A New Book

Good-bye, Bangkok. Hello, Tallahassee.




As I packed my backpack to leave Bangkok, my friends all expressed their excitement for me as I "started a new chapter" of my life. However tired I am of the cliche, I must argue that this experience at Florida State University is far from a new chapter; it is a whole new book. Appropriately so, it is time for me to leave behind the days of "Sandy Feet World Travel," my travel blog from my past three years as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher that has remarkably little to do with teaching, and begin my transition into the world of college composition with the musings of "Learn. Teach. Discover."

In the one week of composition boot camp, I have already encountered several key terms in reading and in class discussions that I want to follow throughout the summer, especially in preparation to teach this fall. One term, however, seems at the heart of the writing process and serves to connect many of the concepts of the course.

DISCOVERY. Writing is an act of discovery. As we write, we find our own voices and that of our audience. It is an act of meaning making that we exercise through the process of drafting and revision. In Teaching Writing as Reflective Practice, George Hillocks cautions against oversimplifying writing to the cliche that it is a "process of discovery," although there are elements of finding the self and ideas as the writer moves through the process (13). Although moments of discovering new liteary ideas may be rare, writing is also about finding voice through text. Hillocks also recognizes the "process of inquiry" for the writer, the need to ask questions and expand upon a variety of topics, reaching out of the prescribed academic circle from time to time (15). In the first year composition course, the senses of both discovery and inquiry will push our students to be better writers, not just to produce a couple of pieces of good writing.

This week's food for thought:
Bartholomae, David. “What Is Composition and (if you know what that is) Why Do We Teach It?” Composition in the Twenty-first Century: Crisis and Change. Eds. Lynn Z. Bloom, Donald A. Daiker, and Edward M. White. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP, 1996. 11-28.

Hillocks, George. “A View of Writing and Students” and “Some Basics for Thinking about Teaching Writing.” Teaching Writing as Reflective Practice. New York: Teachers College Press, 1995. 1-38.

Anson, Chris M. “The Intelligent Design of Writing Programs: Reliance on Belief or a Future of Evidence.” WPA: Writing Program Administration 31.3 (2008): 11-38.