Response to "Contemporary Composition: The Major Pedagogical Theories"

This reading was refreshing and, in my opinion, exactly what we needed after midterms. It successfully transitioned our train of thought from strictly rhetorical theory to pedagogical theory. There were so many responses I had for this reading, I'm now not sure where to begin. Oh well, I guess I'll just structure my response by the order in which the thoughts come to me!

- First, I'd like to quickly discuss a quote from page 236. "Pedagogical theories in writing courses are grounded in rhetorical theories..." In brief, I believe this statement to be 100% true. In order to teach writing, you must first understand it's philosophical origins, for only then, can you as the teacher, as well as the students, build from the complex, yet strong foundations of rhetoric to produce quality writing. 

- Second I want to discuss a quote from page 236. "To teach writing is to argue for a vision of reality, and the best way of knowing and communicating it." Being English majors, it's quite clear we've taken a considerable amount of composition classes. What do all of these classes, from English 1010 on, have in common? They all share the common goal of communicating effectively through the written word. The goal of writing is to expose your readers to a way of thought that may have not considered otherwise. I believe it was Cicero who argued that in order to speak (or in this case, write) effectively, the author must be knowledgeable on the subject they are speaking on. Once we have the power of knowledge on a topic, we then must know how to communicate it effectively with our audience. What good is all the knowledge you have if you can't share it with others effectively? When a teacher teaches how to write, they are showing the student's how to use the knowledge they already have to acquire a deeper understanding and, eventually, how to produce a document that will communicate their understanding and vision clearly. 

- Third, I would like to negate the Expressionist pedagogical approach of Cole  as discussed on page 242. Cole encourages class room discussion while writing papers. While collaborative revising is a good strategy for identifying errors, I believe that it strips the argument of personally developed truth. In contrast to my argument, Expressionist thinkers believe that truth can only be arrived after the writer has conversed with their peers, for group input can eliminate "what is untrue to the private vision of the writer." If group input is stressed too much, then the writer is then risking the content of their work by submitting to groupthink (an event in which most, if not all, members of a group arrive and pursue the same way of thinking). 

- Fourth, I wanted to end my response with my favorite quote from the reading. The New Rhetoric is an innovative way to approach writing. This rhetorical theory celebrates the writer's thought's and involvement in their work. Under this theory, the writer is the creator of truth rather than just a mere tool for communicating an available truth. I'd like to conclude with my favorite quote from the reading. 

"When you write, you don't follow somebody else's scheme; you design your own. As a writer, you learn to make words behave the way you want them to... Learning how to write is not a matter of learning the rules that govern the use of the semicolon of the names of the sentence structures, nor is it a matter of manipulating words; it is a matter of making meanings, and that is the work of an active mind." From 7th grade on, it seems that teachers stress the importance of the structure and regulation of writing, that they completely forget to emphasize the reason for writing: to create meaning.