I do so love to experience theory on the page--in this case, the academic essays that fill our comp pedagogy book. But I always worry that by the time I've managed to travel from point A--the beginning--to point B--the end, I have lost something. I certainly react to moments in the middle, making joyful, feverish annotations or brow-furrows as I read passages that alternatively thrill and puzzle me. But did I get it?
I guess I can thank expressive pedagogy for one thing: it does value me and, particularly, my written reaction. I can feel supported in my moderate bewilderment because hey, at least I've troubled to try out some ideas in writing.
And that is where expressive pedagogy gets my YES. YES, to getting students to write from their experiences. YES to a pedagogy that creates a space for voices (Burham 33). YES to valuing individuality.
But I can't say YES without qualification. (When can we ever? Maybe just to chocolate cake.) I am continually concerned with a pedagogy that purports to derive all of its meaning from reflection and from the self. Expressive pedagogy seems to be asking us to agree that, were we to sit and reflect enough, and were we to share those reflections with others doing similar work, we could discover all we needed to know about the world, universe, and so forth. Expressive pedagogy asks one to buy into a particular way of understanding humanity, meaning-making, our role the universe, etc... That's not NECESSARILY bad, if one agrees with the ideology it seemingly supports. We simply need to be aware that by backing a particular pedagogy, we're aligning with a particular world view.
And does that undermine the very nature of expressive pedagogy? Is expressive pedagogy self-negating? Expressive pedagogy is supported by a particular ideology, yet it encourages multiplicity and rejection of the hard-and-fast.
Perhaps I'm over-reacting. It's happened before.
Overall, there is much good in expressive pedagogy. I just don't think it'll work in a pure form--but then, what does? We should take what we need and get out.
09 September 2008
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