Creating Community in a Writing Classroom

As the first day of school quickly approaches for us here at the University of Mississippi, I find myself trying to think my way through last year’s problems. One such problem was the issue of community in my classroom. Out of four sections, two bonded extremely well, while two did not. The two sections that did bond as a community were very rewarding to me, because they taught each other as much as I taught them (perhaps more). They genuinely cared about one another, helped one another, and became the type of peer collaborators that made my job easier. Simply put, they wanted to improve as students and writers, and in my (biased) opinion, they did. They held each other accountable for mistakes, and that fostered a strong and motivated community of writers. The bonds formed in those two sections will continue into those students’ sophomore years here at Ole Miss; they will always be friends and root for one another’s continued success.

The other two sections seemed to divide into several distinct cliques, and while many students sought to improve and did, they never really helped one another by maintaining a strong atmosphere of accountability. In several cases, they helped each other complete work close to the deadline, never mentioning that the procrastinating student was to blame, but usually hinting that it was possibly my fault.

Let me be clear that I was proud of all of my students, but I could not help pondering why two sections came together in such a positive and motivating way, while two simply decided to limp through the class and semester. I also cannot keep myself from wondering if something I did caused this, or was it just the mixture of students in a given section. I believe that good teaching comes from constant questioning and changing; therefore, I have begun outlining some ideas to help all four sections bond closely this year.

Here is a compiled list:

1.)  Distinguish sections as families (this has worked very well in past sections)

2.)  Foster a stronger online community

3.)  Integrate student cultural references to help in the understanding of complex rhetorical ideas

4.)  Be open to students’ ideas for classroom discussion

Whether I will be successful or not remains to be seen, but I do hope to share with you what I have tried, what has worked, and what has failed when we meet together in late September. I look forward to continuing this conversation with you.

Best,

P. Keith Boran

We all love to tell stories. In fact, when we come together for the Transitioning to College Writing symposium, we are going to share many stories from our classrooms. These stories will range from frustration to joy, and everywhere in between, for we’ve all chosen a profession that’s as rewarding as it is taxing. The stories we share with one another at the conference will enable us to better understand the struggles and successes some participants are experiencing, as well as help to establish a healthy ethos amongst us as we develop common ground as concerned educators.

A narrative is a story, and narratives have long been taught to students as personal writing, a way to express their thoughts and feelings on a particular experience. But I believe we are missing a great opportunity for our students. Narratives should be approached as rhetorical devices, and like any rhetorical device, we should teach our students to use narratives well when it’s appropriate. As I mentioned earlier, narratives are a great way to establish ethos with an audience, while also maintaining audience interest. Readers want to be informed, but they also want to be able to relate to the topic. When a student can relate an issue they are researching to their own personal experience, and do so formally, they are building a bridge to the audience. This bridge enables the student to create ethos while also illustrating a deep understanding of the complexity of an issue they’ve researched – specifically how it affects others in the real world.

For these reasons, I’ve always encouraged my students to provide a brief narrative in the majority of their writing. A well-executed narrative, along with insightful and thorough research on an issue, can produce a paper well-balanced with logos and pathos, thus creating a sustained and credible ethos. The problem is most students tend to think of narratives as passive and personal. But with the proper instruction and practice, we can enable our students to become skillful users of narrative, using it to persuade and relate to an audience in a powerful and compelling way.

I look forward to discussing this idea with you more at the conference this September.

Keith Boran