Teacher's Expectations and Reflecting

I think Selfe is absolutely right when she writes, “By continuing a single-minded focus on alphabetic literacy—and failing to give adequate attention to visual literacy…we not only unnecessarily limit the scope of composition studies, both intellectually and practically.” From there she quotes Sean Williams, “[I]f composition’s role is to help students acquire skills to lead a critically engaged life—that is to identify problems, to solve them, and to communicate with others about them—then we need to expand our view of writing instruction to include the diverse media forms that actually represent and shape the discursive reality of our students.” At the elementary school I worked at last year, students were given freedom to create a project around building size and measurements. Their goals were to find the area inside of a famous building and to create a “report” of their work back to the class. The teacher made it clear to the students (and to me) that they were free to compose the report in any way they would like. After weeks of hard work, the students had finished and each of them had turned in an essay for their report. When I asked the students why they hadn’t composed a powerpoint, a smart board presentation, or any type of visual aid, they stared at me as if the essay were the only option. And although the teacher had stressed how flexible the final report could be, it was obvious that she hadn’t given them tools to create an academic visual composition. I agree with Jeremy that the professionals that encourage visual literacy rarely have a substantial background in visual composition. How can a teacher expect a student to compose a visual essay if the teacher has no idea what s/he are looking for?

Selfe’s Review and Reflection sheets promote a closer gap between the writer/composer and the reader/audience, which is a goal I would like to incorporate into my future class. Not only do the sheets create a community that holds itself accountable for its work, but it also allows students to give feedback on their work. Presumably, once outside the college walls, these students won’t have people to read their work—whatever that work will be. It’s great to take advantage of various forms of peer review while we can.