2/25 Reading Response: Feminist Pedagogy

Susan C. Jarratt’s “Feminist Pedagogy” was informative and on-point. Of course, I am quite biased when it regards Feminist theory and, now, feminist pedagogy. In my classroom, I would like to “Decenter or share authority, recognize students as sources of knowledge, focus of processes of writing and teaching,’ and highlight the world as sexist and patriarchal – especially the literature.

Many students have an ill-informed idea of what feminism entails. It is not male bashing; instead, it is a willingness to uncover the truth – in literature, in politics, and in economics. For instance, why did Eliot’s canon include only white men? Why are women less likely to get tenured positions in English departments? Why do white women make 72 cents for every dollar a white male makes? Or why do black women only make 50 cents for every dollar?

What about gender differences? We know biologically there are differences, but do girls and boys engage differently with text. According to the statistics, why do all girl schools make a difference in female education? There are so many questions and so few answers. It is interesting and engaging work.

2/23 Reading Response: Critical Pedagogy

I was not in total agreement with Ann George’s “Dreaming of Democracy.” Several points were intuitive and thought provoking; however, there were several points that I contend. I remember in the Harker presentation (new candidate talk), a question was asked regarding his thoughts on the purposes of English 110 and 1102. One of the professors stated that she believed, in such classes, that the priority was to teach the students to be good citizens in a democracy (something to that effect). Harker disagreed and stated that the priority of the teacher in English 1101 and 1102 is to give the students the skills to be good readers and writers.

I agree with Harker. The purpose of English 1101 and 1102 is to instruct on skill sets, analysis, etc. However, I am a womanist, and I can see many valid points in the George argument. Our world is not a vacuum. There are many outside influences that affect our outcomes. I believe that good reading and writing skills can empower and socially transform individuals. I suppose I just do not believe that citizenry and democracy building are the main goals in an English 1101 and 1102 classroom; however, it can be an added benefit.

2/18 Reading Response: Cultural Studies and Composition

While reading today’s assignment, I noted striking language, “Emphasis on the multicultural…implications of race class and gender...Cultural studies has infiltrated composition studies…represents a more deliberate use of popular culture.” All these short phrases are profound because they attempt to explain the impact of culture on teaching and writing. Cultural studies in composition are the core concepts of what Thiong’o mentions in one of his books, Moving the Centre. The backlash is unwarranted for several reasons. First, we live in a multicultural society, and the literature of one culture is not innately sublime to other cultures – although oftentimes our history has ignored that fact. Cultural studies are representative of the interconnectedness and intersectionality of American literature, art, and culture, specifically popular culture. The kids should be required to learn the established canon as well as the latest exhibition on Post Secret as well as African novels. If anything, it will help our students to be well-rounded and more grounded in the community at large. I had an opportunity to see popular culture in the classroom on yesterday. The students were engaged, and, more importantly, they were learning. For me, it is the most important – the ability to learn, make connections, and have discourse.

2/16: Reading Response-Collaborative Pedagogy

Rebecca Moore Howard’s “Collaborative Pedagogy” provided me more practical application to classroom teaching. With each reading, I have taken little snippets or clippings of practices that I would like to institute in my own classroom teaching practices. In addition, I wished that we had received the handout for Bruffee. It would have been a nice complement to the Howard article/essay.

Particularly, Howard discusses the use of group work or team work in the classroom. I have never been a proponent of grouped classroom assignments. In my experiences, and they have never been positive, I have ended up doing more work or extra assignments for those who had not read or some other act of fate – my grandmother died (three times during the semester).

I see the benefits of collaborative writing and the feedback that it allows in the writing process. I suppose, in a few classroom activities, I would encourage collaborative pedagogical approaches in the developmental stages of a writing composition; however, the final submission would be an independent project.

In the end, all the short essays have allowed me to create a bricolage of ideas and will aid me in teaching in the classroom.

Reading Response 11 Feb 2010: Rhetorical Pedagogy

Interestingly, I was familiar with the concepts in today's reading. During a Rhetorical theory course, I read and re-read Aristotle, Booth, Perlman, Burke, and others. For me, the most striking statement in William A. Covino's "Rhetorical Pedagogy" was the reference to race, class, and gender (49). As a womanist, I am always aware of the implications of triad of race, class, and gender. Covino states, "As Berlin notes, 'Cultural studies argues that the division between the cultivated poetic and the mundane rhetorical or popular is based on class, race, and gender bias and is the result of particular groups forwarding their own interests as universal values.'" After reading the statement, I immediately ordered Rhetorics, Poetics, and Culture: Refiguring English Studies and Cultural Studies in the English Classroom as well as Olson's Race, Rhetoric, and the Postcolonial.

Taking a womanist perspective in my thesis, I had explored literary texts and had not contemplated pedagogy. From the reading, I suppose I realized that inspiration could come from peculiar places. In the future, I want to explore the implications of race, class, and gender in literary texts and culture, and I want my students to have the skills to question universalist canons and standpoints.