Joe's Textbook Review

Joe’s Textbook Reviews

I. Rosenwasser, David and Jill Stephen. Writing Analytically, 4th Edition. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006.

Overall, this is a good practical text. Most of what it describes/prescribes agrees with my ideas on writing, critical reading, analysis; its ideas are generally memorable and easy to apply to a variety of texts. The book includes examples of analysis of visual arguments (paintings), poems, movies, history texts, etc. Other topics of writing samples include sports issues and gender inequality; example papers include literary analysis, research analysis, and scientific writing.

The basic elements used by the text (especially its analysis method) are repeated throughout the book; generally there’s a sense of things carrying over, of chapters building on each other, of continued relevance of what you learned earlier. I like this self-reinforcing; for someone learning concepts, repetition is good. The book is structured loosely enough so that one could use the chapters out of order and not suffer unduly; terms are often briefly redefined for the reader. The general applicability of the content would probably allow it to fit with most course designs and paper topics, and it’s short enough that you could use most or all of the text without much problem. I especially admire its focus on analyzing and writing before acquiring a thesis, and letting the thesis grow from what’s learned in early stages of analysis and writing.

Contents: Seeing better: the analytical habit of mind
What is analysis and how does it work?
Putting analysis to work Reading: how to do it and what to do with it
Linking evidence and claims
Making a thesis evolve
Recognizing and fixing weak thesis statements
Introductions and conclusions
Organizations
Style: choosing words
Style: shaping sentences and cutting the fat
Writing the researched paper
Finding and citing sources (includes electronic research)
Nine basic writing errors and how to fix them

Chapter Format:
Quick Take: a preview of major elements from the chapter; some good summary language here. Within each chapter (with one exception) are 2-4 major elements; within each element are several subheadings. Usually there are 4-5 “Try This” sections sprinkled throughout to illustrate and provide practice for the concepts; some of these would work well as in-class activities, and some are more appropriate as homework assignments. There’s usually at least one “assignment” which could be used either as a short, preparatory writing, an element in a paper assignment, or a paper assignment in its own right. The chapter concludes with a “Guidelines” section marked off in green, recapitulating the key points of each section. The highlight boxes, sidebars, and frequent bullet-point outlining make it easy to follow and (comparatively) visually interesting.

Highlights: key points offset in grey; recap of central points at end of chapter; good sample writing in the text; numerous and generally useful “Try This” examples, suggesting practical applications of chapter concepts. Some are best suited for homework, and some work very well in class. “Voices Across the Curriculum” sidebars contain valuable information from non-English professors regarding what they look for in writing. Chapter 8 (Introductions and Conclusions) seems especially useful and practical, as is most of the material on critical analysis, which is very practical and memorable.

Problems: occasionally the language is a little dry, though it’s usually straightforward and memorable; considering the amount of good content, the instructor would probably need to help students prioritize their reading. Some chapters seem a bit large to address in a single 50-minute class, especially if you use the “Try This” sections. To get the most out of the book, you’d need to spend a lot of time on it, but I think it would be very useful to students who aren’t used to analytic writing. The book does not include citation style, though it does include a chapter on common writing errors; if you can find a citation style guide online, you may not need a separate style manual. Sections on argument itself seem rushed and less easy to acquire.

There’s also a version with readings: more fully formed examples of arguments than are presented in the main text.

Price: $45.95, more expensive than I remembered. There are a number of 1000 instructors who use this text, so there should be used copies around for students. Its usefulness for other writing fields makes it more of a keeper for students than Everything’s an Argument. 384 pages.

II. Lunsford, Andrea, John J. Ruskiewicz, Keith Walters. Everything’s an Argument with Readings. Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2007.

It’s forward thinking, though maybe not as much as Compose Design Advocate. From my non-hardcore rhet-comp perspective, it looks like a good book for a hardcore rhet-comper.

Includes basic elements of argument (pathos, ethos, logos),
How to write arguments (Toulmin-style, fact, definition, evaluation, causal, proposal),
Style and presentation (writing style, use of humor, visual argument, multimedia and web presentation),
Conventions (evidence, fallacies, intellectual property and plagiarism, use of sources, documentation using MLA and APA style).

The last 400-odd pages contain samples of arguments (visual included) on different topics: body image, ethnic/cultural stereotypes, controversies in sports, bilingual culture and education in the U.S., language and identity, religion and public life, diversity in higher education, how Americans are perceived abroad.
Recurring “Not Just Words” section in each chapter highlights visual argument. Another recurring sidebar is called “If Everything’s an Argument...” and invites students to question the book itself.

Highlights: packed with visual argument, including some very striking, even disturbing images. Content is very timely. I think the book will definitely force students to think outside of their assumptions, and will encourage them to see everything as an argument. The book includes MLA and APA citation style.

Problems: it’s over 1000 pages long. Effort to stay very timely may mean frequent revision of the text. It’s very complete, so it might be difficult to get to everything with additional paper assignments; if you use this book, you’d probably want to structure the entire course around it, especially the version with readings. The sheer amount of content verges on overwhelming. The textual material itself is presented in a straightforward manner and is understandable, though the visual presentation of the text isn’t as easy to follow as Writing Analytically. The book doesn’t really include any nuts-and-bolts stuff; no treatment of introductions or conclusions, for example. Also there’s a lot of white space, though some of you may like that.

Price: $61.95 with readings
Online support: Instructor’s Notes (to print out), Course Management Solutions (online) – suggests for class plans, etc. Packages: can also get i-Cite, a CD-ROM on citing new media texts, evaluating visual sources including TV, websites. The CD also includes tutorials, exercises on evaluating and incorporating sources from new media.

Another Textbook Review

I think I forgot to post it before. Better late...

The College Writer. A Guide to Thinking, Writing, and Researching, 2/e, 2007 VanderMey, Verne Meyer, John Van Rys, Patrick Sebranek

The textbook has colorful design, which makes easier looking for the different sections in it. It offers a good step-by-step approach to writing based on close reading and analysis of essays. There is a good choice of essays wrote by the authors of ficition, journalisis and students on the different controversial topics such as gender, environment, language, health etc. The chapter called “One Writer’s Process” is very detailed in showing the process of brainstorming, drafting, revision and proofreading, which is very helpful for a student. The textbook has a chapter dedicated to conducting Internet research. It also touches the topic of visual argument in the introduction though, in general, does not go beyond the methods of textual rhetoric.

The weaknesses I see are the confusing grammar reference and too many hyperlinks inside the book. On some pages, there is too much color and the valuable information is not on the brightest part of the page.

The Confident Writer, by Carol C. Canar. 3/e 2006.

This textbook also has an approach of step-by-step following through all the stages of a writing process. Much attention is given to the basics of critical thinking and different strategies of starting he paper (brainstorming, freewriting etc.) The latter one is very helpful because to start an essay is sometimes the most difficult thing to do. The book has clear explanations, and each chapter is based on the analysis of an essay or an article. These materials are quite interesting, and many of them are dedicated to the different kinds of intercultural experience. The handbook is very detailed though it contains some theoretical information that seems to be unnecessary for the mechanics of writing. I also see the disadvantages of The Confident Writer in its lack of attention to any kind of visual rhetoric or new technologies. It is a very traditional approach, and a student may be bored with it.

Writing instruction

Since you guys heard me complain about the lack of writing instruction in Everything's an Argument, I thought I would would you know that I think I have found a nice supplement for text. Bedford offers a really small, cheap book that focuses on writing and revising, cleverly entitled, you guessed it, Writing and Revising. The latter text retails for $16 new on Amazon and runs as cheap as $3.50 used. New, from the bookstore, the combination of the two texts should be less than $50 all told. And, let's not forget, these books are small. Yay small books.

Just thought you might want to know.

