[Teaching_Composition] Re: Teaching_Composition digest,Vol 1 #1110 - 2 msgs

[Ambrose, Jennifer]

Of course our ideology influences our teaching. I used to be fierce
about my political beliefs in the classroom--as grad student TA, I
argued a lot with students about issues in hopes they would come to
agree with my anti-status quo, pro-feminism, anti-war view (I felt that
much of the composition theory I read encouraged such an approach).
However, the outcome wasn't always productive; in one instance, I
greatly alienated a student when I scolded about her paper that compared
homosexuals to perverted animals. So, now I try to stick to the text
more, and question it of course, without letting on where I stand,
because I don't want my views/personality to take over the classroom. 

My question is this: Can those of you who are open about your political
beliefs in the classroom describe the tone/context in which you discuss
them and how effective you think you've been? Clearly, the approach is
very important, and that is where I failed the most, I think, as a grad
student. I always think of bell hooks in Teaching to Transgress--she
talks about instances where she thinks she succeeded, but she didn't
detail her approach, or mention any instances where she may have failed.


And, those who are willing, could you mention your status--tenured,
adjunct, associate prof, etc? I am curious whether your status affects
your approach. For me, I'm a new, full time, academic staff employee on
a nine-month contract (I work primarily out of our Study Center and
teach one comp class basically as an adjunct), so that also makes me
cautious about what I say...

Thanks,

Jennifer Ambrose
UW-Waukesha Campus Writing Specialist
Writing Tutor Coordinator
262-521-5549

-----Original Message-----
From: teaching_composition-admin@mailman.eppg.com
[mailto:teaching_composition-admin@mailman.eppg.com] On Behalf Of Kathy
Fitch
Sent: Monday, October 02, 2006 12:58 PM
To: teaching_composition@mailman.eppg.com
Subject: RE: RE: [Teaching_Composition] Re: Teaching_Composition
digest,Vol 1 #1110 - 2 msgs

<<2) Extremist right-wingers have taken over education.  We feel it most
in K-12 education>>

Here's a thing that seems true on some levels (standardized testing run
amok!--though I don't think I'd point to "extremist right-wingers" as
entirely responsible for that), and just really not at all true on
others.
There is, to give one example, nothing the least bit conservative about
the typical line up of readings in elementary level lit courses (e.g.
The Giver; Bless Me, Ultima, Bridge to Terabithia; Ender's Game, The
Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe; Hatchet; Holes, Catcher in the Rye,
etc.).  Also, teachers can still claim quite a bit of freedom to shape
their approaches to the material.  My seventh grader is currently taking
Social Studies (which encompasses History, Psychology, Sociology, and
Geography, a combination that makes me tired on behalf of the teacher
every time I think of it) with an emphasis on the African American
experience.  It's far and away his favorite class.  In Science, they're
doing "Stream Studies," which basically involves environmental
(conservationist!) study of the Western Branch of the DuPage river,
which is located near enough to their school that they can walk there,
put on their hip waders, and have at it.  That's his other favorite
class.  (Because of that teacher, my seventh grader is also running
cross-country, which is a  thing I attribute almost entirely to how
compelling and inspiring he finds the Science teacher/Cross Country
coach.)


Anyway, I just don't find the "everything is ideological" argument
particularly compelling when it comes to effectively addressing the
concerns raised by the Academic Bill of Rights.  If what is meant by
that is that we have a responsibility to think hard about how ideologies
play themselves out in classrooms (along the lines Laura suggests),
that's fine--and is actually pretty much in line with what the ABR says,
it would seem), but if it means promoting a specific ideological agenda
in composition (one that would have, for instance, *all* hierarchies
being bad, and allow no room for the idea that some are benign, or that
some are necessary,) then that doesn't seem fine to me at all. 

I don't find the idea of shooting for balance terribly frightening, I
guess.
No, I don't want to take a drill and kill approach to grammar, but then
again I'm not averse to the idea of talking with students about why so
many people are in favor of that.  I can quite easily envision a student
writing an excellent essay in favor of direct instruction of grammar
(and I've had more than a few students who quite decidedly would have
come down on that side of it).  I don't think it would be that hard for
me to teach about it in a way that both made my view toward it (not so
enthusiastic!) clear, while still allowing plenty of room for--and even
inviting--alternate views and experiences.  (I might even model an
argument in favor of--a thing I think I could do a pretty good job
of--and certainly, I could very comfortably assist a student in shoring
up that argument.)  Oh, students shift positions all the time as they
encounter new views, and new evidence, and that's as it should be.  I
can think of very few things I'd write about in exactly the same way now
as I did even as little as five years ago.  

Sometimes, I worry that we make things harder than they have to be.  

In the classroom hierarchy, no matter how student-centered, the teacher
is still at the top, setting assignments and due dates, giving grades,
laying out classroom expectations.  Because I *do* believe there are
some absolutes, I cannot envision myself helping a student write in
favor of racism, or of sexual abuse, or of murdering bothersome people,
etc.  (Yes, the classroom is political.  Yes the teacher has power
there.  Yes, that comes with a great deal of responsibility.)

But I'm quite willing to allow that there's a reasonable variety of
stances to take on most every other sort of issue--a whole universe of
things under contention and worth exploring.  To me, a writing teacher
helps equip students with the reading, writing, critical thinking, and
research skills they will need to explore those over a lifetime, and
this is a thing that can be quite readily accomplished without declaring
that there's no such thing as an a priori moral absolute that exists
beyond language, and just as readily accomplished without declaring the
opposite.  (I like Kant, but I think I'll not assign Critique of Pure
Reason in FYC.)

Kathy

_______________________________________________
Teaching_Composition maillist  -  Teaching_Composition@mailman.eppg.com
http://mailman.eppg.com/mailman/listinfo/teaching_composition

To unsubscribe, please visit
http://mailman.eppg.com/mailman/listinfo/teaching_composition and update
your information.