Composition Pedagogies

I don't think I realized before how many ideas there were about how to teach writing. I also don't think I realized how differently people feel about what is important in a writing classroom.

I have 2 gut feelings.
1. Interested writers create interesting writing. Anything a student writes will be better if that student wants to write about that topic.
2. Content matters. I had a student this week outraged that the professor before me graded her on content. She'll be sorely surprised this week when she discovers that I do as well.

A writing assignment isn't a Seinfeld episode-- a paper about nothing. Otherwise it isn't worth the student's time to write or the teacher's time to grade. But, in a composition classroom, I can't get away from the idea that writing itself should improve.

Lad Tobin is a process guy-- He thinks students should always take part in the writing process. not necessarily Brainstorm, Draft, Revise, Revise again, proofread, publish, but that students should never think the first thing they write is the finished product. I agree with that. But with students and technology, I think that free for all writing is dangerous. It is too easy for a student to buy a paper that can be about anything.

Christopher Burnham discusses expressive writing and refutes the idea that it ignores theory. I think it's interesting because most theory is expressive. So, why shouldn't students put their own voice into their research and findings as well? One interesting thing I see Burnham addressing is that there is a difference between ideology and practice. What I'm now interested is seeing, or thinking about, is how to make that gap as small as possible.