--Bri

The Messy, Glorious Hairball of the Real World

I saw this blurb for a new book on BoingBoing, and it struck me as somehow relevant to our class. It seems to me that part of the reason so many instructors are wary of technological innovation may be tied to the anxiety of hierarchy. This book (from the blurb at least) seems to suggest that the internet is radically anti-hierarchical (definitely true), which would seem to put it at odds with the traditional structure of academia. Perhaps what we are experiencing when we deal with this anxiety is a kind of "betweenness" (to drop some Heidegger) -- a sense that we are historically between two epistemological frameworks. I think our era may be comparable to the Copernican and Einsteinian epistemological shifts. The internet is teaching us how to know the world differently. But we don't quite understand all that this "new knowing" entails yet. Thus, the anxiety. At least, that's my take. Here's the blurb:

David Weinberger's "Everything is Miscellaneous" is the kind of book that binds together innumerable miscellaneous threads and makes something new, coherent, and incontrovertible out of them. Weinberger's thesis is this: historically, we've divided the world into categories, topics, and hierarchies because physical objects need to be in one place or another, they can't be in all the places they might belong. Computers and the Internet turn this on its head: because a computer can "put things" in as many categories as they need to be in, because individuals can classify knowledge, tasks, and objects idiosyncratically, the hierarchy is revealed for what it always was, a convenient expedient masquerading as the True Shape of the Universe.

It's a powerful idea: from org charts to science, from music to retail theory, from government to education, every field of human endeavor is tinged with hierarchy, and every hierarchy is under assault from the Internet. One impact of this change is that it reveals the biases lurking underneath the editorial carvery of our systems. From the Dewey Decimal system's laughable clunkers (mentalist bunkum gets its own category, but Islam has to share a decimal with a couple competing "Eastern" faiths) to the Britannica's paring away at "old" biographies to make way for the new, Weinberger makes a compelling case for a new kind of knowledge that more faithfully represents the messy, glorious hairball of the real world.

A Hill of Beans

Sorry for the late post. I agree with most of the comments on the helpful advice of Bean and Curzan and Damour. I think both books will be helpful to revisit from time to time. Something that interested me was Bean's comments on individual conferences, which I think can be tricky and, if done incorrectly can look as if the instructor is just wasting time. I also think they can be incredibly valuable, especially in explaining some of the comments you've written on their papers. Sometimes the notes we give on essays, no matter how clearly expressed we think they are, are not completely understood by the student, and a conference can help to further explain these notes. In the past, I've looked at conferences as an opportunity for the student to show up and have these notes explained to them, and I think there is a certain value to that. However, looking back on it, I realize I wasn't expecting anything from them other than to show up, and receive my pearls of wisdom. I think that a better approach would be for the student to come in with questions, for them to be bringing something to the table, so that they come in already thinking about their essay. I think that the approach I was using made it to where they probably were not thinking about the paper much until the moment they sat down with me. I also like the idea of distinguishing between higher and lower order concerns, and making clear before the conference, in an address to the entire class, that the conference will focus only on higher order concerns.

This blog is full of Beans!

Like most of you who have blogged so far (even though the syllabus says we don't have to...I'm a fool for peer pressure), I like the idea of front-loading the course. What's more, I think it makes a huge deal of sense for English 1000 with its emphasis on process. Presumably our students are going to develop better writing skills as the semester progresses, so if we force them (yes, Claire, I also like the compulsion factor) to do tough work early on, they will get into the habit of a rigorous work ethic. I remember that one of the most horrifying days of my undergrad career was the first day in a Shakespeare course when the professor expected us to explicate a sonnet and to explain the linguistic roots of Elizabethan English vocabulary words. The second day, half of the class was gone. I stuck it out and today I am an official English Dork. (But to be fair, those people who dropped the class probably took another one that lead them to gainful employment. My bad.)

Maybe cracking down in the first few weeks wouldn't do the trick, but I'm pretty sure if we all demand a lot from our students (C&D's concept of assigning responsibility), they will put in the work. Nothing motivates a kid like realizing that s/he can't just slide by in a class scraping together extra credit points. Honestly though... how many students in the WL have we seen that don't care about their classes because the instructors expect them to do *all* the work without explaining how or why to do it? If the concepts and significance of a topic are explained, the students will be interested. If the concepts are entirely abstract, grounded in "literature of a past generation," and don't seem applicable to the students' lives, forget it.

So I guess this gets at Bean's point of designing good assignments. Well, duh. But that's a lot easier said than done, darling Bean. And obviously all the strategies I'm expounding on here (or at least trying to) are very idealistic and seem like common sense. Maybe it's just that I'd rather be thinking about anything other than seminar papers right now, but I'm feeling particularly excited about where my class is going to go. And I want to talk about it and listen to what everybody else is doing (um, *hello*, syllabus parties!).

Or maybe it's all the caffeine giving me heart arrhythmia.

Blogging in the Bean Fields

As I blog about Bean for the last time this semester I can't help shedding a small tear. When will I ever find a name better than Bean?

As always, I appreciate the good advice we can always count on from Bean. Like Tim, I'm into the discovery draft idea as an early submission during the writing process (221). It seems like such a good idea to force students to start thinking as early as possible. This is true for me as well. So far in grad school I've written better papers when I was forced to hand in a draft early in the writing process. Hectic as this was, it makes things so much easier in the long run, I think. I like the idea of concept maps or idea maps instead of outlines. Personally I'm a fan of outlines but they've got such a stigma that it seems best to have alternative planning devices to offer students.

Bean's section on peer review was interesting but not very helpful, I felt. I like the idea of peer reviews but it's troubling that they so often wind up being a waste of time. A friend of mine revised her peer review process when she discovered the usual routine wasn't working. Instead of having students exchange drafts, she has students grade each other's papers anonymously. They have to grade as if they are the instructor and they use her rubric in order to grade papers. She tells me that this results in a much more substantive exchange of comments and suggestions, and it also helps students understand why they get the grades they do. She hands back the student-graded paper at the same time she hands back the copy she herself has graded. Apparently this is working well, and I think I'll try it in my own class.

Random Bean Counting

As Tim says, YES to front-loading. Actually we've done a fair amount in the course so far, but it's all those little details that get you.

I love the idea of students preparing discussion questions; this is a good way to motivate actually reading what they're assigned to read without our having to grade something. I might use the discussion board as part of this.

C&D's suggestion to schedule student assignments around our own is nice, but seems highly impractical unless we wait to make up the full class schedule until _after_ we get syllabi for the classes we're taking. And that would be tricky.

Bean's paired interviews sounds neat for early-process peer review- can help a student see whether they're writing a viable argument. I'm worried about the pairings though- an unmotivated D student may not be very much help to anyone else. I'll still probably try this though.

And I'm big on the idea of discovery drafts, as Jack calls them; I certainly don't want to see a 2-page mess as a 1st submission. For a research paper, a prospectus or abstract (or both) sounds like a good way to keep them on schedule and help them manage research. It definitely worked for me as an undergraduate- helped combat my natural procrastination (my father once bought me a book on fighting procrastination. I haven't read it yet).

While still resisting B&C&D's ideas on abruptly shutting off conferences, I like their ideas on structuring conferences- I think I might adapt their meeting model, and emphasize to students that they need to prepare for conferences too (specific questions etc.).

C&D reassure us that teaching is a process. I like that. I'd like to believe that I'll get better at this, and it will be good to remember that even a lousy class will only last for a semester, and then I'll never have to see them again. Ahhhh.

Balancing the Madness

I think Chapter 10 of Curzan and Damour, as usual, provides some valuable practical advice for surviving the first year of teaching. I plan to use this summer extensively for the "frontloading" that they suggest. I'm going to read and re-read White Noise, immerse myself in The World is a Text, and polish my syllabus and class notes to an uncanny shine. I think I may even try to get a good deal of my handouts copied and filed before the semester ever begins. I feel that if I go into the semester with organized materials and a really clear idea of what I'm trying to do, then I will succeed (in not making a fool of myself, and wasting my students' time).

I also appreciated the fact that Curzan and Damour took the stigma off "sharing the burden." Personally, I plan to use a lot of activities that will shift the focus away from me as awkward spectacle and towards the group as interactive community. And if I can find anyone foolhardy enough to volunteer as a guest speaker, then I guarantee I will take him/her up on it. Diversity is conducive to learning, and, besides, I can guarantee there will be weeks that I just don't want to lecture for an hour straight. Actually, I hope to very rarely (if ever) rely on the traditional, marathon-lecture format for my classes. Such a structure seems both overly taxing and likely to induce rampant snoring.

Book Reviews

Brief Book Reviews

#1 Between Worlds, A Reader, Rhetoric, and Handbook. Pearson Longman. Susan Bachmann and Melinda Barth. 2007. Fifth edition. 626 pages. $66.00.


