1) David Bartholomae asks a provocative question in the title of his essay; "What Is Composition and (if you know what that is) Why Do We Teach It?" What is Bartholomae's critique of the field of composition studies and how does he reimagine a course where composition is taught? And what if anything can we take away from his ideas as we develop our own teaching pedagogy?
2) In the conclusion of "Process Pedagogy," Lad Tobin writes, " There is of course value in both (or all three) approaches, and my own current classroom approach shows a high degree of pedagogical diversity (or dilettantism). In most respects, I still remain committed to a process design [...] But I am no longer as rigid or as pure about teaching by not teaching" (16). Having read Tobin's discussion of preprocess, process, and postprocess theories, what aspects of the individual theories do you see being useful in the classroom? Can you understand why Tobin has become less rigid and sees value in all three pedagogies or are more drawn to one in particular and why?
Answer to question 2: I definitely understand why Tobin has become less rigid in his views as throughout my readings I frequently found myself thinking about how each approach had both promising and redeemable qualities but ultimately felt as though it is mostly always beneficial for one to take the best aspects out of each method and molding them into stronger and less restrictive versions of themselves. Preprocess theory is correct in putting emphasis students being aware of the importance behind the formula for a well structured essay as well as the use of correct grammar and punctuation. However, while teaching those fundamentals to students is wildly important, I believe that they should be taught that those are the foundation of "good" writing but are not the sole factors in defining the overall quality of one's work. Once someone is knowledgeable in the skeletal bits of what is traditionally considered "good" writing, they become more well suited in being able to play around with the "rules" without sacrificing the overall quality of their writing. The process theory would find itself useful in the classroom through putting less emphasis on the notion of "correctness" and more on working to move students out of the formulaic "bad, boring, and uninspired" writing in favor of embracing one's own voice. While the post process theory would prove to be useful in the classroom by encouraging students to think critically outside of the confines of their own mind and life experiences.
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