In last week’s blog post I emphasize the mimetic and rhetorical philosophies of education. I would add to this that the aim would also be to foster a strong sense of ownership in the students. Students would be encouraged to contribute to the direction of the course and to find connections between their interests and the topics they choose to write about. James Britton discusses the importance of this exchange in “Writing and Reading in the Classroom.” Britton indicates that teachers should allow students to be the focus of the class, and that methods that are easy to teach are generally teacher-centered practices that place convenience over pedagogical value.
In order to achieve a classroom environment that encourages a student-centered pedagogy I would assign weekly journal entries. The journals would be written by the student with the teacher as the intended audience. According to Britton, this approach encourages dialogue between both parties of the learning process. It gives students the opportunity to write about a topic that is close to them, and allows the teacher to respond individually, and to raise questions, or suggest new directions in a non-threatening environment.
In order to encourage the mimetic philosophy of composition, which emphasizes research and knowledge of subject matter, I would assign research papers. Students would be allowed to choose a topic that interests them, but it would be required to be a topic that is fairly controversial. The first paper would allow the students to write from whichever perspective they choose. A second assignment would then be to write a paper on the same topic, but to present a different perspective. This activity would teach research skills and teach students to research and consider more than a single perspective.
The rhetorical philosophy would be conveyed through the final assignment. The course objective would be to enable students to identify and tailor a message to a specific audience. For this assignment students would be allowed to choose a written work, either a journal article, newspaper article, or another publication that interests them, and they would be required to identify the target audience and how the author directed the message to maximize the effect on that audience.
I would avoid assignments that emphasized the modes of discourse. After reading more about this approach to teaching composition, I feel that the modes of discourse place too much emphasis on the final product. The modes do not provide sufficient insight into how writing occurs. Robert Connors discusses the shortcomings of the modes in “The Rise and Fall of the Modes of Discourse.” He said that “they turn the attention of both teacher and student toward an academic exercise instead of toward a meaningful act of communication in a social context.”
Britton, J. (1988). Writing and reading in the classroom. In CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF READINGA READING RESEARCH AND EDUCATION CENTER REPORT (pp. 1-21). Retrieved from http://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/17633/ctrstreadtechrepv01988i00425_opt.pdf?sequence=1
I think it is a good idea to have students write about a topic from more than one perspective. In one of my science classes that I teach, we had a section on Bioethics. For a variety of reasons, students (and individuals) in general seem to 'feel' a certain way about an ethically controversial subject. It sometimes is hard for them to explain, but I asked them to answer questions related to the dilemma based on how they 'felt' and what they knew about the subject. Then, they had to take the opposite stance and this was difficult for many of them as strong religious or political views were often behind their first perspective. I asked them to simply describe the reasons behind opposing views so as not to make things too uncomfortable. While it may not have ultimately changed their view, it emphasized the importance of researching topics and understanding the basis for opinions. It is what keeps a dialogue going.
ReplyDeleteI also like the idea of having the students choose an existing message and then identify aspects of it such as targeted audience. I agree that it is important to let students have some choice in the source of the work they will analyze. I think there is sometimes a tendency to just assume all students of this generation will just go to the internet for something. And while a good majority of them might certainly do that, you have allowed them to choose the kind of message they want to analyze.
Heather,
ReplyDeleteI, too, included a variety of types of assignments in FYC. I love writing journals and have had success with it as a regular assignment in class. In the readings from last week we learned the audience is a crucial part of the process of writing, and I think it is an excellent idea for you to create assignments for the purpose of students developing the idea of audience.
Emily