There is some pressure in composing this blog post, especially since Durst's "ground rules" demand that our "contributions be accurate, of an appropriate length, germane to the subject under discussion, and in a form we can understand" (66-67). I'm sweating.
I was thinking of a way to tie together the two articles we're discussing tomorrow. They are obviously quite different in their form and scope, but I found one basic place they intersect, and I think it might make for interesting discussion.
Zebrowski suggests that unbeknownst to them, students arrive at class with their own theory of writing; it is then the teacher's responsibility to provide secondary content (readings, instruction) to bolster the student's primary content (6). A student's theory of writing is closely tied to his or her community, according to Vygotskian theory.
Durst asserts that students bring their own culture, background, education, and economic class to the classroom, and these differences impact everything from how a student interacts with authority to how they embrace the reading assignments.
So both authors make the basic--yet rather daunting--observation that a student's life impacts his or her performance in the classroom, and Durst's chapter demonstrates this in vivid detail.
But going back to Zebrowski, what singular "secondary content" do we as teachers provide to the multitude of learning styles, approaches, and backgrounds? In a perfect learning world, wouldn't we say, "Gosh, what that student needs is a good dose of Hawthorne?" or for the less attentive student, a battery of short stories? For the model student, a 30 page paper to challenge her, and a shorter piece for the exchange student still grappling with English?
Durst and good common sense suggest that this customized approach to teaching is neither fair nor sensible. We have ONE syllabus. One reading list. One classroom.
Twenty-five primary contents. One secondary content.
Is there any room for customization in the curriculum? And how much does our own primary content (our prowess, likes, style) as an instructor influence the secondary content we chose for our students? Is that fair to their identities?
1 comment:
You make a great point: one syllabus and one reading list for a diverse group of students and their different learning styles and intellectual levels. This is a daunting task, especially since, as you note, it will be difficult to be fair to each student’s identity in and out of the classroom. I think Zebroski’s ethnography assignment is an interesting choice, and may help to simplify the problem of one syllabus for many students. The idea of having students look at their community and find something of interest to them to study might be an effective way to allow them to explore questions of identity and community through writing. It asks them to see how they fit into the world by learning about others, perhaps in situations in which they are unfamiliar. As Zebroski notes, the student ethnographer must “observe closely, take profuse notes, carefully separate her language in the notes from the language of the people, and distance herself enough from the scene…to find something significant.” Also, the students must learn how to “decontextualize and abstract, but within a real context and for a real motive…[and use] accurate and appropriate quotations in a coherent manner” (11).
The skills needed to complete this type of assignment are transferable to situations outside the writing classroom and outside the academic environment. It is an exercise in learning about the world while thinking critically and often learning how to navigate unknown situations with careful decision-making skills. This assignment also lends itself to multimodal composition: students can do video, audio, or photo essays in combination with traditional writing methods. It teaches them how to convey ideas through different modes of representation. I probably won’t follow Zebroski’s lesson verbatim, but I think it contains ways of teaching which will translate well into other assignments.
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