Research Day 2018 Schedule
Stepping Stones and Stumbling Blocks: Reflections on Service Learning/Community Engagement in First Year Writing Pedagogy
Type of Presentation
Poster Session
Location
D34005
Start Date
4-6-2018 2:00 PM
End Date
4-6-2018 3:00 PM
Description of Program
Composition and Rhetoric as a field has long embraced the value of service learning projects in courses like first-year writing, with some caveats. As Aaron Schutz and Ann Ruggles Gere explain, service learning fits well with the disciplinary perspective of English Studies which studies the “ways people read and write, attend to cultural studies, and entertain questions of public policy” (130). Thus, composition pedagogy and service learning pedagogy are highly complementary, both as pedagogical strategies and as agents of change. As Tom Deans demonstrates, writing and service can both be considered “modes of learning” (29), through which each can amplify the effects of the other. And the importance of rhetoric as social action (Cushman, Heilker) paired with active engagement with particular communities amplifies the effectiveness of the combined activities.
Each of the presenting faculty have made use of service learning/community engagement in some way during this spring semester. This presentation will discuss what they have learned about the implementation of these pedagogical practices. Collectively, we will discuss the things that went well (some stepping stones to effective practice) and the difficulties in implementation (stumbling blocks) that we encountered.
Works Cited
Cushman, Ellen. “The Rhetorician as an Agent of Social Change.” CCC 54 (1996): 7-28.
Deans, Thomas. “Writing Across the Curriculum and Community Service Learning: Correspondences, Cautions, and Futures.” Writing the Community: Concepts and Models for Service-Learning in Composition. Ed. Linda Adler-Kassner, Robert Crooks, and Ann Watters. Washington, D.C.: American Association for Higher Education, 1997. 29-37.
Heilker, Paul. “Rhetoric Made Real: Civic Discourse and Writing Beyond the Curriculum.” Writing the Community: Concepts and Models for Service-Learning in Composition. Ed. Linda Adler-Kassner, Robert Crooks, and Ann Watters. Washington, D.C.: American Association for Higher Education, 1997. 71-77.
Schutz, Aaron and Ann Ruggles Gere. “Service Learning and English Studies: Rethinking ‘Public’ Service.” College English 60.2 (1998): 129-149.
Abstract
This roundtable discussion features the reflections of faculty teaching ENGL 1010: Writing Studies 2, who are participating in a grant sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) to implement high-impact practices in the first year of college. The goal of this session will be to reflect on service learning/community engagement more generally, and our hope is that it will be informative to a diverse audience of teachers who might wish to implement similar pedagogies in their own classes.
Stepping Stones and Stumbling Blocks: Reflections on Service Learning/Community Engagement in First Year Writing Pedagogy
D34005
This roundtable discussion features the reflections of faculty teaching ENGL 1010: Writing Studies 2, who are participating in a grant sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) to implement high-impact practices in the first year of college. The goal of this session will be to reflect on service learning/community engagement more generally, and our hope is that it will be informative to a diverse audience of teachers who might wish to implement similar pedagogies in their own classes.