Back to our Aristotelian Roots - Rhetorical Pedagogy

If, as Covino states early in his article, “a rhetorical pedagogy […] keeps in view the skills and contingencies that attend a variety of situations and circumstances” (37), is there room for some elements of this pedagogy in today’s writing classroom? As I read the article I was hoping to find more answers. What I did find interesting, however, was Covino’s review of the history of rhetoric, especially his description of its disappearance with the rise of objective scientific inquiry and the resulting current-traditional rhetoric. However, it seems the door was opened for another look at rhetorical pedagogy during twentieth-century rejection of rules-bound methods. My snapshot-only knowledge of Aristotelian rhetoric and its focus on “invention” and the use of language to shape our world tell me there might be something in it for writing teachers as we struggle to impart knowledge about methods of discourse in our classrooms.