Kati J. Tilley, Graduate Assistant
Department of English
Western Washington University
Humanities 342
#(360) 708-6454
k_hallenbeck@hotmail.com

Teaching English 101: A Philosophy

When I step into my classroom, I see is twenty-four young adults who have a great deal of knowledge and experience that can be harnessed to further their own understanding of the world and what it means to be literate and an academic writer. With this in mind, there are three other underlying assumptions I make when I assign work in my course: that students understand many of the concepts I'm trying to teach only they just don't realize it, that students acquire writing skills by actually writing, and that literacy is not a solitary event but a collaborative process. I will address and illustrate each in relation to components of the course.

In the essay, "Introduction: How a Genre Approach to Literacy Can Transform the Way Writing is Taught", Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis "stress 'natural' learning through 'doing' writing." (1) The fundamental concept behind this is that we do not learn how to write by having someone tell us about it, but by doing the activity itself. With this in mind, I know that the structured fastwrites, "Writing to Discover", and reading responses are invaluable to the objectives of English 101. By responding to texts that examine writing, by exploring their own understanding of concepts of what it means to write, and by bringing their own personal experiences into the writing process, students come to understand academic writing in a way that is far more authentic than being told what academic writing is. They learn "through 'doing'"; they harness what they already know and through practice are able to push their abilities and understanding to new levels through practice.

My favorite writing activity in English 101 is an in-class writing assignment where I ask my students to write a letter to their parents, to a friend, and to a judge, explaining a speeding ticket they recently received. While most students have a difficult time switching from writer based to reader based prose, this activity allows them to see that they already know a great deal about writing for specific audiences. It is this type of discovery writing that helps build confidence and promotes an authentic understanding of the skills I aspire to help my students recognize and utilize in their writing. That is exactly why I know the fastwrites, "Writing to Discover", and reading responses are so pivotal to the courses success.

Another aspect of my classroom is a heavy reliance on collaboration. During almost every class session, I ask my students to either work with a partner on an activity or work in peer-editing groups to discuss essays, provide constructive criticism on each others work, or discuss a specific topic. The simple and perhaps cliché reason for this is that literacy is not created in a vacuum, it is a collaborative effort that starts from the day we are born, simply because we write about our world, the influence of others, we constantly learn from the experiences of our lives. Frank Smith put it best when he stated that, "It is through mutual endeavors, helping each other, that children (and adults) learn constantly out of school, in their work and their play, so inconspicuously that no one is aware that learning is taking place." (70) Over the course of my time with my students I make collaboration a large part of their writing for these reasons. Whether working in a peer group or one on one, students are not only learning more about their own writing but also how to function in an academic community.

The central focus of my English 101 course is the six essays I have my students complete. The collaborative work and the exploratory writing they do is meant to create a foundation on which these essays are built and then revised. Again, instead of writing just one or two essays I push my students to "learn through 'doing'" by writing six essays of different types throughout the course. Each genre (personal, persuasive, analysis, reflective) allows the student to practice writing for different audiences, gain revision skills, and develop their writing for the new academic, discourse community they've entered here at Western. By having the students showcase what they feel to be their best work as a form of final assessment, again I am hoping to build their confidence by allowing them to show me, through their strongest writing sample, that they've obtained the objectives I set out for the course.

It is clear to me that the topics I choose to have my students write about in their essays would be frowned upon by the likes of William Bennett and E.D. Hirsch, traditionalist who believe that I am doing my students and society a great disservice by not forcing them to write about the classical canon or important literary genres. I disagree. Cope and Kalantzis also take my stance and express my feelings when they state that, "[what] if the canon did not 'work' for you, with all its gender, ethnic and class biases, you would probably fail." The point of being a writing instructor is not to force the system's ideology into every assignment, but to create an environment where students can grow in defining their skills. The most authentic writing assignment isn't a persuasive essay on Romeo and Juliet, but on something that really matters, something that affects them. That is where I see the most growth, the most benefit to society occurring. So instead of writing about Shakespeare, we tackle issues of gender, literacy, media persuasion, and other meaningful issues that effect the lives of my students. By allowing them to bring their real life experiences into what they write and by tackling real world issues that often alienate when ignored, I am providing a far more authentic writing experience for my students.

It is the combination of all the components of English 101 that pushes students past their writer-based prose into the world of academic writing. Through practice, collaboration, and challenging the way they view literacy and the world, they grow and acquire more mature, academic writing skills.

Notes:
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1. Webster's Dictionary Online states that to "acquire" something you "come to have as a new or added characteristic, trait, or ability (as by sustained effort or natural selection)." Sustained effort is far different from being taught, it denotes practice in the field one wishes to gain an understanding of.

Work Cited:
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Bennett, William J. Address at the 29th Annual Convention of the California Association of Teachers of English. Department of Education, 1987.

Cope, Bill and Kalantzis, Mary. "Introduction: How a Genre Approach to Literacy Can Transform the Way Writing Is Taught." Powers of Literacy. Falmer Press Ltd, 1993.

Smith, Frank. Joining the Literacy Club. Heinemann, 1988.


© Kati Tilley 2001