My freshman composition teacher returned our first essays with comments, a grade, and an appointment for a one-on-one consultation about my writing. The conversation at that appointment, about content, style, and grammar, was the single best experience I ever had with a writing teacher. We talked one-on-one, discussing my specific writing challenges and how I could improve; I shared my general academic goals and goals for my writing; and he showed me that I had an ally, a mentor I could rely on to help me learn academic writing. That conference exemplified individual and student-centered teaching and shaped my own teaching philosophy.
My vision of a student-centered class begins with my vision of the student. Just as John Holt saw himself as playing the cello, rather than learning to play the cello, I see each student as a writer, working on his writing, rather than someone who will only do “real writing” when he is finished learning. The students and I are peers, all adult writers, and we all bring knowledge to the classroom. I probably have more knowledge and experience about academic writing, but the students have other kinds of knowledge and experiences, equally valid and important. Vygotsky theorized that students can learn most effectively when teachers provide scaffolding to bridge the gap between the things they already know and do well and the things they are trying to learn. I use scaffolding in the form of encouragement, examples of excellent student writing, feedback on papers, and collaboration with more advanced peers, and I tailor the amount of support to each student’s individual needs and goals, strengths and weaknesses. I attempt to provide just the right amount of scaffolding for each student, aiming to keep them in Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development, not underestimating them and not pushing them beyond their current limits.
I envision my role in the classroom as a mentor and a guide. I have some expert knowledge about college writing from which they may benefit, and I have facilitation skills that can help them get the most out of class discussions and group activities. Depending on what the student needs, I am an active listener, a moderator of discussions, a coach, a resource, a critical reader, or a devil’s advocate. I agree with David Bartolomae that a part of my job is to initiate the students into “the peculiar ways of knowing, selecting, evaluating, reporting, concluding, and arguing that define the discourse of our [academic] community." I teach my students to translate their own thoughts into academic language and to read academic writing with understanding. I break down writing tasks into manageable pieces so that students experience success in this new discourse and learn to think of themselves as capable writers.
To keep the focus of the class on each student’s writing goals, I try to individualize assignments as often as possible, allowing students to do writing that is applicable to their interests, including writing for their churches, jobs, or social groups, writing for their chosen discipline, and writing about themselves and their experiences. Like Piaget, I am a constructivist and believe that students must build knowledge for themselves through research, conversation, and challenging the ideas of authority figures, including the teacher and the academy. They must learn writing, not by listening to me talk about writing or by reading about writing, but by actually writing. The focus of my classroom is on student learning, not on my teaching, so the majority of the class time is spent on discussions, in-class writing activities, individual writing conferences with me (especially early in the semester), and peer editing of at-home writing assignments. Because the individual student knows better than anyone what is relevant to him and what is or is not working for him, I take student feedback about class time and assignments very seriously. I have found that some of the best ideas for improving my teaching and for engaging the students more effectively have come from student suggestions. In one course, feedback from students allowed me to restructure my evaluation system in a more effective way.
My favored way to teach and to learn is in large group discussion. I love to talk and to listen to others and to argue about ideas, and I know many of my students do as well. However, because each of my students is important to me as an individual, I try to vary my classroom activities. Along with large group discussion, I include small group activities like peer editing, collaborative writing, and pre-writing conversations, which might appeal to more introverted students. For students who prefer to work alone and only share a finished product, I include individual in-class writing assignments and lectures with thought problems to be considered in class. I try to include some practical application in every class, whether it is a conversation applying the principles we learn to our own lives or a writing assignment practicing a new skill. I want the students to constantly apply their new knowledge, since I believe that only knowledge which is relevant to our lives is remembered and transferred to other settings.
Lisa Delpit has heavily influenced my ideas about students whose home language is not English or not the standard dialect of English. I see teaching Standard English as my duty as a writing teacher, but I am open with my students about the fact that non-standard dialects and other languages are not wrong. I use the home language of my students as a scaffold on which to build knowledge of Standard English, pointing out the similarities and differences. I want my students to be able to code-switch and to use Standard English in settings where it is appropriate, without losing the dialect or language that links them to their communities and families.
When I remember the effect that the conference with my freshman writing teacher had on me, how motivated I felt to improve my writing, how much better I understood my own strengths and weaknesses as a writer, how much support I felt in my struggle to learn academic discourse, I am inspired to make my own teaching as student-centered and individual as I possibly can. I hope to have the kind of profound effect on my students, their writing, and their entire academic experience as that professor had on me.
