Preview this article: Pedagogical Directions in Subjective Criticism, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ce/37/5/collegeenglish16695-1.gif

Preview this article: Folklore in the Freshman Writing Course, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ce/37/1/collegeenglish16933-1.gif

IN THE FALL OF 1973 I took a nationwide survey of four-year colleges and universities to uncover (1) what, if anything, had happened to the composition requirement and Freshman English during the last several years, (2) some facts about the extent and nature of the spread of exemptions from the requirement, and (3) related information about teaching staffs and loads in composition programs. The survey questionnaire, a 36-item instrument designed to yield data from item responses as well as information through cross-analysis of those responses, was sent to a random sample of 700 schools in all states and the District of Columbia. 491 completed questionnaires, 288 of them from private and 203 from state schools, were used in arriving at the final results. The results of most importance, at least to those in the profession who teach composition, can be generalized as follows: compared with 1967, fewer schools

Preview this article: Story Workshop as a Method of Teaching Writing, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ce/35/2/collegeenglish17717-1.gif

Preview this article: Teaching English Composition as a Creative Art, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ce/34/5/collegeenglish17779-1.gif

little about. We learn to teach composition by experience, it is true, but it is unpredictable and to a large extent accidental if we ever become proficient in our trade. Perhaps such a situation was acceptable before World War II, before the colleges expanded and their populations changed from a relatively small number of preparatory students to an ever-increasing number of most high school graduates. Such, certainly, is the case in the City University of New York, which began implementing open enrollment in the 1970 academic year. And such, probably, is the case in the many state and community college systems throughout the country. As the number and kind of students have changed, so have the problems of freshan composition. Let it be clear that we do not wish to

to many experiments with sensitivity and awareness games in literature and writing classes, especially in elementary and high schools. Maybe the feeling is that we can afford such experimentation there, because certainly the kids will be taught the same stuff over and over as they progress sluggishly through the educational system, so what they miss in rigor and memorization at one level they can pick up at the next. Maybe, too, since college is regarded as the last chance, little such experimentation has gone on there. When William Bridges scheduled a summer workshop at Mills College in June of 1970 for college teachers interested in humanistic education, in adding an affective dimension to their teaching, some 35 people showed up, from various disciplines, but few of them had had much experience with or even exposure to these techniques. But as a result of that summer workshop at Mills at least a few drops are falling into the experimental classroom bucket; this report describes how something as conservative as an undergraduate course in eighteenth-century English literature can be changed by the application of new teaching techniques. For shock value, I'll describe what we did first, and then pursue the qualifications and caveats; for brevity, I'll describe only one small portion of the semester course-that dealing with Jonathan Swift.

Preview this article: Identity and Expression: A Writing Course for Women, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ce/32/8/collegeenglish18817-1.gif

In the sixties in all English-speaking countries there was a marked swing away from formal methods of teaching writing and a corresponding interest in methods that are broadly termed creative. More and more teachers were persuaded that can't write writing, and that you only write well when you write what keenly interests you. The central responsibility of teachers became the arousing of interest in each writing task, thereby engaging the mental-emotional energy and creative resources of students. I have supported this emphasis, especially against attempts to push the secondary schools into comprehensive study of one or other of the new systems of grammar. But I have not seen any need to go as far as those who now exclude from their classes all reference

Preview this article: Teaching Writing, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ce/31/2/collegeenglish20344-1.gif

Preview this article: A Method for Teaching Writing, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ce/30/2/collegeenglish20717-1.gif

Preview this article: English Composition as a Happening, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ce/29/2/collegeenglish22351-1.gif

Preview this article: Round Table: The English Composition Sequence: Vertical Style, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ce/27/4/collegeenglish23312-1.gif

Preview this article: History and Criticism: Psychological and Pedagogical Notes, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ce/27/1/collegeenglish24148-1.gif

emphasis upon scholarly rather than pedagogical training for Ph.D. candidates, but a few enlightened souls have lately begun to sound clear and public warnings of the problem that exists. Henry WV. Sams, for example, has argued that we must awaken our fledgling colleagues to the fact that their responsibilities go somewhat further than establishing themselves as scholars, critics, and overpowering young polymaths (The Audiences of English, CE, Feb. 1964). Recognizing the problem, however, is only the first step; an analysis of its conditions must follow, from which criticism and suggestions for change may proceed.

Preview this article: Two Pedagogical Poems (poem), Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ce/25/3/collegeenglish27340-1.gif

Preview this article: Henry James in the Advanced Composition Course, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ce/25/1/collegeenglish27293-1.gif

Preview this article: Round Table: Objective Correlation and the Grading of English Composition, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ce/25/1/collegeenglish27296-1.gif

Preview this article: A Slide-Rule Composition Course, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ce/25/1/collegeenglish27291-1.gif

Preview this article: Great Books and English Composition, Page 1 of 1 < Previous page | Next page > /docserver/preview/fulltext/ce/24/2/collegeenglish28144-1.gif