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U N I V E R S I T Y O F P I T T S B U R G H |
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Volume X, Number 2 |
November
2004 |
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U N I V E R S I T Y O F P I T T S B U R G H |
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Volume X, Number 2 |
November
2004 |
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Paul Kameen, EnglishIt’s in this “between” stage of reading or moderating classroom discussion where I feel I can make my most significant contribution as a teacher.
When I think about my teaching, I like to start with the more fundamental questions and work my way up to matters of technique. One set of those questions pertains to what I call my “idea of the university.” Basically, I believe that the university is an arena for the pursuit of intellectual work, the purpose of which is the production of knowledge, and the nature of which is intrinsically collaborative. I have given some thought to what each of these terms means to me, but they are to some degree always in play, evolving and changing over time. And I can imagine having very contentious arguments among my colleagues about my definitions. Fixity and agreement are not the point. What is non-negotiable for me, though, is that the classroom is a site for the pursuit of those ambitions. So, course to course, year to year, I am looking for ways to translate the imperative of my current “idea” into terms that are applicable to the course I am teaching and pertinent to the students I expect to engage there. In freshman composition, for example, I ask students to do the same kinds of things I do when I write for a public audience: Establish a position and make an investment in it; locate that position in an ongoing conversation by making use of (not just quoting from) the text(s); use enough detail to develop a distinctive, even “original,” position in that conversation; invite others to read the text and decide how to use their advice. When I read a student’s work, I am always thinking: “What is the next step for this writer to be taking right now with this essay? How can I get her to see that, and do that?” Then I look at the result and try to find a way to facilitate the next step. I follow the same pattern in class discussion: I listen to what a student offers, and I try to say something back that will help her take the next step, and the next one, in support of the expectations I have laid out. To be honest, it’s in this “between” stage of reading or moderating classroom discussion where I feel I can make my most significant contribution as a teacher. I try hard to receive what is being offered and then to lend my resources to eliciting its greater possibilities. At some point in the term, and it varies widely from student to student, I see the light go on: “Oh, now I see what writing can allow me to do. This is something I really do want to do well.” Right then, the student becomes a writer in the same manner—if not on the same scale—as we are, because, like us, s/he has an investment in the process and stake in the outcome. | |||||||||||||||||
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A newsletter devoted to the support of teaching and learning at the University of Pittsburgh |
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