English 5001

Commentary Week Eleven

Eureka, I Have Found It: Writing Teachers as Enablers of Discovery In the process of writing there is not one sure fire method that will work for every writer. Some writers need to plan and organize their thoughts while other…

Covino Commentary

Covino Commentary “Grammars of Transgression: Golems, Cyborgs, and Mutants” At first I must admit confusion because I could not see where a discussion of the Hebrew “Golem” was going to lead into a discussion of rhetoric.  Then this line, “‘Mistakes…

Technology in the Classroom

The ideas presented in Distant Voices are ones that I find particularly interesting. The idea of using technology to enhance teaching, or even as a primary means of teaching, are ones that I believe will help students. As is pointed…

Class Questions

1. How do student or teacher stereotypes affect the composition classroom and student writing? 2. “Academia was where we worked but we wanted a life on the outside.  We did not want to be imprisoned in the institution of higher…

Matsuda ESL Composition

The reading — Composition Studies and ESL Writing: A Disciplinary Division of Labor Paul Kei Matsuda   In this Article Paul Kei Matsuda describes the what writing teachers encounter when embarking on composition studies for ESL writers.  ESL has historically…

Commentary Week Ten

Commentary Week Ten Western Supremacy and Composition   In this week’s reading I believe there are two central issues.  The first issue is related to the elitist attitudes of the “Western” world and the approach the West takes to view…

Thoughts on Orientalism Reconsidered

The Reading— Orientalism Reconsidered by Edward W. Said  The Said reading was not my favorite one.  My interest for Orientalism is waning.  I thought this reading was going to be an account of rhetorical practices like the Xing Lu readings,…

Binary in Spivak

The reading—-Rhetoric and Cultural Explanation: A Discussion with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak  In this interview of Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, I found it interesting that Spivak does not give an exact definition of Rhetoric when asked.  Rhetoric in our modern time is…