Structuring a Successful Composition Course

Composition and Rhetoric (a.k.a. Writing Studies): A Flexible Field In his essay, "Teach Writing as a Process not a Product," Donald Murray outlines the major difference between the traditional pedagogy that directed the teaching of writing in the past and his newly hailed model. Traditionally, Murray explains, English teachers were taught to teach and evaluate students' writing as if it was a finished product of literature when, as he has discovered, students learn better if they're taught that writing is a process. For Murray, once teachers regard writing as a process, a student-centered, or writer-centered, curriculum falls into place. Rules for writing fall by the way side as writers work at their own pace to see what works best for them.

The problem I am addressing here is a straightforward, yet recurring one: How can students learn to read and think critically about deep theoretical issues and learn to clearly articulate their position, even to a layperson not familiar with their subject? This is an important skill for all students, but especially for future educators, who will be challenged to make subject matter clear to their own students one day. The teaching method I implemented to address this issue was to have students divide into teams and create a children's book that reflects the issues and concepts of one of the topic areas of the course. Each group was thus challenged to convey complex theoretical issues in simple and practical terms through developing a story (either fiction or non-fiction) that included a plot and illustrations. In addition, each group wrote a short paper to accompany the book that explained the significance and symbolism of the images and ideas employed.

The reason Jaschik uses this ironic story as the introduction to his article is because it directly relates to the purpose of the entire article. The story specifically shows the audience of instructors that students sometimes plagiarize without actually intending to. This connects to the purpose of the article because it effectiv... ... middle of paper ... ...ructors that he is knowledgeable of the subject at hand and convinces them to pay attention to the purpose of his article. In conclusions, college level English instructors often run in to the issue of plagiarism when dealing with their students’ assignments. Therefore, these instructors are attempting to teach their students the ethics involved in writing.

He drew this machine on the board, and then he said that he is putting a number in one side. Then he showed us what came out the other side, and we had to figure out what the machine did. He let us put in different numbers, and it was fun. If I become a teacher I hope that I could be that creative when it comes to teaching. In the article they talk about how some methods of teaching could be good in the short run test scores, but not in the long run education of the student.

I wished to see if a reward system could change the way a student was motivated in the classroom; to see if their overall attitude could be changed. I also thought to look into their attendance in classes where motivation was present. I wanted to see if they were less frequently absent and if they participated more. And lastly, I thought it would be interesting to see if students felt they could in turn change their “destiny” in education, or if they simply believed they are predestined for something else. As I was looking further into my topic at hand, I decided to go a different way with my paper.

Schools use tracking to determine class placement for students for optimal instruction. The placement of these students is, supposedly, meant to meet their varying needs. In some schools tracking is done based on subject, meaning a student can be a quick learner in math, but slow in language, etc (Lockwood 2; Oakes 3). While tracking can serve as an effective means of organization within a school, it also harbors many detrimental effects for students. This brings me to the purpose of this paper, that tracking is not a practice worth continuing and should be discontinued?

I have only been able to better understand the answers to these questions in the light of my limited experience, student talk, and professional writings. I do plan on being able to establish more of a concrete application of my philosophy within this short intern experience. My philosophy of group work reflects my philosophy on classroom culture. I see the best classroom environment as one that is non-hostile towards the student; doing whatever it can to clarify and to understand their ideas and problems. In a setting such as this, the student will develop a certain autonomy in discovering their own learning styles, as well as in evaluating their own work.

No matter how dynamic or revolutionary a teacher's methods or philosophies are, if a student does not care, that student will not learn. So, when looking for possible novels that one would use in the classroom, one main question must always be asked; how will this novel be taught differently, to ensure a number of students will actually care? Since students do not learn in a vacuum, thought must be given to the issues and circumstances that are constantly shaping their lives when choosing a novel to cover in class. Secondly, the teacher must enjoy the material being taught as well. If a teacher lacks enthusiasm about the material, how can a student be expected to get excited over it?

The teacher is already set in his or her ways of teaching and what is expected in the class. When students come in, they have an idea of what the class is about only by it’s title, for example: “ Freshman Composition”. The student then expects to learn more about writing and ways to better his or her writing techniques. Some teachers turn courses into something other than what they are supposed to be to satisfy the ideals they believe in. Lynne V. Cheney, author of the essay, “PC: Alive and Entrenched” states that “composition courses have become particularly susceptible to ideological teaching,” (The Presence of Others, A. Lunsford and J. Ruszkeiwicz, p. 114).

School seems to be more about learning the material for a brief moment just to get a good grade rather then to actually learn and think about the information being presented. Some classes should not have grades, such as writing. If a teacher asks a student to write a paper about a highly debated topic, such as abortion, and the students opinion differed from the teachers. It is possible that the teachers