ERIC Number: EJ981494
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-May
Pages: 9
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0098-6291
EISSN: N/A
On Spooky Stories, the War and "This I Believe"
Shafer, Gregory
Teaching English in the Two-Year College, v39 n4 p398-406 May 2012
Complaints from students are rare at the college level, but when they do happen, it offers a priceless opportunity to explore the value system of those students and encourage them to write about their beliefs and the alienation they are experiencing. While a majority of the students take writing as a requirement and seek only to earn the requisite credit for their program, many bring passionate convictions into class--convictions that can engender some very empowering and passionate moments if they are allowed to incorporate those values into their written work. A complaint during a spooky story assignment leads the author to rediscover the importance of liberatory, student-driven writing. The author designed an assignment that allowed students to articulate ideas and convictions about the subject. The assignment, called "This I Believe," is based on the NPR program of the same name in which readers express their strong feelings about a topic of their choosing. The author stresses the need to enkindle the voice inside the students that begins with their concerns, their beliefs, and their worlds. The assignment "This I Believe" was successful for the author, but the key is simply to transcend the functional literacy by fostering a critical literacy, powerful literacy, political literacy which enables the growth of genuine understanding and control of all the spheres of social life.
Descriptors: College English, Fear, Writing Assignments, College Students, Feedback (Response), Negative Attitudes, Resistance (Psychology), Critical Literacy, Values, Power Structure, Theory Practice Relationship, Self Disclosure (Individuals), Beliefs, Outcomes of Education
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A