"Writing for the teacher" seems to be a maligned pedagogical concept in Durst and in general academia. Embodied in Durst's critical literacy concept, teachers want to think that students learn for the sake of learning and not customize their education based on what the instructor wants to hear. However, the grading scales teachers use, advice they give, and "red-pen" comments they write seem to counter this case in point. Grades are particularly non-reflective, aren't they?
Pretend you are a student (shouldn't be tough) and you have two options for grades in a writing class.
In Class A, you submit 3 longish essays on Hemingway over the course of the semester. One is graded by the person to your right, one is graded by the person to your left, and one is graded by you. At the end of the class, you review those grades and comments, reflect on your work over the course of the semester, come up with your own final grade, and submit that to the professor. No questions asked.
In Class B, you submit 3 longish essays on Hemingway over the course of the semester. The first is graded by your professor, and it is returned with copious comments. This professor apparently does not like your split infinitives, your citing of sources, or your conclusion. None of it is necessarily wrong, it just isn't the right style. You revise that essay, and write the next two according to how your professor seems to want things written. You get good grades on those essays.
Which class system would be more comfortable?
Despite our desire for self-learning, and even as grad students, I think many of us are conditioned for Class B. Maybe your Mom gave you a dollar for an A. Maybe you thrive on praise. Maybe you are a glutton for punishment.
Although Class B goes against tenets of critical literacy, is it always bad to cater your output based on your audience? Isn't that its own form of critical literacy? Surely it is a skill needed in the "real world." I could never send an email written in all lowercase letters to my old boss for fear of rebuke, whereas I wrote very casual emails to my peers. Know your audience, go from there: a ground rule for the business world. It also has a place in publishing literary work; don't send poems to a short story magazine no matter how much you love them. (Of course, publishing is in the business world too.)
As a teacher, I want my students to embrace all Durst's lofty tenets of critical literacy. As a student, I live by the concept of learning for learning's sake, but I think I would check that concept in at the door if it meant that I would get a D in a particularly un-reflective class and end up back in my cubicle in the real world.
As a student, how much writing for the teacher did you do (consider critical, not creative writing)? Is your expectation different for your own students?
A good point (or series of points), Katie. I do think that sometimes in all the abstractions and idealizations of modern pedagogical theory, the fact that the professor is still in charge and still decides the grades can tend to get lost. And whether that theacher's methods are flawed or not, the grade they assign will have a massive amount of importance for the student's academic career.
ReplyDeleteAlso, students always enter a class with at least some basic assumption that the professor knows more than they do and is in charge of improving their knowledge base. When classes start to move more toward the students making decisions on content and evaluation, this fundamental trust starts eroding, and students are in danger of losing their sense of purpose.