[Teaching_Composition] NEW MODULE

Tue, 7 Mar 2006 10:45:56 -0800

Hi All,
    I am new to this list but am really interested in this module, so I wanted to respond.  I apologize in advance for this posting's length . . .  My experience is largely with American evangelical students, so in writing about them I don't mean to single them out or suggest the same issues don't apply to students of other faiths, especially students who hold a fundamentalist view of their faith.
    First, I agree with Pat in that working with students who take any religious text not only as an authority, but generally as THE authority, can be challenging.  I spent one summer several years ago touring with a "Christian" rock band, going from one evangelical music festival to another, and interviewing the teenage attendees to learn about the language they use with each other, and with those on the "outside."  In a lot of ways, using a Biblical reference is a form of short-hand within the community, and so one of the first steps, which Pat alluded to, is getting them to see that what works to communicate with their youth group friends (and I don't think it really works, but that's another story) won't necessarily work with people who don't share the same literal interpretation of the Bible.

     The problem is that in *some* youth groups/churches I've observed, they are taught, either implicitly or explicitly, to be suspicious of academia because "it" is out to "ruin their faith."  So, if you approach a student who is tossing out verses as evidence and tell them they simply "can't" do that, you are just feeding into their paranoia.  However, I agree with Pat again- if you can get them to see it from the viewpoint of a "nonbeliever" (using their language, not mine), then that is usually the turning point.

     However, what is most interesting about all this is that the dynamic changes once you are working within the religious community- I think scholars who teach at faith based institutions (or most faith based institutions) are much more free to challenge their students in this area.  For example, many years ago for my freshman year of college I went to Westmont- a liberal arts school made up of mostly Evangelical students and faculty.  While some of my peers initially tried to casually toss out glib answers and clichéd verses to answer complex questions, the professors would not accept such shallow thinking.  Even if we *did* cite a verse, it had to be backed up with solid analysis, and while a so-called secular reader might not agree with the verse, our reasoning needed to stand up to their scrutiny.  So, again I think it is interesting that at a religious college, it is OK to challenge the students, but in any other institution, that challenge might be read as an assault on the whole faith system.

   Ok this is getting really long . . .one more thing, though, in response to what some WPAs hear, ""Academic writing is not about the private and the personal": that is a whole other debate, and while writing about faith can certainly fall into that discussion, the larger theoretical issues need to be addressed first.  For the record, some of my favorite undergraduate projects were ones in which I was allowed to address my experiences within and critiques of evangelical culture, and yet in a wholly academically acceptable way.  Touring with that band and writing up my findings ended up being my senior thesis.  As both a HS teacher (at a Catholic school) and a FYC lecturer (at a public state university), I like to keep that in mind, but at the same time never let my students settle for sloppy thinking.

Thanks for indulging me!

Jennifer Wells

Perhaps you've heard or experienced the following in your work as a  
writing teacher or WPA:

"I disallow the use of religious texts as appropriate evidence for  
argumentative writing."

"Expressions of faith are OK in my class as long as they're in mostly  
expressive writing such as journals, freewrites, and the like."

"In class discussions, I shy away from highly personal accounts  
because they are too emotionally charged, and these include matters  
of political ideology and religion."

"I was appalled to learn that my colleague tolerates the inclusion of  
references to certain faith traditions in some students' writing  
(mostly among international students who are not Christians) but not  
from others (mostly American Christians)."

"I welcome everything and anything in my course as long as it is not  
discriminatory or hateful. Right, left, Christian, Muslim, agnostic,  
Wikka, anti- and pro-abortion rights, tree-hugging and deer- 
shooting . . . . anything."

"I can't stand it when I hear that a composition teacher 'bans'  
Topics X, Y, and Z from the spectrum of research topics*gun control,  
abortion, the death penalty . . . we ought to be celebrating when  
students tackle the most divisive, sensitive, and complex areas of  
contemporary debate."

"Academic writing is not about the private and the personal."

This month's module, led by Elizabeth Vander Lei, takes us deep into  
some of the most interesting and complicated landscape of  
contemporary pedagogy, where secular academic goals meet with the  
wide range of students' systems of faith and religious conviction,  
from the most passionate devotees to the most adamant separators of  
church and state to those who don't want to profess anything but are  
excited nonetheless to bring it all on. Elizabeth's focus this month,  
on religious faith in composition courses, comes at a time when  
social forces are colliding in politics and  public life and making  
their way into debates about education, especially what should and  
shouldn't be taught, allowed, given voice, or protected*on behalf of  
both teachers and students*in those tangled, unpredictable, and  
fascinating contact zones of our classrooms.

What do you think is the appropriate place of religious faith in the  
teaching of writing? What have you told your students about religion  
and its place in their writing? How have you responded to students  
who bring religion into their papers in a personal way, or use their  
own faith traditions to support points they are making in their  
arguments?

Elizabeth Vander Lei is Associate Professor of English at Calvin  
College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She teaches first year composition  
and advanced courses in writing and the teaching of writing. Co- 
editor of Negotiating Religious Faith in the Composition Classroom,  
Elizabeth was first drawn to this topic by her research into the  
effects of religious faith on African American rhetoric, particularly  
that of the modern civil rights movement. She's also one of the  
nicest, smartest, and hardest working people you could hope to meet.   
I know: she served admirably on the Executive Board of the Council of  
Writing Program Administrators, and when her term was finally up,  
there wasn't a person on the Board who didn't want either to sign her  
up for life or clone her so she could stay around.

(Now, as to the ethical dimensions of cloning, different religions  
approach this problem from several perspectives. First . . . .)

Check out Elizabeth's module and resources at the TeachingComp Web  
site, then come back to the list to start talking: http:// 
www.mhhe.com/socscience/english/tc/

And it's OK*sex, religion, and politics are all welcome here at  
TeachingComp.

Oh, and before we launch into our discussion, many thanks to Suzanne  
Blum Malley and Amy Hawkins for leading us last month in our  
exploration of ethnographic writing, which, although it has played an  
important role in research in the field and beyond, has been somewhat  
underrepresented in treatments of pedagogy in spite of a strong  
interest in its potential. We're all the better informed as a result  
of their knowledge, experience, and counsel.

Chris Anson
Moderator

-- 
Chris M. Anson
Professor of English
Director, Campus Writing and Speaking Program
Interim Director, Ph.D. in Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media
Box 8101 (OR) 131G Tompkins
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC  27695-8105
(919) 513-4080
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~theansons/Portcover.html

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