September 2 Recording: Fulkerson and Podis and Podis Readings
This recording (https://webmail.uis.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://uisapreso1.uis.edu/acmcontent/b13e2bb0-4488-4853-b5e8-79bc73854b49/engast378_A_2008-09-02_04-01-PM.htm) includes a nice discussion about the four philosophies of composition and the process-orientated approach to responding to student writing. We talked about the various ways teachers evaluate student texts and differences in pedagogy of the writing/English profession. What other questions/comments do you have regarding this topic?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I found the discussion of the four philosophies of composition extremely interesting, as well as coincidentally appropriate. I am also enrolled in ENG 311 this semester, and we read (in our last class) the text discussed by Fulkerson, "The Mirror and the Lamp." I love how everything ties into everything else in college classwork. It all seems destined in some way...
Nevertheless, I found both readings helpful, and interesting to consider when compared to old (or should I say past) professors of composition. My only concern (if it can be called thus) lay in the separating of the four philosophies. I found my professors and their methods blended more than one (if not a mix of all four) of the theories, and that isolating them apart from each other was shallow,barely scraping the surface of writing methods and evaluation methods for both the teacher and the student.
Ambiguity in Evaluating Written Work:
I completely agree with Kandice (and Kandice's class) regarding the ambiguity and uncertainty involved in evaluating a writer's work. Instructors have a variety of teaching methods; all of these methods seem to be different and seek to fulfill different agendas! I was very fortunate to have great high school and undergraduate writing instructors. My undergraduate writing instructor encouraged us to push the boundaries of social norms. She engaged the class in many literacy activities, most of which were pretty off-the-wall, and they enabled us to seek a deeper meaning in assessing the events that comprise our lives. I view writing as a means of expressing myself--like a painter does with a canvas. I think it's unfortunate so many students feel that writing is a time-consuming, dreadful task.
I believe that instructors and tutors need to continue to seek out unique, unconventional ways to engage students. It's hard to undue the damage inflicted by previous writing experiences, but once we break through the barricade, a whole new world of discovery can be unearthed.
Like Sarah said, from my experience most of my professors of the past few years seem to be using a blended approach. Something that wasn't explicitly discussed in the readings however relates to Lindsey's comment about engagement. Providing a uniform approach to grading is one thing, but I worry that if we become too uniform in our approach then we will lose the student's attention. There has to be a balance struck between keeping the material interesting (and thus engaging) and providing a standardized approach to grading.
Post a Comment