What is/are the most significant thing/s that you learned which you plan to use in some way in the future?

I think the most valuable things I learned in this class had to do with the teaching philosophy. I loved learning how best to construct one, what was valuable to include, and how to personalize it without making it sound like a diary entry. The teaching philosophy will be a huge part of my job search in the years to come, and having the opportunity to research so many and then get feedback on my own was invaluable.

While I was writing my teaching philosophy, I read many others. I have always thought of the classroom as a forum for wider societal change, but perhaps never been able to articulate how and why I wanted to make that happen in my own classroom. Reading Carolyn Forche's teaching philosophy, in particular, moved me deeply. She manages to be personal without being cloying and passionate without being didactic, writing:

"As a Professor of English, teaching literature and creative writing, my pedagogy demands dedication to teaching as a "question of justice" rather than a "search for truth," and further demands that I resist characterizing it as "a transaction that can be concluded, whether with the giving of grades or the granting of degrees." (Reading, University of Montreal). I recognize teaching as my implication in a network of obligation, without orientation toward the quest for autonomy which underwrites the privileging of the teacher's authority, the student's consumerist choice, or the knowledge to be transmitted. I am dedicated to holding the classroom open as a space for critical and creative thought."

This passage informed my teaching philosophy, and my wider thoughts on pedagogy, for the rest of the semester. I also loved reading the teaching philosophies of my peers and professors. It might be one of the only documents we all share across the various disciplines here in the English Department.

I deeply appreciate the chance to have created this piece of writing and know I will continue to return to it, share it with others, and revise it as I move forward in my career.

Free write

I'm interested in the role of creative writing (particularly poetry) in the face of tragedy. I - like many - have been thinking very much about this in the wake of recent international crimes and the discussion about mourning that surrounds them. I think that poetry can magically comfort while also "calling out", can soothe human trauma and confusion by shedding light on the scaffolding that supports atrocity.

There is usually an outpouring of poetry in the wake of shared horror, and an uptick in national interest in the genre. Why might this be? Why might we desire poetry, in particular, in the face of indescribable loss? The poet Rachel Eliza Griffiths says that poetry "..speaks to the ways we are silent with each other." Rene Char said that “Poems are those pieces of incorruptible existence that we hurl at the repugnant maw of death, hurl sufficiently high that, ricocheting back, they fall into the world where names for the whole are found.”

I think all of this has to do with Mark Doty's idea of beauty as accuracy, and his notion that the morality of poetry is rooted in simple description - i.e., the more harrowing the subject, the more dignity it is afforded by straightforward language. I'm not sure I agree with this and have thus offered here a handful of poems that address public tragedies and mass anguish in different ways. I want to get your thoughts on how they succeed (or don't) and also on the role, or even responsibility, of poetry on the national stage when great loss is suffered:


Here's one by Rickey Laurentiis: https://newrepublic.com/article/120944/continuance-rickey-laurentiis-ferguson-memoriam


Another by Brendan Constantine: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/needs-many


And then one about Sept. 11th from John Brehm: http://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/the_best_american_poetry/2012/03/pompeii-by-john-brehm.html


Lastly, Philip Metres has an interesting essay from 2011 about the demand for poetry post 9/11: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/article/242580

What is the thesis to your article for this course? What support will you cite to help you make your case?

Like Nancy, I do not yet have a central thesis but am gathering ideas. I've been interested all semester in how to incorporate creative writing into the first year writing classroom, and in whether or not it might be a more effective introduction to composition. We've talked extensively about writing not being a "trap" for students and ensuring they feel both nurtured and empowered by writing, especially as it is new to most of them.

With this in mind, I want to write about the intersection of expression and discipline, and how that can best be taught through creative writing. This is not to eschew form, grammar, or rhetoric, but rather to teach it through a more expressivistic mode. I've been exited by two papers, one by Danita Berg titled "Re-Composition: Considering the Intersections of Composition and Creative Writing Theories and Pedagogies," in which she explores how "Maintaining composition studies and creative writing as discrete disciplines may not be in the best interests of either field." She asserts that the incorporation of "traditional" composition genres such as the essay can be equally well-taught if introduced as creative writing. She also examines how the workshop setting, moreover, can teach social and collaborative techniques invaluable to student development.

I also enjoyed Patrick Sullivan's "The UnEssay: Making Room for Creativity in the Composition Classroom." His central question is, essentially, what makes writing creative? This is one I would seek to explore in-depth, if not answer, in my paper, with the help of these two scholars as well as some work by Michael Salerno, Carolyn Forche, and also some ideas from Lavona L. Reeves's "Minimizing Apprehension in the Composition Classroom." The last one I'm interested in because apprehension is an issue for writers across the learning spectrum, much less those new to it, and I think that's invaluable to discuss in tandem with creativity.

Review the learning objectives for this course. What's one thing you've learned that connects to an objective and to your future job?

I'd like to address two of the learning objectives for my discussion. To begin, I've enjoyed the critical thinking aspect of this course. The in-class conversation was always motivated by questions, with Dr. Rice always encouraging us to interrogate our own ideas about teaching, composition, and writing as an academic subject. I know that I've developed immensely as a teacher and student because I always felt that the classroom was a safe space for open discourse. Even the idea of a classroom being a "safe space" was valuable knowledge - much of the critical thinking in this class, then, is naming ideology. I knew I wanted a classroom to be safe but didn't even know I needed to term it as such.

I also see now how well-structured the class was. The form of it equaled the content. By this I mean, we were taught how to finely craft a teaching philosophy and a syllabus in a course where the teaching philosophy and syllabus of the instructor were finely tuned. I think Dr. Rice's openness about his own teaching and process motivated us to think critically about our own work and how to improve and apply it. Much of the coursework I've done here will be useful to me in the future, after careful revision appropriate for my field.

