Stony Brook University - SUNY Digital Repository
Stony Brook University - SUNY Digital Repository Stony Brook University - SUNY Digital Repository
extreme, a movement towards the one at the expense of the other, is antithetical to any yearning for a progressive society and culture. Whether it is the pursuit of Certainty that culminated between the nineteenth and early twentieth century in the birth of what became known as “Current-Traditional Rhetoric” or the pursuit of Uncertainty that defined the some of the theories of “post-modern” literary critics and composition scholars in the late twentieth century - which, in some ways, would eventually bring me to this endeavor in a very personal way – neither is helpful to those who would work towards that progress because they both help nothing but the profusion of the status quo. Again, the same old thing all over again. However, this dialectic is a necessity that is, unfortunately, none too easy to realize, as my experiences teaching freshman writing at the University of Delaware exhibited. The difficulty arises from the fact that you have to always remain conscious of that dialectic. You always have to be aware of how it is working. Because it would seem that, unconsciously, humans have an almost “natural” tendency towards Certainty, as John Dewey had explained in The Quest for Certainty, that dialectic has to be deliberately and willfully manipulated. To me, that dialectic is almost like a marriage: once you allow yourself to believe that it can flourish on its own and leave it to proceed forth as it pleases, you’ve taken it 232
for granted. And once you have taken it for granted, you already have a problem on your hands. For me, it has been the most difficult thing I have tried to do with teaching: realizing that dialectic. I had thought that if I had a readings and assignments and a rubric that fit those philosophies of Dewey and Perry and Elbow, the dialectic would follow, almost naturally. I was wrong. I couldn’t hide behind a lectern or a desk and, like that dialectic itself, leave those writing students in my classes to their own devices, corresponding with them and, therein, confronting their perspectives of reality and “truth,” only through my feedback to their drafts or during class discussions. Again, there had to be more from me in order to keep that necessary dialectic working as it needed to work. And because of that difficulty, if I took one last long, hard look in that mirror, at least as concerns this work, I do not know whether I would continue to teach freshman writing because of that difficulty. Teaching freshman writing is hard work in and of itself to begin with, but, when you bring into that situation the purpose of fostering that dialectic, the job simply becomes that much harder because you have to open yourself to those students that much more. I do believe that this present work has a few things to offer the conversation of the field of composition and rhetoric. First and most apparent, there are the conclusions offered about 233
- Page 189 and 190: of the readings and, quoting the as
- Page 191 and 192: genetics and chemistry? Or is the i
- Page 193 and 194: ibliography, and a final report, wh
- Page 195 and 196: turned outward, towards society and
- Page 197 and 198: as a whole. These essays attempted
- Page 199 and 200: students had to do it from and for
- Page 201 and 202: teacher staring back at me. A lazy
- Page 203 and 204: ut inwards, to themselves, and to p
- Page 205 and 206: Again, if I took that long, hard lo
- Page 207 and 208: subjectivity” of those same “po
- Page 209 and 210: eflecting writing and those questio
- Page 211 and 212: work” (318). For me, it is this s
- Page 213 and 214: ut what is thought and, possibly, w
- Page 215 and 216: of the “Deweyan” community - th
- Page 217 and 218: question, “Can writing be used to
- Page 219 and 220: Shapiro took those seventy essays a
- Page 221 and 222: instructor’s standing within such
- Page 223 and 224: in responding to drafts, in confere
- Page 225 and 226: elevance of context is what finally
- Page 227 and 228: different composition scholars and
- Page 229 and 230: a human being living in this world
- Page 231 and 232: that “perplexity” and “disequ
- Page 233 and 234: development” (219). If my experie
- Page 235 and 236: e seen as “diverse” or “diffe
- Page 237 and 238: from without, and, because of it, w
- Page 239: twelve- to fourteen-week college se
- Page 243 and 244: learning community therein. Because
- Page 245 and 246: or white” perceptions of reality
- Page 247 and 248: to renovate his portrait, Elbow off
- Page 249 and 250: Elbow, for example, have said about
- Page 251 and 252: Works Consulted Aristotle. Rhetoric
- Page 253 and 254: and Process Models of Composing"."
- Page 255 and 256: ---. "The Winds of Change: Thomas K
- Page 257 and 258: Ong, Walter J. Fighting for Life: C
for granted. And once you have taken it for granted, you<br />
already have a problem on your hands. For me, it has been the<br />
most difficult thing I have tried to do with teaching:<br />
realizing that dialectic. I had thought that if I had a<br />
readings and assignments and a rubric that fit those<br />
philosophies of Dewey and Perry and Elbow, the dialectic would<br />
follow, almost naturally. I was wrong. I couldn’t hide behind<br />
a lectern or a desk and, like that dialectic itself, leave those<br />
writing students in my classes to their own devices,<br />
corresponding with them and, therein, confronting their<br />
perspectives of reality and “truth,” only through my feedback to<br />
their drafts or during class discussions. Again, there had to<br />
be more from me in order to keep that necessary dialectic<br />
working as it needed to work. And because of that difficulty,<br />
if I took one last long, hard look in that mirror, at least as<br />
concerns this work, I do not know whether I would continue to<br />
teach freshman writing because of that difficulty. Teaching<br />
freshman writing is hard work in and of itself to begin with,<br />
but, when you bring into that situation the purpose of fostering<br />
that dialectic, the job simply becomes that much harder because<br />
you have to open yourself to those students that much more.<br />
I do believe that this present work has a few things to<br />
offer the conversation of the field of composition and rhetoric.<br />
First and most apparent, there are the conclusions offered about<br />
233
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