“Expressive Pedagogy Practice/Theory, Theory/Practice” by Chris Burnham and Rebecca Powell
Burnham and Powell overview the field of expressive pedagogy and its writer-centered approach by discussing viewpoints from expressivist and mainstream theory and practices. Voice is a vital component to expressive pedagogy because it provides a mode of “psychological, social, and spiritual development” for the writer” (113). Practitioners of expressivism, Murray, Macrorie, Coles, and Elbow wrote “anti-textbooks” opposing the reductive current-traditional model of writing curricula because the model devalues the writer by removing his/her authority from the writing they produce. Brittons’s expressive function in language (spectator and participant roles)
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and Kinneavy’s expressive discourse (type of test) are two major resources in expressivist theory because they both emphasize that writing is a process to discover learning. Britton’s taxonomy of writing shows how expressism can provide a way for writers to “connect abstract concepts with personal experience” supporting cognitive development (116). Peer-responses to expressivism resulting in criticisms including Berlin’s belief that it is a “debased form of neo-Platonism” (true meaning is within text) and it privileges individualism at the expense of the material world (117). Fishman and McCarthy claim it ignores the concept of an isolated, autonomous individual and it “protects the status quo of encouraging politeness” that hides the problems in and out of the classroom (123). The goal of this model is for the student to be able to discover, develop, and reveal ideas and then revise based on the response, gives students the ability for self-assessment helping to establish habits of active critical inquiry, integrating “learning into what is already known” (121). There are many methods that can be used to reach these goals such as writing letters, soliloquies, and poems, journaling, composing music, dance, and visual art, freewriting, Expressism is a holistic model of learning by centering the development of the writer, using the voice as a key criterion in evaluation of writing, and focusing on the relationship of the writer to a [socio-political] audience. “Teaching the Other Self: The Writer’s First Reader” by Donald Murray In this article Murray begins by explaining that writers are always writing for themselves because the perspective of their audience is imagined. He says that “the self writes, the other self reads” which describes how writers “monitor” their writing before, during, and after they put the words onto the paper (141). An internal discussion takes place regarding possible changes to the text, which requires sophisticated skills. “Writing is inseparable from the act of reading” because it is impossible to write without reading (141). Murray sees the writer’s other self as a map-maker because he/she looks for ways to expand or provide a path from beginning to end. The order of the writing comes first, while the questions of language are postponed. The teacher allows the student to be the driving force and allows the student to experience his/her own writing. Perl, Sommers, and others have begun documenting recursive scanning showing the complex comprehensive functions required during the writing process. These functions include the writer tracking activity of the evolving text, distancing himself/herself from the writing, providing an evolving context, articulating the process of the writing, critiquing and supporting the “other self” during the writing process (142). The other self articulates its editorial decisions and produces a draft all in the rational act of writing. A teacher can help students to find their other self by allowing them to speak first as the teacher listens, preferable during a conference between the two. Teacher are resources and “must teach where the student is” not where they think they should be (144). Effective teachers do not deal in “praise or criticism”, but approach all texts as needing improvement (145). As the teacher models the other self, the student will discover that the biggest questions of focus have to be address first and everything else comes later. The documentation of the other self-monitoring the writing process shows that too much guidance focuses on error inadvertently promotes more errors. The responsive teacher listens to the student and guides them away from the thoughts of failure and leads them to thinking about what is working and help expand the student’s thought processes. Additionally, workshops can be utilized in lieu of conferences to help the other-self to become a more effective reader (147). By teachers allowing the student to speak first and express their thoughts and concerns, they are allowing the student to discover the other self and become more confident writers. “Being a Writer vs. Being an Academic” by Peter Elbow Elbow responds to David Bartholomae’s critique of “expressive writing” and defense of “academic writing” by discussing conflicts between the roles of writer and reader.
