“The instructor said,
Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you—
Then, it will be true.”
-Langston Hughes, “Theme for English B”
Langston’s first assignment for English B (and his submission) seemed so idealistic to me. A professor posing the same assignment to a class of 30 students would surely be lucky to get even 1 response like Langston’s (I thought). But with a little more direction (“…a page tonight [about how powerful language can be].”) and a curriculum focused on a thematic inquiry , these results seem more realistic. Bringing student experience and expertise to the center stage empowers, motivates, and refreshes students to excel in life (and composition class)!
As we near the development of our own courses, I am relieved to realize the variety of directions, topics, and personalities encountered in exploring the instruction of Composition in FYC chapters 5-8. It is refreshing to read about the value of individuality at the collegiate level when uniformity is all the rave at the high school level. That isn’t to say I’m inspired to jump ship, but I’m inspired to right my own ship.
Mere teachers can’t change policies that dictate our profession, but we can modify our curricula to foster individuality. The more we read, it becomes increasingly apparent that what experience or expertise students individually possess are the foundation of course content. The failure of our education system lies in the muting of such uniqueness in favor of prescriptive methods, general conformity, and strict adherence to the literary canon.
By allowing (and even encouraging) students to discuss personally relevant topics (sometimes even in their native language which may completely ignore conventions of SWE), we are providing ownership, value, purpose, and ultimately intrinsic motivation to improve writing (or expand writing repertoire). In fact, many of these instructors suggest an even “tighter” focus on individual experience with language and composition to provide for individuality, but still a certain commonality and relevance to keep class discussion (both in class and online) based on composition in a cohesive context. In other words, composition instructors need to provide a united curriculum that is thematically focused on linguistics yet still provides students with opportunities to talk about their experiences.
Having read the work of 9 experienced composition instructors and being exposed to even more through their references, planning around a central theme related to language and linguistics seems the most crucial decision in the entire planning process. Most instructors describe their starting point as an overarching theme or question. No matter what they called it, they started at a concept broad enough to provide many decisions to students and focused enough to ensure resulting work would be similar and rooted in linguistics/composition.
In reflecting on my own college experience, I am most appreciative of my professors who adhered to this school of thought; by involving myself with the content of the course, I became a stakeholder in the course not only for a grade, but for my role in helping evolve the course/subject and providing my own content to help others learn (and likewise learning from the content created by other peers). Having this realization and reflection, I plan to adapt this practice for my own instruction of Composition and likely any other aspects of writing instruction outside of my Composition course(s).
FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
- Mathieu offered a great framework/hierarchy for assignments. I really appreciate her point about the relevance of what I keep referring to as a thematic focus – she says the writing in the course will improve grasp of thematic inquiry, and thematic inquiry will improve writing – that is a valuable point to realize to commit to such a thematic approach to planning this course.
- I really valued Redd’s discussion on Rubric Assessment. I find many teachers rely on rubrics for ease of commenting, but Redd makes many good points about grading consistently and providing clear expectations.
- Reid was great. I honestly never understood his point about Actor-Networks and Assemblages (194-195) because it was a moment of serious text complexity, but he made great points about writing in the public domain (as we are for E688) and his grading process. I also love his analogy of composition instruction as a fitness trainer developing a workout program that clients need to use appropriately to garner expected results. And lastly, he makes an excellent point about problems in education as a result of developing education from the context of the 19th and 20th century industry and institution as opposed to the reasons for and the means of how the context of those times resulted. That’s a really deep realization which could (should) turn the entire field of education upside down.
- I appreciate Shipka’s delineation of writing and composition.
E688: Seminar in Teaching Composition 
As I mentioned in my own reaction post, I agree that there should be a thematic focus for our courses to avoid creating a course that would be viewed by the students as a hodgepodge of unrelated tasks and assignments. So far I feel that even a broad theme such as the power of language could provide that focus. I also agree that encouraging students to express their experience and expertise will lead to empowerment and motivation to excel.
I feel blessed that at Saint Mark’s each teacher in my department has a great deal of autonomy in making curriculum decisions. I am glad that I don’t have to be in lock step even with teachers who are teaching the exact same course. We do, of course, have to make sure that we are in alignment with Common Core Standards. However, our selected literary pieces, writing assignments, assessments, classroom procedures, and daily assignments are for the most part up to the individual teachers. This also gives us the freedom to provide the students with an opportunity to influence at least some of the content of the course. This flexibility and ability to meet the needs of individual classes and circumstances is one of the perks of being a teacher that I truly enjoy, and I hope to never take it for granted.
Dear Dan (and Anne Marie),
As the person in charge of E110, I can say that you are both distinguishing ends and means in ways I want to encourage. That is, you are teaching toward a shared set of goals (revision, process, responding to texts) but considering multiple ways of reaching those goals. To use your phrasing, Dan, you’re “modifying curricula to foster individuality.” (I’d add, the individuality of students and teachers alike.)
I’m glad you like Mathieu, Dan. She’s one of my favorites. I also agree with Redd’s use of rubrics both to make our assessments consistent and what we value in writing more transparent. I have some hesitations with Reid’s emphasis on program-setting. I think we do a lot of teaching in response to what students write, not just in setting it up.
And I agree with the usefulness of centering a course on a (broad rather than constrictive) theme—and of trying to connect that theme explicitly to issues of language and writing. I’ll often try to signal this in the title of of my courses: “Writing Cultural Criticism,” “Writing in a Digital Age,” “Owning a Style.”
Thanks for more interesting work. I’ll post some guidelines this evening about the first draft of your course materials.
Joe
Dan,
I appreciate your perspective on the value of individualism in the classroom – and particularly the belief for the STUDENTS that there is some flexibility and choice involved in their learning. I think students often become passive participants in their own learning – and the traditional classroom setting fully allows (even encourages) students to sit and listen while their teachers tell them what to think and learn. Courses that share consistency in goals and objectives don’t HAVE to look like this, though – while the 3 of us will be developing courses that will meet the guidelines set forth by the University, they will also (hopefully) fit in with the visions of our respective schools, meet the needs of the students we are teaching, and be highlighted with our individual teaching styles, and will surely encourage the full engagement of our students.
To close, I’m intrigued that you reflected on Hughes as an inspiration for your post – I, too, was reminded (while reading and then again in response to Anne Marie’s post) of one of Hughes’ contemporaries (James Baldwin) and his writings about language. Since our students have had extensive exposure to literature throughout their academic careers, I’m interested in investigating ways to connect their foundational, traditional English education with their dive into composition.
Looking forward to our workshop next week. Happy 4th!