my theory on theories

Gosh, this question about the importance of theories is a difficult one. I know what I should answer, and I know what I want to answer.

What I should answer: Theories are very important in teaching.
What I want to answer: Theories can be interesting (occasionally), but it's trial and error that really works.

I have to confess I have read a great deal about theories and very little has actually stayed with me. I get interested when the writer does a case study. I want to know what the students are doing and what teachers are doing to help them. But when some theorist drones on and on about models with names I can't pronounce, it's game over for me. I'm just not that type of person who is going to encounter some sort of problem in class, and then think back to some theory that will magically solve everything. I just don't have those theories in my head, and in reality, I don't want them there. I don't want to become some teacher robot who spews forth the ideas of someone else. I like to plan my lessons using interesting topics or unusual methods. I want to attract attention from my students. When they're attentive, they learn. I think that's more important than following a theory.

Having said this, being asked about theory (in a job interview, for example) terrifies me. Those names and examples just aren't in my brain. I suppose I will answer that I prefer to rely on what I know works for me as a teacher and what works for the students I have had in the past, my own personal theories I guess you could say. And I'll just have to hope there's another free spirit (preferably an old hippie with a hemp necklace) sitting across the desk from me.

9/23 process

My process varies depending on the type of paper I am writing. For academic papers, I usually have to be in silence. I might try to make an outline, but I usually end up changing this as I am writing the paper. In high school, I would always write my paper first and then make the outline. It drove my teachers crazy. I don't like to use longhand anymore. My laptop makes it so much easier to revise because I am constantly changing paragraphs and sentences.

In creative writing, I like to have some music on, but something I have heard a thousand times so I won't be distracted. In all cases, I would rather work at home with all the books I need close at hand. The library seems oppressive to me, and I find myself watching people instead of working. I like to have a big drink of coffee or iced tea or diet dr. pepper depending on my mood, the weather, and how long I am planning to be awake. I almost always sit at my desk with my dog at my feet. I light a candle on my desk. I am not sure why I do this, but it seems to make me less sleepy. This is where I get the most work done.

At this point, I do not really see how I could improve this process. It is the one that has worked for me for about six years. I am an old student.

In the classroom, I think process is so important. Because our students submit most of their work online, they have a great opportunity to set up the atmosphere they like best wherever they are working. They do not usually have to write something in class to turn in for a grade. I hate doing this in school. I can never think my best thoughts in the classroom when I feel like the teacher is staring at me. When I ask the students to write something in class, I try to make sure it stays quiet. Although some of us work best with music or noise, it seems to be the most neutral environment you can create for them at school. I try to encourage my students to do what works for them at home. If they like the TV on, turn it on! If they can't work in the library, don't work in the library. I try to ask them questions about this because many of the students have never even thought about their writing as a process. They do not even consider environment being a factor. It is important to raise these question so they do begin to think about it in this light and consider what works best for them.

Voice

I struggle with the balance of creative voice and academic voice. As a creative writer, voice is very important. In fact, your writing does not feel your own if the voice is not present. When I first began college, I hated doing research papers because I felt there was no outlet for my creativity. It was just a throwing up of facts on the page. Then I took a chance. I began to try to blend my creative voice into my academic papers. My first experimental paper like this took me to my very first conference. I was excited about my work and enjoying it, but the paper was still very scholarly. Once I realized that academic voice does not have to compete with creative voice, I became even more successful, and my writing grew more interesting. Now I think it would be almost impossible for me to write any sort of paper without a voice.

I think everyone needs to find this balance. With the freshmen we are teaching, it is difficult. Most of them do not know any of their voices, academic or creative. They have not found them yet. Sometimes, I think you need to learn the voices individually to understand how to blend them later. The way I am trying to encourage this learning of the voice is to do journal writing at the beginning of my class period. Though I may not read every journal entry, I think it is important for the students to see they do have a creativity. We emphasize academic writing so much in their assignments, I think they need to have an outlet to explore their own personal voice. Hopefully, they will learn to blend them later.

In my opinion, the rubrics we have to follow in grading do not allow much room for voice. How many times have I said in class, "Do not include your own opinion." For them, this translates to not being able to use a voice. They are simply to process facts. I am undecided on this issue. I hate it that the students are not encouraged to use a voice. However, it may be better for them to understand the concepts of academic versus creative writing before they try to combine the two.

9/9 Examining Boundaries and Beginnings

In response to the Take 20 video, I was most surprised to discover nearly all of the teachers were nervous about going into the classroom. This seemed to be a common theme, even among the instructors who have now become legendary for their teaching methods.

As a first-year instructor, I often feel ill-prepared and inadequate. I always think, "What in the world am I doing up here?" It was nice to hear other instructors felt the same way when they first began their teaching careers, that they relied on the book or the projector or the board as a way to anchor themselves and gain security. Teaching can be a scary thing.

It inspired me to hear that these feelings of apprehension and anxiety eventually lessened. It gave me hope that maybe I am not a horrible teacher. Maybe I am just a new teacher feeling her way out, so to speak. I also like the notion that writing instructors have to constantly reinvent themselves and the material they cover in classes because writing is always changing. I have this phobia about becoming a dusty old English teacher with a 1000 cats and no friends talking about the same books and the same commas with a stack of DVDs when everyone else is getting movies beamed to their brains with a technology I won't be able to understand. It's nice to see people like Andrea Lunsford, who is an older woman, as one of the go-getters who keep composition fresh. I prefer to think of composition as dynamic rather than static, if it's only to ward off my fear of the wrinkled, crabby, lonely Ms. Moore.

9/4 Purpose of FYC

Ideally, the purpose of FYC is to help students refine their writing skills. The program is a bridge from high school to college composition. After seeing some of the students' writing, I am somewhat troubled. The majority of the writing is far below what I would expect from a college freshman, particularly at a reputable college such as Texas Tech. I wonder how TTU admitted some of these students who do not know where a sentence begins and ends or how to use commas. Are composition skills not being evaluated for college entrance? I understand English is not everyone's specialty, but the standards should be raised.

In addition, some of the lessons we are being required to teach seem entirely too elementary. Should not, for example, a student who is a freshman in college already know how to summarize? Perhaps we should consider teaching FYC in high school rather than in college. This would still ensure a level of competency throughout the disciplines while arming those who do not enter college with certain skills that will certainly benefit them in the real world. Then we, as instructors, would be free to teach higher-level lessons in a completely different course.

I do not entirely blame the students for their poor writing skills. In fact, I mostly blame the high school educational system. This seems like such a catastrophic issue involving several institutional levels, I am not sure where we would even begin to remedy it.

9/2 What should we teach?

Despite the step-by-step process of writing that has been ingrained in our psyche as teachers, I do not believe we teach composition in order for students to learn a procedure. This causes the students to believe if they follow a strict set of guidelines (brainstorming, outline, prewriting, rough draft, etc.), they will be able to write. Perhaps this is why so many first-year composition students emerge from the program and find themselves unable to meet the demands of composition in other disciplines. Rather, I believe we should teach 1301-02 students ways of perceiving and thinking about the world. Then we give them the tools they need to learn how to shape their individual perspective. I tend to fit into Berlin’s assessment of the New Rhetorician. Through writing, we can learn about our own realities, and the truth about those realities is always changing. Instead of focusing on teaching students how to think about topics in categories of writing, we should try to teach them how to perceive and interpret the world through composition. In my experience, this also allows them to care about their work. It is their interpretation, not a set of blanks they have filled in with correct answers. When the students begin to develop a connection to the words on the page, they are more interested in learning how to make those words better, that is, how to make the text reflect their own individual truth.