Many First Year Composition (FYC) course today make use of Place-Based pedagogies in efforts to develop student’s writing ability. Major objectives for FYC revolve around transferring abilities developed in the FYC to places “across the University,” and “in business and public spheres after college,” and more broadly, to gain, “rhetorical knowledge; critical thinking, reading, and writing; processes; and knowledge of conventions.”(Wardle 3). This paper accentuates a perspective on problematic applications of “place-conscious” pedagogies used by FYC’s. “’Far transfer’ is difficult,” (Wardle 5), and place based pedagogies, we argue here, confuse students even further. Comp/Rhet application of “location” and place-based learning in FYC often
…show more content…
To begin with, we will analyze objectives of FYC. We can use as reference for FYC objectives the chart provided by Carnegie Mellon’s Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation. Objectives outlined for developing effective writers, paraphrased, are: the ability to conceive of writing problems in their complexity, shaping writing to the needs of the audience, commitment to the writing, extensive revisions, and ability to pay attention to the various aspects of the writing tasks, depending on the stage of the writing process. FYC professors need to be explicit about the behaviors of skilled …show more content…
The courses objectives often become so nebulous and filled with Comp/Rhet specific knowledge, that students become confused as to what they are supposed to learn. The various possibilities within place based writing in experiments with writing, make the objectives unclear. We took a look at place-based studies from perspective of English FYC, Biology, and Women’s studies, to further analyze how the place-based pedagogy are applied in such context’s, which shows how students are able to learn from explicit objectives. As long as the objectives are writing tools such as those outlined by Wardle, Carnegie Mellon’s reference for good writers, and even the FYC professor’s personal arsenal of writing tools, students may be able to develop their abilities in writing with direction and
To begin with, we will analyze objectives of FYC. We can use as reference for FYC objectives the chart provided by Carnegie Mellon’s Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation. Objectives outlined for developing effective writers, paraphrased, are: the ability to conceive of writing problems in their complexity, shaping writing to the needs of the audience, commitment to the writing, extensive revisions, and ability to pay attention to the various aspects of the writing tasks, depending on the stage of the writing process. FYC professors need to be explicit about the behaviors of skilled …show more content…
The courses objectives often become so nebulous and filled with Comp/Rhet specific knowledge, that students become confused as to what they are supposed to learn. The various possibilities within place based writing in experiments with writing, make the objectives unclear. We took a look at place-based studies from perspective of English FYC, Biology, and Women’s studies, to further analyze how the place-based pedagogy are applied in such context’s, which shows how students are able to learn from explicit objectives. As long as the objectives are writing tools such as those outlined by Wardle, Carnegie Mellon’s reference for good writers, and even the FYC professor’s personal arsenal of writing tools, students may be able to develop their abilities in writing with direction and