This is a promising textbook that might actually work well in the classroom for me. I have been looking for a text that would allow the students to explore the themes related to cross-cultural/intercultural communication. I wanted to use this topic area as a frame to explore argumentative writing. I think that I would be able to do that with this text in that it offers some specific readings that take up issues involving intercultural communication.

The book is nicely divided – very traditional I suspect – in the following manner:

Part I The Reader

Part II The Rhetoric

Part III The Handbook

There appears to be a substantial amount of cross-referencing going on between all areas of the text which I believe will help to make the book more of a piece to the students. I like the way the reader provides a variety of essays in many different genres in the following categories:

Chapter 1: Between Generations
Chapter 2: Between Genders
Chapter 3: Between Cultures
Chapter 4: Between Perceptions
Chapter 5: Between Values
Chapter 6: Between Screens

Chapter 6 above deals with visual culture – film as text, image as text. This section looks interesting and it looks like it would provide a real material change from the forgoing chapters. The chapters has activities and exercise that deal with six different films.

While this book does pick up and explore some of the topics that I am interested in exploring in the class, I am a little concern that it is really just to much book. It weighs a ton and goes over 600 pages. Do I, do my students, really need such a mighty tome. Physically and visually, I would like to find something a bit more elegant, something along the lines of Bri’s book, Everything Is An Argument.

#2 Frame Work, Culture, Storytelling, and College Writing. Gary Columbo, Bonnie Lisle, Sandra Mano. Bedford Books. Boston. 1997. $56.95

I continue in my adventure of learning what “culture” means in the United States and specifically what it means in English departments. In Japan, they tend think of Cultures as monolithic, i.e. the Japanese culture, the American Culture. When they talk of internationalization, they think of it in terms of learning more about other cultures, learning how to interact with other cultures, learning more about your own culture and what assumptions and values you carry with you – often unknown and un-reflected upon. Cultural anthropologists like Edward Hall speak about the importance of hidden culture – all the stuff below the surface – below our awareness - that informs and shapes much of way we interpret the world – the way we behave in it. Culture of this sort is a deep river baby. OK enough of that..

This book is disappointing, period. So, I really don’t want to say too much about it other than to explain what is disappointing. Culture in this book seems to refer to ethnicity, near as I can tell. I’m not saying that is a bad thing. I think there is a lot of truth to the notion that a classroom of university students brings with it a lot of “cultural” diversity, one hopes. My issue is this, the authors have decided on a “fresh new approach” to writing ( Yeah, like that SOUNDs fresh) and this new approach asks the students to focus on writing narrative stories as a way of developing their writing, and also as a way of social empowerment, I think. Hmm.

Now, I as a guy interested in non-fiction writing, I hope I don’t have a problem with narrative essays. My issue is this, are freshman university students really going to be well served by learning how to write narrative essays instead of argumentative/analytical essays? Apparently, the authors of this text believe so:

“Recent research in anthropology, linguistics, cognitive science, and women’s and ethnic studies suggests that our understanding of the world is mediated by story frames – culturally constructed narrative patterns that filter, organize, and interpret all of our experiences. The concept of the story frame offers a powerful alternative to pedagogies based on personal/academic or narrative/analytic oppositions.”

Well, I dunno, there you go. Maybe we need to dump this academic analytic stuff, especially in light of that “recent research.”

Seriously, I think I follow the argument they are making, and I believe there is something to be said for it. But I am troubled. I am thinking students need to learn “the language of the academy,” in a sense. I know that might sound rough – and I don’t mean to disparage the cultural histories of the students. I am really speaking here about how best we serve them, serve their needs? Don’t they need to develop their argumentive/analytic writing skills to survive in the university and beyond it?

The authors of this text in keeping with their over all purpose and design have included readings primarily from minority writers. “Most of the selections we’ve included are by authors who stand outside the dominant culture, and more than half are by women.” This is not a bad thing. One could easily argue that it is about time such an anthology was used in the class. My concern is with the somewhat implicit message in this i.e. writers outside the dominant culture write in narrative forms. Or, maybe it means that writers outside the dominant culture CAN’T write in academic argumentative form an by implication students outside that dominant form can’t either and therefore we are going to offer this new approach - take it down a notch and teach young writers (who are outside the dominant culture) this empowering narrative way of writing? Am I missing something here?

So you see, I am bothered by the science here and by the presuppositions the authors are making in deliberately privileging the narrative essay over the academic/analytical essay. They are doing all of this in the name of greater cultural sensitivity – diversity.

“Because the idea of cultural diversity lies at the heart of our approach to composition, Frame Work weaves a broad selection of readings into its cultural storytelling approach to college writing.”

What I have been reminded of in looking at textbooks is how political an act it can be to choose any text for class.

In closing, (I wasn’t going to say much about this book) this book bmight work for a different kind of college writing class, but I don’t think it is suitable for a class in argumentative writing. My hunch is that this would be an effective lead-in text to a class like ours.

Bean there, done that.

Considering that this is the last week of class, I couldn't resist one last pun on Bean's name. This week, I again found Bean's suggestions useful, particularly in his advice on how to make the most of the time we have with our students.

I appreciated his suggestion to use models feedback on some assignments (p. 236); I anticipate using this on some of my shorter assignments. For example, when they write their research paper, I intend to have them do an annotated bibliography beforehand. This seems like a good assignment to do models feedback on.

I thought the idea of group conferences (p. 234) was interesting, but I must admit that I can't really picture how this would work. Does anyone else have ideas? What kinds of "common writing problems" would be useful to work through in this way?

This is unrelated to our readings, but I wanted to mention it anyway, since I found it encouraging. I was talking to a couple of friends earlier today, and they both commented that their freshman writing classes were a couple of the most useful classes they'd ever taken--in preparation for both other classes and for life in general, according to one of them. One of my friends commented that he hated his writing teacher by the end of the semester but that, looking back, he's really grateful for all of the work she made him do. I'm kind of hoping that my students don't hate me, but I guess the moral of the story is that it's okay if they do.

Belated Textbook Reviews

Rebecca Richardson
EN 8010
Textbook Reviews
Sorry these are so delayed. I completely forgot to post them. Thanks for your understanding you guys. I am also sorry the first one is so long.

Writing in a Visual Age
by Lee Odell and Susan Katz
Bedford/St. Martins

This book is designed to aid students with reading visual texts as well as incorporating their own visuals into their assignments. Because of this claim, I was very excited to review this textbook. However, I was not overly impressed with the textbook itself once I perused it. At first glance, it seems very promising. The layout is colorful (although there seems to be no coding system behind the use of color) and provides many visual examples. The sections are clearly organized from the chapters themselves to the supplemental sections.
Throughout each chapter, a similar format is followed. They explain the topic thoroughly, give examples, and then outline the assignment. The prose has a natural, easy flow and a causal voice, which I think makes it reader friendly. Plus, the vocabulary/diction is well-rounded and strong. Content of each chapter is interesting and varied as well, with chapters on subjects such as profiles, position papers, and research. Also included are a glossary, an index, a quick reference menu, and a contents listing. These sections are very well organized, providing useful information. I especially like the honesty of the contents sections which implicitly emphasizes that one does not have to cover all sections in a single course. Plus, Bedford publishing usually has the option of customizing a textbook, printing only those chapters which an instructor will need for his/her course.
However, despite the positive layout, the overall content leaves much to be desired. In their effort to be visually appealing and contemporary, the designers have gone overboard, bombarding the reader with too many visuals, creating distraction and confusion. I even felt overwhelmed and unable to focus as I read through the book. Another negative for this book is the fact that the assignment section of each chapter is so long and detailed, students are guided through every possible step with so much information that the assignment is practically done for them, teaching them essentially nothing. The questions are leading instead of thought-provoking which does not allow critical thinking to develop. Also, the steps which are glossed over are usually the vital steps about computer programs, even information as to which programs should be used. I feel this neglect assumes too much technological knowledge on the part of both the students and the instructors. In fact, the only chapter I found to be completely useful for an EN 1000 course is chapter 9: Research. It provides much useful and detailed information. However, one chapter does not justify the cost of nearly $70.
I did, however, enjoy the supplements included with the textbook: CD Rom and Handbook. The handbook is well-organized and can be packaged with the textbook for only an additional cost of $2.60. Unfortunately, the packaging would force students to buy only the new text instead of procuring less expensive used copies. The CD Rom can be included at no additional cost. It is extremely user friendly and interesting, but I am not sure how useful it would prove for classroom use. I do not plan to implement this textbook.

Ancient Rhetoric for Contemporary Students
by Sharon Crowley and Debra Hawhee
Longman Publishing

I honestly looked forward to this textbook. Its title intrigued me, implying a modern approach to very complicated ideas. As a high school teacher, I often included basic rhetoric in my course when explaining persuasive arguments to my juniors. They always had a bit of trouble understanding logical terminology. Unfortunately, when this textbook arrived, I realized it would not serve my purposes.
To begin with, the textbook is extremely large and packed with mostly text. Visually, this type of book is intimidating to students who immediately conclude they will never be able to get through all this information. Plus, the assignments included within are not very creative or stimulating. All of this is unfortunate, though, since the text itself reads very smoothly. It really does explain the complicated rhetorical terminology competently. I found it to be a wealth of information and plan to use the information in lecture in order to help my students better understand the concept of argument. Perhaps this book would prove useful for an advanced class, but not an EN 1000 course.
Overall, as an average student, I would not want or use this textbook. As an instructor, I would utilize its explanations for myself in order to prepare for student questions about the subject of argument.

Everything's An Argument and Writing in the Works

Everything’s an Argument by Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz, 4^th Edition (2007)

$38 new $23 used (Amazon)

Sections and Chapters:

Part 1: Reading Arguments

Everything Is an Argument

Arguments from the Heart – Pathos

Arguments Based on Character – Ethos

Arguments Based on Facts and Reason – Logos

Thinking Rhetorically

Structuring Arguments

Part 2: Writing Arguments

Structuring Arguments (includes Toulmin section)

Arguments of Fact

Arguments of Definition

Evaluations

Causal Arguments

Proposals

Part 3: Style and Presentation in Arguments

Style in Arguments

Humor in Arguments

Visual Arguments

Presenting Arguments

Part 4: Conventions of Argument

What Counts as Evidence

Fallacies of Argument

Intellectual Property, Academic Integrity, and Avoiding Plagiarism

Evaluating and Using Sources

Documenting Sources

It is relatively inexpensive, given that it is printed in full color. It is a new edition, which means that it is newly updated and relevant to today. It integrates some popular and somewhat recent events and topics (the 2004 elections, info about the Bush administration, Terri Schiavo, Freedom Tower, Lil’ Kim) but balance them with classic and less timely things about body image, patriotism, ML King, etc. It is particularly nice that it is so small and is rather light. I think the smaller the book, the more students will be likely to bring it with them to class (or at least they won’t be able to use its size as an excuse). Because the text claims that everything is an argument, it really emphasizes visual arguments and new media stuff. There are tons of examples, both blunt and subtle, of visual arguments and the text encourages students to grapple with them.

The text does not abandon classic argumentation for visual, however. There is a decent-sized section on Toulmin which includes diagrams of these representations. It is really strong, I think, in presenting argument and has a chapter devoted to fallacies.

Its weakness, however, is with the writing process. There is very little about revision at all. While they briefly talk about revising a warrant, they don’t really talk about revising a whole paper. They especially don’t go so far as to offer side-by-side or sequential student drafts and revisions. That is the one thing that I think is really missing from this text. They do, however, have guides to writing (not unlike our Guide to Revision) that give students things to look for in their own and their peers’ writing. They also show have commentary written in the margins of the essays printed in the book, showing examples of components of argument and summarizing what the paragraphs accomplish in the grand scheme of the argument as a whole.

The “If Everything’s an Argument” sections really encourage students to question even the textbook itself. For example, in the citation section, the authors point out that they have not used any formal citation methods in the text (and they explain what they have done). They then encourage students to consider why they didn’t formally cite their sources and what they (and other textbook authors) gain from that technique. In another of these sections, the authors encourage students to verify their (the authors’) credentials. Are they really from Stanford and University of Austin (respectively)? Is the publisher (Bedford St. Martins) really a reputable publishing company? Etc. These sections seem to really challenge students to think critically. Much of the book, particularly in these sections, uses the same sorts of nondirective strategies that we (ideally) use in the writing lab, getting students to question things they might not have thought of.

The textbook also has a companion website. Many of the resources do not even require signing in. Those that do don’t require an activation code or anything, at least not for students. They only have to input their names and email addresses, meaning that this feature won’t be lost if students purchase used copies of the text. Bedford has a research-based web resource which gives information on evaluating websites, writing theses, refining research questions into theses, and citation assistance. There is even a website design tutorial offered. There are also a few additional readings offered online and supplements to readings from the “with readings” version.

All in all, I think that this textbook rocks. It isn’t perfect, but I think that it is the one that I’m going to use. I think that it might mean sort of restructuring my class a bit to fit into the textbook, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Writing in the Works by Susan Blau and Kathryn Burak, 1^st edition (2007)

$55 new, $22 used (Amazon)

Sections and Chapters:

Part 1: The Writer’s Craft

The Writer’s Process

Reading and Thinking Critically

Part 2: Assignments

Short Articles: Writing Exposition

Application Essays: Writing for a Specific Audience

Memoirs: Writing a Narrative

News Stories: Writing the Public Record

Editorials: Writing Arguments

Proposals: Writing for Your Community

Public Service Messages: Writing Appeals

Websites: Writing for Electronic Media

Film Reviews: Writing Evaluations

Profiles: Writing about Others

Research Articles: Analyzing Trends

Part 3: Research and Documentation

Research

Documentation

Part 4: Grammar Handbook

Grammar Refresher

Punctuation

Common Errors

Trouble Spots for Nonnative Speakers

This text is comprehensive and all encompassing. Including sections on writing narratives, editorials, profiles, etc, it could serve as a nice sourcebook for students’ use throughout their college careers, or, in its words, it provides instruction for “Writing for a Lifetime.” The text includes over 100 readings on everything from Med Schools to Genetics to the movie Whale Rider. It has an introduction for instructors and an introduction for students and comes with an online component and several teaching resources, including their own classroom management software, eduspace, with “more than 2.000 grammar and writing exercises, a series of diagnostic tests, and access to an easy-to-search digital handbook” (xliv).

The text forefronts the idea of writing as a process, a cycle of brainstorming, composing, and revising. It includes details about different types of freewriting activities, including concept mapping to bring in the visual. The text then goes through forming and shaping a thesis, organizing the paper, writing the first draft, and revising. The revising section is particularly nice since it shows several examples of types of revision—refocusing, reordering, adding, cutting, and editing and proofreading. There is also a section on peer editing. The textbook then takes readers through a student’s complete writing process—from freewriting through peer review to final submission. In order to keep its broad focus, however, the text also includes an example of a professional first draft and final draft as well as a visual depiction of revision.

The section on reading is really nice, also. It takes students through active reading, describing and showing examples of underlining, paraphrasing, summarizing, annotation, outlining, analyzing, and synthesizing. Like the chapter above, the reading chapter does not lose sight of visual arguments (no pub intended) and it even brings in ways of understanding irony, metaphors, means of distinguishing opinions from facts, and determining biases presented in texts.

While these two chapters are awesome, however, most of the rest of the text is not necessary for English 1000. I’m not sure that it is worth the price, given how little is actually necessary. Because the first two chapters are a brief section of a pretty long text, however, they make up less than 10% of the work itself. That’s all I will say about that.

...and Textbook Costs

While I'm at it, here's information from the National Association of College Stores (NACS) on how the "textbook dollar" breaks down (how much of every dollar spent goes where). It's industry-produced (that may or may not be a good thing). The first slice you see is for author income, but as it says, that includes what's used to cover expenses. I went to this presentation at the 2006 NACS conference and they broke it down further and the actual profit that authors make is closer to 5 cents per dollar.

Court

----------------












1. Author Income : 11.8 ¢
Author's royalty payment from which author pays research and writing expenses.

2. Publisher's Paper, Printing & Editorial Costs : 32.8 ¢
All manufacturing costs from editing to paper costs to disctribution, as well as storage, record keeping, billing, publisher's offices, employee's salaries and benefits.


3. Publisher's Income : 7.2 ¢
After-tax income from which the publisher pays for new product development, author advances, market research, and dividend to stockholders.


4. Publisher's General and Administrative : 10.2 ¢
Including federal, state and local taxes, excluding sales tax, paid by the publishers.


5. Publisher's Marketing Costs : 15.6 ¢
Marketing, advertising, promotion, publisher's field staff, professors' free copies.


6. Freight Expense : 1.0 ¢
The cost of getting books from the publisher's warehouse or bindery to the college store. Park of cost of goods sold paid to freight company.


7. College Store Personnel : 11.0 ¢
Store employee's salaries and benefits to handle ordering, receiving, pricing, shelving, cashiers, customer service, refund desk and sending extra textbooks back to the publisher.


8. College Store Operations : 6.3 ¢
Insurance, utilities, building and equipment rent and maintenance, accounting and data processing charges and other overhead paid by college stores.


9. College Store Income (pre-tax*) : 4.1 ¢
* Note: The amount of federal, state and/or local tax, and therefore the amount and use of any after-tax profit, is determined by the store's ownership, and usually depends on whether the college store is owned by an institution of higher education, a contract management company, a cooperative, a foundation, or by private individuals.


Please Note
The statistics in this illustration reflect the most current 2002-2003 financial data gathered by the National Association of College Stores and financial data provided by the Association of American Publishers. These numbers are averages and do not represent a particular publisher or store.

Costs for course packets

Straight from the horse's mouth....

---------------

Hi Court,

Thanks for thinking about doing a packet. I don't have a brochure with prices necessarily, but here is how my costs breakdown:

Production:
$0.03 per copied page (double sided or single sided doesn't matter I get charged per copy)
$0.14 for front & back cover in cardstock
$0.60-$2.00 depending on binding and size of packet

Royalties:

Average permission is $0.15 per page - there are always differences so what we do is stay in contact with you letting you know the costs of the various items, that way you can add/delete items along the way. Permissions typically take 4-6 weeks to secure and the closer we get to the start of a semester the longer they can take. We won't print a packet until we have the final OK so if you just wanted to create a "wish list" of items for a packet and edit based upon cost as we go along that is entirely OK.

Price Markup/Margin on Packets:
The more a packet costs me the lower the margin added.
$0.00-$7.00 will have a 40% margin
$7.01-$30.00 will have a 30% margin
$30.01 - + will have a 20% margin

I will be happy to meet with you about specifics if you want, just let me know.

Heather Tearney
Mizzou Media - University Bookstore
University of Missouri-Columbia
Columbia, MO 65211

Ph: 573-882-9547
Fax: 573-882-6422

100% of University Bookstore profits support our MU campus!

Liz's Textbook Reviews

I'd like to apologize in advance for the length of these reviews. I think I went a little too review-happy (which I suppose is what happens when you drink coffee for the first time in 3 weeks and sit down to write). The first one is actually comparatively short, and my computer mysteriously ate the first draft and I had to compose another one this morning. Sorry guys.

Textbook Review


Rhetorical Visions: Reading and Writing in Visual Culture

Ed. Susan Delagrange, et al.
Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2007

I was initially attracted to this text for one simple reason—I like the cover. Silly as that sounds, the textbook is designed very well. It’s definitely an aesthetically pleasing book, one sure to engage the reader (for a little while, at least). Each page is well crafted, making excellent use of white space, bullets, boxes with quotes or charts/graphs, and a variety of photographs, in color and black and white. Important concepts are always in bold, and usually collected throughout the text in colorful and practical lists.

RV approaches writing by addressing a visual component first, an approach I’m considering now for my own classroom. I like that the textbook jumps right into bridging the connection between visual and written argument. For example, chapter 2 uses the example of a student-made map, and then explains how the student’s essay might evolve from constructing such a map. The chapter incorporates multiple drafts of the thesis and the subsequent paper, something I found particularly useful. Not only does it contain drafts at various stages of completion, there are also instructor’s comments. Thus, students can see how they might use instructor’s comments as an aid in revision. It also demonstrates to the student what I expect of them, and what sorts of comments they might receive in return.

The ensuing chapters address some interesting issues and provide a range of tools for the analysis of visual argument. Each chapter contains key rhetorical concepts, listed initially on the first page and bolded throughout. I was happy to see that the textbook explains each concept thoroughly, drawing on historical background to explain the concept’s significance. Each rhetorical concept is given it’s own explanatory box, moreover, with student exercises for additional practice understanding and implementing the concept. Each chapter also has a variety of texts, both verbal and visual, that address the theme of that particular section. I really like the diverse assortment of texts, from old ads, to contemporary photos, to poetry. Many of the poems are penned by contemporary writers, ones that I think might prove more easily accessible to the incoming freshman (i.e. Denise Duhamel’s “Oriental Barbie” and “Buddhist Barbie”).

There are also a series of questions at the end of each chapter, divided into three sections. The first, “Re-reading/Conversations with the Text”, address the readings in detail. The second, “Re-seeing and Re-writing”, are writing prompts for analyzing written or visual arguments through the framework of personal experience, history, etc. The last, “Intertext”, links concepts across sections. While I think there are many interesting and potentially useful questions, this highlights my major concern with RV: there is almost too much information. The plethora of images, boxes, and colors is sometimes overwhelming. RV is also unfortunately very long, over 600 pages. For example, the student doesn’t encounter the terms logos, pathos, and ethos until Chapter 6, after 369 pages of reading. RV is also quite expensive at $61.33, though there are used copies available on Amazon.com. While the companion website has an incredible amount of intriguing supplementary material, access is limited. Student access is redeemable one time only, so students will have to purchase website access with a used book.

Textbook Review, Numero Dos


Good Reasons With Contemporary Arguments: Reading, Designing, and Writing Effective Arguments (Third Edition)

Lester Faigley and Jack Selzer.
Pearson/Longman, 2007

I chose this text primarily because I was interested in examining a more traditional rhet/comp textbook. While I didn’t expect to be enthused over this textbook (I was more attracted to the other, prettier RV), it actually contains a lot of wonderful, practical material. The book is divided into four sections:

Part 1: Persuading with Good Reasons: What Do We Mean by Argument?
Part 2: Putting Good Reasons into Action: Options for Argument
Part 3: Making Effective Arguments: Designing, Presenting, and Documenting
Part 4: Contemporary Arguments

The textbook begins with the most basic questions and moves forward from there, a strategy that I often employ when tutoring. In fact, this book would have been handy as a WL tutor this year. I’m still not sure if I’ll use it in the classroom as a primary text, but I think excerpts from the book would be very useful (especially from Parts 1 and 2).

Pros:

Some of the more general positive qualities of the text:

o Language: Chapters are set up with common questions about writing and argument in casual language—makes the whole business of composition seem a little less intimidating
o Emphasis on writing as a tool to understand “long-term issues that will affect you after your college years”—good justification why writing matters
o “Argument as a social act”—might spark more interest in writing with this approach
o There are some pictures, little boxes with main points throughout—helps break down text into manageable chunks
o Highlights key words in bold
o Different sorts of examples, from written to oral discussions
o Each chapter has an introduction, samples from professionals, samples from students, then steps to analyzing that particular medium
o Has a wide selection of readings. Each topic, moreover, has specialized articles, poetry, book excerpts, political cartoons, stills from TV shows (like “The Simpsons”) from that that field. There are also charts, others websites to visit on the subject, etc., scattered throughout. There are sections at the end of each chapter titled “From Reading to Writing”, which have writing topics related to or inspired by the readings. Questions vary—students can analyze a particular article, visual argument, etc from the textbook, or write on a related topic, i.e. pick a newspaper article about the environment, or write about something from their personal experiences.
o The readings also explore many of the issues in the field. For example, Chapter 18, “Negotiating the Environment”, contains articles article on conservation, vegetarianism, global warming, and animal extinction.
o Has a helpful and free website for students. My favorite features are the additional web resources and writing activities for each chapter. There are also sample syllabi for instructors.

Here are some more detailed positive aspects of the chapters that concern argument and writing:

(Chapter 1) “What to Argue About”
o Takes a page from Rachel Carson’s book and demonstrates, visually, how the argument works
o Not a lot of jargon (only pathos, ethos, and logos, page 12)
o Begins with tips on becoming a critical reader, which I think is essential an essential component good writing

(Chapter 2) “Finding Arguments”
o Has the “Basics of Arguments”, which breaks argument down, step by step, and offers many sound tips (many of the tips we’re encouraged to use by Bean and C&D)
o i.e. Read assignment carefully, make lists, freewrite, brainstorm, make an idea map, think about your audience, how to evaluate your thesis (with examples)

(Chapter 3) “Finding and Supporting Good Reasons”
o Lists different ways to find good support for your argument, and while these reasons can be slightly vague, it provides a lot of concrete examples, including sample essays.
o Discusses appropriate voice.
o Encourages students to start at the very basic level, something I’ve found works well in the WL.

