Collaborations?

The historical overview of invention that Crowley described made me wonder how the actual students entering into composition programs affect the shift in theoretical paradigms within composition and rhetoric studies. Within composition programs there are specific methodologies and aims in place, but also the reality of the preparation level the incoming students may or may not have to meet those specific goals. So how are the needs of incoming comp students aligned with the aims of a program? How do specific theories get translated into practice in what may be a less than an ideal situation? If the level of freshman coming in is sub-par and this is impacting the way college teachers must teach their students, is there something that post-secondary institutions could do to provide some form aid of to secondary schools? Are there resources that could be shared between secondary and post secondary education?

Collaborations could be initiated first on a local level where universities invest in programs to create a sense of continuity in composition and represent a logical relation between learning imperatives at the two levels. It could be counted towards faculty service requirements and would be a proactive step towards addressing the issue of freshman preparedness (which seems to greatly affect our freshman composition program). I understand that the kinds of policy enacted around secondary public education may in many ways hinder working relationships between the two. It would be difficult for teachers to introduce new teaching methods when they have specific standards they are supposed to meet and when doing well on standardized testing provides the greatest currency to school funding and job security. However, I am suspending this reality for the moment to pursue this idea.   

A conversation I had with a friend about composition led me to think of one potential area for collaboration. I asked this person if she had taken freshman comp. She received AP credit and did not, but went on to talk about her high school experiences in English, where she entered the advanced track as a freshman. In this track, they started with a very rigid idea of writing structure and rules as a basis, but over the years were taught to incorporate more freedom within their writing. She said this specific progression of rigidity to freedom over a long period of time created a basic reference for composition, but that eventually resulted in a more expansive mode of expression. Without the time frame, she doubted that it would have produced the same result.

If incoming freshman have not had this kind of preparation, what can be done about it? If the extremely structural and rule oriented approach creates results, but only over an extended time period, what can we hope for our freshman to take out of the classroom with them at the end of two semesters? If we can’t play catch up to four years of missing or inconsistent composition studies, is there another way to approach composition?

Many of my students have communicated a feeling of frustration with the amount of technology that they must use for class. Orienting them to technological modes as sites of academic and professional writing earlier than college would be beneficial. Because their interaction with communication on the internet is usually entirely social before college, learning the professional uses of online communication would not only better prepare them for the kinds of things that they will have to do in college, but expand their thinking about communication forums and show that the communication world is not sectioned into clear neat boundaries. A blog where they would begin to grasp the idea of posting academic ideas into a public forum would be a helpful start, and would also encourage the idea of learning as a socially mediated act. Instead of receiving information from teachers in familiar lecture style, they could share information and ideas with each other and begin to take ownership of their own ideas. With no outside software necessary to purchase, a blog could be a highly accessible option. Students would increase their sense of audience awareness, be able to analyze a wider range of communication mediums, and learn to incorporate feedback from peers.

This is where post-secondary collaboration could come into play. Writing programs could set up training sessions, even once a semester, to share experiences and ideas, and in the case of blogs help teachers select and get oriented to blog usage. This collaboration could benefit the post-secondary institution by producing more students ready to engage in composition at the college level. Additionally, allowing students to see individuals from universities willing to put time into their education could potentially create interest in higher education that may not have been there before for some students.