3 Important Concepts for Teaching Composition
The three major concepts that I plan to stress to my students are the importance of answering the right questions in their writing, thinking critically about the topic at hand, and the fact that learning to write well will positively impact every pursuit that they will make in the future, regardless of what field they enter into after the end of 1301.
One thing I plan to stress to my students is that when they are writing they need to think about the five W’s: who, what, when, where, and why. A work that does not answer each one of these is inevitably confusing and incomplete. When thinking in those terms, there is less room for common errors like passive voice; when you are actively thinking about the importance of saying who performed a given action, you are less likely to revert into passive voice and its inherent vagueness. I also like the inclusion of “how” in the Glenn and Goldthwaite reading. Answering how something was done can be critical to a reader’s understanding and can dispel questions about the credibility of the information provided by the writer.
Thinking about those question words will also hopefully open the gateway to critical thought. It is absolutely vital for a writer to be able to think for themselves, in part because without being able to think critically, it is impossible to make new and meaningful contributions to any field. In order to write good papers, let alone anything else, students have to be able to be able to discern what they believe to be the important parts of primary and secondary materials so that they can bring them together into a coherent work of their own. Most students enter college having accepted implicitly the information their parents and the media have given them. Even if they walk away from the class still believing everything that they did when they entered into it, I hope that they will at least have begun to think about why they believe what they do.
I also will use the concept of Writing in the Disciplines to make the class relevant for each student. In high school, English teachers expose their students to writing as a marginal part of their classes, wedged in after lessons on literary works. By showing how writing is a crucial element of not only scholarly pursuits in any discipline, but also any job that they might pursue after graduation, I will make it more likely that students will be engaged in the class. It is important that they understand that no matter how brilliant a scholar in the sciences is, if he or she is not able to document his or her findings effectively, no journal will be willing publish them. In the same vein, a businessman who cannot write clearly enough to produce a memo that is easy to understand will not be able to inform subordinates of important changes in company policy. Thus, no matter what path they plan to pursue, the students will understand that good writing is crucial to their success.
posted by Lauren Wallace at
11:40 PM
4 Comments:
I agree that students need to be able to fulfill the basics of the assignment (the 5 W’s) and teaching them to avoid passive voice would improve their writing. Instructing students to think critically should be the central focus of any class, especially composition courses and even if a teacher has to push, pull, drag, or shove a student to ask themselves why they believe what they believe, that is one of the most important lessons an instructor can impart. I also concur that educating students to the necessity of developing writing skills, regardless of what area they are studying, is an important step in a composition class. These three concepts are vital to every student’s education. Good job!
You make a good point regarding the importance of intentionality in writing. Teaching students to carefully think about what they write would probably solve any number of common complaints such as the infamous "student email." It also helps students to develop as independent thinkers, as you note. Writing in the Disciplines is also a useful approach to instruction as it moves writing beyond the English classroom. I would like to think of a writing instruction which emphasizes not only the interdisciplinary business applications but the more personal uses as well. We live in the age of mass-information. People are required to process not just more visual and aural data, but textual as well. Whether writing an essay, report, or something as simple as a text-message, writing is more than ever a constantly present activity.
I think you strike on a very vital point of being able to understand what exactly is being written. By outlining the path to success through the 5 w's, and the additional incorperation of how, students will have a clear path to understand the basics of what an essay should be encompassing. In addition, you point about understanding the importance of composition not only in our day to day work, but also as an essential part of any dicipline helps to engadge students regardless of what their major may be. I can also see how choosing only three things could be fairly limiting considering the vast range of material you want to cover. Great job.
Lauren,
I like your idea of incorporating hte five Ws in your teaching. That reminds me very much of "audience" and "purpose" or the different modes of writing I used to teach. That ties in nicely with your third point of writing across the disciplines and makes for excellent examples of why it is important even for business majors to be able to write well...
That critical thinking will follow easily from asking and then answering the five W-questions, is something I doubt, though. The "why"-question could so easily be answered by saying: "I write this as a memo, because I have this particular purpose," or "I think this, because this is the way I have been brought up," etc. In order to teach critical thinking, one seems to have the much more difficult task of asking provoking questions without offending the students, to allow for class discussions and debates, and to play "devil's advocate." Most students find this perturbing, but this is what we want, to a certain extent. This is the challenge they need. The best way to do that is, I think, to offer controversial issues close to the student, such as "student parking" or the like. I find that by posing lots of little questions like this and allowing for students' interaction and exchange of opinions, one can slowly and carefully open their minds to "bigger" things. The fun and big thing at the end of my class was always a research project. Those always turned out really nice, because they could choose their own topic (which allowed for them taking an interest in it) and had to do their own research during which they were confronted with lots of various opinions. But by that time, they were ready to deal with it and the result were really great research papers. Even my requirement of having them present their topic and outcome in a five-minute presentation was more fun than intimidating to most of them. By that time, they really wanted to let their fellow students know what they found out! Plus, the presentation was also a fun and valuable exercise to prepare them for the "real world."
In other words, I think your ideas are very good and truly believe that once you are teaching, you will easily grab and run with your experience to develop the best strategies in order to teach your students everything you deem important for them to know!!!
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