World View

For the last day I taught over the position paper, I gave a lesson on how students' world views affect the positions they take on controversial issues. I felt it was an important lesson because apart from students being able to make strong arguments and refute poor ones, I think it is important for them as individuals to know why they believe as they do and hold the moral codes they hold. It was a lesson more on themselves than on the issue.
I gave them a chart to fill out answering the following (relating to the debate they wrote their position paper on) : What influences you most of the three pisteis? (ethos, logos, pathos). What background influences have affected you? (culture, religion, family, gender, etc). How firm is your stand? (are you still open minded or grounded and unswaying in your position?) Is your position based more on immediate gratification or delayed? Is your focus more on the individual or society? What is the strongest argument for your position? What is the most worrisome argument against your position? Are there any other factors that have influenced your world view and consequently your stand on this issue?
I wanted students to realize where their sympathies lie and more importantly, why. Before I had students apply the above questions to their own position I had them read a position paper from Composing Ourselves, and as a class we applied the questions to that text (which took some hypothesizing). This prepared them for applying world view related musings to their own work.

Reflective Blog Entry

When I used my "writing what we teach" assignment in my 110 course, I gave hard copies to all students rather than simply putting it up on an overhead. I did this because I wanted the students to be able to write notes on their own copy as well as to have it as an example for later.
I first had the students read the essay silently and then we discussed it together and as we went through it, either I or the students made mention of places in the text where margin notes were appropriate and the students wrote them in. I focused these notes on examples of textual support, irrelevant tangents, and misspellings.
I kept Lisa Delpitt's pedagogy of a directive style in mind through this lesson. The students knew the example I was giving them was my own and although it was a work in progress, it was something they should try to a certain extent to model.
I also kept Rene Girard's theory of mimesis in mind because although I wanted my students to imitate me and follow my example, I wanted to show them that they need to adhere to the proper format while still finding a way to make their own textual analysis unique, rather than being a recreation of mine.
My earlier blog explains how students reacted to the activity (see my critical analysis).

A Plethora of Interests

I attended and presented at the Graduate Interdisciplinary Forum this past weekend. I really enjoyed the variety of presentations which came from various fields from places all over the campus. It made me think of my own composition classroom because there is just as much variety present. When I received my students' research papers, I got topics ranging from how homosexuals function in rural and urban settings to the history of the French foreign legion to how cricket can curb terrorism because of its increasing popularity in the middle east.
Sometimes all of the different subject areas (majors) of my students can make things complicated because they don't seem to be all that interested in ENG 110. However, when I saw diversity at the forum I saw it as an automatic positive. I am realizing that I need to see it as more of a positive in my the composition classroom as well. After all, writing is the perfect place for diversity.
I am trying to expand how I view my classes and be more appreciate of the hidden blessings that lie within my students' individualized interests.