Rhetorical Strategies of Social Media & Academic Writing

I was recently asked during a teaching demonstration if I believed that the rhetorical strategies employed in social media and other forms of what is often viewed as informal online communication could inform and even enhance “academic writing.” My issues with the problematic definition of “academic writing” aside, I believe the answer is an emphatic yes. When prompted to explain why, however, I found myself unable to effectively articulate a response that could address what most would deem a radical idea in any depth or breadth.

This is an issue I have only begun to explore, one I hope to find better answers to.

David Crystal argues in Txtng: The Gr8 Db8 that the more proficient a person is with the communication conventions of “textese”—or “lolspeak”—the more proficient that person is likely to be with other forms of communication including formal English.

“How could this be?” you might be asking.

IMO, it all boils down to audience. Effective communication skills are predicated on one’s ability to assess and subsequently meet the expectations of one’s audience. The more adroit a person is with this practice in one medium, the more adept s/he is likely to be in another.
I think better answers to this question exist, but I am simply unable to articulate them at this time.

Currently, the reason I blend computer and internet technologies in my writing classes has less to do with the ways in which rhetorical strategies overlap (although I will definitely be exploring that issue in more depth, so I can more effectively blend writing and technology in my classroom instruction and assignments) than the ways in which our electronic communication media can be appropriated for more powerful purposes than just personal communication.

I don’t mind that I was unable to fully and effectively answer the question. I only wish that I had been able to express myself more articulately. I am glad the question was posed. It has given me something to puzzle over and explore in the research in which I am just now immersing myself.

Absent Heroes

I finally made it to the theater yesterday to see Waiting for Superman, a film that both depressed and inspired me. I don't necessarily agree with all the reasons for the failure of the US education system that the film purports. The problem is bigger than crappy teachers. It's dangerous to assign blame in one area when there are so many factors. The film also seems to advocate the banking model of education, which is, in my opinion, part of the problem with US public education. But the overall message of hope is valid. So is the panorama of a drowning system in desperate need of heroes.

US citizens on average cannot compete in a global job market. US students rank 25th in math and 21st in science out of 30 developed nations. In 1993, the average American could read somewhere between a 7th and 8th grade level, and US literacy rates are on the decline not the other way around. President Obama is criticized for being too "professorial" even though speech analysts have ranked his public addresses at a 10th grade level. Should our president be forced to dummy down his speeches, or should statistics like this be a wake up call?

The US education system is failing, and our country will fail as well. Despite the staggering statistics forecasting the downfall of the US's intellectual stature, US citizens have no lack of self-confidence. Our nation is dumber yet more confident than ever before. When will we wake up and realize the nightmare? After 2/3 of US jobs have been filled by more intelligent, more skilled, more competitive applicants from around the world?

Watching this film brought tears to my eyes, but even an ocean of tears will not fix the problem. All I could do was question who I am and all I do. What am I doing to change the world? Everyday, I go to work at Lincoln Land Community College. Everyday, I do all I can to reach a student, to inspire just one of them to fight for their dreams, to fight for success, to fight for their futures. Even though most days feel like failures. After work on Mondays, I leave my students behind, and my daughter and I volunteer for MERCY Communities, hoping that in some small way this meager effort will help these moms turn their lives around for themselves, for their children. But in no way am I doing even close to enough.

I have been told countless times by my colleagues that I am "too invested in my students" and that what we do is "just a job." Is it possible to have too much passion? I don't think so. Teaching is not "just a job," and I will go so far as to say that anyone who feels that way has no business teaching. Teaching is a labor of love. Anything less than that is unacceptable. I teach because I am passionate about learning. Because I am passionate about teaching. Because I am passionate about writing. Because I am passionate about the power that words can give a person. Because I am passionate about the academic and personal success of each and every one of my students. This is the standard I set for myself. It is the standard I expect of anyone who calls him or herself a teacher or any of its synonyms.

Our kids need heroes. We all need heroes. Somewhere, someone is waiting for YOU to be a hero. What the hell are you waiting for? Or will you just be one to point fingers when this nation crumbles because we were all too stupid or selfish to save it?

Just Another Lesson Learned

My second semester teaching, I implemented what I call self-evaluation assignments in my composition classes. I can't recollect what engendered the idea, but I imagine I must have read about someone who assigned something similar. After teaching at UIS one semester, I learned how to use this assignment more effectively and made quite a few changes.

