The Classics

Question: How can English teachers help today’s students relate to the classics in literature?

Answer: Begin with an open-ended question about the classic that relates to the student. In the case of The Scarlet Letter, the “essential” question was, “What is worth risking everything for?”

Comment: While that might not be the question I would choose for this particular work of fiction, it is a relevant question from the point of view of the students. It invites the students into Hawthorne’s romance with a question that applies both to the work of fiction and to the students. An idea worth thinking about. RayS.

Title: “Making the Classics Matter to Students Through Digital Literacies and Essential Questions.” J Ostenson and E Gleason-Sutton. English Journal (November 2011), 37-45.

Note: Taking a week or so off. Will rejoin you on Monday, January 2, 2012, to bring you reviews of what I consider significant ideas in the teaching of English. RayS.

College Writing Placement

Question: What would happen if college writing placement was assessed with untimed writing that allowed for invention and revision?

Answer/Quote: “No one, however, has yet published research directly comparing essays students have written for the SAT or ACT and the kind of writing students do in our classes—that is, in response to untimed writing tasks that allow for invention and revision.” P. 721.

Quote: “In response to our writing task, the students have to read carefully, interpret information, use note-taking and organizing skills, synthesize and compare information from different sources, decide what to use and what to discard,  and be able to explain the issue clearly to readers who have not studied it as the writers have.” P. 723.

Quote: “I would like to see other research investigating the differences in student performances on the ACT Essay or the SAT Essay and locally developed, untimed writing situations. I believe this research has implications for the use of timed writing samples as a measure of writing ability, but the question of which model more accurately predicts writing performance in academic writing situations still rests, like so much of what we do as writing teachers, on faith.” P. 741.

Comment: I wonder if research has been done on teachers’ assessment of accurate placement based on the timed tests? I’m thinking back to my days in the two-year college. The writing for freshman composition was definitely strong, most students were ready to learn and learned quickly, but I would not want to try to accurately describe its strengths and weaknesses. Too many variations in writing needs. In other words, the timed assessment seemed to work. RayS.

Title: “Online Challenge Versus Offline ACT?” I Peckham. College Composition and Communication (June 2010), 718-745.

Prior Learning Assessment

Note: Prior Learning Assessment summarizes the students’ prior work experience and learning in order to award college credits before entering the academy.

 So what? This prior work experience is assessed through the essay and the authors of this article suggest that the essay format has weaknesses which limit the students’ ability to translate the experience into learning.

Comment: This idea of the weaknesses of the essay in assessing prior learning assessment, coupled with the weaknesses of the essay in interdisciplinary writing, suggests the need to develop new approaches to writing at the college level. Intriguing. RayS.

Title: “Composing Knowledge: Writing, Rhetoric and Reflection in Prior Learning Assessments.” C Leaker and H Ostman. College Composition and Communication (June 2010), 691-717.

Writing, Craft and Atomic Energy

Question: Why do we need to write responsibly?

Answer: When we write, we are “crafting”; we are like the people who developed atomic energy. “Crafting” is putting ideas to work. As Albert Einstein famously stated in 1946: “The release of atomic power has changed everything except our way of thinking…. The solution to this problem lies in the heart of mankind. If only I had known, I should have become a watchmaker.”

Comment: Crafting is doing. Crafting in writing is putting ideas to work. And we need to be aware of what we are doing when we write because whatever we write has consequences. I guess that’s what this article means. It’s a good thought that doesn’t mean much in the writing exercises of the classroom. Still…. RayS.

Title: “Craft Knowledge of Disciplinarity in Writing Studies.” RR Johnson. College Composition and Communication (June 2010), 673-690.

Much Ado About....

Note: This article takes up a full 32pages of dense, almost unintelligible jargon. After all of this, my readers should be interested in the conclusion to which the article leads. RayS.

“In essence, we have begun a reflective process, endowed by a basic principle: we accept the notion that there is value to be recognized and appreciated in the lives and words of women!” p. 666.

Comment: Duh! How’s that for a shaggy dog story? RayS.

Title: “Feminist Rhetorical Practices in Search of Excellence.” GE Kirsch and JJ Royster. College Composition and Communication (June 2011), 640-672,

Change in Language

Note: The National Council of Teachers of English was founded in 1911. The organization is celebrating its centennial. As part of this celebration, College English is publishing excerpts from its predecessor, the college edition of The English Journal. The excerpts are timely, a bit wordy and take their time to get to the point. However, I believe my readers will find them of interest. RayS.

Alexander Brede, “The Idea of an English Language Academy.” Vo. 26 (September 1937): 560-68.

Quote: “The ;position of linguists today is a whole-hearted acceptance of the fact that change in language is inevitable and not to be deplored and resisted. While it is recognized that a certain uniformity is desirable, it is also recognized that absolute uniformity is not attainable. Correctness of a disputed usage is not to be decided by an authoritative fiat but rather by the Horatian principle of use and custom. But this acceptance of inevitable change was not always the fact. On the contrary, the usual  attitude has been to deplore change.” (560).

Comment: In my course on the history of the English language, the instructor said that if people find a usage too complicated, they will change it. However, to my knowledge, the distinction between “disinterested/uninterested” is still a battle zone. So is the distinction between “lie/lay.”  Also, I’ve noticed in sports commentary, the distinction between the past tense of verbs and the participle is confused: “he had ran/he had run.” The change won’t be in my life time. RayS.

Title: “College English’s Precursor: Excerpts from the College Edition of The English Journal.” College English (November 2011), 157-191.

The Significance of NCTE Journals

Question: What are the effects of reading the articles in NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) journals?

Quote: “But what is less available through this perspective is the cumulative effect that NCTE journals have had on their readers over time—how the studies reviewed here made their way (or did not) into the thinking and practices of NCTE members, in their roles as researchers, teachers…and as writers. How did articles sink in? How did the scenes of our teaching and research adjust as a result of our encounters with journals? These are question in need of their own empirical investigation.” P. 213.

Comment: During my three years (1967-1970) as a doctoral student at Syracuse University, I proposed a dissertation topic that was rejected by my adviser. (In fairness to her, I failed to do  my homework. The questions in the preceding quote should have been part of my preparation before bringing the topic to her attention.) What would happen, was my question, if I showed teachers how to read journal articles efficiently, showed them how to find the interesting ideas quickly. I guess I was ahead of my time. Now that the NCTE is 100 years old, questions are being raised about the effects of reading their journals. It may be time to raise my question about the effects of efficient reading of journals again. RayS.

 Title: “Struggles for Perspective: A Commentary on ‘One Story of Many To Be Told’: Following Empirical Studies of College and Adult Writing Through 100 Years of NCTE Journals.” Deborah Brandt. Research in the Teaching of English (November 2011), 210-214.