I started my teaching career as a language instructor at the University of Salzburg. During a pedagogy course in a German as a Foreign Language class, the professor, Paul Rusch, casually let the sentence above slip. It has been the guiding principle in my teaching ever since. I know that I cannot magically fill students’ heads with knowledge. I know I cannot spark enthusiasm for a subject out of nothing. I know I cannot change my students’ perspectives. But I can do my best to give them the means to do this themselves. In the Freshman Composition classroom, students will not only acquire skills that enable them to research an academic project, and to write strong papers for an academic audience, but also tools of rhetorical analysis and literary self-reflection, that will help them to grow academically and intellectually.
I am a strong adherent of the communicative approach in modern language pedagogy, and this communicative approach has been the guiding principle in my teaching ever since. I perceive teaching as a communication between equal partners, which allows all involved parties to grow.
The first step towards a productive communication is lowering barriers that separate the participants. In a conversation, when you are meeting a stranger for the first time, there are uncertainties and awkward silences. The same happens in the classroom. Since most of my students are freshman, a majority is in a completely unfamiliar environment and the English composition classroom seems strange and sometimes daunting.
I make my class as welcoming as possible, to provide a space in which students like to be. I do my best to be as approachable as possible. I encourage humor in my classroom. I give my best to acknowledge every student not just as a student but as an individual with individual needs and concerns. This building of rapport has always been successful in the past. But just as a conversation has to follow a certain etiquette, I make my expectations clear from the very start – but I also provide reasons why I think my students will profit from fulfilling these expectations.
My expectations are that they attend class regularly and punctually, that students develop a willingness to engage even with difficult texts, that they productively participate in class, that they submit all required work in time and that they put time and effort into their work. I am a strong believer in the grading contract, and these expectations serve as clear guidelines for the students to show them what they need to accomplish to get a good grade. My class is more process than result oriented. This gives students the opportunity to experiment with new forms of writing and to improve their skills without expecting perfection. Since my focus is on the improvement of the work process and not the finished product, students do not have to fear the negative impact of a failed project on their final grade. There is a strong emphasis on revision, the class gives the students a chance to explore which elements in their work do not work and how to supports them by providing techniques to improve.
The second step is to kindle their enthusiasm. I believe in leading by example. I engage as thoroughly with the course material as possible and try to be as passionate as possible in the classroom. After all, who has not had the experience of sitting in a classroom in which the instructor clearly did not enjoy teaching. I think this kindles the students’ interest for the material covered in class. Coming from a communicative approach background in language teaching, I design assignments which allow the students to not only to provide information of themselves but also to give insight into their own opinions. This usually results in an increased willingness to engage with difficult texts. Student reactions to texts are strongly encouraged. Very often negative responses lead to good conversations, when students are given the opportunity to voice their concerns. To prevent staying on the surface, I frequently ask my students why they feel uncomfortable with a text. This leads to a deeper reflection of their feelings regarding a text. Sometimes, students are uncomfortable with genre conventions – they consider academic texts dry – or they have difficulties with the content of a text. By asking them to specify their difficulties with a text, students need to engage with the text to reply. These uncomfortable texts also offer a great opportunity to encourage students to use theories of rhetorical analysis to voice their concerns. When students doubt the effectiveness of the rhetorical moves in a text, I use their feedback to encourage them to learn from the example and avoid these moves in their own writing. When they are worried by the content, I ask them to come up with a strong counter-argument. Students usually perceive this as a great preparation for their academic life at college. They know that they will have to engage with texts they do not like – this course offers them the means to identify aspects they find problematic and to effectively respond.
Lastly, I think a productive conversation only thrives in an environment of listening and mutual respect. I am not a dogmatic teacher. I do not want to change the views of my students. I want to provide a space that gives them the opportunity to voice them. I cherish diversity in the classroom and I think a democratic classroom only works if a variety of views is encouraged. I cannot change my students – but I can give them the tools to analyze their own opinions, to assess the way in which they voice these opinions, which gives them the necessary means to start a process of change, to become well rounded citizens of the world, in the words of Martha Nussbaum.
I also think no class is the same. I try to be open to the needs of my students. I see the primary goal of composition for freshman to allow them to successfully participate in the academic community. Very often, this needs adjustments of a class schedule, for example by devoting more time to the discussion of academic conventions, when it is clear that the students have not acquired these skills in high school. I need this flexibility to react to feedback from students to ensure that the class goals themselves are successfully met.
I do not perceive the freshman composition class as existing in a vacuum. I find it important that the students understand that the tools they are provided with give them a variety of skills that will be useful not only in their later academic career, but effective in general. In the course of ENG 1510, they learn how to analyze texts, how to respond to texts, how to build strong and effective arguments by using rhetorical moves, and how to effectively structure their argument. Project 1 effectively demonstrates to students that they possess various literacies they are an expert in and to find their own voice. Project 2 provides them with the tools of rhetorical and genre analysis, which allows them to assess which techniques texts employ to be rhetorically effective. It is an argumentative paper, which requires a clear thesis statement and encourages students to deliberately and consciously use rhetorical techniques themselves. Project 3 is a research paper, introducing students to the different approach of inductive research. In the course of this project, students learn how to incorporate secondary sources effectively.
I think it is important that my students have the feeling that they got something more out of my classes than just a good grade. So far, treating students with respect, accepting their opinions and not imposing a certain ideology on the classroom and to provide them with tools that allow them to start thinking critically themselves, without being prodded by an instructor, has proven very successful. Often the least likely students have made the furthest progress. I also perceive teaching as a mutual process. Since I encourage my students to write about their own lives and experiences, I gain new insights into the realities of their lives, which in turn allows me to address their needs and concerns in a better way.