R6 Today’s Classroom

At this point, I am fairly excited about the variety I can establish in my course. Identifying in bits and pieces with each of this week’s professors, I also subscribe to the belief that writing and learning go hand in hand, and a course such as this relies heavily on that understanding. Students will learn a great deal about their writing being objective, logical, and substantiated as they write and revise pieces suited to given situations, audiences, and purposes. In designing this course, I agree with Wardle and Downs that design is outcome based. I first must decide what I want my students to produce. What will they accomplish? What will this course make of them? At the same time, I am also considering Yancey’s point that different times comprise different writers. When I consider what my students will become through my instruction and their dedication, I need to identify what their futures need them to be. When Yancey states that teachers often replicate instruction tailored to their own experiences, I completely understand. I remember my own experience in E110 in 1990. I easily recall that I did not know how to write, how to develop my stance, how to prove a thesis, but I learned quickly in that class. I replicate that instruction in every course I teach so that my students know the importance of the driving statement and elaboration. I even think of the outcome in terms of a lesson I learned in seventh grade: We are not allowed to express an opinion unless we can support it. Right there is one of the most important outcomes: Students must be capable of forming and supporting an opinion. I plan to carry on those lessons while at the same time fostering the composition growth of a very different group of communicators. In my undergraduate experience, I had little need for email; no one wrote text messages; social media did not exist; and a lucky few paid $20 to video conference for five minutes at Kinkos. Today’s students do all of these countless times per day, and each activity involves composition, some organized gathering of thoughts and messages. My intended outcome is that my students clearly state and support their positions across multiple communicative platforms. Yes, they will employ inquiry driven research and compose critical analysis in response to readings. They will compose human ecology proposals and solutions. They will keep a portfolio (our classroom management system even supports electronic portfolios). And just as important as the many more pieces they will create is digital composition, especially with an understanding of developing a responsible, intelligent electronic persona through which each student will publish his or her work. Right now, a host of assignments and publication platforms is swimming around in my mind. I am quite eager to pen these ideas into a sensible syllabus.

R4

Mathieu’s ideal course intrigues me. I appreciate her thematic approach and the diverse assignments that culminate in a multifaceted research project. Requiring a project such as this one that appeals to the students’ interests likely results in more informed writing than assigning a topic without a personal connection. Of course, and Mathieu made a point of mentioning this, the students must understand the background research involved before interviewing to create a research-based personal history. This type of assignment provides an interesting model that I may emulate to a certain extent. The greater challenge that my students will face is putting the university library to use. With the vast number of sources available on the Internet and through digital government archives, my students have become accustomed to researching electronically. They may have no concept of the beneficial resources available in print from the library. Sad, but true, to many of them, print is dying.

In terms of service learning, I am perplexed at the hesitation to attach this segment to the course. As a board member of a service learning nonprofit, I find it disappointing that the assumption is made to abandon that aspect because a semester may be too short or the first year too demanding. When I address students hoping to earn scholarships for their service learning projects, I am amazed by what they can accomplish in a short period of time while they are also taking AP and honors courses and participating in extracurricular activities. Many high schools require service hours, and many students are, therefore, accustomed to giving time to help others. This builds a well-rounded individual.

Redd’s course offers more practical assignments that provide real world writing, as I like to call it. It focuses on both academic writing and public sector text, and this would definitely benefit students well into their futures. I’m not well enough versed in the studies behind allowing students to use non-standard written English, but I definitely see the value of accepting dialects and cultural differences. It makes sense that students can explore and elucidate better when doing so in their natural linguistic style. What may help her program realize such success is the drive behind it to move students beyond the point where they entered the class. I really appreciate the use of discipline specific writing guides. This course seems to address my concerns is R3 regarding the purpose of the course altogether. Redd’s program exposes the students to a rich mixture of tools and styles, which in turn prepare them for many courses and experiences that lie ahead. Redd states that writing empowers the students, and I whole-heartedly agree. If a student can write successfully for a range of audiences and rhetorical situations, then that student can truly communicate, and with that comes both power and responsibility. At this stage in their lives, students need to take on the responsibility of mastering their voices and contributing to the adult dialogue of life.