Composition teachers and students are facing major challenges today. There is a general reluctance toward reading and writing of any kind that seems to grow stronger as technology advances.
I think about spelling as a specific example. My mom was one of the best spellers in school. She is still a great speller, much better than me even though she did not finish college, and I am in my fifth year at a university. Because the spell checker was already available when I was in school, teachers just didn't seem to emphasize spelling as much as they did in my mother's generation.
We can examine composition in the same light. When a student is able to go online and immediately access thousands of written papers on any given topic, what is the point of learning to write themselves?
I don't think there is any way we, as teachers, can directly counteract this type of technological challenge even though we would like to shut down all those term paper generators. (Where are the plagiarism police?) What we can do is try to motivate the students, and show them the power of language. I try to tell my students how great they are, that anything they write will be a thousand times better than that generic term paper they could access online, and the best part is, their own writing is free!
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2 comments:
I agree with what you've said. I also find apathy a struggle with my students. How do you help them become better writers when they couldn't care less? How do you challenge them to excel when they are happy with barely getting by?
This echoes a lot of what I've been saying this semester, must be a creative writing thing:). Let students relate what we're teaching to something they love. You have to motivate them somehow. I can't think of a better way to do it.
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