Academics concentrate their emphasis on reading and less time on writing, but Elbow writes more in order to “coach” his students to approach their writing with “various concrete practices and techniques” (74). Students should be given a variety of texts to read including work from their peers, however, significant texts in the classroom should not be treated like “pieces behind glass”, but rather be used as tools to talk about or “borrow off of” because it engages the students with the text (74). The conflict of control over a text is a common issue between the writer and the reader because they both have their own perspectives. He points out how teachers take away the ownership of their students’ writing by determining meaning of the texts, even though, as academics they keep the ownership of their own writing as teacher, academic, and lecturer. As the teacher, it is important to understand that the student writer knows more than they can articulate (77). He attempts to show a trusting attitude towards language so that the students will focus their energy on their own thoughts and what they are trying to convey in their writing, instead of thinking language is unclear, political, and one-sided. Elbow wants his students to view their writing as “dialogic-parts” of a conversation by including their writing in peer discussions, which allows for both “monologic and dialogic discourse” (79). Student writers should be encouraged to write with more “authority” rather than an “Is this okay?” approach to their writing because it gives them more freedom to write with their own creativity and knowledge (81). The role of academics and writing go beyond the first year students’ classroom because both are important roles in
learning. “Interchanges: Responses to Bartholomae and Elbow” by David Bartholomae and Peter Elbow In this article Bartholomae agrees with Elbow that there is a conflict between the roles of academic and the writer. Instead of teaching students to “trust” language, he would teach a form of “mistrust” to emphasize critical writing. He feels that the writer should not take possession over his/her work until the writer’s presence has been seen through revision because “the voice of a writer is not present until the student shows evidence of “work directed against writing” (86). Bartholomae thinks more time should be spent on reading in a writing course to teach students how to negotiate through difficult texts because they will be faced with this task in future situations. He wants to students to appreciate the “relationship with tradition, power, and authority” that is present in their writing (86). Writing is not our own. It always already belongs to the world/culture/history etc. The space of writing has been defined by all the writing that has preceded it (like a palimpsest). Elbow emphasizes what students can learn without a teachers input, but Bartholomae encourages teachers to prompt students to write “in ways that they would not if left to (not their own) but the culture’s devices” (87). Lastly, he argues that teachers are able to help students see beyond their own perspective by giving them guidance.
David Bartholomae’s “Inventing the University” represents the process of writing a student must undergo every time they composite a new piece of work. In order to properly fulfill expectations, students must interpret, pretend and assemble the language of the desired community they wish to hold as their audience. Bartholomae blames the confusion that most students undergo has to deal with the authority; the teacher assigning the writing is asking the student to take on an authority in denying the classroom setting of which they are in, while the teacher is still a higher authority present. He blames the teachers and the curriculum of which they teach for making students see writing as a tool in referral to the mode of learning in their view
In Downs and Wardle’s article, they argue and identify the flaws in teaching writing in college. Demonstrating the misconceptions that academic writing is universal, but rather specialized in each case. Citing studies and opinions from esteemed professionals, Downs & Wardle state their points and illuminate the problem in today’s many colleges.
While preparing for one of his college lectures, Dennis Baron, a professor and linguistics at the University of Illinois, began playing with the idea of how writing has changed the world we lived in and materials and tools we use in everyday life. This lecture slowly transitioned into “Should Everybody Write?” An article that has made many wonder if technology has made writing too easy for anyone to use or strengthens a writer's ability to learn and communicate their ideas. Baron uses rhetorical strategies in his article to portray to his audience his positive tone, the contrast and comparison of context and his logical purpose.
Writing as a Re-Vision. Eds. Beth Alvarado and Barbara Cully. Needham Heights, MA: Simon & Schuster Custom Publishing, 1996.
Writing requires a delicate balance between pleasing an audience, yet finding and sticking true to personal perspectives. More often than not, people find themselves ignoring their own thoughts and desires and just following along with the crowd, not standing up and arguing for anything, leaving behind a wishy-washy essay because they are too scared to stray from the obligations to others before the obligation to themselves. Anne Lamott’s “The Crummy First Draft” and Koji Frahm’s “How To Write an A Paper” both evaluate and stress the importance to find your own voice in writing and to be more critical towards readers. The reader’s perspective needs to play a role in writing, but it should not overrule the writer themselves. Writing needs to
According to Runciman, there are many plausible reasons that students and other people don’t enjoy writing. Evidence, assumptions, and language and tone are the basis for which Runciman makes his argument. Overall, this argument is effective because reliable and well known sources are used in a logical fashion. Also, the assumptions made about the audience are accurate and believable. Runciman used his assumptions wisely when writing his claim and in turn created a compelling, attention capturing argument. The article was written so that students and teachers at any level could understand and easily read it. This argument is interesting, captivating, relevant through its age, and can relate to students and teachers at almost every academic level.
