The New Work of Composing

 
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NYMA:

Mother Always Said

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What is the purpose and the point of teaching writing in an academic setting? Many days, I am no longer sure. I struggle with the power we have been granted as a field. We are given one class, maybe two, and asked to to change the ways students view writing—layer it with a concept that writing it is a part of a greater system of language and communication that is imbued with the power to shape and be shaped by reality. Many days, I worry that I may not be up to the task. I try to find those real-world audiences that Bowen (1994) describes—this semester, asking students to write Notices of Funding Opportunities that award $5000 federally-funded grants to local non-profits, but what happens when this money runs out? How do we return—or better, avoid returning—to the pressure to analyze “A Rose for Emily”?


 

“Literacy is power.”

(Jane Zeni, 1994, p. 82)

Monday, February 22, 2010

The Statue of Liberty
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The power of words