Basically, students reflect on and analyze their writing practices including process, writing strategies, language mechanics, and feedback from readers including myself, classmates, and possibly friends, family, or writing center staff. This is probably the most challenging assignment my students tackle in my first-semester writing courses. Their responses must not only be thorough and thoughtful; they must provide specific examples from their own writing which they analyze in order to support their self-assessments regarding the effectiveness of the writing they produced.

Despite the challenge of this assignment, I believe in its power to transform the way my students think about writing, thus their ability to write effectively. I have noticed an unsurprising trend. Those students who perform well on their self-evaluations--that is, those who actually do the assignment correctly--have made drastic improvements in their ability to write more and more effective prose. Those students who don't take the self-evaluation assignments seriously, have literally made no improvements in their writing skills.

I have done all I can think of to reach a generally apathetic, uninterested, and completely disengaged group of students and have failed to help them see the importance of proficient language skills to their present lives or their futures. Unfortunately for most of them, based on the trends I've seen on their rubrics over the course of the semester, I foresee only a handful of students passing. Perhaps in retrospect, as they struggle to pass this course again next semester, my words will echo in their minds. Perhaps they will work harder to achieve what they are all capable of.

They somehow think minimal effort is enough to get them by. They don't seem to understand that the effort they are putting forward is not even close to the minimum it would take to pass. They see the A's and B's and C's on homework assignments and quizzes and somehow forget that their writing portfolio counts as 60% of their final grade. When most of them are receiving below expectations in most categories on the rubric, I can't even begin to fathom how they have deluded themselves into thinking they're all set to pass the course. Many will be learning a hard but much needed lesson if they don't change their attitude and work ethic asap because what they are currently submitting just isn't cutting it.

Most of [you] hiding

Others are shining

You know when you find it

In your darkest hour, you strike gold

A thought clicks, not the be-all, end-all

Just another lesson learned

Cut & Paste

The cut and paste activity went over very well in COM 112 yesterday. The students who did give me feedback were quite enthusiastic and expressed that the activity helped them see new possibilities they couldn't envision on the computer screen. Exactly what I hoped to accomplish. I can't wait to try it out in COM 111. My morning class will have fun with it.

The students in that class are, for the most part, always actively engaged in the class an ready and willing to learn. They inspire me. I think I teach at my best in that class. The energy I brought to the classroom that first day set the tone of the class for the rest of the semester. If only it could have had that same effect in my afternoon section. I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to shake up that last section of the day. I have literally shed tears over it. How can I break through their complacency? The energy in that room is virtually non-existent, and I have exerted all I can.

Other faculty have told me that I am too vested in my students. "If they don't put forth effort, why should you?" For the sake of my own sanity, I might have to give into what I have previously viewed as cynicism. If they don't want to learn, why should I try to force feed it to them? I think from this point forward, that particular class period will be quite short. My lesson plan will consist of presenting the information, asking if they have questions (They won't because 75% of that class refuses to speak at all.), and dismissing class. This will be my own cut and paste experiment this semester. The students who really want to learn can stick around, and I'll paste the energy I cut from the students who don't give a shit into those who do.

Silent Complicity, Silent Resistance: Complacency in the Nontraditional Classroom

Two weeks into the fall semester and I am realizing that I might have my second extreme case of silence on my hands. I am uncomfortable with silence, especially when one voice is silencing others, but even more so when, having internalized the mores of "the academy," voices have silenced themselves so as not to disrupt their comfort of passivity, complicity, and dispassionate movement through what is seen as a required formal education. I understand that the banking model of education most students are used to has trained them in this behavior. I understand that it can be intimidating even downright terrifying to speak one's beliefs and opinions to a group of 20 relative strangers. I understand that some students cannot believe that language has the power I claim it does. But I'm not sure that is even the source of their rejection of my pedagogy. They seem to not care that they don't have power. Or perhaps they believe they already possess all the power they need. I fear the day they learn otherwise.

I have been thinking about this since the first day of class. I am concerned. I don't know what else to do, how else to engage them. I suppose ultimately I cannot bear the full responsibility of their lack of engagement. I cannot force them to choose to want more from their education.

I just finished bell hooks' Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom, and she helped me better understand if not accept students' attitudes toward engaged pedagogy:

* * *

We inhabit real institutions, where very little seems to be changed, where there are very few changes in the curriculum, almost no paradigm shifts, and where knowledge and information continue to be presented in the conventionally accepted manner. [...] What's really scary is that the negative critique of progressive pedagogy affects us--makes us afraid to change--to try new strategies. [...] When students did not appear to "respect their authority" they felt these practices were faulty, unreliable, and returned to traditional practices. Of course, they should have expected that students who have had a more conventional education would be threatened by and even resist teaching practices which insist that students participate in education and not be passive consumers.

