The "Neat" Thing About "Creating a Literate Environment in Freshman English"

Patrick Hartwell’s Article “Integrating Theories for Teaching Writing” puts theory to practice with his writing style. His article is not weighed down with a superior vocabulary. Hartwell speaks to his reader as he speaks to his students. At one point he says, “Third, these guys assume that literacy is a ‘single thing,’ again, ‘out there.’” He writes as if he is having a casual conversation with his reader, much like how he approaches his classes. He dismisses the idea of the teacher having the authority in a classroom and I think this is a very important part of his essay because he not only states that he thinks the teacher having all of the authority is crap, but he gives numerous examples as to why he thinks this is true. He talks about how much a teacher can learn from their students, not just what a student can learn from a teacher. What I like about Hartwell’s article is how he doesn’t try to have all of the answers. He does say what is wrong with how English is taught, but he doesn’t say this is how it should be taught instead. I think if he did that would completely go against everything he is trying to say. All he can do is show us some ways he thinks things can be improved. One of my favorite ideas is his dialogue journal. He has students write down what they read and discuss in class, their views in literacy and college in general, their own experiences with literacy, and their concerns about grades. He really wants to know what students think about their own literacy but also about the class overall. I think when you have students not just write down their ideas, but you then respond back, in a conversation style like Hartwell does, you get more input from the students. If they know but voicing their concerns they are not just voicing them with any response, but that you will try to help them, they will be more vocal. I also think that, especially for students who are shyer, that writing down their concerns is easier for them than bringing those concerns up in person with the teacher. I also like how he has his students interact with professionals outside of the classroom then creates papers and projects that deal with these experiences. I think it helps students not only see how people interact outside of a classroom, but when you create assignments based on these outside experiences it also creates new audiences for the students to write to, and gets away from the mundane papers they are always writing. Towards the end of the article Hartwell writes “The neat thing is that, once kids get this kind of insight-‘oh so that’s the way it is’-nobody can ever take it away from them.” This is such an interesting, clearly obvious thing I never thought of. You can’t take away the relationships you create with your students and the way that you help improve their writing. They may forget the dates of a Civil War battle two weeks after they take the test, but something that changes their writing for the better is something that can’t be taken away from them, and I think that, as Harwell would say, is really “neat.”