This article, Revealing Silence: Rethinking Personal Writing, dealt with many of the issues I have with personal writing in the classroom. Gere talks about getting personal narratives that are far too painful to read, often about death, abuse, and rape. She says that sometimes they are"too painful to read". She ends with saying that this a part of the student and this other part must come out for the student to move on in their writing careers.
Gere does realize one particular downfall of using personal writing in the classroom and it involves the idea of colonization. She takes a quote from bell hooks to explain, "No need to hear your voice when I can talk about you better than you can speak about yourself. No need to hear you voice. Only tell me about your pain. I want to know your story. And then I will tell it back to you in such a way that has become mine, my own. Re-writing you I write myself anew" (216).
This is a particularly fascinating idea mostly because I've never came across it before. But it's true, we take someone else's story and re-tell it in a way that keeps us involved as the author. I thought this was a particularly good part of the article.
Gere, Anne Ruggles. "Revealing Silence: Rethinking Personal Writing" College Composition and Communication. 53 (2001): 203-223. Jstor. MSU Library, Springfield, MO. 12 March 2009.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Source #1
I should first probably inform everyone of my topic before I get into the sources. For English 621, my paper will be debating personal narrative based writing or sourced, academic writing assignments in BW classrooms. From what I've found so far, BW classes should utilize both types of writing, starting out with personal writing and moving into academic writing.
The article I found, Personal Writing Assignments, was written by Robert J. Connors and appeared in the College Composition and Communication in May 1987. This article gives a history rundown of how personal writing assignments have been used in Composition classrooms. Connors focuses early on in the article on classic rhetoric and draws from the great Greek and Roman philosophers to prove his point. He stresses the importance of rhetoric in early "classical" educations and talks about how during the time before the Romantic movement.
He basically says that the Romantic movement, first and later, modal discourse (narration, description, exposition, and argument) that were the initiators of the personal writing movement in composition. He concludes with the same basic idea I have already mentioned, "On the level of practical teaching, most of us take, I think, a sort of middle position. Learning that one has a right to speak....is an important step. Personal writing...is necessary for this step, especially when one is being encouraged to enter the conversation at age eighteen" (181).
Connors, Robert J. "Personal Writing Assignments." College Composition and Communication. 38 (1987): 166-183. Jstor. MSU Library, Springfield, MO. 12 March 2009.
The article I found, Personal Writing Assignments, was written by Robert J. Connors and appeared in the College Composition and Communication in May 1987. This article gives a history rundown of how personal writing assignments have been used in Composition classrooms. Connors focuses early on in the article on classic rhetoric and draws from the great Greek and Roman philosophers to prove his point. He stresses the importance of rhetoric in early "classical" educations and talks about how during the time before the Romantic movement.
He basically says that the Romantic movement, first and later, modal discourse (narration, description, exposition, and argument) that were the initiators of the personal writing movement in composition. He concludes with the same basic idea I have already mentioned, "On the level of practical teaching, most of us take, I think, a sort of middle position. Learning that one has a right to speak....is an important step. Personal writing...is necessary for this step, especially when one is being encouraged to enter the conversation at age eighteen" (181).
Connors, Robert J. "Personal Writing Assignments." College Composition and Communication. 38 (1987): 166-183. Jstor. MSU Library, Springfield, MO. 12 March 2009.
My Literature Fear Realized!!!!
I was Facebook chatting with a friend of mine last night and she was telling me about her Composition class at Middle Tennessessee State University. She is going back to school to pursue a degree in social work, but her grades from MSU were too low in composition and she had to retake the course. She was complaining about the constant revision, so I explained the reason why the teacher had her revise. Then she went on to tell me the teacher has them read As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. It's a great book; I'm not all trying to bad mouth it. But giving it to freshmen students, in a Comp class, does this sound strange to anyone else?
She also told me that the instructor was writing his thesis on the book, so therefore, he subjected his class to reading and writing about it too. She also pointed out that any time anyone in class had different ideas about the book, he would immediately shut them down and offer up the "right" opinon.
I just thought I would offer up this story to show that my fears of a composition class turning into a literature class were real and legitimate. I also thought that book was far too hard for freshmen to take on in any kind of beginning class. Let me know what you think.
