Radical Departures: Composition and Progressive PedagogyThis book addresses some big questions: the current political climate, with its calls for standardized testing and accountability; the uneasy relationships between faculty in English and English education departments; and the (lack of) cooperation between postsecondary compositionists and P-12 language arts teachers. These issues are covered in the book as the ways are traced in which "progressive politics" of one kind or another have played an integral role in how writing has been taught and studied in United States secondary and postsecondary schools. The three chapters in Part I explore competing versions of "progressivism" in composition and rhetoric's past and present: the pedagogical and administrative progressivism of composition's early years (during the Progressive Era of the early 20th century); the recent "conservative restoration"; and contemporary critical pedagogy. Building on these discussions of progressivism, the three chapters in Part II work to reframe and reclaim Deweyan pedagogical progressivism for composition and rhetoric's future, showing how this strand of progressive thinking might help the field develop new, pedagogy-centered understandings and practices of disciplinarity, curriculum, and outreach. Woven in with the main chapters are "intraludes," narrative accounts of the author/educator's work as a writing teacher, scholar, and public school advocate. These narratives illustrate and connect the issues highlighted in each chapter, grounding them in the reality of everyday contexts. (Each chapter includes notes; contains an extensive list of works cited.) (NKA). |
From inside the book
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Page 13
... skills , according to Cremin , were " combined as elements of communication , to be studied within the context of actual conversation and writing " ( 132 ) . In the age of skills - and - drills instruction , Parker sought to help ...
... skills , according to Cremin , were " combined as elements of communication , to be studied within the context of actual conversation and writing " ( 132 ) . In the age of skills - and - drills instruction , Parker sought to help ...
Page 50
... skills : " I believe that the primary function of our schools is to teach students a body of skill and knowledge that will enable them to function in modern society . Far and away the most important of these skills are the primary academic ...
... skills : " I believe that the primary function of our schools is to teach students a body of skill and knowledge that will enable them to function in modern society . Far and away the most important of these skills are the primary academic ...
Page 138
... skills and advanced courses provide content . Underlying this model is the assumption that acts of reading and writing can be finally mastered in those early courses , and that these skills can later be deployed in the " real ...
... skills and advanced courses provide content . Underlying this model is the assumption that acts of reading and writing can be finally mastered in those early courses , and that these skills can later be deployed in the " real ...
Contents
Composition as a Progressive Enterprise | 10 |
The Conservative Restoration as Administrative | 40 |
Another Progressivism | 70 |
Copyright | |
11 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
academic administrative aims American assessment become begin calls Chapter claims classroom committee Composition and Rhetoric compositionists consider construction continue conversation course critical pedagogy cultural curriculum departments develop Dewey disciplinary discipline discourse effect efficiency engage English English studies experience fact faculty field first-year function graduate high school hope ideas imagination important inquiry instance institutional intellectual interested Journal kind knowledge learning literacy look means ment move North offer organized participate perhaps political position possibilities practice present produce professional professors progressive progressivism questions readers reform response schools sequence shared social standardized story studies suggests talk teachers teachers and students teaching tell term tests texts tion traditional transformative turn understanding writing York
Bibliographic information
| Title | Radical Departures: Composition and Progressive Pedagogy Refiguring English studies, ISSN 1073-9637 |
| Author | Chris W. Gallagher |
| Publisher | National Council of Teachers of English, 2002 |
| Original from | the University of California |
| Digitized | 5 Mar 2008 |
| ISBN | 0814138160, 9780814138168 |
| Length | 247 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |