Out of all the teaching philosophies that we've learned
about, the new rhetoric/epistemic rhetoric philosophy appeals to me most. I
agree with the idea that knowledge is not simply in existence waiting for me to
retrieve it. Truth is dynamic and is created with the interactions of players
in the communications process: the writer, speaker, audience, reality, and
language. Further, the data from truth must be structured and organized in
order to be interpreted. I believe this philosophy allows students to
understand that their thoughts and conclusions are valid and open to their own interpretation.
Collaboration from student to student and instructor to student should be
encouraged.
The most important assignment I would include in my syllabus
is a bi-weekly free writing exercise. Free writing would be conducted every
other week for the first 30 minutes of class and during this period, students
would be allowed to write about any topic they wish. The goal of this assignment
would be for the students to stretch their mental "legs" and write
without regard to grade or fear of judgment from their peers. I believe that
free writing instills confidence in students and gives them a starting point
for future writing assignments. Although I wouldn't make this a mandatory step,
I would encourage the students to share their writing with each other through a
class collaboration website.
Another assignment I would add to my syllabus is an
observation exercise. For this assignment, students would be required to reach
out to another professor or high school teacher of English or composition and
request to observe them teaching a class. I believe this would provide students
with different perspectives of how classes are taught and allow them to see how
other students learn with different teaching methods. Part of the assignment
would be to have the observation class complete an anonymous survey asking them
about their experience in class and to provide suggestions for improvement.
I would also include a major research paper in the syllabus.
This assignment will teach students about academic research, test their
critical thinking processes, and push them to organize their thoughts in a
well-thought, coherent manner. Research papers can be a great way to see how
much a student has learned over the course of a class and will teach them how
to budget their time and plan for this submission over the course of a
semester. I would plan for mini assignments during the semester that break down
the research paper into manageable pieces. For example, I would include an
assignment that asks students to provide the sources they plan to use as a
Works Cited page. To encourage students to improve in their writing, I would
allow one revision to the research paper after the initial grade is given.
Feedback from the instructor would be geared towards helping the student
correct any mistakes they made.
Shayla--Glad your blog post was in on time, thanks. The new rhetoric approach seems most akin to what I value, too, that we're always composing in a situation or context, and that everything impacts who we are as writers. Truth is relative, especially across international contexts. You really should check out Burke's pentad, and you would enjoy the research methodology that Clay Spinuzzi has created. Getting students to write, and to write with confidence, is something many expressionists have worked on, too. Elbow, for instance, thought "1301" should simply be writing, as much as possible, with quick topics, ungraded, to develop voice. Not sure if you could expect students to write without making it an assignment, although you could do what I do with blogs and point out that full credit is awarded if it is done. That releases some pressure which could be motivating and healthy. What do you think about speech to text? What if students used their phones to "write" using voice? Would that be useful or problematic? Or voice writing followed by revising through text? And I like your idea about some sort of research paper, too, as a means of getting students to dig in with more complex tasks. What's the best way to provide feedback, do you think?
ReplyDeleteHey Shayla! Nice post! Like you, I also said I'd want to use scaffolding and build up to a big paper at the end of the semester, but I said I'd do a rhetorical analysis like Tech does, and you said you'd do a research essay. I think the research essay route would be really useful because it teaches students how to synthesize many different sources. I wonder if there's a way to combine a research essay and a rhetorical analysis? What would that assignment look like? I also think the free writing idea is great. Justin's post (and my comment there) also discussed how students often do better at writing when they perceive that the stakes are low.
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