I was also interested in the grammatical information presentation aspect of this course. As someone who has always considered myself to be a staunch grammarian, I have appreciated the feedback about the place grammar has in the composition classroom. While important, it needs to function in concert with generative work and not as a trap that students fall into.

Identify where you think students may fail in an assignment in your syllabus, and how you will use that at a teachable moment by design. If you didn't produce a syllabus, discuss the relevance of this week's readings to your future workplace.

So! The hope here is, of course, that my course is constructed in such a way that my students will not fail any assignments. I worked hard to pace the course so that there is ample outlining and revising time, as well as a balance between more rigorous, academic writing and more expressive writing. This is not to say that expressive writing is "easier" but only that they get the opportunity to exercise different parts of their brains.

The few weak spots I could see would probably be in the personal essay, actually. It's their first major assignment and, coming out of high school, I can imagine they might have a hard time breaking that five-paragraph mold and really digging into the research-plus-personal-reflection aspect of a more scholarly, adult piece of writing. This is the main reason I have them write such an extensive outline and also allow them to choose their own research topics, but I can still see that first essay coming out flat or phoned-in.

I would use this as a teachable moment by asking them what pieces of writing move them, and why. Of course this would be an ongoing class discussion as my syllabus includes much "moving" work, but I would point specifically to the flatness within their writing and ask "Why is this happening?" I also think there would consistently be a tone in my classroom of "If you're going to do something, why not do it well?" I had a wonderful yoga teacher who, when her students would start to flag or give up on ab work or what have you, would always say "You're already here, in the room. Why not make the most of it?"

I suppose what I'm saying is that the writing classroom is always a space for motivation. There are less distinct "measurables" so we have to instead teach students how to expand out rather than reach up simply for a grade. This first essay assignment, I'd hope, would be some of my students' initial encounter with that beautiful moment in writing when everything comes together - background research, story, and word choice. How to teach students to aspire for something they've never experienced is always a hard road, but I think the writing classroom is the perfect place to do so. I want them to exhaust themselves on these personal essays, and I want them to feel proud of that exhaustion.

To sum up, then, the moment in my syllabus where my students might "fail" has less to do with a specific assignment and more to do with motivation and inspiration. I think that is the good fight I'd be fighting for the first few weeks, but ultimately writing would come to feel satisfying and even exhilarating for them.

List 5 terms you don't quite know yet how to define from our final keywords list. Next identify three in other students' blog you do know how to define, and comment on them there in those blogs.

Collaborative learning - I feel like I understand what this "means" but, especially as a teacher who values social constructivism approaches to classroom instruction, I want to know more about it and its history.

Empowerment - this term seems very broad to me. Does it have to do with the student's agency? Or is this related to other modes of empowerment in the FYC classroom?

Error -Type 1 and Type 2 errors - I am very interested in patterns of error and patterns of how we correct and score errors. What are the differences between Type 1 and Type 2?

Psychology of error - same as above. I need to delve more deeply into the "Phenomenology of Error."

Names I'm not recognizing:
Stephen North
Susan Miller

What is one assignment you will include in your syllabus assignment that uses collaboration and/or technology and/or other things Yancey, Selfe, Breuch, Bruffee, or Shaughnessey have discussed?

This past week, the curriculum was focused on revision. I thought what better way to discuss revision than to have a real, working writer (who isn't me and thus has a different kind of authority) come into the classroom and discuss his or her own revision processes. This would lend a whole new credence to the idea of re-envisioning over merely editing. 

Mark Keats, a second-year Ph.D. in Fiction, came and spoke to my students about a video essay he did last year. We started by watching the video essay and then he showed us the original drafts of his text-only essay and how it progressed into a video. He was meticulous in first describing his "global" and "local" edits to the actual text - that is, explaining to the students how a piece has to work as a cohesive whole (global) and also on a sentence level (local). They really latched onto this terminology and I loved seeing them explore the idea of a piece of writing being like a puzzle in which all the pieces must click into place, but also be their own entity. Then, they absolutely loved getting to see how he chose the images to accompany his words, how much work went into lining them up with the music, and how the overall effect was achieved.

I bring this experience up in light of this week's question because, based on my experience with Mark this week, I would definitely want a video essay to be part of my curriculum in a composition classroom. I think students are much more attuned to the concept of video on a day-to-day basis and much more, if not at least equally, accustomed to watching videos as they are to reading text. Having them create a video essay with Mark's ideas about text, revision, and alignment in mind would be very exciting. It could also help some students who perhaps aren't as strong at expression find an outlet for their creativity.

I also think it's valuable to allow students multiple outlets for "research," which would certainly be part of the creation of a video essay. Searching for images, whether personal ones or stock photos to support their argument in an analysis, can be a very reflective and generative process. Timing those photos to one's recorded voice also takes an entirely different kind of precision. Also, research like this can be more comfortable for some students who are not as at ease in the classroom or with the traditional strictures of writing. A computer lab or library or trove of newspaper articles and photos that relate to their topic (as my syllabus would be topic-centric) can be a safer space for certain students than the hubbub of class, as put well by Selfe & Selfe in "The Politics of the Interface: Power and Its Exercise in Electronic Contact Zones": "These spaces, it has been noted, have the potential for supporting student-centered learning and discursive practices that can be different from and - some claim - more engaging and democratic than those occurring within traditional classroom spaces." (p. 6)

Lastly, I would like to assign a video essay because the format appeals to me. Certain technologies elude me and I would struggle to grade them, but this one feels fresh and also applicable, so I would have an easier time as a teacher engaging with the results.