Instructor interview for Place-Based WAC/WID writing instruction in Upper Divison English, clip 7 of 12

Abstract

Brief excerpt from interview: When I teach 370 [which is not a Writing Intensive or place-based course] as a large enrollment class with sixty students, I don't assign papers. They have quizzes and exams, which I know is disappointing, but I pay so much attention to the writing that it's hard for me to assign... With this class you can see them really developing a topic in a way that was just amazing, and they were so much more engaged in the course material... Everyone in my 420 class, I either had in 320 or 370, so I've seen their writing in different contexts. When [a good, but seemingly unmotivated student] found her topic, she realized there was this huge controversy over a stream she had played in as a child. She got so fired up. I was amazed I could see the difference between 370 that didn't have papers, and then this one where she had to really engage in one topic for the duration of the semester. I think that you could see her developing more of a kind of critical engagement. [Students] have a lot of preconceptions about what's acceptable in terms of essay writing, and some of them really did think they could not use the 'I' in the writing. So I told them 'No the I is great, because you take responsibility for your argument and it's more engaging for your reader.' It really does revitalize the kind of writing that you do. I think that was great for them to see that as a different option, that they didn't have to be very objective and scholarly in the ways that they thought an English major should be... a version of scholarship that was personal, that involved personal engagement, but was also activist-oriented so that they had a sense that they could actually change things and they could play a role. They could go to these neighborhood board meetings. They could make these maps that would try to convince people how damaging these kinds of development projects would be. I like that they were engaged in so many different levels... certainly as academics, but also as activists.