That's very difficult to communicate to students because many of them are already convinced that they cannot respond to appeals that they be engaged in the classroom, because they've already been trained to view themselves as not the ones in authority, not the ones with legitimacy. To acknowledge student responsibility for the learning process is to place it where it's least legitimate in their own eyes. When we try to change the classroom so that there is a sense of mutual responsibility for learning, students get scared that you are now not the captain working with them, but that you are after all just another crew member--and not a reliable one at that.

To educate for freedom, then, we have to challenge and change the way everyone thinks about pedagogical process. This is especially true for students. Before we try to engage them in a dialogical discussion of ideas that is mutual, we have to teach about process. (144-5)

* * *

In writing about her "failure" to create such a classroom experience one semester, hooks affirms,

That failure was heartbreaking for me. It was hard to accept that I was not able to control the direction our classroom was moving in. I would think, "What can I do? And what could I have done?" And I kept reminding myself that I couldn't do it alone, that forty other people were also in there. (183)

I hope that Project 2 works toward changing their minds about education. We will watch a movie that avers the model of students as teachers. I cannot begin to count the number of times I've heard students bitch about their college experience--the content of their classes, instructional methods, graduation requirements...the list could go on and on--but when confronted with the idea of a radical paradigm shift in higher education that would require them to take on the primary responsibility of their education, they are completely unwilling to accept such power and are instead completely content to give others power over them and what they learn. Their unquestioning willingness to divest themselves of power disturbs me greatly. And I don't know how to open their eyes.

Morning, how I loathe thee. Let me count the ways. It's the end of the first week of the semester, and I am quickly (begrudgingly) having to relearn not to reset my alarm in the morning. Sleeping in that extra half hour just makes dragging my almost lifeless body out of bed unbearable. I walk into the bathroom and just kinda stare, mind empty, eyes unseeing, for about 10 minutes. Slapping my face a few times to wake myself up, I finally make it through my routine of getting ready for work just in time to realize...I don't have time to eat breakfast. (Note, I haven't realized yet that I teach from 9:30 to 2 straight through, so I'll be skipping lunch too.) I toss a yogurt cup, a granola bar, and a piece of fruit into my purse, not because I enjoy eating healthy foods but because it's all I can find that I can just toss in my purse in hopes of having time to sneak a few bites between classes. (It won't happen. It will be at least 2 o'clock before I steal a moment for myself, so I can aleve the gnawing hunger that has taken up residence in the pit of my stomach. I work through my last hour in the Writing Center, mostly sorting out the mess of papers I have collected from my 3 classes. By the time I make it home, I'm so exhausted I can't think, can't move. I sink into my papazan-style recliner, and find myself staring blankly at whatever program my daughter is watching on Teen Nick until my muscles unknot themselves and my mind relaxes. I want a nap. But there is no time. I'll be up until at least midnight prepping for class. Then up again at six.

This first week of classes has been exhausting! But exciting. I am very happy with the 3 classes I'm teaching this semester. You never know what you're going to get in the way of students, but I think I lucked into 3 awesome classes. My morning 111 class had me psyched from day 1. They really seemed to like the intro I presented. I don't remember how the idea struck me, but I know that it was very late the night before. I wasn't sure how'd they'd react. I thought the idea might be lame. But I figured I'd give it a go anyway and see what happened. The 2 afternoon sections of 112 and 111 didn't respond quite so enthusiastically. In fact, they pretty much just sat there in silence, staring at me. Maybe it was lame. I'm choosing to believe they were just so dumbfounded they didn't know how to react, didn't know what to make of this woman who was supposed to be their instructor. Mostly because I thought it was awesome. It got a great reaction from one class, so I'm counting that as success and will try it out again next semester.

First days are always odd because everyone is nervous, unsure what to expect. By the second day of class, though, I think everyone had lossened up a bit. Just about everyone was actively participating. It's really challenging to make that happen, but I think we have good group dynamics. I'm trying to holding off making any definitive judgements about how the semester will progress, but the first week bodes well for those to come. I hope my students are excited about an awesome semester as I am.

On the Verge of the New

As I put the final editorial touches on my fall syllabi and course calendars, I find myself getting very excited about the upcoming semester even though it's still two weeks out. After three years of teaching, I finally have these three courses I regularly teach just about where I want them. Exploring teaching styles and finding a comfortable pedagogy takes time. But I have arrived. Thanks to the help and input of all my exceptional colleagues and former students.

