While I enjoy Elaine Scarry’s approach and thoughts on the responsibilities of the literature instructor, I wonder if it’s too grandiose of even narcissistic. I understand that we are in a way shaping minds and thought processes, but it almost looks at the students as  empty vessels.

In regards to the role of research, though, I was intrigued. It is important to keep learning and to look at the processes by which we come to an opinion. It’s something I have, in far simpler terms, tried to stress to my students- that research, learning, and the acknowledgment of the way the humanities set us apart from other animals are all important factors to the expansion of our minds. I’m not quite sure that I agree with her on the footnotes bit, but I do like the idea that research must be tested, that our ideas must be put through through the he gauntlet of academia. It implies a discourse rather than a one sided idea of learning, which is something I feel very strongly about. I think the more we teach our students to not just worry about the end goal but the entire process of formulating thought and opinion, the more they will learn.

 

 

With the research assignment, I wanted to give the students two ways in- either research something and make an argument about it or research something that he or she has always questioned and then pose why it’s bad or good and then propose an alternative. I am using the work they have already done in their journals as inspiration- they can use anything that they have in there, anything they have wondered about. They can also build on things they have mentioned in their journals. The goal is to get them to see that research and thinking is not just a fragmented process, but a linear, almost fluid thing that takes place organically. We are always thinking, always wondering; why should we let those thoughts go to waste? It’s something I’m always mentioning in the class and half the reason why I give them journal assignments.

The full assignment is posted below.

Research assignment:

We have talked a lot about how certain aspects of our identity spring from our interests and knowledge that we accumulate over time. This aggregation of knowledge starts becoming different aspects of our identity, pieces we can slip into on a whim. For example, someone who is interested in Gothic literature might find herself looking into the history surrounding it, stumbling upon the occult, and then finding her way into that world.

Research is something we do all the time, whether we realize it or not- we look up facts about our favorite teams and athletes; we sift through stats when trying to come up with the perfect fantasy football line up; we read reviews of products we are interested in buying. All of this is research in a more rudimentary form. We all make arguments based on that research- arguments for a team, arguments for a player, arguments for a product.

Research also allows us to formulate educated opinions on things, allowing us to question the status quo intelligently and eloquently and to propose an alternative.

With this assignment, you are going to look back at your daily journal entries- your manifestos included- and find something that interests you, something you have often wondered about or that is important to you. You then have two options:

1. Maybe you want to learn more about something that caught your eye. Through that research, you are going to formulate an argument about the topic, coming up with a coherent thesis and arguing that thesis in the paper.

2. Your journal entries could also inspire you to research something you’re not happy about in the world- war, politics, the role of religion in society- and have you question it and make an argument for or against it and then propose an alternative.

For example, one of you mentioned Truman and his role in World War II. You could research it, research his relationship with the generals and then argue what that relationship contributed (or did not contribute) to the war.

Another example would be how schools are moving away from reading “great works” such as A Tale of Two Cities, A Moveable Feast, The Odyssey, and Wuthering Heights. Why did schools used to read them? Why is there a movement against such works? What is lost or gained by the moving away from literature that can even be viewed as a primary source into the past? What would be an alternative to getting rid of the great works?

Make sure whatever you research you are passionate about it. The more interested and invested in the topic you are, the more successful you will be as a writer.

You should have at least 7 sources. Sources can be documents, documentaries, interviews, sound bites, etc. You are not limited to the written word. Be creative when researching; really delve deep into this topic and come up with something interesting.

The final paper is due 11/30 with a works cited page. Your paper must be uploaded by 8AM that morning, and you should hand in a hard copy in class. I WILL NOT ACCEPT LATE SUBMISSIONS.

As always, the paper should have one-inch margins all around, size 12 Times New Roman font, double spaced.

The paper should be 8 pages or 2400 words.

I’m a big believer in working on craft and practicing it regularly. My students know that they have to keep a written journal that they are supposed to put entries in 6 out of 7 days of the week. I of course give them prompts a few days of those weeks, but I am trying to encourage them to engage with the world around them in a written way, to take abstract ideas and emotions that they might struggle to put words to and find expression for them in their writing.

 

The low stakes writing piece by Peter Elbow particularly spoke to that and its ability to keep the students writing and practicing. He mentions that it helps their high stakes writing because they are writing so often. Writing takes practice. There are so many concepts that the students need to hone. I, of course, know that they won’t master the art in one semester. In fact, I would argue that there is no mastering writing, that it is a constantly evolving and changing form that develops with us. That’s something I try to express to my students, and I think the low stakes writing journal and prompt responses helps them realize that fact, even if it’s in a rudimentary way.

 

Elbow says that low stakes writing helps students become active learners. He argues that students are too often passive learners, just taking information in and not processing it or thinking about it. Low stakes writing, he argues, is a great way for students to process the information and be active thinkers. It also cuts out their reliance on a small minority of active thinkers to give the answers to them during class. In a situation like mine, where the students are timid or tired that early in the AM, the prompt that they must respond to in their journals as soon as they enter class really helps facilitate discussion and gets them thinking.  I hope it is teaching them active thinking.

 

Also, as Elbow mentioned, low stakes writing allows them to really think about the concepts without worrying about being graded on it. Granted, we have to “grade” it in some way, but it’s not the same high stakes level. There’s a bit more freedom there, and with that freedom the students might be more inclined to explore. The journals I have the students keep are their forever. I told them they can do what they want with their journals as long as they are constantly writing in them. They can put ticket stubs in with a report of a show or game they went to; they can paste photos that they find interesting and talk about those images. I give them a variety of prompts in the mornings- creative responses to quotes; retitling of paintings and reasoning behind the titling; break down the structure of a song and say how it reflects rhetorical strategies. They’ve been quite creative with their responses, and it’s been getting them to become more comfortable with expressing themselves. The more they realize that not everything is graded, that writing doesn’t just have to be about getting a letter grade, the more I think they will see it as another avenue for exploration.

 

 

My first writing assignment was going along with the idea of exploring difficult topics through writing. We have been talking a lot about structure and formal versus informal language, as well as music and its structure, in order to get into topics that might find better expression in writing as opposed to verbal discussion.

 

For their first assignment, the students had to focus on a moment in their lives that stood out to them for one of the three broad reasons below :

1. It was a moment when you realized that you were different, but also a moment when you learned to accept what made you unique and finally felt comfortable with that uniqueness
2. It was a transition moment, a time when you went from one period in your life to another
3. You were in opposition to the world around you; something about your community- it could be your family, your hometown, your country- made you realize that maybe you didn’t quite fit into the mold you had been pressed into.

 

They then had to think of the “soundtrack” for that time and incorporate that soundtrack in any way- either by mimicking the “sound” of a particular song, borrowing some of the language, or even directly quoting the piece- as a way to make the writing more visceral. We have been talking a lot about engaging the reader and understanding that there are different audiences for each piece of writing, so this was a somewhat different way of going about getting into an essay.

 

They will also then have to write a reflection piece where they answer a series of questions to evaluate their effectiveness as a writer for that piece.

 

 

I guess the issue I may want to tackle is maybe it was too broad or even too narrow. I’m always trying to think of creative ways to engage the students, particularly because it’s such an early class, and I want them to try many different kinds of writing. This would be more of a personal essay sort of piece as opposed to anything too academic, which I felt was a good segway into the the critical essay.

 

For a discussion lead topic, I would like to try one of the following, with the first being my top choice:

 

1. • Students’ Right to Their Own Language (and Identities)
2. • Defining Writing Studies in the Twenty-first Century