(Chapter 4) Understanding Written Arguments: Rhetorical Analysis
o Gives a brief explanation of rhetoric, then examples from a reading in book, a student essay, and then step-by-step process of how to go out implementing this.
o While the step-by-step process may seems simplistic, I think it’s a good outline for students to consider

Cons:

o Surprisingly expensive! It’s $67.73, though Amazon.com has used copies starting at a measly $0.01.
o Design: Looks like a pamphlet in the doctor’s office—black and white photos, little to no color, not very visually stimulating

(Chapter 1) “What to Argue About”
o While I like jumping into environmental issues using Rachel Carson as an example, I realize many students just don’t care about the topic. I worry this might disinterest students from the start.

(Chapter 5) “Understanding Visual Arguments
o The pictures are in black and white! Not very effective demonstration of how color can function in a visual argument
o Also, this chapter is only included in this edition, so students with used copies will be without.

(Part 2) Options for Argument
o Found this a bit overwhelming, though I could see how it could be useful to jumpstart the writing process.
o Just seemed like too many options, many of which overlap: Definition Arguments, Causal Arguments, Evaluation Arguments, Narrative Arguments, Rebuttal Arguments, Proposal Arguments

(Chapter 12) Revision: Putting It All Together
o Paltry, esp. since English 1000 puts so much emphasis on revision

(Chapter 13) Effective Visual Design, (Chapter 14) Effective Oral Presentations,
o Both pretty short, probably not applicable to English 1000, but might be handy as a brief overview

(Chapter 15) Effective Research
o Not very substantial, wouldn’t be nearly as helpful as an intro to Ellis Library resources, like the tour we took in 8005

(Chapters 16) MLA Documentation (Chapter 17) APA Documentation
o Both brief, probably need supplementary information. I utilize so many parts of the MLA handbook; I can’t imagine this short chapter would really suffice.

Andrew's textbook reviews

Ruszkiewicz, John, Daniel Anderson, and Christy Friend. Beyond Words: Reading and Writing in a Visual Age. New York: Pearson, 2006.
New $57.73 (on Amazon)
The majority of Beyond Words, it seems to me, is dedicated to helping students do analysis. The book’s greatest strength is that it gives students tools to analyze visual as well as alphabetic texts. To this end, the book presents a variety of interesting, unconventional examples of traditional and nontraditional texts to be seen, read, and analyzed. The book aims to teach literacy by holding up the ways people talk about themselves, their communities, and their world to scrutiny. Mixing bright, color pictures with fascinating articles, Beyond Words includes hundreds of examples of texts that seem relevant to the experiences of college freshmen in 2007, (hopefully) making reading the book less of a chore. Learning to analyze is meant to be an enjoyable task, as well; throughout each chapter, the book includes questions and activities to lead students to use and develop the analytic skills to compose texts themselves.
The biggest weakness of this book is that it spends only a few pages giving students the tools necessary to compose an English 1000 essay. The last of the book’s eight chapters is the only one to present any kind of direction to students who have already done analysis and wish to compose an argument. Having worked in the writing lab, I know that students need to know how to write a thesis statement, how to organize an argument, and how to develop evidence, as much as they need to know how to analyze a text (if not more so). Therefore, I do not think I will use this textbook in my class because it does not help students as much to develop the fundamental skills that I think are essential for writing the college essay.

Latterell, Catherine G. Remix: Reading + Composing Culture. Boston, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006.
New $53.13 (on Amazon)
I read this book after I completed my work with Beyond Words. At first glance, I appreciated the fact that Remix includes similarly engaging articles that are in-line with the readings in Beyond Words. Like Beyond Words, Remix aims to lead students to develop tools to read and analyze American pop culture, leading me to believe that both books will seem not-as-relevant in a few years unless they each undergo revision. These books differ in the sense that Beyond Words explicitly states that it aims to teach students to analyze visual as well as alphabetic texts; Remix seems more concerned with analyzing culture, without focusing on differences in the medium of a particular text within that culture.
Remix is a less colorful book; while Beyond Words used color on nearly every page, Remix’s page use only black, white, and shades of grey.
Remix even leads students through the same steps as Beyond Words, teaching students to “ask questions,” to “identify cultural assumptions,” to “test assumptions by considering context,” and to “write critically (remix).” The book is divided into seven chapters:
I. Identity
II. Community
III. Tradition
IV. Romance
V. Entertainment
VI. Nature
VII. Technology
Each chapter of Remix begins with a set of assumptions about the topic. Students are encouraged to question these assumptions through analyzing the set of readings following the assumptions. A vast majority of this book is composed of more than 50 engaging, interesting articles that deal with relevant topics to college freshmen. I found that I couldn’t stop reading some of the articles once I started because they were so fascinating. Each chapter concludes with a section of questions and activities, leading students to think and write critically about these topics and about culture in general.
As much as I liked the content of Remix, I can’t see myself using it in my class. I did not find much instruction concerning the composition of an argumentative paper. This book dedicated an even smaller portion to this topic than Beyond Words.
However, I did really like the organization of Remix. For my class, I would like to focus on American college culture instead of American culture in general. In my class, I might teach my students to use the same process as they analyze college culture as the book uses to analyze American culture.

Mindfulness

The reading for this week was practical and useful. Despite the fact that I have been teaching for some time, I found the tips and advice outlined here to be well worth remembering as I gear up for teaching a freshman writing class. One section I liked in particular was the section in Chapter One called, “What You Should Be Thinking after Class.” I thought it was a nice tie-in to what we were discussing in the mindfulness seminar last week. (You know – don’t get too hung up on the past, nor the future, come back to the present)

Some lessons go well and some lessons don’t - and that seems to be the way things work. I’ve seen fellow instructors get real high emotionally when things worked well, and I’ve seen them cry when they didn't, really cry. I think the advice in the book to sort of roll-with-the-punches is sound and healthy: “a bad class session does not make a bad course.”

This is easy to say but hard really to put into practice. Can you really imagine walking out of a class that went poorly and not being upset by that? Can you have the presence of mind to extract the productive lesson from the experience and not dwell on the negative, destructive, critical, and fault finding side? It is my observation that a lot of teachers are real good at blaming and criticizing themselves in unproductive ways when class plans don’t work out in practice. With this in mind, I think the advice to “be kind to yourself and to remember that you are still learning” to be sound advice. I think it is a mindset that we would all do well to develop through a kind of mindfulness practice.

What's beta than meta?

Sorry I'm so late, all.

Here are just some random thoughts in response to Chapter 9:

Yay, Meta.

I'm planning on using anonymous feedback. I really wanted to use 1-minute papers as a way to do that, but I really want the feedback to be as anonymous as possible. While I like the idea of getting feedback after every class, I think that I would rather have the feedback be honest and as untraceable as possible. Therefore, I'm going to do something digital. I need to check and see if Blackboard will allow for anonymous feedback and if so, I will use that. Otherwise, I will build something into my course website to allow for that.

I really liked what they said about reading evaluations. I really expected all my writing lab evaluations to be awesome last semester. When I went in to read them, though, I left feeling awful. There were some that praised my services and rated them as excellent, but there were a surprising number that didn't. Similar C&D's example, I got one that said that my services were poor and that I had made her feel stupid and that I was obviously ridiculing her. It's as if that one bad evaluation canceled out all the good ones. Uggh

Anyway, Court's post got me thinking about the Theater of the Oppressed and I thought I would share this with you guys. The troupe came to my College Teaching class last week and did the same skit. Only, this time we picked up from where the instructor left off, rather than replacing the instructor. It was awful! I tried to diffuse the situation by having the students move their chairs into a circle and discuss what had happened. I apologized for my inappropriate behavior and asked that we construct a shared vocabulary to use (trying to get around to discussing the "Indian" vs "Native American" vs "American Indian" vs "Indigenous North American") and the entire thing flopped horribly. The April character was way too upset to want to talk about it, the Davy Joe character still didn't seem to really understand what he said, and the other two really didn't care about it at all. I had said before that in any other class I would have made it a teaching moment but when I actually tried to, the students weren't really interested in it.

