Goals and Principles
I look forward to the writing activities in my class where our sleeves are rolled up and we as a classroom community experience rhetorical work at play. Students may be trying to examine complex problems through writing simulations, pitching a multimodal project aimed at civic growth, or uncovering rhetorical devices that transfer across their daily lives and various disciplinary endeavors. In these moments, my students are encouraged to demonstrate, experience, and critically reflect what they’ve learned about becoming a scholar, professional, and civic-minded community member; likewise, I am motivated by the ways my students’ work and inquiry better shapes my role as a mentor and Socratic questioner.
As an instructor and scholar, I base my classroom principles on the traditions of contemporary scholars such as Gee, Selfe, Nowacek, and elbow, as well as nodding to several ancient philosophical and rhetorical maxims laid out by Plato and Aristotle. I believe the culmination of their works shapes a classroom that promotes participation and discourse through assignments such as literacy narratives, rhetorical analysis, researched essays, and social/community-minded projects. My goal is that through such means my students will leave the class more confident writers, able to better understand and articulate the various “worlds” they enter and identity roles they undertake.
Methods and Assessment
Although I work with a number of projects depending on the course, my methods revolve around problem-based learning activities, specifically those which consider third and fourth generation activity theory as systems of agency. In this way, students approach objectives in activities that are tied to scholarly readings, discussions, and learning outcomes. An example is the “Parking Game” where students take on the role of consultants tasked with solving the complex parking situation at a fictional university. They are given a set rules, tools, and labor, along with rhetorical arguments by multiple parties. As they work through the problem, we disseminate rhetorical appeals, critically analyzing arguments in specific rhetorical situations, weighing bias, and developing informed possibilities based on cited sources. Activities such as this allows transfer of previous understandings to meet newly acquired knowledge through kairotic moments. As the class reflects on the outcomes, we shift towards an assignment such as rhetorical analysis or proposing solutions projects that requires similar skills. In this way, the activity system uncovers both connections and binds in a low risk activity preceding the assignment. This is the sort of “play” that Gee and Vygotsky hint at, and that D’Angour argues when discussing Plato’s philosophy of experiencing the education of productive citizens.
Just as professional and social working groups occupy many different spaces, I encourage students to consider the Course Management System (CMS) as another ecology for learning and writing opportunities. I use these spaces for discussion boards, collaboration through media tools, and as a space to archive important files and link to other sites of inquiry.
Another key method for assessment derives from Bob Broad’s Dynamic Criteria Mapping. I believe that to better meet university and departmental learning outcomes, it is essential to get analytical feedback from students that demonstrate what we value as collegiate writers, practices that resonate or don’t resonate, and better clarity of expectations in a mutual language. Such endeavors not only instill a better sense of community for students as active participants in their own learning, but it also helps me translate and map ways to connect curricular goals to the students’ understanding of writing.
Situated Teaching Vision within English/Writing Department
My philosophy views writing and composition as both situated and expansive, paying close attention to writing in my class as specific to genres meeting departmental goals but also transferable to other disciplinary writing needs the student may encounter. Given the opportunity to work with other modes and forms of communication, I can also offer my students instruction in multimodal composition, digital writing, and professional writing. Additionally, my background in Creative Writing and Science also affords for opportunities to explore Writing in the Disciplines (WID) opportunities. It is my hope that the approaches I take will foster a greater interest and understanding of writing process among my students and enrichen the scope of literacies offered throughout the department.