Teaching Philosophy:
From our first class meeting, my goal is to impart to my students an understanding that the work they do can be useful far beyond the classroom, and that even as undergraduates they can be part of work that acts as a catalyst for social change. To this end, I favor genres such as ethnography and oral history, as it is my belief that these genres are incredibly useful, in a broader sense, as a way for students to understand social situatedness and, therefore, to eventually promote social change.
The work of Shirley Brice Heath informs my teaching philosophy, particularly her groundbreaking ethnographic study Ways with Words. Heath’s focus on encapsulating the day-to-day life of Trackton and Roadville residents is an indication of her high estimation of the importance of the social factors which situate the average individual. Heath’s assumptions that literacy practices are socially embedded, and thus cannot be understood in isolation, have now become widely accepted. Her assumptions that the object of literacy studies is “literacies” in their various social situations, not an unrealized abstraction merely called “literacy” has also become a widely-accepted notion. Another important gain through Ways with Words is a new, more seriously accepted place for ethnography as a research methodology.
I use ethnographic research because it is an excellent way to examine various discourses and to elevate experiences that are not traditionally valued in the academic world. The underlying framework of these experiences can then be examined and understood within the classroom. The sharing of personal experience supports the idea of "stepping back" in the writing classroom and examining a student's own situatedness and the situatedness of others, an understanding of which is quite important in a student’s growth as a writer. Using ethnography in the composition classroom is a way to examine various discourses and to elevate experiences that are not traditionally valued in the academic world for the purpose of examination, reflection and validation.
To that end, I favor projects and activities that foster a student’s ability to draw conclusions from their own experience and from the experiences of their peers, perhaps supporting a student’s curve of understanding so that a more organic way of thinking is able to unfold. Students have an opportunity to research and write, to learn, and they are free to develop these skills at different rates and different times, as the project grows and changes. This increased awareness seems to be the logical way to allow students to step away from the identity in which they are bound in order to better understand others.
Specifically, I use a lot of oral history and ethnographic observation in the classroom. I try to show my students that data gleaned from situations in their daily lives can be examined critically and pulled apart and that this local research can connect to broader themes and wider pools of research.
I also feel that it is very important for students to write regularly in my class. I favor low-stakes writing exercises (Peter Elbow) for nearly every class meeting; one of the best ways to nurture writing skills is to have students write a lot. I want my students to be comfortable with words and with writing their thoughts and responses down. These writing prompts make students spend time regularly reflecting, in written language, on what they are learning from discussions, readings, lectures and their own thinking. I agree with Peter Elbow that “in a sense, we get to throw away the low stakes writing itself but keep the neural changes it produced in students’ heads.”
From our first class meeting, my goal is to impart to my students an understanding that the work they do can be useful far beyond the classroom, and that even as undergraduates they can be part of work that acts as a catalyst for social change. To this end, I favor genres such as ethnography and oral history, as it is my belief that these genres are incredibly useful, in a broader sense, as a way for students to understand social situatedness and, therefore, to eventually promote social change.
The work of Shirley Brice Heath informs my teaching philosophy, particularly her groundbreaking ethnographic study Ways with Words. Heath’s focus on encapsulating the day-to-day life of Trackton and Roadville residents is an indication of her high estimation of the importance of the social factors which situate the average individual. Heath’s assumptions that literacy practices are socially embedded, and thus cannot be understood in isolation, have now become widely accepted. Her assumptions that the object of literacy studies is “literacies” in their various social situations, not an unrealized abstraction merely called “literacy” has also become a widely-accepted notion. Another important gain through Ways with Words is a new, more seriously accepted place for ethnography as a research methodology.
I use ethnographic research because it is an excellent way to examine various discourses and to elevate experiences that are not traditionally valued in the academic world. The underlying framework of these experiences can then be examined and understood within the classroom. The sharing of personal experience supports the idea of "stepping back" in the writing classroom and examining a student's own situatedness and the situatedness of others, an understanding of which is quite important in a student’s growth as a writer. Using ethnography in the composition classroom is a way to examine various discourses and to elevate experiences that are not traditionally valued in the academic world for the purpose of examination, reflection and validation.
To that end, I favor projects and activities that foster a student’s ability to draw conclusions from their own experience and from the experiences of their peers, perhaps supporting a student’s curve of understanding so that a more organic way of thinking is able to unfold. Students have an opportunity to research and write, to learn, and they are free to develop these skills at different rates and different times, as the project grows and changes. This increased awareness seems to be the logical way to allow students to step away from the identity in which they are bound in order to better understand others.
Specifically, I use a lot of oral history and ethnographic observation in the classroom. I try to show my students that data gleaned from situations in their daily lives can be examined critically and pulled apart and that this local research can connect to broader themes and wider pools of research.
I also feel that it is very important for students to write regularly in my class. I favor low-stakes writing exercises (Peter Elbow) for nearly every class meeting; one of the best ways to nurture writing skills is to have students write a lot. I want my students to be comfortable with words and with writing their thoughts and responses down. These writing prompts make students spend time regularly reflecting, in written language, on what they are learning from discussions, readings, lectures and their own thinking. I agree with Peter Elbow that “in a sense, we get to throw away the low stakes writing itself but keep the neural changes it produced in students’ heads.”