Citation Journet, Debra. “Narrative Turns in Writing Studies Research.” Writing Studies Research in Practice: Methods and Methodologies. Eds. Lee Nickoson and Mary P. Sheridan. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2012. Pp. 13-24. Summary Debra Journet opens her article with a general definition of “narrative” as it is commonly accepted by current academic attitudes: a mode […]
Author: kohlsy
Emphasizing Style & Extending Its Influence
Research Proposal Intro Teaching writing of any sort in a classroom environment can be a tricky endeavor to navigate through. This is in part because of the subjectivity involved in “learning” to write; the multiple variables involved in an instructor’s own experience of learning to write, and their specific sense of writing as a craft. […]
Is Transaction Inherently Adversarial?
On the most basic level, the simple designation of “student” and “teacher” is inherently an adversarial distinction. Like any dichotomy where one side holds a significant amount of power over the other, especially in an institutional setting like a university, the basic conflict stems from necessary authority. That authority, the teacher, doesn’t have to be […]
Passive-Aggressive Stuff: Expectations & “What’s the Point?”s
I’ve been fortunate to have not encountered any truly toxic behavior in my classroom thus far, but I’m always alert to its potential of disrupting the classroom in a significant way. There’s certainly a taxonomy present if I’m thinking in these terms—what I would consider toxic would be outright abuse (which can take several forms, […]
Project 2: Student A
Dear A— Thank you very much for your essay! It was a pleasure to read. We’ve talked throughout the quarter about the specific strengths found in your writing, such as your knack for writing a good introductory hook and your ability to transition between big ideas. Both of these strengths are very much present here. […]
Internalized Routines & “The Writer”
In our reading for today, Mike Rose accurately writes that “people don’t proceed through problem situations…without some set of internalized instructions to the self, some program, some course of action that, even roughly, takes goals and possible paths to that goal into consideration” (5). This might seem rather obvious and can seemingly be applied to […]
Who Offers You the “Writer” Identity?
The myth of genius authorship pervades, always. From the moment students are taught the basics of writing—the standard structures in which to say something in their writing—they are faced with a kind of unconscious model to mimic. Be that example essays of “ideal” scholarship or the supplementary literature they are given to think about and […]
An (Idealistic?) Outlet
Because the structure and content of first-year writing varies so much depending on institutional philosophy and “ambition” of outcome, this question is fairly difficult to conceptualize as a generality. In my experience of undergraduate first-year writing, I found inspiration via discovery and promotion of scholarly research. Though that was something I was aware of before […]
Identity, Expression, & Worldview
In their very first letters that my students wrote to me, I noticed a surprising divide between experiences of political discourse in previous English classrooms. Some expressed discomfort in the inclusion of real time political events while discussing literature, and others claimed that that very inclusion is what served to make their discussions immediate and […]
Expanding Considerations of Style
Citation Garza, Edward Santos. “Style Makes the Writer: Expanding Considerations of Style in the Writing Center .” Praxis: A Writing Center Journal, Squarespace , www.praxisuwc.com/ edward-santos-garza-143. Summary In “Style Makes the Writer: Expanding Considerations of Style in the Writing Center,” Edward Santos Garza argues for the emphasis that should be placed on style in student writing, […]
Circulation & Exchange
The authority associated with instructor-student relationships is the most immediate force present from the first day of class. Though the presentation of that authority varies depending on personal teaching style, there’s nevertheless a conscious representational difference that invisibly guides classroom etiquette. There are exceptions, of course, but for the most part students sit down on […]
Reading: The Bridge to Everywhere
Citation Hallstead, Tracy M., and Glenda Pritchett . “Reading: The Bridge to Everywhere .” Double Helix, vol. 1, 2013, pp. 1–12., qudoublehelixjournal.org/index.php/dh/article/view/9/88. Summary Tracy Hallstead and Glenda Pritchett’s “Reading: The Bridge to Everywhere” begins with the mostly accepted academic worldview of student writing as “evidence of expertise” within individual disciplines. They highlight the product of writing […]
The Deliberate Act of Noticing
The initial student-teacher interactions that occur on the first or second week of class are distinct, I think, in their (my) lack of really registering individual corporealities. To clarify: I’m not saying I don’t take into account my students as being present in front of me, and therefore acknowledging and connecting with them. Rather, there’s […]
More Than a Recap of High School English
It’s important to note that the way the student body perceives English 101 is largely what determines, I feel, the role of the 101 community within Western. As is probably the case for most institutions, the designation of English 101 as a mandatory preliminary class more often than not sets the notion that this is […]
Removing the Taught & Enforced Distance in Writing
In “Some People Are Just Born Good Writers” Jill Parrott attempts to explain the prevalent myth that is the “genius writer.” I know that throughout my own history as both a student and aspiring writer, this was one of the more overwhelming societal assumptions: that, like all great writers before you, the gift of writing […]
A Courtroom Drama, Maybe?
In thinking about the different metaphorical “ecosystems” my class resembles, I’ve been thinking, as well, about hierarchies in the classroom. How, more often than not, some semblance of hierarchal order is consciously and unconsciously put into effect by the second week of class, beyond the standard student/teacher dichotomy. This comes about most directly by way […]
Romanticized Ideas About Writing (And How Do I Teach Them?)
My notion of writing pedagogy (much vaguer a few months ago than it is after having practiced it to some extent) mostly consisted of informing, and in many ways enforcing, “writing structure.” The holy 5 paragraph essay, or the elements of traditional rhetoric that have been taught to us since well before adolescence. So in […]