She also told me that the instructor was writing his thesis on the book, so therefore, he subjected his class to reading and writing about it too. She also pointed out that any time anyone in class had different ideas about the book, he would immediately shut them down and offer up the "right" opinon.
I just thought I would offer up this story to show that my fears of a composition class turning into a literature class were real and legitimate. I also thought that book was far too hard for freshmen to take on in any kind of beginning class. Let me know what you think.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
I know this may sound harsh, but I don’t expect all students to succeed in the classroom. It isn’t always the students’ fault if they don’t succeed. Sometimes they have outside things that happen to them that make it impossible to devote the needed time to their writing. This happens.
I expect from the basic writing student to be just like any other student: willing to learn, willing to do the work, and willing to be there in the classroom. I do realize that there is one exception with basic writing students. They have been told their writing isn’t good enough. To be told that something as personal is writing isn’t good enough is a hard blow. I understand that they are angry, upset, and/or frustrated. Like I said in my earlier post, teachers and students have a relationship that requires work. Students should expect to do that work in order to improve. Shaughnessy says on 293, “The BW student merely comes to them [problems with writing] later than most and must therefore work harder and faster to solve them”.
I do expect to see improvement from students, but I do not expect to see it overnight. As Shaughnessy says, “Some lessons bear immediate fruit, some fall by the way, and others lie dormant until one day the student bursts out in an ‘I see!’ or produces a piece of writing that moves him, seemingly overnight, to a new plane of competence”. (276) I think it is going to take work and perseverance from the student and patience from the teacher to reach this goal.
Shaughnessy, Mina. Errors and Expectations. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.
I expect from the basic writing student to be just like any other student: willing to learn, willing to do the work, and willing to be there in the classroom. I do realize that there is one exception with basic writing students. They have been told their writing isn’t good enough. To be told that something as personal is writing isn’t good enough is a hard blow. I understand that they are angry, upset, and/or frustrated. Like I said in my earlier post, teachers and students have a relationship that requires work. Students should expect to do that work in order to improve. Shaughnessy says on 293, “The BW student merely comes to them [problems with writing] later than most and must therefore work harder and faster to solve them”.
I do expect to see improvement from students, but I do not expect to see it overnight. As Shaughnessy says, “Some lessons bear immediate fruit, some fall by the way, and others lie dormant until one day the student bursts out in an ‘I see!’ or produces a piece of writing that moves him, seemingly overnight, to a new plane of competence”. (276) I think it is going to take work and perseverance from the student and patience from the teacher to reach this goal.
Shaughnessy, Mina. Errors and Expectations. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.
Teacher Expectations
In regard to Errors and Expectations, I believe that Mina Shaughnessy is right about ‘remediating’ teachers. It is important to remember that the teacher-student relationship is not strictly about one party or the other. Teachers should remember that they are paid to help the students. Sometimes this means adjusting the course and course work to the needs of the student. I’ll get into the job of the student in the next blog. This relationship is like any other relationship it requires compromise on both sides of the desk.
Shaughnessy asks on 286, “What is the goal of instruction?”. The goal, of course, is better writing on the sentence level and the overall structure and content of the paper. I think there is a deeper goal than just better writing-self awareness. She hits on this point earlier when she gives an example from a basic writing student. The student wrote an earlier piece, full of errors, and with an unsteady tone and syntax. The second piece she wrote begins, “I am the smartest girl in this class”. (277) She goes on to describe how she has gained confidence through every writing assignment. She also realizes that revision helps her out immensely.
The student now feels like she heard and that she is a part of the discourse community. She begins to see herself as an academic, as someone with a bright future. My expectation as a teacher is to give my students this same feeling, that they have a voice, it does matter, and someone is listening. I don’t expect myself to be amazing at teaching basic writing the first time, but as long as I help some students make the improvements to their writing and themselves, then I have done my job.
Shaughnessy, Mina. Errors and Expectations. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.
