MacLennan’s Prospectus: Teaching Ethics & Composition
Research Prospectus-Writing Studies
Katie MacLennan
June 18, 2008
Teaching Ethics and Composition in the High School Classroom
Statement of Topic: Choosing ethics as my focus for the writing studies course provides an opportunity to explore a growing area of professional concern. I have always been fascinated by the discussion of ethics and the development of sound reasoning for debate. In teaching a college writing course, I have found many of my students are ill-prepared for the critical thinking necessary for research and response. I have also found many of my students are preconditioned to narrow their own perspectives in order to reduce the workload or to simply regurgitate direction instruction. Teaching high school students to think for themselves has become my personal goal and a surprisingly challenging one as well.
My intent in this study is to discover how to merge topic exploration with critical analysis within a framework of ethics. I do believe many of my students are quickly lost when they are not provided with a personal guide throughout their research. I am hoping that an ethical framework will provide the necessary guidance without limiting the personal development of the students. As their teacher, I have become very cautious in expressing my own opinions because my students eventually choose to mirror my opinion rather than develop their own. In developing their own voices, many do not stop to consider the foundations of their values. I believe providing a framework of ethics in which the students can continually question and solidify their own opinions will result in a willingness to explore more broadly and to write more confidently.
My qualifications for teaching ethics are limited. I have explored internet sites and used materials which offered ethical dilemmas that my students struggled to discuss in class. While this was rewarding on some levels in that they had to think, respond, and support their positions, I found the students responded in more practical ways rather than through their personal convictions. Without the personal connection, their support was very shallow and did not transfer well into their written responses.
Main research question: I would like to find out if there are specific methods of teaching writing which incorporate an ethical framework as a preliminary step in the writing process. How can I combine the development of self expression with awareness of ethical responsibility? Perhaps it is a matter of merging the two disciplines; and if so, then I hope to learn how to facilitate an enriched writing environment.
List of materials to date:
Mayers, Tim. (Re)Writing Craft: Composition, Creative Writing, and the Future of English Studies. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005.
Pemberton, Michael. The Ethics of Writing Instruction: Issues in Theory and Practice. Stamford: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 2000.
Shaugnessy, Mina P. Errors & Expectations: A Guide for the Teacher of Basic Writing. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.
Tate, Gary, Amy Rupiper and Kurt Schick. A Guide to Compositional Pedagogies. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Tobin, Lad. Reading Student Writing: Confessions, Meditations, and Rants. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook Publishers, Inc., 2004.
Zemelman, Steven, Harvey Daniels and Arthur Hyde. Best Practice: Today’s Standard for Teaching & Learning in America’s Schools, 3rd ed. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2005.
June 20th, 2008 16:55
My apologies in getting this posted. I wrote it at WIU using Word 07 and couldn’t open it at home or on my husband’s computer. Sneaking this in before the lab tech kicks me out. Will learn to pay more attention to software limitations in the future.
Thanks again for a nice lunch, good conversation, and positive comments for direction, Bradley.
Katie
June 21st, 2008 08:20
Katie, I gotta run to a breakfast, but I’ll type up my comments on this when I get back. Meanwhile, let me praise OpenOffice; it can open Word 2007 files with ease, and it’s free. I’ve been using it since 2001 when it was StarOffice.
June 21st, 2008 10:42
OK, back from breakfast. I made a few notes on the hard copy you gave me Wednesday and am working from those. This looks like a sound project. Because critical thinking has become a bit buzzword-affected–people say “We’re doing critical thinking” because it’s popular, whether what they’re doing involves it or not–your addition of ethics as a focus or relay is welcomed. That will not only help ensure actual critical thinking, given the , but will prevent overspill into a bazillion other areas which could make students’ work quite difficult (because of more open ended assignments, as remarked in an earlier comment by Katherine).
I have to ask if you are thinking of ethics in its rhetorical dimension, as ethos: character, goodwill, etc. Obviously, that’s related to the contemporary definition (acting in a morally educated and responsible fashion). You might do some research into ways (if?) ethos has been used in the way you are proposing for ethics.
The “regurgitation” problems you identify are pretty difficult, because of test taking mentalities, lack of confidence in writing ability, anti-intellectualism, grading pressures, genuine admiration of teachers… the list goes on. I think that’s a good specific target for motivation. However, I want to encourage you to see adopting others’ opinions positively: as long as it’s done with due diligence, so to speak. Arguably, developing one’s own viewpoint is less important than being able to explain what and why one thinks about a popular position. In other words, it’s not the arguments, but the investment in them, which we need to consider: as you write, that’s where the personal dimension becomes meaningful.