In Patricia Limerick’s article “Dancing with Professors”, she argues the problems that college students must face in the present regarding writing. Essays are daunting to most college students, and given the typical lengths of college papers, students are not motivated to write the assigned essays. One of the major arguments in Limerick’s article is how “It is, in truth, difficult to persuade students to write well when they find so few good examples in their assigned reading.” To college students, this argument is true with most of their ...
In Donald M. Murrays’s essay “What is Practical Education” he explains his reasoning behind why he allowed his students to write badly. He shares his own experience with police-like teachers who drove him to hate writing. In hopes of helping his students find their voice he allows his students to write the words down as they come, no matter how awkward they sound. Often times they find out that they have more to say then they thought. Rhetorical devices are used to help the readers relate to his point of view on writing.
In this day and age, writing is being portrayed through various mediums, such as film and television. Some of those portrayals depict writing as both good and bad depending on the situation that is present. Authors such as, by E. Shelley Reid, Kevin Roozen, and Anne Lamott all write about important writing concepts that are being depicted in films, like Freedom Writers. The film Freedom Writers shows a positive and accurate portrayal of writing in the sense that the writers should have a connection to what they are writing about, writing is a form of communication, and that writing does not have to be perfect the first time.
According to Dr. Bean’s class syllabus, the primary goal for this course is to, “help you develop the literacy skills you’ll need during your academic career”. In other words, this class was designed to teach students to write like professionals in an academic discourse community. Through several writing and research assignments, we acted as researchers on a quest to examine “how discourse—written, spoken, and digital—is shaped by social practice”. Although I felt I was a decent enough writer, I had doubts that I could accomplish such a tall order of directives. In the end, I found that I could do it, and I did it rather well, thus giving me the boost I needed to continue to move forward on my dream of obtaining a college degree.
Although the greater picture is that reading is fundamental, the two authors have a few different messages that they seek to communicate to their audiences. “The Joy of Reading and Writing” depicts how reading serves as a mechanism to escape the preconceived notions that constrain several groups of people from establishing themselves and achieving success in their lifetimes. “Reading to Write,” on the other hand, offers a valuable advice to aspiring writers. The author suggests that one has to read, read, and read before he or she can become a writer. Moreover, he holds an interesting opinion concerning mediocre writing. He says, “Every book you pick has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones” (p.221). Although these two essays differ in their contents and messages, the authors use the same rhetorical mode to write their essays. Both are process analyses, meaning that they develop their main argument and provide justification for it step by step. By employing this technique, the two authors create essays that are thoughtful, well supported, and easy to understand. In addition, Alexie and King both add a little personal touch to their writings as they include personal anecdotes. This has the effect of providing support for their arguments. Although the two essays have fairly different messages, the authors make use of anecdotes and structure their writing in a somewhat similar
Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Tenth edition. Edited by Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. New York: Longman Publishers, pp. 371-377, 2008.
Her friend gave her support and allowed her to realize different perspectives to incorporate into her writing. Duffy’s sophomore year English teacher, gave her the guidance to improve her skill. Therefore, the methods teachers approach teaching their subject matter is imperative to their students’
Nancy Sommers claims, “Good writing disturbs; it creates dissonance. Students need to seek the dissonance of discovery, utilizing in their writing, as the experienced writers do, the very difference between writing and speech- the possibility of revision (387). ” This quote Nancy Sommers provided points out that students are capable of creating and discovering new ideas, which I believe I obtain.
A large part of an English teacher’s job deals with helping students find their own voices amidst the many teachings of their parents and peers. A student’s voice can be their values, their interests, and their perspectives of the world in which they live. Their voice can be their critical questioning of the many situations they face, whether in a text, the school cafeteria, or a park after school. It is the job of an English teacher to aid in finding this voice through their writing. It is by putting words and thoughts down on paper that a student can sometimes feel comfortable enough to take risks and find their true voices. Although traditional grammar instruction has long been thought to improve this skill, this is no longer the case. Instead, by providing a classroom environment in which students are immersed in classic literature from many genres including poetry, short stories, and novels, students will learn how to harness grammar for their own purposes of finding their voice in their writing.