Shaughnessy asks on 286, “What is the goal of instruction?”. The goal, of course, is better writing on the sentence level and the overall structure and content of the paper. I think there is a deeper goal than just better writing-self awareness. She hits on this point earlier when she gives an example from a basic writing student. The student wrote an earlier piece, full of errors, and with an unsteady tone and syntax. The second piece she wrote begins, “I am the smartest girl in this class”. (277) She goes on to describe how she has gained confidence through every writing assignment. She also realizes that revision helps her out immensely.
The student now feels like she heard and that she is a part of the discourse community. She begins to see herself as an academic, as someone with a bright future. My expectation as a teacher is to give my students this same feeling, that they have a voice, it does matter, and someone is listening. I don’t expect myself to be amazing at teaching basic writing the first time, but as long as I help some students make the improvements to their writing and themselves, then I have done my job.
Shaughnessy, Mina. Errors and Expectations. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
More on AWP
As I said before in my previous post, I found many ideas from AWP that applied to composition studies. Another panel, "The Writer in the Community: Taking Creative Writing from the Campus to the People", discussed teaching creative writing outside of academia. One panelist worked in a retirement community, others worked in a rural community in a teen center, and another panelist worked with two inner city boys on writing novels. The interesting thing all panelists discussed was the resistance to revision. All the presenters said that once the students wrote, they were done with the piece. The participants in their programs all saw writing as a product rather than a process, something we encounter in composition classrooms all the time. Students don't see the point in revision. Once they are done, they are done with the essay.
Another problem that one of the panelists discussed was the distance between written language and language of talking. The panelist said the participants, both 17 year old boys, could describe the novels they were planning on writing in detail while talking about their ideas. When the time came to write the novels both boys had frustration and difficulty expressing their ideas in written form.
I've had the same problem with many of my composition students. Especially, when it comes to discussing complex issues surrounding the research argument, they can talk all day long about it. When it comes to writing they experience frustration. Students don't understand that the language we speak with and the language we write with are the same. They see them as two very different languages.
Going along with my other post, I think this is just contributing evidence that all writing is equal. No teaching of writing should be considered "better" than another kind of writing. If all teachers of any kind of writing are experiencing the same problems, shouldn't that mean that we should all come together to figure out how to solve these problems? Doesn't all forms of writing look for the same basic characteristics: clarity, word usage, structure, cohesiveness, etc? You could apply those chartacteristics to poetry, fiction, and yes, even composition. All writing in some form or another is also creative.
Another problem that one of the panelists discussed was the distance between written language and language of talking. The panelist said the participants, both 17 year old boys, could describe the novels they were planning on writing in detail while talking about their ideas. When the time came to write the novels both boys had frustration and difficulty expressing their ideas in written form.
I've had the same problem with many of my composition students. Especially, when it comes to discussing complex issues surrounding the research argument, they can talk all day long about it. When it comes to writing they experience frustration. Students don't understand that the language we speak with and the language we write with are the same. They see them as two very different languages.
Going along with my other post, I think this is just contributing evidence that all writing is equal. No teaching of writing should be considered "better" than another kind of writing. If all teachers of any kind of writing are experiencing the same problems, shouldn't that mean that we should all come together to figure out how to solve these problems? Doesn't all forms of writing look for the same basic characteristics: clarity, word usage, structure, cohesiveness, etc? You could apply those chartacteristics to poetry, fiction, and yes, even composition. All writing in some form or another is also creative.
Monday, February 16, 2009
AWP
I just returned from the AWP conference in Chicago. Though this conference is directed at creative writers I found many particular things that interested me as a teacher of composition.
Firstly, at the panel discussion, "But That's Not Creative! Mentoring Creative Writers About Research, Teaching, and Service" one member of the panel called teaching composition classes both "soul crushing" and like "paying your dues" in response to an audience member's question. The question was how to gain experience teaching creative writing classes when the only classes available to graduate assistants were composition.
I would like to repudiate this statement with an anecdotal response. As an undergraduate student I was a creative writer; as a master's student I am in the literature track. I currently teach composition. After graduation, I hope to find a job at a community college where I'm sure my teaching load will focus more on composition classes and less on teaching literature. I personally think I am very fortunate to be in such a position. I don't just teach English majors; I teach students from every possible major and background. It's like Ken Gillam says, "Why do teachers only want good writers? If all we had were good writers we wouldn't have a job."
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