tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post6508636710798900307..comments2024-03-15T01:11:32.832-07:00Comments on Bardiac: Thinking about Teaching CompBardiachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-29209031074124160502009-03-05T19:56:00.000-08:002009-03-05T19:56:00.000-08:00If anyone is looking for some great books about te...If anyone is looking for some great books about teaching comp,I would recommend Erika Lindemann's A Rhetoric for Writing Teachers and, for the even more adventurous, Irvin Hashimoto's Thirteen Weeks. Peter Elbow's Writing With Power is also helpful (I've even had students read that as part of the course reading, and they loved it).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-35688723750806805442009-03-02T21:00:00.000-08:002009-03-02T21:00:00.000-08:00Thanks for the advice. I think that your comment a...Thanks for the advice. I think that your comment about comp studies being bigger than Shakespeare studies is warranted, but I also think that that statement also proves the point that some people make about not being prepared to teach comp. If we college profs (or adjuncts as the case may be) are supposed to be competent (at least, expert at best) teachers in our subject areas, and we are given comp as a sort of toss-off course that "any English major can teach," aren't we being set up to fail? My field is Shakespeare, and I finished my degree last year, but what I learned in my PhD studies is that I'll never know all there is to know about Shakespeare's works. I feel like I know more about Shakespeare's works than any other area of literature, but since I've only been studying Shakespeare for a mere eight years, I only know a fraction of the sea of knowledge out there. I think I teach Shakespeare well, despite this fact. However, I also get to choose what plays/poems I'll teach, what the students will write, what critical essays they'll read, etc. I therefore can tailor the class to my expertise and interests, which means I can avoid the areas I'm somewhat less informed about. In my comp class (at a different school), I have virtually no choice about texts the students will read and no choice about what they will write (except for the diagnostic essay assignment, which I'm planning to change next time). I've taught comp at three schools over the years, and the format is always the same -- follow the script; here's what you're teaching. How am I supposed to be a good teacher with no control, no support, and no training? I might as well be asked to teach a class on sewing. Yeah, I could do it if my life depended on it, but I barely can thread a sewing machine. I'd be faking it the whole semester -- just like I do with comp. <BR/><BR/>To me, writing is a very, very important skill, but I've always been a fairly intuitive writer. Because of that intuition, I have a hard time explaining writing to my students. I keep slugging away, but as time goes on, it gets more and more frustrating. Perhaps all of this is indicative of the mess that is the adjunct system, and not all about comp, but I wonder if having classroom agency would really make much difference if I didn't know what textbooks were worthwhile. I guess I'll try contacting a rhet/comp guy that I'm acquainted with and see what he recommends -- if I ever do get to choose.Fie upon this quiet life!https://www.blogger.com/profile/12047096700049201873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-53798810905684998232009-03-02T16:38:00.000-08:002009-03-02T16:38:00.000-08:00There are a lot of fine books out there. If you go...There are a lot of fine books out there. If you go to <A HREF="http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/newcatalog.aspx?disc=English&course=TeachingCentral&lh=All&header=All" REL="nofollow">Bedford St. Martin's </A> website, there are all sorts of comp resources. They are really generous about sending free desk copies of their comp resource books to teachers. <BR/><BR/>Another good resource is <A HREF="http://comppile.org/search/comppile_main_search.php" REL="nofollow">CompPile</A><BR/><BR/>I also like Rebecca Moore Howard's <A HREF="http://wrt-howard.syr.edu/bibs.html" REL="nofollow">bibliographies</A>. They are amazing!k8https://www.blogger.com/profile/07547334819703279971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-13511821527104870672009-03-02T13:11:00.000-08:002009-03-02T13:11:00.000-08:00I'm particularly fond of Stein's How to Write, but...I'm particularly fond of Stein's How to Write, but I teach writing within another curriculum, not in a purely composition course. My students are also accustomed to my peculiarities by the time they get to that part of the course, which perhaps makes them more indulgent than they might otherwise be.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-80840384820913354402009-03-02T07:27:00.000-08:002009-03-02T07:27:00.000-08:00In terms of basic writing stuff, I think that Barb...In terms of basic writing stuff, I think that Barbara Clouse's A Troubleshooting Guide for Writers: Strategies and Process is an excellent book both for helping students (and not so expensive as some other writing handbooks) and for helping instructors to think about their own teaching. It's very work-book-y, has lots of strategies for practices for brainstorming, research, revision, etc., and it's written in such a way that it's neither too dry nor too dumbed down. Even if one doesn't assign it to one's students, it's a book that gives a good sense of things that happen in the writing classroom, and I've found it useful for helping me to think about how I go about teaching writing.Dr. Crazyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12457967076373916629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-71398334292089166362009-03-02T06:06:00.000-08:002009-03-02T06:06:00.000-08:00People do not know what they are doing as they los...People do not know what they are doing as they lose focus on basic principles, which we have to understand and communicate. In general, we must understand how students think and build from there. See "Teaching and Helping Students Think and Do Better" on amazon.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-49211700180708567752009-03-02T05:58:00.000-08:002009-03-02T05:58:00.000-08:00Wow. This just drives home--in a rather shocking w...Wow. This just drives home--in a rather shocking way--how little I know about comp. "Process research"? What's that? And "brainstorming techniques"--you mean there's more than one? (And I couldn't explain that one; it's just what I do when I brainstorm, whatever that is.) I get the thing about assignments that don't make me want to tear my eyes out, and getting students to take revision seriously, but I haven't a clue how to do either (other than to mark them down for inadequate revision, in the latter case).<BR/><BR/>We do talk a lot amongst ourselves in my English department, at least, and that helps. But what's truly eye-opening for me is that even the folks who have been doing this for a LOT longer than I have confess to not really knowing what they're doing. We all want to get better, but none of us knows how...so this is some good advice (if I can find someone out there to actually talk to!).heu mihihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08529298049179816825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17974015.post-73378353199397100382009-03-02T02:52:00.000-08:002009-03-02T02:52:00.000-08:00What she said.But there is one essay that I think ...What she said.<BR/><BR/>But there is one essay that I think every comp teacher and every kid/person who needs to write better should read at some point, and that is Paul Roberts' "How to Say Nothing in 500 Words." That is some damned fine writing advice, and I start my course with it, then insist that my students' initial self-review-with-an-eye-to-revision be conducted via the points Roberts makes there.Mrs. Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00398436173535554878noreply@blogger.com