I intend for my writing, research, and classroom practices to speak not only to the future ivory tower dwellers, but to the people who will mop its floors, cash its inhabitants' paychecks, and design its floor plans.  I aim to structure my classes around developing more capable people, not necessarily scholars. I firmly agree with Bartholomae's view that we must encourage our students to put on “the privilege of being 'insiders'” and demystify collegiate writing, whether or not they feel that they belong in that role (631). However, I hope that my classes will provide the skills necessary not only for university success, but for workplace communication, decorum, and tolerance. I want to offer students the keys to the university, but also to the success outside of the academy that a strong background in English studies can provide.
 

My working class, rural origins make me keenly aware of the potential for change and improvement in others, and keep me from casting hasty judgments on those who seem narrow-minded or resistant to improvement in the classroom. I firmly believe in Berlin's moving statement (via Friere) that “without language to name our experiences, we inevitably become the language of others” (110). For this reason, I want to frame my class as a place where all students can feel free to name their experiences without fear of others manipulating their words. To ensure a dedication to this cause, my syllabus always includes a tolerance policy in which I explicitly inform students who silence others that they will be dismissed from my class.

 

The classroom is a place for discussion, realization, and equality, and it is the teacher's responsibility to keep her students on task, but never to dictate their ideas or beliefs.  I also believe that some of the best learning occurs when peers engage in active, open discussion. For this reason, collaborative learning will always play a major role in my classroom. I do not believe that group grading is fair to the strongest or the weakest members of the class, but group learning can give the brightest students an opportunity to shine and inspire others and can help the less motivated students understand the material with the help of a peer. Additionally, this group work allows the students the time to process information and reflect on its impact. 
 

A firm disbeliever in the mind/body split, I cannot pretend to be an omnipotent floating head conveying knowledge to my inferiors. Instead, I want to make apparent my humanity and relatability so that my students will feel comfortable being candid and honest about their views, concerns, and needs in our classroom. Likewise, I feel that the best classrooms are those in which the instructor does not feed the students the answers to their pressing questions, but fosters an environment in which those answers can be found within the group. The potential to learn depends on the students' involvement in education first, and requires the effective instructor to guide, not force those learning moments.

When discussing the English language, composition, literature, and theory, I am of the belief that professors should be both engaging and open to the insights brought up in discussion and direct about the expectations held in the class. Teacher transparency is paramount to student success. It is my highest hope that I can convey to students precisely what I expect from them without any vagueness or grey area in which they might fall behind. This is why I try to keep communication as open as possible, offering multiple avenues of contact with me and making it clear to my students that I am both a resource that they can contact for clarification at any time, and an enthusiastic fan of their work and its potential for improvements.

 

 

Theoretical Framework
 

Berlin, James. Rhetorics, Poetics, and Cultures: Refiguring College English Studies. 1996. West
Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press, 2003. Print.
 

Bizzell, Patricia. “'Contact Zones' and English Studies”. Cross-Talk In Comp. Theory: A Reader. 2nd ed. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2003. 479-486. Print.

 

Bruffee, Kenneth A. “Collaborative Learning and the 'Conversation of Mankind'”. Cross-Talk In Comp. Theory: A Reader. 2nd ed. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2003. 415-436. Print.
 

Grosz, Elizabeth.  Volatile Bodies: Toward a Corporeal Feminism. Bloominton, IN: Indiana UP,
1994. Print.
 

Villanueva, Victor ed. Cross-Talk In Comp. Theory: A Reader. 2nd ed. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2003.
Print.