This experience has coupled with my attempts to put together a semester's worth of material
to actually make me really scared of teaching. I have been really looking forward to it for a long time, but now I'm really nervous.

The Teaching Persona

Regarding Liz's comment about our Voice and Persona seminar, I have to say I kept thinking about the advice in Chapter 1 of Curzan & Damour in terms of the literary concept of persona. We have spent a great deal of time looking into the etymological roots of "persona" -- which actually means "mask" and refers back to the dramatic masks of Greek drama (which were used both to conceal the human face and to amplify the voice). In literature, the mask is a fascinating phenomenon:

The mask permits the poet to say things that for various reasons she could not say in her own person or could say only with a loss of artistic detachment; it permits the poet to explore various perspectives without making an ultimate commitment; it is a means for creating, discovering, or defining the self; it prevents the poet from being hurt by self-exposure or being led astray by the limitations of her own vision; it is a means for expressing anxieties and frustrations, or ideals that the poet may not be able to realize in her own life but to which she is committed (class notes).

What happens if we substitute "teacher" in this passage for "poet?"














Except, perhaps, for that first claim regarding "things that for various reasons she could not say in her own person," this seems like a possibly valid definition of the teaching persona. The adoption of a persona is not necessarily an attempt to escape from the self, but can actually be a means of amplifying the self (as the voice of the Greek actor is amplified by the mask). Perhaps we can see the role of teacher (it is a role, after all) as an opportunity "for creating, discovering, or defining the self," rather than an obstacle or an obligation. Ultimately, it seems to me, we are always playing various parts: "All the world's a stage," after all. Given the artificiality of the teaching situation, we may as well play the part to the best of our ability.

Curzan and Damour, the Tenzing Norgays of Teaching

"Few great accomplishments are achieved single-handedly, Wrigley. Most have their Tenzing Norgays." --Miles Massey, Attorney at Law

Like most everyone else it seems, I found the chapters this week to contain some great practical advice and some needed cheerleading. One thing that I appreciated was the reminder that "your students are not worrying about your class as much as you are" (9). That might seem obvious to us, but teaching tends to skew perceptions about what students actually care about, as the Rebekah Nathan book we've talked about in class (My Freshman Year) details. They're not going to be too worried about how the class is working, per se, and it's up to the instructor to "think about what went right so that you can repeat it" and to resist kicking yourself when things go badly ("just fix it"). I also liked Curzan and Dafour's assertion that "Fundamentally, most of your students assume you are qualified and do not necessarily care too much about your official qualifications as a teacher. What they do care about is your interest in and knowledge of the subject you are teaching" (16). Of course, that begs the question as to whether I'm interested and knowledgeable, but I'm going to hope like hell that I am.

Chapter 9 had some great ideas and like others have said, I plan on incorporating meta-teaching and mid-semester evals (through MoCat) into my courses. I like Curzan and Dafour's assertion that "Feedback always needs to be a two-way street" (166), as well as their comment that meta-teaching puts instructors and students on the "same team in figuring out... what can be done to improve... class dynamics" (168). To me, these techniques do the work of critical pedagogy, helping to level the roles of students and teachers so that the latter take on more of the role of facilitator (Bean uses the word "coach") and gives everyone an investment in how the course is conducted. As they put it, letting students give you feedback is actually conducive to teaching: "This move (and your willingness to make it) will reinforce your authority in the classroom" (ibid). This echoes what good ol' George Justice and ET@MO said at the "What Do You Wish You Had Known about Teaching?" seminar last Thursday. Their point was that using MoCat to do mid-semester evals is great for teachers because students appreciate being able to give feedback when it can affect the course while they themselves are still in it, rather than only after the fact. Claire's comments toward the end of her post are a testimonial to that.

One thing in the reading that kind of bothered me--and this is totally tangential, and it's probably because it came up before with the Theatre of the Oppressed skit, as well--is the example Curzan and Dafour give about potentially offensive behavior (18). They say that "If you suspect that" offensive behavior is "a result of ignorance, use your role as a teacher to provide students with important information. For example, you might try to catch a student after class or write a note on their paper letting them know that most Native Americans prefer not to be referred to as 'Indians.'" My problem is that while it's true "Indians" alone is typically offensive (unless you're talking about people from India), "Native Americans" is problematic, too. The 1996 and 2000 census data reveals that "American Indian" edges out "Native American" as the preferred term among those who identify as having that ethnicity.

A similar problem arises in advocating the use of "African American" over "black," which is what everyone in my neighborhood growing up--a predominantly black neighborhood--used. "Black" was reported as preferred over "African American" by something like 45 to 28%. But I had classes early on in my college career where I was corrected for using "black" and there was an implication that I was being insensitive or even offensive. When I went back and told my friends back home about it, their response was that it was just one more reason why college is overrated. I guess my point is that often our reflexes--while well-intentioned--don't necessarily provide the whole picture. Things are often a lot more complex and that's something I'm going to try and keep in mind when I encounter these "teaching moments."

C & D Continued

Some nice bits of advice in these chapters. Although the first bit of advice, the quote about erasing the chalkboard vertically to avoid butt wiggling, is intended to illustrate how unprepared most TAs are, it is actually good advice. We tend not to give much thought to the little actions we take in front of a classroom which may undermine our authority. It's a horrible feeling to turn to the class, and see a few faces lit up in amusement, and wonder what the hell they think is so damn funny. You begin to get incredibly self-conscious, you wonder if your fly is undone, or if there is chalk in your hair, and after class you go immediately to the restroom to look yourself in the mirror to solve the mystery of what was causing the students to laugh at you. When you see nothing obvious in the mirror, you think back on the way you were standing, the movements you were making at the time, and then you start to realize that you're being much too self-conscious-- maybe the students were laughing at something else entirely.

You have to learn not to read too much into the expressions on your students' faces. You assume every expression made is in regard to something you are doing or saying, since you are the main focal point in the room. However, in that vast sea of faces, overwhelming the first time you teach, there are people who may look bored but are actually paying close attention, people who look amused but are not laughing at you, and people who look as if they are scrutinizing you but are actually deep in thought. Of course, there are students who are actually bored, laughing at you and scrutinizing you, but sometimes these students are actually good at hiding these feelings, and you may actually believe they like you and love coming to your class.

But there's nothing you can do about this but to get used to it. Tell yourself not to worry so much about what your students think of you. Just do your job, teach them as well as you can, be as prepared as you can be. Some days it will work out, some days it won't.

Teaching as Performance

I liked Curzan and Damour’s parts about teaching persona. Having little experience of teaching I already thought about it but did not fully realize that teaching as a kind of acting is actually the general situation for any instructor. C&D say, “Your teaching persona may turn out to be an unexpected side of you” (6). Or may not, I would add. I mean you never know in advance how it is going to turn out. And I think with different classes one may be a little different teacher.

This chapter also brought me recollections about the good teachers I had. It is absolutely necessary for a good teacher to be enthusiastic. The problem here may be that you are more enthusiastic about some material of your course than about other, and you have to deal with that. Another thing I remember about good instructors is their …energy, I would say, that lets one person hold the attention of 20 or more other persons.

I found the idea of getting feedback during the semester very useful. It establishes contact with students. I myself as a student always appreciate that.

More C&D

I appreciated C&D’s list of joys. Especially at this time of year, many current English 1K instructors seem to be utterly burnt out, and not really loving their jobs. It seems like staying positive and remembering to enjoy yourself are key to surviving. The reminder that teaching makes you a better student (7) resonated particularly with me. Since I won’t be teaching next year, I think the most immediately helpful thing about 8010 for me was learning about strategies to help students learn better. I’ve been trying to apply those strategies to my own studies, and I think it’s really been helpful. If I try to practice what I preach, I hope I’ll be able to stay on track and have fun.

I liked the constant reminder to avoid dwelling on the negative. They write, “do not kick yourself about it; just fix it” (9). That’s so hard to put into practice but it really seems to fit in with the mindfulness presentation last week.