I'm hoping to get all my course materials linked to my newly published website, so my students have full access to the site this fall. I'd like to start moving away from Blackboard, having students access my website directly instead. All in good time. All in good time.

Tonight, I hope to finish up these syllabi and course calendars and get started on my lesson plans. I'm supposed to be sharing my assignments and lesson plans with a new adjunct tomorrow over lunch and need to get as much revising and editing done tonight as possible.

Writing was a pleasant respite, however brief. But...back to work.

The End, Already?

Wow! I can't believe I haven't written on here since the beginning of the semester. I really want to make this blog a regular habit. Once every 2 weeks at a minimum at least.

This summer flew by. I have had the most awesome group of students. Although I am physically and mentally exhausted, both classes have been a lot of fun. I hope my students feel the same. The end of a semester is always a sad relief. I am always more than ready for the break, but it makes me sad to watch my students walk out of class for the last time.

I know that this is just a literature class, one that most of them admit they dreaded taking, but I hope that it has been more than a dreaded gen ed requirement. Course outcome statements aside, I hope I have made the course have meaning in ways that my students feel is real and valid to their individual lives. I hope that something useful from this course positively changes their lives if only in some small way.

Well, I still have to total scores for the last presentations that were done, so I can return grade sheets tomorrow before the final. Better get back to work. *Sigh.*

Summer! Novels! Yay!

I both love and hate the summer semester. I always elect to teach the novels course during the summer. It is the one opportunity each year I have to actually teach a literature course. I really enjoy the break from composition and ALL THOSE ESSAYS! My students usually have very interesting things to say, but grading 4 essays per student @ 80 students per semester is just exhausting.

The summer lit class is also a source of frustration for me though. Most students who take this class don't want to be in it but figure it's better than a foreign language course. (If I were them, I wouldn't be so sure of that.) I have finally given up on making it a traditional literature course in favor of (I hope) novels, assignments, and topics of discussion that have actual and immediate significance to their lives. This is the first semester I've taught this course where I am happy with the outline I've made. I feel pretty comfortable with the direction I want the class to go. If we can have a little fun this summer and learn something about ourselves and the world we live in that can benefit us in our daily lives, I will be satisfied.

So far, I seem to have an interesting group of students enrolled in the two sections, one on the main campus and one in Litchfield. It's difficult to get a feel yet for how our class discussions will progress as there hasn't yet been much opportunity for that. I understand their dislike for reading and writing (sort of) and feel confident that I have done my best to select novels they will either enjoy or at least learn something valuable and relevant to their lives. I'm incorporating 2 films and possibly a 3rd. I love movies! And I think students do too. We'll see how things go, I suppose. At least they are pleased that I'm not making them read Dickens or Hawthorne. There is value in reading the "classics." Still, canonized literature is severely overrated.

Random Thoughts

As we approach midterm, I can't help but anticipate a huge sigh of relief in the near future. I have managed to keep pace with the course materials and grading, but I would prefer to be ahead of the game. I find myself struggling to keep up. I'm sure my students feel the same way. Hopefully, the mid-semester break will allow me the time I need to get at least a few weeks ahead of my students.

In the meantime, they will be submitting their first essays to me this weekend. I am really looking forward to reading them. They have all been working hard to develop their ideas. I have been really impressed with this group so far and anticipate nothing less as the semester progresses.

I am a day behind with lecture materials this week. Writing provided me a short break, but I need to get these materials posted on Blackboard. I know some of my students are anxiously if not eagerly awaiting the week's assignment materials.

Spring 2010 Semester Underway

Well, I am only teaching online this semester, and I have to say it is going much, MUCH better than last semester. The organization of the course is much more user friendly for my students if the lack of emails I have been getting is any indication. Some of my students seem very excited about the course, a fact that excites me greatly. A few even responded positively to my personality, something I just could not recreate in the online environment last semester. I am so glad that they have gotten a sense of who I am not just as a teacher but as a person.

They are getting ready to dive into the first essay soon. They have all been discussing some really interesting ideas for issues they might explore. I am really excited about seeing their drafts in a couple of weeks.

Several students let me know that they had checked out this blog. I hope some will offer feedback both praise and criticism. Since everything seems to be running more smoothly as I am getting the hang of online teaching, I will try to write more frequently.

I am looking forward to a fabulous semester.