Literature in the Comp Classroom

Although I have a great passion for literature (my area of emphasis) I have made a conscious effort to not include it into the composition classroom. The reason for this is the negative impression other compositions article writers and teachers have given me in saying that literature teachers don't know how to teach comp and need to focus on writing and not texts.
However, then it was brought to my attention that as a literature major I have a heavy focus on analysis and this focus can relate to critical analysis in the composition classroom. I find that it also relates to the rhetorical revision paper I adapted from Moriah McCracken.
I have my students choose either the issue they wrote about for their research paper or their position paper and persuasively redesign the argument for a new venue in which they advertise a viewpoint, which can either be or not be the one advocated in their paper.
I find that they have to analyze the issue in a different light than they did for the original paper because they also have to take into consideration marketing strategies such as audience, appeal, location, etc. They are analyzing not only the issue but outside surroundings that relate as well.
I don't think this assignment direcctly relates to literature. However, it is true that the analytical aspect comes into play in an effective manner.

Research Paper rather than I-Search

I am assigning my students a research paper rather than an I-search. From the converstions I have had with others, so are many of the other teaching assistants. One difficulty that students have is learning how to interweave sources together, and the research paper to me is much better practice in that aspect that the I-search paper. The I-search paper is so focused on the "Self" that even the research and subject matter seems to come as an after thought compared to the thought process focus. In most academic courses the students will take in the future, they are more likely to need to know how to create a research based paper than one so heavily enmeshed in personal discovery, opinion, and input. Of course I think it is fine for teachers to choose to teach the I-Search. I have simply been explaining why I choose not to.
However, since so many others also teach the Research over the I-Search, I feel that examples of the research paper should be in Composing Ourselves. Our students are required to purchase the text, and for a paper as large as the Research paper (which we are allowed to modify from the I-Search paper) I believe there should be helpful examples. I did show an example of the I-Search, just to show a thought process that relates to the research paper, although it is not written down. However, I mostly did this just so the students could get some sort of use from the book. I would like to suggest that the new edition of Composing Ourselves have a section for Research paper examples. I have examples from my students from last semester I would be happy to give for publication.

My Pedagogy

In disovering a pedagogy that I not only adhere to in my teaching but could also illustrate on a transparency, I reverted back to something I had actually learned in one of my undergraduate teaching courses at College of the Ozarks. I focused on my role as teacher and my relationship with my students.
I looked at three standpoints: the gatekeeper, the middle ground, and the coach. A gatekeeper is a teacher with a capital T. She is always behind the desk and the students are sitting in straight lines in front of her. Lecture is the only means of teaching. The grades are made to seem as the most important aspect of the course. I do not adhere to this style because I find it does not appeals to students' individual learning styles and it silences student voices.
Since I am the middle ground, I will come back and explain it last. Thus, moving on to the coach standpoint, the teacher is defined with a lower case t. The desks are all in a circle, and the teacher is apart of the circle - undefined in almost every way. The means of teaching is almost completely collaborative. The teacher only gives the students where to go to find the information and then they find it, and everyone teaches everyone else. The teacher is such a friend, that grades are made to appear to be almost unimportant. I do not adhere to this style because I feel the teacher needs to be some kind of authority in the classroom. Students want to be taught, and although collaboration does have a place, the teacher needs to be involved and give some instruction.
I adhere to the middle ground where the teacher is in front of the class, but the students are in a semi circle. The teacher teaches and lectures at times, but also allows for collaboration. The students have a voice and are encouraged to speak in class, but the teacher always sets the tone and directs. I think I have been using this middle ground theory in my classes. I find as the semester goes on, my role as a teacher is able to be able to move more from a capital T to a lower case t, but the teacher always has a teaching role. I try to not put ultimate focus on grades, but also not give the allusion that they are unimportant or that all students will magically earn an A.