Week 5: Andragogy

 What is andragogy, and how might the approach help in teaching FYC?

Andragogy is a term that refers to the processes and theories involved in the education of adult learners.  The concept of andragogy, often referred to as “adult learning practice,” was brought to the attention of the public in the United States by Malcolm Knowles, who approached the idea from a logical standpoint.  Knowles theorized his ideas behind adult learning, which he wanted to blatantly distinguish from pedagogy (the processes and methods of educating children), and asserted that andragogy should revolve around six basic assumptions; these assumptions operate around the concept that adults need motivation in order to learn efficiently.

Knowles argues that adults need to be given the rationale behind completing assignments or readings, otherwise they will not likely complete it, as their time can be better spent. He also suggests that learning should be problem-centered, an idea that gives adults ample opportunity to learn and build from their mistakes or errors. Knowles believes that experience is a tool that is essential for teaching adults.  Additionally, he asserts that, in order for adults to maximize their learning and retention of information, they need to be an active part in the scheduling and methods of evaluation used in the class.  Knowles argues that relevance also plays a big role in motivating adults to learn; it is important, he asserts, that adult students are interested in issues surrounding their immediate lives, making it important to establish a relevance between the students themselves and the topics of study. Lastly, Knowles asserts that it is important to recognize that adults respond best to external stimuli when it comes to becoming motivated, which places a great emphasis upon the teacher and his/her methodology.

I think that considering Knowles’s idea of andragogy could be incredibly useful if applied to First Year Composition.  Within these classes, the student demographic consists majorly freshmen, all of who are recent high school graduates.  These students, having been newly “freed” from the surveilling gaze of their parents, are truly beginning to come into the early stage of adulthood, learning how to take care of certain responsibilities that they’ve often never considered doing before.  By applying the ideas Knowles presents in his theory of andragogy, students might learn skills not only useful within the field of academia, but also practical skills that might aid them in the “real world.”

I believe that allowing students to participate in constructing a schedule might empower them.  By giving students a sense of agency over the material that they must read and over certain aspects of assignments, we, as teachers, would allow them to realize the importance of their roles within the classroom; students would feel as if they have voice within the classroom, which might aid their confidence in group discussion. I think, in order to execute this idea of students playing an active role in the creation of the class (to a degree, of course), it would be useful to design assignments that have several options.  By providing students with a variety of choices to choose from with the same learning outcomes, I believe that they would interact with the material with more depth, which would stimulate much more generative discussions within the classroom.

Additionally, I believe that the relevance of topics plays a paramount role in teaching and instruction. By implementing lessons that can be immediately applied to the students being taught, teachers can transcribe the learning points into the world that presents itself most obviously to the students.  In other words, by utilizing new forms of technology, new fads or fashions, contemporary music, current issues or debates, and many other topics within the classroom, teachers can show students the importance of learning the certain skill, while also teaching it in terms that they understand. 

Finally, I think it is vital to let students know the justification behind assignments, along with the projected learning outcomes. Throughout the majority of their high school careers, students are given tome-sized stacks of assignments, which they are expected to complete even though they do not often understand the purpose of the work.  By telling FYC students what the projected outcomes of the assignments are, students become motivated to achieve those goals, and it dictates to them what is expected of their work, in terms of quality and content.  This strategy would teach students the importance of completing work as the assignment dictates (a very beneficial skill to possess in the corporate and academic spheres), the importance of their role within the classroom, and the importance of communication between student and instructor.

I think that the concepts of andragogy could be directed very well within a FYC classroom, leading to more rounded learning outcomes and better engagement from both teachers and students.

Week 4: Teaching Philosophy

When undertaking the task of teaching students not how to write, but how to compose, it is imperative to understand the diverse demographic of the classroom and the multiple backgrounds from which students come. In order to reach the entirety of those being taught, it is necessary to consider that all students interpret things differently than others. It is also necessary to take into account the amount of effort that students put into completing assignments and into engaging within the class.  With these factors in mind, I believe that teaching should revolve around the following ideas, which cannot be neglected or dismissed at any point throughout the teaching process:

1. The classroom is a community comprised of teacher and students; without either half, the community is incomplete.

2. Students should be met with an empathy that allows teachers to understand and that keeps communication open on both ends.

