Meandering

How is it that I have come this far into my education, and my education in writing specifically, and I have yet to read any of the seminal texts Elbow has authored?! The CAWP ISI presented (and we practiced) bits and pieces of strategies offered by many of those we have been reading, but Elbow seems to be someone we simply should have studied more in depth, if that’s possible in a four week course.

In reading Elbow’s response to Harris’ book, I found his voice seemingly familiar, friendly, and completely bought into his brand of “ethos,” of “equating voice and ethos” (29). I empathized with his irritation towards Harris, and when he admitted he had to force himself to read objectively. I agreed with his counter - arguments. I even followed and agreed, perhaps naively (a term Elbow uses to describe one of Harris’ suppositions), when he brought the reader to a compromise of sorts at the end of his response, wherein he praised the usefulness of Harris’ model for discourse types after taking her “to task” for the inadequacies of her arguments, histories, and suggestions. However, the entire time I was reading and empathizing, the voice in my head quietly but continually repeated a quote from Burnham’s piece as he quoted Elbow, “...ethos – good character – is the central concern in all rhetoric... It’s nice to be trustworthy; but if you’re skilled you can fake it’ ” (29). Of course Elbow has his own agenda as he responds to Harris’ book; he is, after all, a core member of the Expressivists. That being said, I thought he did a fine job of representing the Expressivist perspective of voice, in the sense that voice has the ability to “empower individuals to act in the world” (23). He succeeded in “communicat[ing] intense belief through voice” (24).

As I continue to place more stake in the tenets of Expressivism, I (like Elbow) must continually look for the good in other movements, philosophies, and strategies so as not to ignore their value and contribution to the study and teaching of writing. Prior to teaching it was easy to be an “all or nothing” believer. But, as I teach and learn, I am finding that there is almost always something worth mining and trying in every philosophy.

This week I get to teach my students strategies for removing their voices from the research papers they have worked tirelessly to draft and revise, repeatedly, for the past eight weeks. They will be omitting or replacing all first and second person personal pronouns to meet the curricular requirements of our course. Perhaps we will engage in some reflective writing regarding this directive and then discuss how it makes us feel when we as writers are compelled to extricate our voices from the text we have worked so diligently to create.  Perhaps my students will find ways of retaining their voices, regardless of pronoun usage. (This is my goal.) Instead of being angry and feeling oppressed by outdated curriculum and the unreasonable, Current-Traditional   expectations of our postsecondary “partners,” I will see this as an opportunity for us to write for yet another purpose, thereby enriching our writing experiences and ability to perform in yet another rhetorical situation. (Sigh.)

Holding Writing Hostage

I am the kind of teacher that thrives on trying new strategies shared by fellow practitioners and field experts, and I am really into instant gratification. So, last Wednesday morning I went into class, ditched the plans I wrote for the day and requested that my students take out their Writer’s Notebooks. I proceeded to steal Julie’s writing activity from the previous evening and share the booty with my students. Now, rest assured my students write often and for various reasons and multiple audiences. However, this was the first time I have ever asked them to write without sharing, either with me or their classmates. Most students wrote with abandon, while some others covered their notebooks with papers, and some more looked around nervously before putting pen/cil to paper. I was amazed that ALL of the students followed the procedure, not ONE stopping to look around or talk when they got stuck. There were whines and moans the second time we looped, but later during our dialogue, I found that it was mostly due to the writers’ cramp triggered by a sustained (we’re talking twelve minutes here!) period of writing.

            If I thought I was amazed by how well they received and participated in the activity, I was even more so by the ensuing conversation. Even the real cynics, who initially responded with “what’s the point?” offered valuable insight during discussion. We talked about how it felt to have a “place of their own” for writing, how and when this strategy might be useful to them in and out of the classroom, and the power of writing. When the bell signaling the end of class rang – too soon - I was invigorated by student response to the activity and inspired by the students who asked me if I had composition books they could use as journals before they rushed out the door to their next class. I was in teacher heaven!! The very fact that my students wrote for the entire time requested of them, did not mutiny during the activity, and their willingness to participate in the discussion afterwards, is excellent support for the idea that we need to provide “a place” for writing in our classrooms.

