works like Macbeth and "Paradise Lost" and were expected to write college-level papers on the readings (it was a class for college credit). She was a complete troll about grammar, taking off five points for each mistake she caught; it was possible in a long enough paper with no editing to make a negative score on an essay. In class, however, we wasted our time reading from the book or listening to her tell personal stories that had no bearing on the class or the material. In a way, that class helped me decide to become an English major because I felt I had been cheated out of something.
In my own teaching philosophy, I would like to teach my students to think. This will be accomplished through the "traditional" methods of reading, writing assignments, group work, and research. I would like to stress that I believe that reading makes students better writers than grammar instruction (though this may need to be a component of some courses). I also want to foster creativity by having projects with visual and/or artistic elements and letting the students choose topics within a certain framework of an assignment (of course, I will always be happy to help students who have trouble in choosing a topic with finding something that will stir their passion). Finally, I want to teach my students to embrace diversity in all its forms while still respecting the expectations of their particular audience.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Some Thoughts on ICON
Since I'm not a DI or a TI this semester, this week's post may be a bit of a stretch for me. I did my undergraduate work at Texas Tech, but I never had to take freshman composition. It may be similar for many of you (is it ironic to teach a class you've never taken?). The only time I've ever interacted with 1301/1302 is a few years ago, when I was doing some tutoring. Back then it seemed like a nuisance. I do realize now, however, that Tech's set-up is, in part, a means for tackling the large number of students in freshman composition each semester. While the system is a way of putting many important composition concepts (summaries, drafts, peer response, etc.) into practice, the implementation of the system inherently brings more problems of its own. Some things I have thought about:
1) Whenever I'm going over an essay/story/etc. for editing/grading/workshopping purposes, I like to have the paper in front of me so that I can mark on it with a pen. I (and most people, I think) find it easier to see and mark errors or make suggestions in physical, rather than technological, space. As Ma and Pa Kettle pointed out, the types of errors teachers correct have changed along with the way students compose their essays (i.e. handwritten to word processing). Does ICON further limit and/or change the way that teachers correct errors and offer criticism? On the other hand, I (being a tree-lover) realize the importance of bypassing paper waste. Could newer technology, such as wireless pens with electronic "paper" screens, be next?
2). Students may feel that their grades are too subjective, inconsistent, and impersonal due to having their essays posted and graded online. Perhaps a grading rubric might help, but I suppose that would need to be researched. Could students in a freshman composition class be trusted to grade themselves? I happen to think, perhaps too conservatively, that it would prove more difficult than helpful.
3). Technology inherently complicates things. Everything from a minor glitch to a system crash is possible. How much of class time is needed to learn how to navigate TOPIC? Is there a small percentage of students who are disadvantaged by the system because they have less computer training, do not own a personal computer, or who are simply suspicious of the technology requirements? Do people even remember how to write legibly with a pen anymore? I'm asking these questions because they inevitably affect technology-based learning to some degree or another. How does technology "undercut" certain traditional teaching methods, and how can it support others? How much do these considerations matter in the long run?
I'd be interested to hear what kinds of answers the class could pose for the questions that I've raised. Do I think we need to scrap the whole ICON system? Of course not. For the most part, the approach allows for the most involved level of composition instruction on a very wide-scale level. The idea of basing composition courses on the student's major, rather than attempting a campus-wide program, does have some merit, but I think it would pigeonhole the student's idea of what writing is and what it can do.
1) Whenever I'm going over an essay/story/etc. for editing/grading/workshopping purposes, I like to have the paper in front of me so that I can mark on it with a pen. I (and most people, I think) find it easier to see and mark errors or make suggestions in physical, rather than technological, space. As Ma and Pa Kettle pointed out, the types of errors teachers correct have changed along with the way students compose their essays (i.e. handwritten to word processing). Does ICON further limit and/or change the way that teachers correct errors and offer criticism? On the other hand, I (being a tree-lover) realize the importance of bypassing paper waste. Could newer technology, such as wireless pens with electronic "paper" screens, be next?
2). Students may feel that their grades are too subjective, inconsistent, and impersonal due to having their essays posted and graded online. Perhaps a grading rubric might help, but I suppose that would need to be researched. Could students in a freshman composition class be trusted to grade themselves? I happen to think, perhaps too conservatively, that it would prove more difficult than helpful.
3). Technology inherently complicates things. Everything from a minor glitch to a system crash is possible. How much of class time is needed to learn how to navigate TOPIC? Is there a small percentage of students who are disadvantaged by the system because they have less computer training, do not own a personal computer, or who are simply suspicious of the technology requirements? Do people even remember how to write legibly with a pen anymore? I'm asking these questions because they inevitably affect technology-based learning to some degree or another. How does technology "undercut" certain traditional teaching methods, and how can it support others? How much do these considerations matter in the long run?