3. Communication, both oral and written, should be placed at the forefront of the classroom, stressing the inability to compose without clarity in communication.

4. Creativity is the mind’s way of understanding and compartmentalizing ideas that are difficult to comprehend; room for creativity should exist within the classroom to ensure that students are given the utmost possibility of reaching their maximum potential as writers and readers.

5. Revision should be endless; without the opportunity to self-correct, or to rearrange thoughts, students would not understand why certain things do or do not work when composing.

By introducing the classroom as a communal setting, I allow my students to understand that they are just as much a part of the learning process as I am, as an instructor.  Getting students acknowledge their active role within the classroom frames the class itself around students’ engagement, which allows them to feel as if they get out of the class whatever they put into it.  I teach that, without communication regarding the assignments and the subject matter, students will not be able to portray their abilities accurately upon the page.  It is necessary to employ a method of immediate communication with students, inside and outside of class, to ensure that they understand what I am teaching, why I choose certain methods over others, and how they are developing under my instruction. 

I believe that it is vital for my own efficacy, as a teacher, to inform students that I am human, too.  By informing that I make mistakes and that I understand what it is like to be an undergraduate, I hope to establish a level of comfort within them when asking me questions or when approaching me with any concerns, school-related or not.  I desire for students to become empowered by words, as I once was, and I hope that I can motivate them toward viewing composition as an unadulterated form of communication.  I believe in assessing the ways in which students learn and in incorporating a variety of learning styles into the way I teach, with the hope of inspiring more students than before.

I assert that embracing creativity within the classroom is the key to students’ eventual understanding.  By providing them with a variety of methods through which to attain the same goal, whether it be rhetorical or literary analysis, I believe that students are more likely to grasp the concepts behind composition, along with the reasons behind its importance.  If a student is able to express him-/herself in a variety of genres and styles, I believe that their understanding of both rhetoric and composition as a discipline increases. In coincidence with my belief in embracing creativity, I also believe that revision should be consistently reaffirmed.  When students are given multiple chances to reorganize ideas, to rethink their diction, or to refocus a thesis, they have a much higher chance of both becoming stronger writers and of understanding the subject matter with clarity.

To teach is to connect language and ideas across a variety of media, to motivate students to express themselves clearly and without reservation, and to understand the mental gears that exist beyond language, culture, and history.  To teach is to inspire and, most importantly, to remind students that life exists apart from the immediate.

Week Three: Types of Assignments for FYC

Based on your teaching philosophy (which may change over time), what are types of assignments which you would include in a FYC syllabus?

Due to my belief that teaching should always involve an interaction between students and their instructors, rather than a time teachers devote to cramming information down uninterested students’ throats, I believe that it is necessary to have students engage with texts and with writing each class period.  Through a variety of writing and reading assignments and exercises, students learn to recognize their strengths and weaknesses within their own writing, which helps them avoid making the same mistakes in the future.  I do, however, believe that these assignments need to be carefully selected and molded to the specific class and their abilities to perform within the discipline of composition and rhetoric.  Activities of this nature that would prove to be the most beneficial would need to have a specific focus and learning outcome that the student could both perceive and attain through careful work.  These assignments need to be explained in class, with their purposes delineated (when necessary) and with examples that might guide the students while working.  I do acknowledge, in some cases, that it might be better to avoid providing an example, as doing so might limit the students’ potential.

            A type of assignment that would serve as a useful tool in the teaching of FYC might be, what I’ll term, a “Verb-Identifying” assignment.  Many students are not aware that strong, active verbs are indicative of strong writing.  By providing excerpts from a persuasive piece, a critical analysis, and a creative writing piece (say, a poem) and then having students identify the verbs within the excerpts, the subjects of the sentence, and the tenses of the verbs, students would understand the importance of utilizing strong, specific verbs in their writing.  This assignment would give students the opportunity to interact directly with a variety of different texts, and it would even be more beneficial if expanded past verb identification and were to include transition words and phrases as well. 

            Another assignment I think it would be useful for students to engage in is one in which students are provided with samples of writing that all exhibit a range of differing tones. They should then be asked to read the samples (which each should be 3-5 pages in length), after which they have to state the tone that they author (or speaker) adopts in his/her piece.  Following identification of the tone, students should be required to identify the audience of the piece and to indicate why the tone might have been used as it was.  Students should also identify certain rhetorical choices that the author makes in employing that specific tone and how those choices invoke the tone.  This activity would teach students how to identify an audience within a text, along with teaching them how to identify rhetorical choices; by focusing closely upon these devices within a few texts, students will hopefully begin to understand how authors employ rhetoric, which might aid them in their own writing. 