You write: “I found the students responded in more practical ways rather than through their personal convictions”–what practical ways?
June 21st, 2008 17:05
Bradley,
Excellent insights. Your perspectives are fresh and stimulate lots of different thoughts. I agree that “critical thinking” has become a popular phrase and that it is one category specifically targeted by schools and tests. I see CT more as a life skill rather than one pigeon-holed for test prep and therefore wish to offer assignments that truly help generate deeper understanding rather than simple responses. How do I achieve that? I think through getting the students to connect rather than disconnect, to really see the “investment” as worthwhile to their own growth. Then again, how do I achieve that?
I do understand that adopting another’s opinions can be positive and a result of personal growth. Some of the best argumentative papers I have received were those written by students who began staunchly on one side of an argument and through the process of research and reflection, found themselves on the other side by the time they had begun writing the paper. The end result was a paper equally weighted with strong support and understanding, and yet exhibited a deeper amount of growth and conviction brought about by the position reversal. That’s what I am striving for my students to experience.
I am not sure of the direction to take with incorporating ethics. I am following up on some of your suggested reading and will look further into the concepts of ethos.
When I wrote of “practical” versus “personal,” I was referring to them endorsing scripted remedies or consequences rather than striving for change. When my students respond to an issue on a very personal level, the passions run freer and their response options are more numerous than when they simply try to respond in an “it is what it is” fashion. I suppose I encourage them to be more innovative in order to think for themselves. If they run the course of thought and still end up endorsing the establishment, well then at least their support is more convincing and passionate. Deferring to authority as an easy way out of investing themselves in a discussion will only last so many more years of their lives.
The greatest compliment I received in my four years of teaching was from a senior who said my class was the most difficult he had ever had because I made him think. He was serious in that he had to look at the world and his role in it so very differently now. Not simply as an observer, but as a participant. Yeah!
June 22nd, 2008 07:32
I’ll have more ideas on readings for ethos in a day or so. Not that you have to include it in your framework, but given its foundational status, it’s a good idea to acknowledge it in some way. (I’m imagining a conference presentation: you’d almost certainly get a question like: “So, have you thought about connecting the modern sense of ethics to Aristotle’s original?” You’d want to be able to say something other than “Uh uh uh no,” even if it was “No, because….”)
I’m afraid some people can make deferring to authority a way of life, both in writing and otherwise.
June 23rd, 2008 09:39
Hey folks, I’m outta my league in discussing classroom ethics, but as I read your comments, a question comes to mind. On the high school level, should teaching ethics include teaching students to tolerate others’ ideas, along with or before developing their own? From my “street” experience with high schoolers (described ad nauseum at lunch the other day), it seems that they automatically shut down when presented with novel perspectives or established values–especially from the older generation or those from different cultures. Which presents the difficulty of how to teach members of one generation to develop their own ethos without discounting the values of the generation that brung ‘em into the world or those who practice a different religion or come from a foreign background. When it comes to ethics, does a teacher have the right to establish the classroom benchmark, or would that just lead to teacher emulation? I’d think that the longer you teacher, the bigger the ethical rift that could grow with each generation.
Tell me I’m old and nuts, or is there something to taking into account “generational ethics” ?
June 23rd, 2008 15:59
Katie, I’d really like to see some of your College Writing assignments that deal with ethics if/when you get a chance! Sounds like an interesting topic. I have observed that students are in one of two camps: they either defer to authority completely (rooting for the politician their parents favor), or they are too stubborn in their own positions to see another perspective. Any work you do to uncover the middle ground would be useful to have/see.
July 9th, 2008 12:31
Katie, I’ve been reading Elbow’s Writing Without Teachers, and I thought of our discussion of ethics and writing. The chapter titled “The Teacherless Writing Class” says, “. . . writing is a transaction with other people. Writing is not just getting things down on paper, it is getting things inside someone else’s head. If you wish to improve your writing you must also learn to do more business with other people.” ELbow proceeds to explain how to make that happen, so you might be interested in reading the book.
Ethics always necessitates making personal choices and decisions and often confronting others who may or may not agree. Elbow agrees with you that critical thinking and effective writing go together–although I’m not so sure he believes the critical thinking must always precede the writing.