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     I read Nancy's annotated bibliography about Laura Callanan's article concerning combining pedagogy with another field. Callanan focuses on AIDs related literature that has become an integral part of writing. I think this article really touches on some of the aspects of the chapters we have been reading, mainly about the need to combine different pedagogies or concepts to further the learning of a student. I think that what is going on now in academia is the need for more than one specialization. This is happening inside the content of courses, but it is also reaching out to the job market. It seems like now while a student may have a PhD in one discipline, their likelihood of getting a job, requires they know two subjects or two aspects of a subject equally as well. Maybe this is really a good thing once it isn't so much an anomaly as it is a norm. Maybe we are returning to Renaissance times where people developed excellent or superior skills in more than one area of expertise. It seems like the curriculum of many subjects is heading this way where the student must think of literature in terms of history or writing in terms of technology, etc. I actually think this might be what's needed to get rid of too many degrees but not enough jobs.

     Taylor wrote about an article by Harry Roman that I found worth writing a blog about. It concerns an experiment with a teacher's fourth grade class, taking them through each step of the writing process. I think this was an excellent experiment to do and it really is one that all of us shoould be taught from a young age, not as an experiment, but as part of learning. I think that if the writing process were an element of the curriculum of young children more than it is today, than there would not be so much discussion now, with young adults, about the necessity of a writing curriculum in the university.

   I know that in Kentucky when I was a senior in high school, all the sudden administrators realized that we hadn't learned how to write decent essays and as a result, our scores in national testing were extremely low. They then designed this "program" that was completely disorganized and pointless. We were expected to write full essays with a thesis statement, decent points and a conclusion, but they forgot one thing...as students, the writing process had not been something that we were taught. We just went home and struggled through essays on our own and then turned them in. I don't know how it is now in the Kentucky school system, but I think this idea that is mentioned in Harry Roman's article is one that should have been considered when I was in school. People think that you just sit down and know how to write a decent essay, but that isn't true. You have to learn the proper way to bring out the beauty in your writing and if you don't learn it, then I think students struggle with writing and then question the necessity of it in the university.

     We've looked at a couple of different social issues in the Guide to Composition Pedagogies and I was wondering if anyone had been inspired by the content of these chapters?  What I have noticed is how much teaching pedagogy is striving to function across the curriculum. In one sense, I believe that this will answer some of the questions we are faced as teachers of english composition, for instance, what are we supposed to teach and what are our goals? At the same time, it seems like this method develops many activities that students will enjoy and truly learn from.

    I know I already wrote about five million blogs about using the Frederick Narrative excerpt in my class and how successful that was. I also tried using an excerpt from Black Elk Speaks, but unfortuantely it wasn't as sucessful because I used the most confusing chapter of the book (his vision as a young boy) and my students weren't too happy about that. In any case, upon looking at the other chapters, I found ones that will probably be more successful if I decide to use this piece again. Anyways, my point is that students become more involved when they have different perspectives placed in front of them that they can look at in terms of social problems, english composition, history or literature. I think that subconsciously they realize all of this when the activity is successful.

  I was wondering if anyone else had tried doing something that functioned on a variety of levels or different curriculums?

     I have to say that I really enjoyed the conferences with my students. While we talked about their first project and their ideas for the second project, we also talked about their opinion of the class. I really wanted some direct feedback as far as the success of the activities we do in class and their homework assignments. What I found is that they love group work more than anything. One of my students mentioned that he feels self-conscious about his own ideas, but when he works in a group and sees how another student approaches a writing topic, it helps him focus. I have also noticed, when walking around the classroom, that they seem happiest in groups. They don't sit around and talk about parties this weekend or anything like that; rather, they focus on creating a story, or a thesis statement or a description of a character. I still give them individual assignments in class, but I try at least once or twice a week to incorporate an assignment where they work with peers.

     I have to admit that what Brian said in class is very true:  I feel like I could teach better in this small environment in contrast with the classroom setting. I'm really glad that we are doing something like conferences for our students.

    

     What I found most interesting about this article was the methodology of Freire. George writes that, "Freire practices what he calls problem-posing or dialogic education, in which teachers work with students to develop conscientizacao or critical consciousness- the ability to define, to analyze, to problematize the economic, political, and cultural forces that shape but, according to Freire, do not completely determine their lives" (93). I think this is a good place to start when we speak of placing cultural concepts in the classroom.

     This method seems to be a way of combining a student's personal experience with the larger concept of oppression. This excerpt made me think about what we are trying to accomplish with Project 2 in 1101. Project 2 addresses cultural issues, but before the students write about some aspect pertaining to culture, they need examples that we provide for them. I don't know if I'm pessimistic, but after seeing some of my students blogs, I wonder if they really recognize the various types of oppression that exist today.

