Bringing the Everyday into the Writing Classroom

"Cultural Studies and Composition" (Diana George and John Trimbur)

The passage that caught my eye in this week’s reading is the notion that “the cultural studies approach to the writing classroom addressed the question of what constitutes the content of a composition course with the idea that content is right under our noses, in the culture of everyday life” (82). As I read this passage, I recalled that students in my writing classrooms have produced some of their best writing in response to discussions about everyday objects and issues associated with daily life.

When asked to respond to an issue regarding a high speed automobile chase clipped from a newspaper my students produced well written summaries, in-depth problem analysis and cohesive recommendations for solutions. They didn’t know the people involved nor had they visited the area where the issue occurred but they personally identified with the dilemma facing the individuals in the article. High speed police chases happen in our community from time to time and are reported in the newspaper, on the radio and on TV. Students understand this issue from their community experience.

When asked to free-write in response to a picture of a lone tree in a wintery field, they wrote from their hearts. I was amazed at the skilled use of beautiful language to describe what they were seeing in the picture. Without prodding, they unconsciously drew on simile and metaphor to describe emotions ranging from loneliness to joy. My students live in rural areas and have experienced similar scenes near their homes and thus the picture carried a message that connected with their own experience.

I believe the outcome of the free write sessions was favorable because students were writing about events and items they were familiar with from their own environments. They were connecting with the subject matter in ways that were meaningful to them and thus had no difficulty putting their thoughts on paper in quite sophisticated ways.

On the other hand, when asked to summarize and respond to a passage in Richard Rodriguez’s Hunger of Memory for example, these same students seem to morph into writers grasping for words to work into a 4-5 page “formal” essay. While some do a good job, others really struggle with the task.

One observation I’ve made is that for the most part, my classroom is made up of 18-20 year old, white, male and female, middle class students who have always lived within a 50 mile radius of the classroom. Most have not travelled far from home. They are representative of the communities they come from. Thus, I believe my students have a hard time connecting with the dilemma facing someone like Rodriguez, a young Hispanic student growing up in California in the 1950’s and 1960’s. They find it hard to internalize Rodriguez’s journey since it doesn’t resonate with their own experience. Rodriguez is just another guy who exists outside the vacuum of the nearby community and talks about his problems in written text form.

Unlike the free writing assignments involving the newspaper article and the picture of the tree, my students find it difficult to connect with Rodriguez’s experience. While they write about his experience, they are doing it from a distance. When compared to results from the free write sessions, the essays involving the Rodriguez discussion come across as synthetic and artificial. The presence of fresh ideas and the beauty of the language is lost.

Thus the passage from this week’s reading holds truth for me. As we gaze out upon students in our classrooms, content for discussion and writing is sitting right in front of our noses. Students produce their best writing when they writing about content that is closest to what they know. Could a more diverse classroom handle the Rodriguez writing assignment any better? If our discourse arises from our own background then how can our students write about the experiences of someone like Rodriguez in a non-synthetic manner? If discourse is formed by the language of families and friends and ultimately creates a way of thinking, speaking and writing, how do we help our students recognize and identify with cultural boundaries such as the ones Rodriguez identifies in his writing,