I'd be interested to hear what kinds of answers the class could pose for the questions that I've raised. Do I think we need to scrap the whole ICON system? Of course not. For the most part, the approach allows for the most involved level of composition instruction on a very wide-scale level. The idea of basing composition courses on the student's major, rather than attempting a campus-wide program, does have some merit, but I think it would pigeonhole the student's idea of what writing is and what it can do.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
3 Important Composition Concepts
As someone who wants to eventually teach creative writing, I would like to compare the three points on the rhetorical triangle (reader-writer-text) with some of the important concepts that emerge in creative writing workshops; furthermore, I feel that these three concepts of authority, diversity, and style apply in teaching students about creative writing.
By authority, I mean that the creative work, be it a story or poem, has a certain air of believability when presented to the reader. This is not to say that genres such as science fiction which bend our perceptions of reality are not acceptable--but it is important that the story create a small universe for itself and offer insights that allow the reader to 'enter' that universe. One important part of authority is obviously being acquainted with your subject. On the other hand, a concept that often emerges from workshops is discrimination, or recognizing that one viewpoint or perspective alone is not always right. Stories or poems written without discrimination are unbelievable because they often alienate the reader. In one poetry workshop I took as an undergraduate, we were encouraged to rewrite our poems from another point of view, which turned out to be an effective strategy in creating an authentic voice.
Another important component of teaching creative writing that I see is diversity, which mostly applies to the writer. This manifests itself many ways in the classroom with the goal of helping students widen their perspectives, stretch their writing abilities, and refine existing pieces. In preparing reading lists for classes, I would like to make sure to include a diverse pool of voices that span gender, ethnicity, genre, and experience. One professor I had made us draw genres for an assignment out of a hat (I got stuck with romance...). As students, we had to stretch beyond our writing comfort zone and approach a story with a new perspective. Diversity can take many forms in a classroom, and I believe that each kind can help students grow as writers.
What I would emphasize about text is a close attention to style. While perhaps more formalist in consideration, work that is grammatically correct, stylistically consistent, and balanced, is more accessible to a reader and reflects well upon the writer. As a student, when presented with a piece of writing for workshop that was clumsily written, I would often be so distracted by correcting errors that I could not comment on things like voice, plot, or character development. Aside from grammatical correctness, I also believe that style includes originality. A professor of mine had us each write down five interesting hook-lines (beginning sentences) for a story. The next class day, we shared our lines and picked one favorite that we all wrote stories from. In each different writers' hands, the line assumed different styles and led to unique places.
Each of these three composition concepts are things I have encountered in my writing workshops and hope to eventually take into a classroom as a teacher. While I may not have all of the different strategies for teaching with authority, diversity, and style in mind yet, I hope to develop my grasp of these concepts. My take on them seems to put me somewhere between the Expressionists and New Rhetoricians in theory.
By authority, I mean that the creative work, be it a story or poem, has a certain air of believability when presented to the reader. This is not to say that genres such as science fiction which bend our perceptions of reality are not acceptable--but it is important that the story create a small universe for itself and offer insights that allow the reader to 'enter' that universe. One important part of authority is obviously being acquainted with your subject. On the other hand, a concept that often emerges from workshops is discrimination, or recognizing that one viewpoint or perspective alone is not always right. Stories or poems written without discrimination are unbelievable because they often alienate the reader. In one poetry workshop I took as an undergraduate, we were encouraged to rewrite our poems from another point of view, which turned out to be an effective strategy in creating an authentic voice.
Another important component of teaching creative writing that I see is diversity, which mostly applies to the writer. This manifests itself many ways in the classroom with the goal of helping students widen their perspectives, stretch their writing abilities, and refine existing pieces. In preparing reading lists for classes, I would like to make sure to include a diverse pool of voices that span gender, ethnicity, genre, and experience. One professor I had made us draw genres for an assignment out of a hat (I got stuck with romance...). As students, we had to stretch beyond our writing comfort zone and approach a story with a new perspective. Diversity can take many forms in a classroom, and I believe that each kind can help students grow as writers.
What I would emphasize about text is a close attention to style. While perhaps more formalist in consideration, work that is grammatically correct, stylistically consistent, and balanced, is more accessible to a reader and reflects well upon the writer. As a student, when presented with a piece of writing for workshop that was clumsily written, I would often be so distracted by correcting errors that I could not comment on things like voice, plot, or character development. Aside from grammatical correctness, I also believe that style includes originality. A professor of mine had us each write down five interesting hook-lines (beginning sentences) for a story. The next class day, we shared our lines and picked one favorite that we all wrote stories from. In each different writers' hands, the line assumed different styles and led to unique places.
Each of these three composition concepts are things I have encountered in my writing workshops and hope to eventually take into a classroom as a teacher. While I may not have all of the different strategies for teaching with authority, diversity, and style in mind yet, I hope to develop my grasp of these concepts. My take on them seems to put me somewhere between the Expressionists and New Rhetoricians in theory.
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