Techno-Rhetoric Cafe

I find myself focusing my energies in my Basic Writing classes on helping students not only become better writers, but also to build confidence in their writing. On a regular basis, I encounter students, both L1 and L2, who fear writing because of a fear of the countless red-marked grammar errors they must correct when [...]

Teachers of writing struggle every day to help their students overcome the belief that they are “bad writers.” Teachers of Basic Writing struggle even more with this problem because of the stigma automatically attached to the class they teach. Students of Basic Writing register for a class that, I believe, should require a supplemental class [...]

I’m finishing up my doctoral coursework with a class in Basic Writing Pedagogy. We’re two weeks into the semester and I’m already finding myself needing to write about this. So, I’m adding a series to the blog that focuses a bit less on technology and a lot more on the situation of Basic Writers in [...]

Thursday’s New York Times ran an editorial on standardized testing that demands some attention. They are calling for stronger curriculums in high schools and more focused standardized testing to demonstrate accomplishment in these areas. Just last month, the NY Times ran another article exposing the coaching of students that some schools do before their tests. [...]

Over the past eight weeks, I’ve been teaching two sections of Basic Writing with about 30 students between the two classes. I’ve thinned out those numbers now. Sure, I forced their hand a bit, but there are things that I feel need to be made crystal clear to students early on in their college career. [...]