ENGLISH 401: COMPOSITION IV: THEORY & RESEARCH

Composition Studies, Spring 2005 by Mulvaney, Mary Kay

Some reached a level of self-translation largely through the mentoring component, finding links between theory and praxis to be windows to their own sense of ownership of their education. Encouragement for maintaining the mentoring component was provided by one of my male, secondary education majors, Gino:

Truthfully, my initial thoughts [when I heard we had to tutor beginning composition students] were that this was going to take a lot of time out of my already busy schedule. However, my experiences and meetings with John and Jim have been (probably) the most enlightening experiences that I have had at Elmhurst College. . . . The ten hours I spent with both students do not even compare to the amount of knowledge and experience I gained from our sessions.

Some students evidenced translation through their brushes with professionalism, attending their first professional conferences, commenting on their usefulness, and realizing, seemingly for the first time, that true "professionals" are never "finished" with learning and never satisfied that they have "the answers," but rather are only beginning to interrogate the tenets of their profession from a relatively informed base.

During this course, both academic and affective translations occurred. Academically, many mentioned that they found themselves improving as writers as they struggled to teach others to write. These students were forced to unravel some of their own uncertainties. They continually commented upon their increased knowledge of the theories of writing pedagogy we were discussing in class as they attempted to put them into practice. They struggled, for instance, with how to appreciate individual interpretation, even if it was obviously underinformed or how to phrase suggestions that would encourage greater reflection and not automatic, unquestioned adoption or how to value voice, while reminding students about certain conventions of Standard Written English. Within the affective domain, the tutors reported forming friendships and extremely satisfying relationships; I know at least one pair of students continued to meet for tutoring sessions the following semester when the first year student took Comp II. Many reported feelings of increased confidence in their own writing abilities and more confidence in their ability to become good teachers or mentors.

Looking back, I realize that another significant aspect of this course is the reflection piece. Embracing Dewey's insistence upon reflection as key for effective pedagogy, I structured reflection as pivotal in this course in several ways. Students wrote nearly 20 response papers, reflecting upon their readings of the course's theoretical and historical texts; kept journals of their mentoring experiences; and wrote serious reflective exit essays, focusing either upon the mentoring experience or upon their own growth as a writer and a pre-professional. Students commented on the value of the multiple facets of this course, saying things like Nikki who shared the following: