6/8 Post--Beliefs

Topic: What are the three most important concepts in composition would you say? These concepts might play a role in your teaching philosophy, so you might think of this question as what are the three most important beliefs about your own teaching do you have?

I've been walking around with this topic for almost a week thinking of what I would write. These two questions are actually two sides of the same coins--concept/practice or theory/practice. I've taught so long that most of my beliefs and practices are ingrained, and I have to stop and think to make them explicit. Here they are:

1) I believe in portfolios which is another way of saying I believe in the writing process. I've never thought of or used portfolios in Freshman Composition as a means of evaluation. Instead, it is the course-structuring framework that guides the complete tenor of the class. We are writing a book. We will write a number of writing pieces and along the way everything we write is "in process" and could be revised a zillion times if we wanted to. At the end, we will pick our best writing, revise it again, and turn it in within a "book." What this structure to the class provides is built in mechanism for revision. We revise pieces when they are first written, but it is that last effort at collection and selection and revision where students do their most significant writing. It sure makes a bear for me at the end of the semester as I grade them, but the end results and the growth I see in students is worth it.

2) I believe in "shared discourse" which is another way of saying I believe in collaboration and that students learn from their peers. Post-process folks call it "communicative interaction." I set up my class so that practically every piece of writing is turned in to a shared space where we all can read it. Only journals are private. We do intensive peer response, but also we do writings where we learn and grow from reading what we have done (without the need to respond). In this way, I seek to set up a writing community (or a rhetorical forum) where students gain a deeper sense of audience.

3) I believe students have an innate capacity with language and that their writing development improves with practice and takes time. What this means is that I affirm each of my students ability to communicate--they already have a complex capacity for linguistic expression. What I have to work on is helping students become more comfortable and "fluent" in written expression. So often their expression done through writing is stunted and strained, and I seek to open them up to expressing themselves in writing--the grammar and correctness will come in time. Freewriting is a very powerful tool in helping students gain comfort and confidence with writing, and each semester I hear students comment on how much they like it.

Those are my big three: portfolios, shared text, and expression. There is so much more to teaching composition, but these three are pretty good core beliefs and practices to my teaching. You are welcome to wander around my Freshman Composition site.