"I don’t believe that students can develop their skills as writers unless they care about the issues and ideas that they consider in their papers. If the readings engage them and class discussion introduces them to a range of responses to the readings, they will feel motivated to express themselves."
In this section, Cynthia Taft shares insights she has gained about teaching a communication-intensive course.
There are challenges and rewards built into any course that combines intensive writing experience with serious reading requirements. I wanted to ensure that my students came away from the course feeling more adept and more confident as writers, but I also wanted them to feel that they had something important to say in their papers. The tension between these two goals played out in my plan for every class meeting. I often split our class time into two sessions: one that focused on the students’ most recent writing assignment and one that focused on their most recent readings. In an 80-minute class, that strategy works well. I don’t believe that students can develop their skills as writers unless they care about the issues and ideas that they consider in their papers. If the readings engage them and class discussion introduces them to a range of responses to the readings, they will feel motivated to express themselves.
Inevitably, this combination involves a balancing act for the instructor and the students. For me, the rewards of attempting that balance are obvious. In this particular case, the students seemed to prosper: their final papers for 21W.775 Writing about Nature and Environmental Issues were extraordinary.
