Lindquist on working-class vs. academic values, besides reminding me of interactions with my extended family, reminds me that many of our students will come from rural areas, and may not really care about writing very much, or agree with me about the importance of poetry. And that regardless of class, there's a broad range of majors to consider. Those who want to go into journalism will be easy to convince that effective communication matters, but chem or ag majors will be hard sells. Reading this makes me think my distrust of personal-experience writing may be too absolute; small assignments or ungraded writing on things of importance to the student could be useful in seeing where they're coming from, and figuring out how to speak to their issues. Darren noted that "getting the students to express the attitudes and opinions they already have" is key to having them question their assumptions. Lindquist quotes Frank Farmer on an important teaching problem: "knowing how to teach in a manner that both respects our students' views and, at the same time, questions the complacencies which too often inform these views." I don't want the students to write the opinion that they think I will like, I want them to write a paper that supports their own opinion. Also, if the students already have a somewhat "enlightened" view, I still want them to question their assumptions- not to change their mind, but to realize why they think the way they do.
Shen I found fascinating- having studied Chinese and Japanese poetry a little, I could relate to the cultural translation issues. I actually really liked the writing samples from here "Chinese self"; certainly unorthodox, but thoughtful and evocative. I actually don't mind the "beating around the bush before attacking the main point" style, as long as the writer gives some indication of direction- I approve of thesis-last papers, and will try to convince people to use them.
The discussion of contact zones puts me in mind of Rogers. Getting past pro/con to something in between (the "yes, but" thesis?) sounds a lot like his thing.
3 comments:
I noticed that you mentioned aspiring journalists in your post. Yes, I agree that it takes little convincing for journalists to agree that effective communication matters. Yet, most new journalists aren't writing argumentative pieces with analysis. They are reporting. They are discouraged from taking a position or analyze the source's words. It is the reader's place to take a position and to analyze. Shen's ideas might come into play here. As aspiring journalists are being asked to adopt the values of the J-School culture, these same students are being asked to adopt the value of the academic culture in English 1000.
I think it might be a worthwhile activity to use that "thesis-last" exercise in class. It would be a good way to reinforce the fact that we are teaching useful tools rather than rigid truths of composition. I could see spending some time comparing those 2 types of essays -- maybe 2 essays with a similar argument. We could then discuss as a class what the pros and cons are for each type of argumentative form. I think there is definitely something to be said for the "thesis-last" style of writing.
I wonder how many writing lab instructors, upon encountering an essay like this, would immediately say "The thesis needs to go at the beginning," completely ignoring the alternative structure? We are so used to seeing essays without a thesis, or with a thesis at some random point, that we may overlook what could be a legitimate, stylistic decision.
Tim,
I always ask where the thesis is, but have only had one or two students say it is at the end. Those students, however, didn't say things like, "It's at the end because I think that it will fit best there," but rather, "ummm, I'm not sure. [read through paper.] I think it's here at the end."
Of less concern, I think, than where the thesis is in the paper is where the thesis is in the argument /in the structure of the paper. Most students who have theses at the end do so because they've only formed their opinions at the end. While that is okay, they then need to restructure the paper around that idea, rather than around the exploration of the idea. So long as the reader knows can follow the line of reason and the writer recognizes that he/she might lose readers along the way, I think that's fine.
Sometimes it's best not to show all your cards, so long as you know what they are and how to play them!
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