Asking students to respond to written comments sounds very effective but emotionally very frightening. I’m not sure how to do this in a way that results in constructive change, but I think I want to try it. When I was a primary tutor for Shelley Ingram’s class last semester I learned a lot about working with students. She had a policy that students were not allowed to talk to her after class on the day she gave them back their graded papers. They could e-mail her the next day, but she required them to sit on their reaction to their grade for 24 hours. I liked that; she said it’s been really effective for managing concerns in a respectful and professional way.

I definitely want to do midterm evals. This semester I’ve been lucky to be in two classes where the instructors asked for midterm feedback, and then made changes to facilitate learning. Not only did the changes help the class dynamic, but the instructors’ respect for the class and flexibility to envision change made me realize how important this is in teaching.

(Insert Clever Title Here)

So I was a bit perturbed by the teaching persona described in Chapter 1. I don’t know if it’s my frustration stemming from the term (thanks to a seminar class on the topic that I have this semester—Tim, you understand, right?) or my general distrust of personae, period. I really don’t like the idea of adopting a teaching ‘persona’—it seems completely antithetical to any sort of real relationship to my students. The greatest moments I’ve experienced in the WL are those when I feel like I’ve really, truly connected with a tutee. Now I’m not trying to sound too New Agey—you know, spirit animals, healing crystals, find yourself by wandering in the desert sort of thing—but I really think that striving for a genuine connection with students is the best way, in my limited experience, to teach. Now I’ve only really worked with younger children, where bonding over SpongeBob SqarePants and macaroni and cheese was enough, but I nonetheless consistently found that a more intimate, personal rapport was the most effective method of teaching. The adoption of a persona seems to undermine that sort of bond. Maybe I’m just too naïve and need a semester of apathetic freshmen to toughen me up. We’ll see. Stay tuned.

As long as I’m on the sappy notes, I’d like to share what I highlighted and starred this week in Chapter Nine—the advice to turn to ones you care about when you receive a student’s less-than-stellar reviews. I hope that next semester we all still turn to each other with teaching frustrations/problems/questions. I feel that our cohort is an invaluable resource, people. As you all know too well, I’ve been so stinking sick this semester, but it’s been support and encouragement of my cohort and instructors that has made these past months bearable. I hope you all understand that all the get-well wishes, cards, hospital visits, and gentle reminders of due dates have been of tremendous help. I hope that we continue to assist each other next year!

Soon to be teaching

Here I am, living the final days of my college career as simply a student. When I come back to school in the fall, I will be a student and an instructor—taking classes and leading classes. This is not a particularly insightful revelation on my part; it’s just very exciting (I’ve never taught a class) and very scary (I’ve never taught a class). Even though I think I lack enough experience to teach effectively, I know that I cannot gain that experience without teaching my first class. I also know that I have more teaching experience than any of my English 1000 students (or even than I did at the beginning of this semester), having sat in class meetings for years and having taken English 8010. Therefore, I might perceive my own preparedness more disparagingly than my students will. I appreciate Anne Curzan and Lisa Damour for making this point—that “students will generally respect your authority no matter how you feel about your qualifications as a teacher” (6). I also appreciate Curzan and Damour for suggesting how to improve teaching before the end-of-the-semester evaluations come out—through midterm evaluations. I think this could be a good idea, and I might use it in my section. It might work well if students know the week prior that they should come to class ready to evaluate the course thus far. I question whether students will be comfortable evaluating my performance, knowing I grade their work. Can they be candid in this situation? How can I come closer to ensuring that my students evaluate the course honestly? Any thoughts?

Heavy Meta

I agree with Katie, anything that starts with "meta" is bound to be fun. I like the idea of a midterm survey; I think Bean mentioned that teachers who use these usually get better results on final evaluations. The midterm conference also is appealing, though I'm resistant to requiring conferences for all students. I think the meta examples foster a sense of collaborative learning- that the students are contributing to the course, that we are teaching with them instead of just at them.

As far as classroom as argument goes: I wonder what argument I'll present in my class? I don't plan to dress too formally (one reason I'm pursuing this career is the dream of never wearing a suit to work). I do plan to present a serious front at the beginning of the course, then slowly break out the Homer Simpson impressions. I think I'll add some levity to the syllabus (pictures, font variation?, streamline some of the legalese). One thing I want to consider seriously is classroom organization. Many of the students who sit in the back row will be those who will refuse to engage with the course, and will sullenly and silently receive their D. The circle formation is inimical to blackboard/projector presentation, but keeps students from hiding in the back. Any thoughts? Also from my management days at the bookstore I understand the importance of projecting authority even when you don't necessarily feel it; preparation is key here. I think I'll probably review class plans this summer if not before, to get some more sennse of what preparation I'll need.

P.S. I blame George Lucas for this - but I can't hear the word "mindful" without immediately hearing the phrase "of the living force" following it, as spoken by Liam Neeson.

everybody's got something to hide 'cept for me and my meta

I really liked the idea of meta-teaching that C&D introduce in the Feedback chapter. Particularly, I think that written response to your written responses on essays would be really useful to assess what is going well or what isn't. I have been talking with one of my friends in another department who doean't really know what to do with marginal comments because she feels that the students are not addressing her suggestions. It reminds me of (I think it was) Bean's list of really resistant comments to teacher comments: one of them was something along the lines of the teacher said "you need to explain more" and the student responded "no you need to explain more."

Of course, the examples C&D provide of how or how not to use meta-teaching seem like there is a very fine line to tread. I guess the trick is not to use meta-teaching to make value judgments, but to reveal that you recognize something has gone wrong without placing the blame. I have seen this technique used very effectively in undergraduate- and graduate-level courses. (And I'm pretty sure meta-teaching is the reason we're now required to write one blog post per week.)

I don't know about anybody else, but I really plan to use MoCAT in my course. I had been discussing with some of you whether or not I plan to write out my entire schedule for the course, or whether I will hand out a new calendar when we reach a new unit/essay assignment. I see the benefits of waiting being that you can change what is working or not working, but I can also recognize that a student would feel a little apprehensive, like "my teacher doesn't know what we're doing in this course." Is there any way any of you can think of that would involve having a fully developed schedule that still leaves room for change if something isn't working? I'm thinking you could have the assignments and due dates all written out, but the lesson plans (which students wouldn't have to see) could change as needed.

Unsolicited Advice

I really enjoyed the readings this week, especially since they reiterated a lot of points I have been afraid I've forgotten in the past two years. My biggest fear for next year is that I have forgotten how to teach since I have been out of the classroom for two years. I needed the quick and reassuring overview offered in these chapters. Many of their observations and advice are helpful. The biggest aspect that I highlighted is about the copying. It never fails that the copier in any building anywhere will not work if you wait until the last minute. It is Murphy's law! I also agree with them about remembering student names. I was constantly called by my sister's name through elementary, middle, and high school. Nothing is more frustrating than that! I made a point when teaching high school to never make that mistake (I only did once, which isn't bad for 6 years). But, seriously, it is important to the students to be remembered, especially since this campus is so large and our classes will be so small. I think Bri's idea of using facebook may be very helpful in this respect, especially if you have trouble with names.

Another point with which I agree is the value of student feedback. It really diminishes your authority, in my opinion, if you are unwilling to listen to student concerns and adapt class as necessary. They feel that you are honest and caring if you are willing to budge a little. However, I am not saying that you should be a push-over, only aware of needs. And, like Leta, I want to stress the importance of the fact that you CANNOT PLEASE EVERYONE!! I really struggled with this fact the first couple of years. I had to flunk a senior, who did not graduate ever then (I was not the only one though). Sometimes, students do not make changes and sometimes they do take their own failures out on you. You have to grow some thicker skin and learn to distinguish honest criticism from the angry hate mail. It is hard to deal with, but a necessary fact of teaching. I had a student complain that I had only 5 or 6 dressy outfits. Oh well. I was poor. I just played along and said I would wear them in the same order every week. I don't necessarily suggest sarcasm in every instance. I knew she would react well because I had taught her for two years (junior, senior English). Kids try to make you feel bad, but you can't let them.

Anyway, now that I have rambled advice for a while, I should move on. Basically, I agree with much that C and D had to say. Student feedback is essential and beneficial, dress is important (no matter how many outfits you own), gender plays a role in your classroom even if you don't want it to, and copying must be done in advance!!!! However, I also think it is easy to become overwhelmed the first year or so. They really didn't discuss this aspect and I want to stress relying on your peers. There is not a feeling you will have that they will not either share or understand.