As I continue to develop my teaching philosophy, I kept
coming back to two different people: Isocrates and Dr. Ronald Bieniek (Professor
of Physics at Missouri University of Science and Technology). Although these two individuals differ in many
ways, they both have similar perspectives regarding what it means to educate a
student. According to Bizzel and Herzberg,
Isocrates opposed teaching generalities “because they screen out the
particulars (context) of a given situation, which must be considered in all
truly good moral and rhetorical decisions” (p. 69). Ron Bieniek felt the same way, but always
expressed to us that he was filling our toolboxes. He often told us during lecture that the very
nature of physics keeps physicists and students alike from deriving a general
equation to solve all of the problems we’d encounter in his course. Instead, he would fill our toolboxes with the
tools necessary to solve a problem. Our
job as students was then to determine (based on the context of our situation)
what tools to apply.
From my perspective my job as a composition instructor is to
fill my students’ toolboxes with the rhetorical tools necessary to deal with
any writing problems they encounter.
However, cultural issues tend to complicate the identification of the
tools that my students need. If you had
talked to me about my teaching philosophy in August, I would have continued to
play with this toolbox metaphor by highlighting the emphasis I place on context. Now, I really want to think about the role that
cultural rhetorics play here. Should
culture determine the tools with which I fill my students’ toolboxes? Should I ignore my students’ cultural
backgrounds and indoctrinate them into a Western rhetorical tradition? If my role as an instructor is to bring
students into the fold, I wonder what that says about the value of my students’
experiences, their cultures. Just some
things that I’ve been thinking about as I continually think about non-Western
traditions.
Nice post, David. Enjoyed reading it. There's a book I really like called _Composition in Four Keys_. The book presents articles about composition theory in terms of science and in terms of art and even nature. There are many ways to think about writing and communication, as you're suggesting. I like the idea of having toolboxes. Good teachers, for instance, come to class with a few different lessons in mind, and then move in the direction the class takes the discussion in. Sounds like Bieniek had a similar approach. I like PBL too (problem-based learning), and feel that instruction generally needs to move away from content-centered to problem-centered. Looking forward to seeing your connections about cultural issues and rhetorical tools and toolboxes. Aristotle and most classical rhetors in particular are simply providing toolboxes for speakers to share with their listeners as most appropriate. In fact, kairos is that concept of appropriateness. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with, David!
ReplyDeleteI have a book chapter I fairly recently published that may be of interest to the line of thinking that I had when making this assignment. It may be useful to skim as you massage your thinking on this assignment. See the second chapter of http://wac.colostate.edu/books/eportfolios.
I really like your idea of toolboxes. As a teacher I can see the difficulties in deciding what and how to teach. I think your concern for cultural sensitivity is appropriate, but I also think that students need to have the tools and know how to use them before they can even consider any sort of cultural influence. After you've given them the tools then cultural emphasis is definitely something to concentrate on.
ReplyDeleteDavid, I am a big fan of your toolboxes idea as well. Teaching students what tools are available and how they can apply seems like an excellent approach to teaching composition and physics. I don't cultural considerations will affect what tools you provide, rather it should drive how you teach them to apply the tools. Like we are seeing with rhetoric, most of the tools can be used in many different ways.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this sensitivity to cultural issues in your teaching, David! I'm looking forward to your discussion on Monday. I'm curious how you handle literature review, citation, and plagiarism in your courses? I have had challenges negotiating cultural beliefs and practices about attribution of content that is taken from another source. How can I sensitively address different perspectives on stealing work and honoring work (Asian culture)
ReplyDeleteHi David, I wasn't able to comment on a blog entry for your draft philosophy assignment, so I'll post my question here. Might you be able to describe an example of how you bring your professional experiences into the classroom? I am always interested in how and when to bring in real-world experiences into classroom lessons.
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