I believe that learning occurs at the nexus of reading, writing and critical thinking. Far too often, students’ writing is produced in a vacuum: they are assigned a paper, they write the paper, they get a grade on the paper. Students draw little if any connection between the writing they produce and the texts they are reading, often because they are not shown this connection explicitly. In my classroom, I strive to bring students to an understanding of how reading and writing are linked to each other and to how we learn, and I do so in a number of ways.

First and foremost, I try to create a community of learners in each course I teach. This is particularly important at a commuter college, where students come on campus for classes and leave as soon as those classes are over. By implementing a number of group exercises such as free writing, role playing and brainstorming, I introduce my students to the process of collaborative learning. This type of interactive classroom helps students come to see that all of us, instructor and students alike, are members of an academic community. This is only part of the process, however. It is vital that my students realize that they, as a group, have the ability (and the responsibility) to help each other learn and grow as scholars. To this end, I find that peer group review of writing assignments is a tremendous asset. As students examine, criticize and praise each others’ drafts, they begin to foster a sense of community. They come together as a class and help bring each other to the realization that they are not just passive vessels to be filled with information; they discover that they are active learners, part of a larger academic community that includes both students and faculty, all of whom are studying academic disciplines together.

Another extremely important part of my pedagogy is the use of primary texts within the classroom, not just literature courses but composition courses as well. In addition to their textbooks, students read essays, short stories and poetry as preparation for their own writing. As a group, my students and I read and discuss these works, looking not only at the writing itself, but at the reasoning and argumentation that underlies the text. My own undergraduate and graduate studies in English are extremely helpful during this stage of the process; both close textual readings and literary criticism techniques of interpretation help students begin to see how literary works (including their own writing) have an underlying philosophy that governs what is expressed by a writer. As a class we examine syntax and vocabulary, of course, but we also look at how each piece is introduced, what the function of the language is in the context of the work, and ways in which the author might have improved his or her argument. By examining the writing of others in this way, students will develop, then improve, their own reading, writing and critical thinking processes.

Careful scaffolding of each writing assignment enables me to provide feedback at a number of different stages. This means that I can focus first on the overall structure of a student’s first draft, the strength of her argument and the logical constructs she uses to produce that argument. Only in subsequent drafts, once the paper’s general construction has been improved, do I begin to work with the student on helping her improve her syntax and grammar. This top-down commentary on students’ work enables them to come to an understanding of the role critical thinking plays in their academic work in general and their writing in particular.

My role in the classroom is not just that of instructor – I am a student as well. Each semester presents me with new questions, new problems, and new avenues of exploration in regards to my own studies as well as to my classroom teaching. There are a number of assignments I used in my earlier composition courses that did not work: they were unclear, or add-ons, or had little to do with my overall purpose of helping my students grow as writers and scholars. I have learned that “less is more” when it comes to students’ writing – it is better to help my students revise and improve a few pieces of writing over the course of the semester rather than inundate them with multiple assignments which are merely handed in and handed back without any chance for drafting (and the improvement that drafting brings). I plan to implement technology more into my courses, although I believe it is as important to understand when not to use technology as it is to use it properly.

As I continue with my own research and writing, I hope to explore the role of composition courses in the core curriculum, the ways in which faculty can link reading and writing effectively in their courses, and how the implementation of WAC/WID techniques helps students become not only better writers but better thinkers as well.

Overall, what I hope to give each of my students is the opportunity to develop his or her own voice within the academic community. All too often, students “shut down” when they are writing, striving to produce bland mimicry of what they heard their professors say in class. I believe I can help my students find their own voices while improving their reading, writing and critical thinking abilities, then use those voices to stake a place for themselves as vital members of a learning community.