Techne and Praxis

While reading Teaching Technical Communication: Critical Issues for the Classroom by James Dubinsky, I came across the following, "Teaching is both a making (techne) and a doing (praxis)" (4). Even though I found this in a technical communication teaching book, this idea is applicable for the composition classroom. Dubinsky goes on to write, "Our [teachers] work involves more than teaching our students strategies or forms; it also involves asking them to consider the impact of those strategies and forms on public policy. We teach them to become user-centered practitioners, to take their audience and its needs into consideration always" (5). In the composition classroom, we teach students to write in a variety of ways. Part of our goal (at least for English 110), is to prepare our students for writing in academia. However, we should also be preparing them to write outside of academia.

In my experience, many freshman don't realize just how important writing is, even for a simple task of writing a job application. I have had the experience of sorting through job applications and I can say that those that were not well-written were not even considered. When I introduce the assignments to my students I try to find a way to relate to things outside the classroom, whether it is simply relating to what they may do in their field later in their academic career, or relate to beyond that.

I realize that my students are not going to leave my class enjoying writing the way I do, but if I can get through to them just how important it is in everyday life, I feel I have, at least, accomplished something.

What is pedagogy?

According to the OED online, pedagogy is: the art, occupation, or practice of teaching . . . the theory or principles of eduction; a method of teaching based on such a theory. So, then what does that mean for me? What is my pedagogy? I'm a teacher, so does that mean I automatically have a pedagogy since it is the practice of teaching? The problem is, I haven't quite figured out what MY pedagogy is.

When it comes to writing, I fall somewhere in between the whole product/process debate that has been going on in the field of composition for quite some time. As someone who received an undergraduate education in photography, the art side of me is all about the process of writing - plus the fact that when it comes to my own writing, my process is very important to me. However, the technical writer side of my is big on the actual product - this is because if you are producing a product that will be viewed by many, you want it be as good as possible, you don't want people to think you are dumb, or don't care about the little details.

As an editor, I see the little mistakes and at times it drives me crazy but when I grade I try to keep things in context, obviously if the paper is just riddled with errors the grade is going to be affected, but if there are just minor ones I understand.

I have had some pretty amazing teachers that have just been so pationate about what they teach that even if it is the most boring subject on the planet, I would still be interested. I want to be able to get to that point. I hope that my students see how much I enjoy writing, and even though I don't expect them all to enjoy it like I do by the end of the semester, I hope they see and understand the importance of writing in and out of academia.