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Philosophy of Teaching Writing: An Excavation 

My philosophy of teaching writing is all about excavation. Most of the students stepping into my classroom for Composition & Communication 1 hope only to meet a requirement and get the best grade out of it they can. Many also feel anxious about writing. They’re terrified by the prospect of a lengthy research paper, and when I ask what scares them, they almost always say something like, “Well, I’m not a writer.”  

I believe it’s my first, and most important job as a teacher to help students dispel this myth—that being a writer is some lofty vocation for only the select few—and uncover the truth: the moment you write, you’re a writer. And by that metric, every student is a writer when they arrive.  

While assigning regular and effortful assignments, requiring routine attendance, and completing routine check-ins with students are all valuable to me as a way of scaffolding the learning process, I feel strongly that rigidity has no place in the writing classroom. I try to bring a degree of flexibility and understanding to each student that meets them where they are, and that starts with taking the time and effort to get to know students individually. 

At the end of my first week of classes, I have all my students complete an activity that acts as a sort of starting benchmark. I ask what skills they’re confident in, what they’re apprehensive about, and what kind of writer they are. From there, I aim to make lesson plans that consider the broad spectrum of student capabilities. A format I’ve found effective in crafting inclusive lessons is leaning into discussion-based learning.  

An example, my classes recently learned how they might be able to weave in their own story to their semester-long research project. We brainstormed as a class what they find effective in storytelling, discussed Chelsea Biondolillo’s braided essay, “How to Skin a Bird,” as an example of a well-crafted personal narrative, and then they got into groups to share with each other personal anecdotes they could use in their own work. After a—lively—discussion, I asked the students to write on their own and submit a reflection that allowed me to see effort and improvement on an individual level and grade based on where they started.  

Beyond seeing themselves as writers, I strive for my students to leave my class with a level of writing competency they can carry forward in their college career and beyond. I want them to leave with a better sense of how to use words not only to say exactly what they mean, but to do so with room for artfulness and tact. I want them to have clear steps they take to go from staring at a blank page to a well-researched, well written, and well revised essay they’re proud of. Still, in a college introductory writing classroom, there is always a degree of, “why am I doing this?” from students, which is useful to address. 

It’s been effective for me to start by reminding students that writing is everywhere. They do it every day. The texts they send their friends are forms of writing, so are their tweets, even the email they sent me describing—in far too vivid detail—the food poising that prevented them from coming to class the week before. Broadening the scope of what writing means is one of the first steps to uncovering student abilities. It also shows students why learning to write matters, regardless of their major. They may be correct when they say, “I’ll never need to write a thesis statement after I graduate,” but showing them how to recognize ethos, pathos, and logos in the media they consume, is invaluable at every stage of their lives.  

Whatever attitude towards writing a student carries with them to class, they bring with it a variety of abilities that only need to be excavated, and to reveal that, without exception, every one of them is a writer with value, and the ability to grow. 

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Rhetoric Assignment Design: Fact Checking 

Courtesy of The New Yorker 

In this class, we’ve discussed how to identify appeals to ethos in different types of media. We’ve also practiced media literacy, both as a way of combatting misinformation and as an attempt to ensure the work we produce and share is intentional and rooted in fact 

For this assignment, you will take critical consumption of media a step further and become your own fact checkers. 

Explanation/Description:  

The first step is to find a piece of digital media that both makes a claim and has not been fact checked. In general, prominent news sites and journals (think, The New Yorker or the Washington Post) have already been through rigorous fact checking procedures. Instead, find a piece of “news” on sites like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, or a personal blog, that claims something. Make sure the media is not solely an opinion, there should be a clear attempt to share knowledge or news. 

Next, try to fact check the claims of your chosen media. Start with a simple Google search, then maybe try the UKY library site, and beyond. Use your skills as a researcher to investigate and find out whether or not the media is true or untrue. If you can’t find any evidence to either back up the claims or refute them, consider those implications as well. 

Finally, make your own piece of media as a fact checker. This can either be in video format or a voice recording. Start by explaining the media you found. What claims are made and how does the creator appeal to ethos? Next, share your experience of fact checking. What did you find out? How will this experience impact you as a critical consumer of media? 

Requirements:  

Your video or voice recording will need to be 4-6 minutes long (around 750 words). You can write out a script to organize your thoughts prior to the recording, but you are not required to submit this. 

Please submit your video or voice recording on Canvas in an appropriate format (m4v, .m4a, mp3, .mp4, .WAV, and .MOV). If you would like, you may also submit the report by posting it as an unlisted video to YouTube and submitting the link to me.  

Along with the video or audio submission, include a Works Cited page as a separate document on Canvas. Be sure to include your chosen piece of media and any sources you found during your fact checking experience.  

Due: December 4th by 11:59PM. 

Examples/Tips: If you’re not sure where to start, try heading to a social media feed. If you’re not on social media, scroll through YouTube. Look for news, this could even be from a celebrity or influencer weighing in on current events. Or, consider an advertisement or endorsement, these can also be fact checked.  

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Writing Technology Policy 

It is important to recognize the uses of machine learning technology, without losing sight of the limitations. This class will approach the use of AI and LLMs in the classroom as a tool for research, not a replacement for idea formation and the physical act of writing (or typing).  

Students are permitted to use AI to synthesize information and engage further in topics they have already begun to research, but they are expected to use their own skills and creativity before approaching LLMs. A student who struggles to grasp a topic might be inclined to see what ChatGPT has to offer. This policy allows them to do so, but it is imperative they first write out their own initial thoughts, questions, and impressions to ensure they do not miss out on critical learning processes. LLMs are not a replacement for brainstorming. 

While students must be transparent in their use of machine learning—any attempt to submit AI generated work as one’s own without acknowledgement will be considered in breach of academic integrity policies—they are permitted to engage with it if the instructor is made aware and gives approval. That said, AI should only be used as part of the research process, and the use of it should end as the writing begins. Students are also highly discouraged from feeding their own original work to LLMs as a way of protecting their intellectual property.  

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Digital Teaching Demonstration Twine

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