student-teacher-writers

In her review "Tenure and promotion in rhetoric and composition", Levenson (2000) gently critiques the applicability of the Boyer report:
"Several authors, Boyer most notably, make a case for changing institutional values in ways that would benefit compositionists whose professional work includes such things as teaching freshman composition, running writing programs, organizing community service and working with technology. However, few of these authors deal specifically with how to institute such a change, exept to make clear that the burden of proof rests on the untenured candidate to document why her unconventional work deserves to be valued"(p. 144).

Levenson goes on to list the "unconventional" scholarly work in which she engaged "exactly 1 year before I was denied tenure", noting that she has come to view her work with graduate students as "directly tied to my scholarly work, not a diversion from it" (p. 147).

The situation of untenured candidates is somewhat analogous to the thrills and perils of being a graduate TA: while the "work" of being a TA includes teaching freshman composition, running the writing center and developing an area of community involvement/service, "research" done by the TA is the only thing that counts as interesting in the wider institutional culture. I place "research" in quotation marks because the term, when taken alone, represents an abstract and problematic ideal: when does research EVER take place apart from teaching, program administration and community service? However, unlike untenured faculty, graduate students do not have graduate students to turn to for appreciation and relief (for we are graduate students).

Like untenured professors, graduate students need to find ways of teaching that complement, rather than distract from, the intellectual work of research. The task is different for us, though, in that freshman students are not graduate students. They lack "research" interests, or even, in alarming cases, interests:

student: But Miss Hilary, I don't know what my Assignment 2 will be ABOUT!
Hilary: Okay, well, tell me what you're interested in.
Student: I don't know. Stuff. Or nothing. I can't remember.

These "undisciplined" students are quintessntial distractions.

What follows below is a fantasy list of suggestions toward how graduate TAs can conduct research and writing through (rather than in spite of) the freshman composition course:

1. To answer the theoretical koan "what should be the topic and content of my English 1020 course): if you are still doing your coursework, the topic of your course should as closely related as possible to the topic(s) of your graduate seminars--with appropriate conceptual downshifting.

2. If you are finished with your coursework, the topic of your course should correspond with an aspect of your dissertation topic that you want to explore.

3. Similarly, "what should my students read": they should read what you are reading--with appropriate modifications. While anthologies like Text Book do support undergraduates in reading and responding to theoretical material, it is may be more appropriate to have students read and respond to primary texts that have to do with your seminar or dissertation topics.

4. The assignments in the course should closely relate to (or complement) the writing assignments that the graduate TA will encounter during the semester, and

5. Graduate TAs should "do" every writing task they assign along with the students, and

6. Graduate TAs should workshop their writing along with the students in peer review.

7. During the traditional conversation about "Teacher comments in English 1020: understanding, interpreting and responding to your teacher's evaluation", students should have a chance to "produce" teacher comments by commenting on a sample the graduate TAs written work-in-progress.

8. The above will both help students develop fluency in the language of "teacher comments" and learn to evaluate, as well as read and write, academic discourse.

Note: list (continuously) under construction.