            After the last student dodged out, my co-teacher asked me why I ditched the plans and what made me decide not to have the students share their writing, as is my custom. I related to her the activity I engaged in during class the previous evening. Her response: “You should to take another literature class.”

            My co-teacher’s response is a prime example of the situation discussed by Lynn, Tate, and others we are reading. Teachers devalue writing by not teaching it – in all its ugliness and difficulty, administrators devalue writing by not making it a focus for professional development and school wide initiatives, and PDE devalues writing by not “counting writing toward AYP.” If reading and math are worth the count, why not writing? Daily, we are conveying an anti- writing message to our students. Until ELA teachers and education recognize writing as a legitimate and fundamental facet of ELA, writing will continue to play second (or even worse) string in the ELA classroom and in schools.

       How do we get other teachers, administrators, and other stakeholders (and decision -makers) in education to see the value of teaching writing (short of a hostage - type writing activity)? 

Response to Readings 1/17/11

After staying up until 1 Am to complete the readings I had put off (and put off) all week, I HAD to stay up just a few minutes longer and write in my journal afterward. I pondered posting to the blog then, but remembered what I had read previously about how the light from a computer screen can keep you awake. :)


I first read the Steven Lynn text. I found myself thinking about the complexity of the Rhetoric and Composition quagmire, and how it mirrors my own philosophy of writing and teaching writing. I found myself switching sides often as I saw the relevance and usefulness of both current-traditional methods and the New Paradigm, and secretly hoped my style and philosophy were not too close to the current -traditional method of doing things. At first I was concerned, but then as with most things, I accepted that it's generally best to to adopt and use the good stuff from each camp. This too, was reiterated in the text. 


Although I've been "teaching" the elective Writing and Rhetoric at my school for four years now, I have yet to feel as though I am adept at doing so. The curriculum calls for only expository essays and research papers of the kind found in freshman Comp. courses. Thus, why the title of Writing AND Rhetoric? Each year, I have attempted to learn a bit more about the rhetoric aspect of the course, and each year, deviate just slightly further from the course description set in type long before my arrival. Next year, the course is up for revision. I'm hoping I can use what I have, and will, glean from my studies to create an effective course curriculum. Lynn also provided several activities at the very end of the chapter that I may consider attempting this semester, as I search for thought provoking, truly engaging writing activities for my students.


Lynn's writing regarding strategies for current - traditional and process pedagogy spoke directly to me, as I have always been a proponent of teaching the writing process as something that is recursive and strategic (Deborah Dean). Our classroom functions as a writers workshop, with students working together in small groups as they write and revise their assigned, and often chosen, pieces. Each of the camps definitely has their value and their respective strategies are highly useful for different students encountering varying writing situations. 


In addition to raising some questions for me, Lynn has definitely incited me to read MORE. I have read a few articles by Elbow, Murray, Britton, and Berlin, but I am now intrigued by others (such as Flowers) and am looking forward to choosing a new book to read about writing. (Elbow's Writing with Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process is a SERIOUS contender.)


Some of my questions include:
1. How can I further prompt students to take responsibility for assisting one another's growth as writer's?
2. How can I help students to understand that my role is, as Tobin is quoted,   to assist them by "...reading for nuance, possibility, gaps, potential." Some students argue with this approach, feeling as though they must defend their writing. Others, want me to TELL them exactly what and how to write and refuse any other reviewer - how can I help them let go?


Hairston's piece was powerful. The sense of urgency she creates is inspiring, and I found myself marveling at how it must have been received by its readers.
I was also awed by Shaughnessy and her dedication to addressing the situation in which academia found itself. She states that we can't teach students to write unless we understand how that writing came to be (446). I agree. However, my attempts to delve into and understand students processes have been met with inauthentic, shallow responses. (I have been using the Writer's Memo, modified from Cooper and Hodges in A Guide to Composition and Rhetoric.)  

Testing Post

Greetings!