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.)