     I gave them several blog topics one week concerning political issues. One of the questions was, "How is racism apparent today in our society?" Another question was, "Do you think there will be a woman president in the next twenty years?" So for the first question everyone wrote very insightful blogs about how they identified racism in our society today and I was relieved to see that they recognize what is going on in the world. Then I got to the blogs about a woman president and the same people who had written that racism is wrong and we shouldn't judge by skin color or religion, wrote that a woman shouldn't be president because she would be too emotional and might blow up the planet during one of her emotional fits. Another blog said something along the lines of certain countries wouldn't take a woman president seriously so we would be swamped with terrorist attacks. All of these blogs were written by males.

     I tried to write counter arguments to get them thinking of other points of view. I said that the United States had experienced several terrorist attacks when we had a male president. I also said that in other countries there have been women prime ministers and presidents and that seemed to work just fine...the planet is still here. But I don't know if that really meant anything. My point is that there seems to be a filter in what students acknowledge as oppressive and oppressed. The same students that were disgusted by racist comments or behaviour thought that a menstrual cycle would end the universe. So when speaking about culture in the classroom, how do we address certain issues like this? If a student has lived for 18 or 19 years being exposed to this kind of thinking, how is an english composition class going to change any of that? Would Freire's methods really make a difference?

     This week I read Caitlin's annotated bibliography on Victor Villanueva's concept of political correctness and racisim in the classroom. I think he has a point when he compares racisim to Kenneth Burke's concepts. Really, I believe that political correctness has gone a little too far and at this point, it is no longer helping as far as race relations go, but rather it is hindering them. It seems to me that these concepts should be represented in the terminology of the "other." Instead of people being afraid of the differences, they are afraid of saying anything about these differences, making other races further distanced and marginalized from the dominant race in society.

     I have an example from my previous teaching experience that I think is a minor illustration of this point. I taught at a conservative jesuit school and we were informed by our department never to say anything that would be seen as radical. Unfortunately, everything was seen as radical that was not conservative. It went so far that we had to change particular wording on exams in order to prevent anyone from getting mad or having their feelings hurt. However, this policy did not extend to the faculty. At the end of the semester, when students would write their evaluations, the most typical ones were generated towards the personal politics of the teacher rather than the actual teaching style of this person. I think I made the mistake of mentioning one time that I didn't like George Bush and that I was a liberal. However, I never said anything that was insulting about  the president or anyone else. Still, at the end of the semester, a few people wrote that I was too liberal in my views. I was really insulted by this, not because it hurt my feelings or anything, but because as a minority, a liberal in a conservative school, I had no voice and I had to tiptoe around other people's feelings while they were irritated at the thought of being exposed to mine I recognize that that is what happens when you are liberal and you teach in a conservative school, and maybe it even happens the other way around, but my point is that the idea of political correctness is what I think this whole issue revolved around. It was not politically correct of me to state my opinion because my opinion was irrevelant placed up against a conservative atmosphere. Yet, I really wonder what students were getting out of their education if they are afraid to be exposed to a contrasting opinion. What kind of world is that to live in or is it just an extension of what they live in every day?

  It seems to me that political correctness has evolved to be silence and ignoring what's out there because someone might be offended. But how is that really changing anything? I think that Villanueva has the right idea. It seems to me that not enough people are recognizing how distant we have become from one another because we can't say what we mean or have an opinion if someone else might disagree with it.And really, we aren't even talking about someone saying something that is completely racist or sexist, but something as simple as what political party they belong to. I don't think that is what was meant by becoming sensitive to differences around us.

     We have been reading a great amount of materials that question whether or not literature should be exployed in teaching composition. While I have various doubts, namely the type of literature that would be most productive, etc., at the same time, I can't help but think that students are not going to be good writers if they aren't good readers. And for those of us teaching English 1101, the Penguin Handbook does not offer much in the way of readings. Sure there are example papers and exercises for style and grammar, but it is a handbook, so it functions merely as that. As a result, I think we have to provide a few readings for students so that they can learn to really see beyond the surface of a piece of writing.

     As I stated before in a previous blog, I've used the Frederick Douglass narrative in my classroom. I focused on the beginning pages, so we didn't get into the ultimate theme of the narrative or anything like that. However, I realized from reading my students' blogs after that class, that they really enjoyed the narrative and one student even did his annotated bibliography on it. I think that the variety of topics offered in just the first few pages stimulated their thinking. Likewise, there were several in-class writing assignments based on approaching the narrative from a variety of perspectives, giving them multiple ideas when looking at one piece of writing.

     Another reading I used was "Hills Like White Elephants." I chose this short story because of the use of conversation. I started thinking after we looked at students' memoirs from past semesters that conversation could be a means of conveying specific information in Project 1. Hemingway is an excellent example of efficient conversation, not to mention buried themes. We had a fairly lively discussion about the short story and several in-class writing activities about this as well. Plus, I'm hoping that people will use this in the memoirs that they turn in on Monday. I would like to see practical creativity employed in the execution of their ideas.

     In any case, I wanted to say that I think literature is still useful in the composition classroom. It makes people think and it gives them examples whether they consciously understand all of this or not. Subconsciously, I believe they are learning to be better writers when they see proficient examples in front of them.