Final Reflection

Composition in the Classroom
On the first session of my Issues in Composition class, I was asked to define composition. This may seem like a fairly novice task, but when we take the time to reflect over the meaning of composition it becomes more challenging. I think composition is a written work where all the different parts come together to make a personal statement, which is a thesis. In order to successfully teach the student how to master composition, I feel that the teacher must incorporate methods that involve technology, an interactive classroom, and personalized end comments. If these things are achieved, I believe that pupils will become more engrossed in their writing while, at the same time, transforming it into entertainment.
It is becoming increasingly important for instructors to notice the rise of technology in our current culture. One of the best ways to incorporate technology and composition is through a project that links the two together. In the presentation over the article Using Digital Media to Interpret Poetry: Spiderman Meets Walt Whitman, the presenter discussed that “using multimodality and semiotic design will help readers develop a deeper appreciation and understanding of poetry, and they will then in turn be better equipped to interpret it” (Ipock). By simply allowing students to make a presentation that includes computer animations, movement, and sound it helps them better interpret the poem. Since it is difficult to get students to connect with a poem by simply reading it for homework, they should be encouraged to do activities that make them read the poem multiple times and come up with their own interpretations of the characters and symbols. When students are able to interpret an author’s piece of work they have more confidence in their own capabilities to successfully perform writing tasks; which is also known as self-efficacy. When pupils have more self-efficacy, they will have more ease and success with their own writing.
As stated by Autumn Lamphier in her oral presentation, “I feel the most important way to encourage self-efficacy is by [a] highly interactive classroom. We will only know what our students are truly learning, not by the worksheets, but by getting to know them” (Lamphier). Having an interactive classroom is important because it allows us to gauge our student’s progress throughout the year. Students will be more willing to disregard their negative feelings about composition if they are able to communicate openly without the fear of ridicule or punishment. In an interactive classroom, it is possible to connect the classroom on a deeper level to ensure that the student “must be willing to see him or herself as a person who does not have all the answers, to be ready to experiment and allow for mistakes along the way” (Osborne). Once this is accomplished, pupils are no longer afraid to take leaps in their writing for fear of it being wrong. In a fully interactive classroom, students will combine their own ideas with the class discussions to combine into a deeper insight in their writing.
The last and final component to an enriching and successful composition class is personalized end comments. “One of our main goals as composition teachers is to teach our students; the power of rhetoric and composition and help them improve over time on their work. One of the most universal ways for accomplishing these tasks is to leave end comments on graded papers that explain the grading process and praise and criticize students. If the comments that we are leaving are generic and follow a repetitive pattern then they have become a mode of habit as opposed to a helping device” (Cockrum). This is a quote from my own oral presentation. Something as small as an end comment can encourage the student to keep working at their writing. Instead of giving a grade and forgetting about the paper afterwards, teachers should give time and thought to their end comments and allow students the chance to revise and improve on their work. In doing this, instructors are teaching students that a perfect composition is something that must be constantly revised and worked on. Once students understand this element of composition, they will learn that they may not be good at composition because they aren’t completing the last and final steps of revision; no one writes a perfect paper on the first try. Through end comments, teachers have the opportunity to give constructive criticism and acknowledge effort.
The main goal of composition teachers should be to utilize new teaching strategies that help students master composition. Methods like the five-paragraph model hinder students’ writing because such formulaic moves “leave no room for academic or literary growth, which is what we, as teachers, are supposed to teach” (Pritchard). If our job is to pound the five paragraph model over student’s heads then it seems unnecessary to require teachers to receive a college education. We are taught to teach students new and exciting ways to learn composition, but as soon as teachers enter the classroom they are stuck teaching the same old methods. If we revamped the composition teaching methods to serve our students then we would see much more positive responses; “Composition classes have a responsibility to their students to go beyond the simple grammar and punctuation aspects and into teaching critical analysis” (Slack). We, as future instructors, must go above and beyond to teach our students the importance and value of composition.