Thinking how the class went, I felt we didn't "review" the readings as much as I had hoped. Maybe we spent a bit too much time reading each other's blogs, or working out the technology of posting to each other's blogs? Perhaps this is a simple classroom management issue on my part, but it also raises the question of the use of blogs in the classroom. It is artificial to be sitting in a face-to-face classroom reading each other's posts? Should blogs be an out-of-class-type activity? How useful did the class find reading each other's posts? Did the in-class blog activity help with understanding of the readings?
Another issue of using blogs in the classroom I need to resolve is that by making the student blogs public, I now have to think about how I'll provide feedback on the blogs. I can't very well be evaluating individual blogs in public.
We started some good discussion of the first week's readings. The impact of the Harvard program on the formation of English departments and the development of writing instruction in North America is not questioned by most scholars, though as even Brereton notes, there were "other" versions of freshman English taught elsewhere and some scholars look to these alternatives to re-examine the prevailing narrative of Harvard's influence. And this is not to say that Harvard's program was all bad: Harvard pushed the reform of the Latin-based recitation method that was used from, oh, say, Classical times to the middle- to late-19th C. (though, as we discussed, some elements of the recitation system emphasized language use more than the new lecture model of the research university.)
We also started to discuss some common assumptions about teaching writing, in light of the histories we read, namely about the role of reading, in general, and literature, specifically, in teaching writing. This is good. Most teachers (and writers) don't have a theoretical foundation for what they do, which could lead to ineffective or inconsistent teaching (or writing). One of the goals of this class is to help devlep a more theoretical stance toward writing or teaching writing. Histories help show where common practices and assumptions come from. Theory and research is necessary to test whether these practices and assumptions are useful and effective. If you're interested in the history of composition and rhetoric, there is a section in the Bedford Bibliography of Writing worth looking at.
Lastly, I'm starting to look for some blogs by scholars in our field...
Dr. J
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Hi! Perhaps this is overly bold of me, but as Elizabeth Taylor says in _Life with Father_, "I'm just bold and forward girl." I do think that it's artifical to sit in the same room and read one another's words. Maybe we should make an attempt to read before we come to class. But if we can't, blogging can help us to gather our own thoughts so that we can participate more fully in the discussion than we otherwise might. In other words, I found the activity useful, but I don't think it has to happen before discussion.
I'd also like to mention that the recitation method did not die out, at least at the elementary school level, with the advent of the Harvard reforms. Until fourth grade, I went to a Catholic elementary school, and we learned largely by the recitation method. And it does have its strong points. I'll never forget that the principle export of Uganda in 1964 was coffee! Peace, Gina
Yes, I also used to recite spelling and countries (in geography). Unfortunately I'm still a horrible speller as anyone who has played Cranium with me can attest.
I really enjoy reading everyone's blog but it isn't a problem for me to do this before class so I would say perhaps we should use them as a way to get our thoughts going and use class to move forward from the blogs? I took a class in my Masters where we circulated responses via email and were required to read them prior to class. This allowed discussion to begin immediately without taking up class time. But, we are all insanely busy (I haven't left my room for much fun since the semester began) and I am aware of people's time constraints. Something to think about as we negotiate this writing/technology adventure.
jess
Post a Comment