My own teaching philosophy in regards to writing revolves around methods of self-expression developed through demonstrations. I am very interested in the invention stage of the writing process, particularly the writer finding his/her own true voice without being concerned with fundamental parameters. In my classroom, I plan to help the students develop their voices through journal writing. They will not have to worry about grammar or sentence structure in this forum as I feel these restrictions can sometimes silence the student’s creativity. Rather, the focus will be on each student finding a way to express his/her own thoughts through language, a skill that will be beneficial to them across disciplines.
I will re-enforce this idea through demonstrations involving group work. In school, I was often the shy student who was afraid to communicate my ideas to the instructor for fear of being wrong. However, when I was a member of a group, I was more likely to share my thoughts with peers. After gaining their understanding, I would feel more comfortable addressing my teacher. Little did I know that the group activities were a method of teaching. My peers were teaching me, I was teaching them, and we were all teaching the instructor, who in turn taught us! I love this idea that no one person knows more than the next regardless of age or degrees earned. We all have acquired different information we can share with one another.
Related to this idea is the discussion of cultural backgrounds. This is another concept integral to my teaching. The student’s ethnic, cultural, and social background certainly influences his/her cognitive process as well as the writing product. In “A Brief History of Rhetoric and Composition,“ the authors provided an example of a student whose home culture places little importance on academic study and so he, therefore, feels an assignment to be irrelevant. This is a particularly helpful scenario because so often we, as teachers, may disregard a student’s reluctance as laziness or stubbornness. By considering that student’s social background, the context in which their writing is produced, we may find another reason for his reluctance and as a result, a better method of communicating and working with that student.
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I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your idea of letting each student try to discover their own voice. I believe that this is critically important for students to learn in the beginning stages of writing. It creates confidence not only in their writing, but also in their critical thinking process. I am, however, somewhat concerned with the aspect of not worrying about grammar...I am sure that grammar will be taught at some point throughout the course but to say that grammar and mechanics are not important when writing your reflective thoughts could be detrimental to the student in the long run. How about telling them that it won't be graded down for mechanics but instead telling them that they need to get into the habit of writing, at any time, with correct grammar and mechanics?
I really liked the idea of using Journaling in the classroom to help the students find their own voice free of contrainsts. I'm sure that also helps with their initial frustration of having to conform to a strict standard of academic writing when they are probably more used to free form (email, text, etc).
I find it so interesting that everyone seems to have had positive experiences working in groups in college. I seem to be the only one who is quite the opposite. I always flourished in a classroom with the typical "socratic style" teaching. Facing a lecturing teacher, taking notes, no group interaction. I too was always shy but more afraid of my peers than my professor. Now I'm having to adjust to this new format and it's quite a shift, I must say. I wonder if there is an inbetween?
I enjoyed your thoughts on the community of the classroom. I think that developing that sense of community is also important to understanding the social differences you mentioned. I've seen this approach used frequently in courses of feminist pedagogy, but I like how you've applied it in this context.
You will find that your students never, ever stop teaching you (unless you simply detach or stop caring). I'm glad that you seem to be so open to learning.
How important is a "voice" in writing? Is it ever a hindrence?
In an essay I read as a grad student by Peter Elbow, called "Closing my eyes as a speak: an argument for ignoring audience" my paradigm shifted quite a bit: I used to believe that audience was central to writing. Elbow, however, argued that his best writing often came when writing for himself, in a reflective fashion....
How can we help students find a voice AND reflect?
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