The essay by Rohman and Wlecke begins wonderfully with what is perceived as the "problem" with educating English composition. The problem boils down to one word for these two scholars and that is "Quality" (216).
The quality in educating students in composition has been waning since the beginning of composition studies, and will continue to be a topic of discussion as long as it exists (ideally forever). With this in mind, on page 217 Rohman and Wlecke begin to provide solutions by first of all pointing out that there are two types of teaching -- one of which I will address: Expositional mode. This mode of teaching is teacher based which I believe is the best as the one person who truly understands what is occurring in the classroom is the one standing, giving direction, lectures, and organizing activities for the students be it elementary or graduate school. The article, however, recognizes that we all have weakness that is inherited as opposed to formed. These weaknesses, according to Rohman and Wlecke are unfixable, but I disagree.
Using the "Archetype of the Plant" on page 222, and the first metaphor of, "planting a seed" I address grammar as the seed -- the most basic piece of composition needed, as we discussed, to confer a basic thought and hold basic communication. If composition begins at grammar and builds to argument which will "unveil a perspective as best we can that has not become ordered on a public map," then we can discuss those developmental/reticent writers.
These writers need repetition and experience that "discovery" as discussed on 225 in order to see success with the basics in order to move to the argument.
Assessment will be based on the argument and grammar, and technology has its place, but as the article did not address technology in pedagogy, I stand by what I said in class and reaffirmed as I was working on my blog -- I'm a pencil to paper guy!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Easy reading is damn hard writing. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
How to engage a student or classroom in the act of writing and make it meaningful will be an ongoing conversation. As we have seen in the essays read, there is disagreement on what to teach, how to teach it, and the reliability of evaluation of the methods chosen. I agree with Rohman and Wlecke when they state, "the primary badness of writing is not incorrect grammar or inelegant expression; it is rather a matter of stale perspective, cliche response" (226-7). The burden then falls to the classroom teacher to place a fresh perspective on the process and fire the students' imagination. We can all remember the rare instructor who was able to accomplish this feat and made us care about the mechanics of writing and the resulting clarity of communication.
ReplyDeleteHaha, no one is disagreeing with you... just making fun of you!! I completely agree about grammar, if what you were saying was that it is important. When I read something and come across a gramatical error the validity of the work and the confidence I have in it goes down dramatically. Maybe it is the journalism in me, but grammar is super important, and as you said the most basic part of composition. You can't and shouldn't teach English without focusing on grammar on some level. Grammar grammar grammar. Drill it in their heads (OK im going to bed. Oh, and hopefully I didn't make any grammar mistakes in this comment.
ReplyDelete