the composition teacher's quandary
I'd like to talk about a couple of moments in my teaching life that illustrate succinctly one of the key frustrations involved in teaching college writing. Let me be clear that I blame none of the figures mentioned in these anecdotes; I just think it's a difficult situation.
To start, in a recent discussion with colleagues from a social science discipline (great colleagues, who really want to help students write well and teach them to write -- not just complain and rely upon comp staff to teach the so-called "basics"), I got the clear message that what professors in most fields want is students to write clear thesis-driven papers, academic argumetns that make a clear claim and develop it logically and with substantial evidence in a clear, organized manner. That makes sense to me; that's pretty much what I try to teach, without being reductive and allowing for some different writerly approaches to argument.
In a recent first-semester freshman comp class, one of my brightest and most engaged students, in a discussion of her ethics class, remarked that her instructor had assigned an essay, telling them "just to give their thoughts and not to bother with boiling things down to a thesis." Now, I can see the purpose of such a guideline. Indeed, an instructor may want a more exploratory discussion (perhaps one later to be developed into something more focused and argumentative?). However, one has to sympathize with the student who is trying to figure out "how to write" in college. It can be difficult when such opposing expectations are presented (or -- worse -- concealed but in operation).
It also is, I think, cause for sympathy for the comp teacher who is trying to prepare students for the range of writing tasks they are to face in college. Of course, many in composition studies reject the notion that this in fact is our role -- that we are there to provide "service" to other disciplines. I'm not sure where I stand on the latter issue. Our field was largely born out of this perceived need for service, and I do think we introduce students to civic rhetoric and academic discourse, an introduction which SHOULD prepare them for academic writing. It seems, though, at some times we're forced to choose between being reductive (tell them all the time to write with a hammer-like thesis) or being vague and unhelpful ("Well, every writing situation demands something different... know your audience ... assess the situation... and other such abstract and largely meaningless -- because decontextualized -- advice).
Thank you for listening...
To start, in a recent discussion with colleagues from a social science discipline (great colleagues, who really want to help students write well and teach them to write -- not just complain and rely upon comp staff to teach the so-called "basics"), I got the clear message that what professors in most fields want is students to write clear thesis-driven papers, academic argumetns that make a clear claim and develop it logically and with substantial evidence in a clear, organized manner. That makes sense to me; that's pretty much what I try to teach, without being reductive and allowing for some different writerly approaches to argument.
In a recent first-semester freshman comp class, one of my brightest and most engaged students, in a discussion of her ethics class, remarked that her instructor had assigned an essay, telling them "just to give their thoughts and not to bother with boiling things down to a thesis." Now, I can see the purpose of such a guideline. Indeed, an instructor may want a more exploratory discussion (perhaps one later to be developed into something more focused and argumentative?). However, one has to sympathize with the student who is trying to figure out "how to write" in college. It can be difficult when such opposing expectations are presented (or -- worse -- concealed but in operation).
It also is, I think, cause for sympathy for the comp teacher who is trying to prepare students for the range of writing tasks they are to face in college. Of course, many in composition studies reject the notion that this in fact is our role -- that we are there to provide "service" to other disciplines. I'm not sure where I stand on the latter issue. Our field was largely born out of this perceived need for service, and I do think we introduce students to civic rhetoric and academic discourse, an introduction which SHOULD prepare them for academic writing. It seems, though, at some times we're forced to choose between being reductive (tell them all the time to write with a hammer-like thesis) or being vague and unhelpful ("Well, every writing situation demands something different... know your audience ... assess the situation... and other such abstract and largely meaningless -- because decontextualized -- advice).
Thank you for listening...
posted by Mark Meritt | 8:52 PM
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