Learning to Teach on My Own - Pedagogy Statement

"Our first responsibility is to listen with understanding to our students voices" (Lindemann, A Rhetoric, 305).

What do I want my students to take away from our classes? Based on what I've seen so far, they are coming to me with a very basic idea of written discourse, but their grammar is really not that far off, and they are good verbal communicators. What seems to be missing is the belief that writing could ever become a viable alternative to the spoken word - when they begin a written "discussion," it is as if they are being asked to speak a foreign language.

"Our function,first and foremost, is not to tell them what to say or how to express it but to help them find their own meanings and styles" (Lindemann, 305).

So, I guess my goal is for them to begin thinking of writing as just an extension of their thoughts and of spoken-word discourse. Learning is not so much learning as it is allowing them to become comfortable discovering a skill they all possess to one extent or another, one they can use to help them understand they are capable of so much more than they might believe.

Certainly, I will offer them a "toolkit" made up of grammatical rules - and explain to them that any project is easier to accomplish when you own the right tools, but do I want them to memorize the rules and drill them into their brains forever? No - for that, their toolkits can also contain resources such as their grammar handbooks and texts, dictionaries, thesauruses, and even websites (the Purdue OWL site, for instance) they can use for reference anytime.

One of the most important "tools" in their arsenal, I hope, will be an understanding of their own learning process. Along with critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, a habit of self-reflection will help them in the rest of their classes as well as in the rest of their lives.

I like Yancey's idea of using space differently in conjunction with teaching composition - and not just in the digital format. I'd love to have a permanent classroom with walls we could use to create a bulletin board for communication or a "gallery" to display work, using space that might even flow off of the page. In a community college setting, of course, this is not possible, so I'll have to find a way to create a similar feel in a portable package.

I have seen with my own eyes the engaging effects of multimedia capabilities in a classroom, but I also appreciate whiteboards and chalkboards and just using paper and pen as students free-write and work in groups.

For me, teaching is about, being a facilitator, a motivational speaker, and a resource guide as well as an instructor. I have come to believe that creating an nonthreatening atmosphere in which the students have a certain amount of control is important to many older, nontraditional students, who expect their educational experience to be relevant to their lives on many different levels.

"To listen, then, is to profess that student voices matter, matter more in fact than our own" (Lindemann, 305)