            Finally, I feel that the students should engage in some sort of writing activity a few times a week that will allow them, following their time spent in class, to trace the progress of their writing skills.  I think requiring two or three weekly blog posts would cause students to practice their skills throughout the week, allowing them to continually work on the craft.  Although I do not think that the blog prompts should be too prescriptive, I think they should set appropriate boundaries for the students. Each should include a minimum word count of 300 words, to ensure that students have to take the time to consider HOW they will craft a response of that length.  I also think that each post should have a different “theme” to it.  One post should be a thoughtful response to an assigned reading that other students might benefit from reading; a second post might be a persuasive piece, or an ad, in which students attempt to persuade the reader of something (which the student might choose as long as it is appropriate for the classroom).  The third blog should be open for the students to choose what genre of entry to submit.  This assignment would engage students in writing frequently, and would allow peers to interact with less restraints, which might work to benefit learning outcomes on a classroom, rather than individual, level. 

Week Two: The Most Difficult Thing to Teach

What is the most difficult thing to teach in the teaching of writing, and how do you go about teaching that?

Although I have never taught writing, as of this point in my life, it is obvious that I have been involved in the teaching process (as a student) for a number of years.  I recall that the act of writing always felt natural to me, which, in my younger years, I took for granted.  When thinking about the difficulties of composition that I did run into, those with which my peers struggled as well, I identify critical analysis as the area that caused the most trouble. It is for this reason that I maintain that critical analysis is, indeed, the most difficult aspect of teaching writing.

Although it would seem logical to have students read examples of critical analyses while pointing out characteristics and important aspects of the writing, this does not, in fact, teach them how to construct a cohesive argument centered on a central topic.  A critical analysis requires students to carefully read a text, to pick a focal point from that text which they will argue for or against, and to draft a cohesive response that thoroughly addresses the text and all aspects of the argument.  I believe the first two steps in this process are much easier to teach than the actual composition of the analysis.  To begin with, teachers can walk students through close-reading by taking the time to read a text aloud with them and by verbalizing the process.  After demonstrating the process of close-reading, teachers can provide an example of how to select an aspect of the text with which to argue for or against.  It is the act of composing the analysis that presents the greatest issue.

In order to teach the composition of a critical analysis, it is imperative that teachers stress the importance of developing critical thoughts, which can be supported by textual evidence, over opinion.  The distinction between opinion and analysis should be stressed from the beginning of the process, as should the distinction between summary and analysis.  In order to do this, teachers should prompt students to continually ask themselves, “How is what I am saying relevant to the text?” and, “Does this thought further my argument?” Teachers should provide examples of both summary and opinion, and they should juxtapose these examples with a good example of analysis.  Furthermore, teachers should require students to draft some form of a pre-writing exercise that illustrates how they will organize and transition between ideas.  An exemplary form of this exercise is the outline, which requires students to state their general argument, to select points of interest relevant to the argument, and to select specific textual examples that support these points of interest.

In order to ensure that students attempt to engage in critical analysis, teachers should provide a list of good transition words.  It is necessary for teachers to emphasize the importance of constructing fluidity within an argument, which providing a list of this nature might do.  Familiarizing students with a range of words designed to connect thoughts allows teachers to illustrate the level of cohesion that this type of writing requires, and it directs students’ thoughts toward furthering their argument, rather than restating it.  An additional resource that would be useful in teaching the composition of critical analysis could be a list of strong, active verbs.  It is important that the students’ claims are progressing that which they are arguing; by providing a list of strong verbs from which to choose, teachers might aid in eliminating many of the static statements that students make.

Another important aspect of teaching the composition of critical analysis is having students draft a series of interrelated questions that they intend to address, if not answer, in their analyses.  Students should be prompted to ask “how?” “why?” and “to what extent?” in order to ensure they address the important aspects of their arguments.  These questions would provide direction for them if they became stuck, or unsure of which direction to direct their thoughts; furthermore, this would help students develop their thoughts, which might aid them in arranging them logically.