Hypermediated Teaching Philosophy

My Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy emphasizes  process within compositition studies.  I believe that a pragmatic approach to writing enables the student to breakdown writing blocks and such in order to develop a style that is unique, yet polite and  earnest.  With the development of a process, I believe students are better able to set a firm foundation for their paper.  This foundation consists of voice, tone/attitude, diction, and flow.  Out of this mixture of, a process arises.  With an emphasis on these aspects of composition studies, I hope to allow the student to develop into their own style and the ability to adapt their writing style for academia.

This pragmatic approach is, for example, exemplified in my grading (see Commentary tab).  For the 1.1 drafts, I focused on finding a clear, concise thesis statement with supporting evidence and tried to steer the student into meaningful revisions.  By setting a firm foundation for the paper, the student is then able to structure their argument/analysis in a way that supports itself.  After a clear, concise thesis is established, then surface issues are addressed.  Grammar, spelling, structure, etc are all taken into account while I am grading because they ultimately affect the audience, tone, and argument of the paper.  This process, I believe, is imperative for students because it allows the student to solely focus on their argument/analysis and then address other, surface issues afterwards.  Revision is key to setting the tone and focusing on the audience, but should take place after the paper is written.

Another example of this pragmatic approach can be seen in the Keyword Project (see Keyword Project) I created in order to present to a class.  The focus of the project was feminism, but ended up being an extensive retracing of what feminism meant despite its stereotypes and connotations.  I had too much information to begin with, so I narrowed my focus to its basic definition and arguments and then touched on specific concepts addressed within feminism.  By focusing on feminism in this way, I was able to establish a basic foundation as to what it means and show the students how to synthesize the information in a way that doesn’t take away from what feminism means or alienate the audience.

A third example, a handout and quiz with essay prompts (see Handout and Quiz tabs), also highlights my teaching philosophy by emphasizing a thorough knowledge of the topic at hand, which can lead to a firm foundation within a paper.  In the classroom, I want to focus on the students and be able to address their concerns/problems and by giving them a handout and quiz with essay prompts, I’m giving the students more than one way to synthesize and understand the information.  I understand that the keyword project could be overwhelming because of its topic, but with these tools, the students can better interact with the material.  I want to give the students every opportunity to understand the material which includes discussing the issue/topic (keyword project), reflecting on the material (handout), and relaying the information (quiz and essay prompts).

A fourth and final example of my teaching philosophy can be seen in my Observation Report (see turned in Report to Dr. Rickly).  It, more than anything else, has influenced my teaching philosophy because it allowed me to see two different teaching methods used for the same class.  The disparate teaching styles allowed me to determine how hands on I am in my classes.  As I mentioned earlier, I want the students to have as much time with the material and writing so that they feel comfortable enough to finish the assignments and confident enough to reflect on the material in a paper.  The emphasis on class discussion and hands on learning led me to focus on building a foundation within composition studies to include process, voice, research, and audience attentiveness as key elements to any paper.