"Real World" Writing: Community-Service Pedagogy

What is community-service pedagogy? - In a nutshell, community-service pedagogy (service learning) is a practice that provides opportunities for experiential learning in the local community. Guided by course objectives, the aim of this pedagogy is to reinforce classroom knowledge through “real world” experience and thus build service ethic and civic responsibility.

Note: While the title of the essay is "Community-Service Pedagogy", the author shifts the essay to a discussion about "service learning".

Un-theorized Theory – According to the author (Laura Julier), service learning is presently un-theorized. Without a strong supporting theory, service learning is open to criticisms about its rigor as an academic endeavor. It is also described as un-owned or not belonging to a particular discipline within the academy which leads to its attachment to various (mostly) social science disciplines. Given this, there is a call for it to find a home within a discipline and a push for its advocates to examine its practices and the content of their courses.

Linking Service Learning and Composition - The argument is made that service learning in the community is just the place for students to study writing and discourse. Writing within a community organization can help students develop their understanding of audience and purpose. Successful service learning experiences must be aligned not only with community need but with clearly articulated course goals. It is important that critical reflection processes such as journaling be built into the service learning plan. Assessment and evaluation are also important parts of the plan and must be based on the learning itself and not the actual service. In addition, students must learn about the audiences for whom they write and their supporting agencies. This is accomplished by including research about the agency and its purpose, class discussions and writing in response to those discussions in the curriculum. It is suggested that students be given the opportunity to select from a variety of service learning opportunities.

Community Feminism

“Feminist Pedagogy” by Susan C. Jarratt & “Community-Service Pedagogy” by Laura Julier

Feminist Pedagogy has some interesting things to offer teachers, and several ideas stuck out to me as I read Jarratt’s essay. I thought her comment on marginalized or contingent workers composed mostly of part-time female teachers was hard to read. Mostly this is because I fall into this category. I do feel that being a part-time instructor at the postsecondary level has its drawbacks. While I am gaining valuable experience, I do not have insurance or security in my job. While teachers are needed, I can be replaced the moment I decide to take leave. I also find it interesting that composition attracts mostly white females. Why is that? What causes white females to be drawn to this profession? What causes minority teachers to be the minority? These questions would need a lot of research to even begin answering them, but are interesting views that perhaps should be explored.

Another portion of Jarrett’s essay that I found interesting was the comment “one of the strengths of feminist pedagogy is its relentless capacity for dialogue and self-critique” (117). While I understand that this is a strength, in the sense that dialogue and self-critique allows for growth and change, it also seems that critics could view this strength as a weakness. Jarratt’s word choice of ‘relentless capacity’ produces this possible negative viewpoint. These words have a negative connotation. Jarratt probably should’ve been more careful with her word choice. Another area where I question Jarratt’s word choice is on page 118. Jarratt says that “feminist pedagogy…is not about forcing all the students to subscribe to a particular political position but rather engaging with students on the terrain of language in the gendered world we all currently inhabit” (118). I’m not sure of Jarratt’s intention with stating that Feminist Pedagogy is not about forcing students to subscribe to something. It seems that most instructors who follow a pedagogy or two wouldn’t advocate forcing anything upon students. Students would probably rebel against the teacher for forcing them to subscribe to a particular set of theories.

Several things that I liked and thought were useful to teachers exploring Feminist Pedagogy for the first time were the ideas of nurturing in conjunction with composition. Seeing ways that the feminist perspective can be melded into a composition course can give teachers a way to perhaps begin to integrate this pedagogy into a personal philosophy. It is valuable to understand that the “feminist validation of personal experience” can be a useful idea in composition (Jarratt 122). This idea permits students to express themselves in their writing and thus feel comfortable (more comfortable) as a writer. Being comfortable allows students to gain confidence as a writer. Furthermore, feminists have a nurturing and caring attitude that is also compatible with composition (Jarratt 118). In addition to these ‘motherly’ qualities, Feminist Pedagogy also advocates for collaboration and revision within the writing classroom. These qualities mesh with Process and Expressive pedagogies. The last quality that is important to Feminist Pedagogy is reflection: reflection on what it means to be a woman and a teacher; reflection on the part of the students to create comfortable, understanding, and democratic contexts for class discussion; and reflection as writers, whether female or male, to become self-aware (Jarratt 119 & 121). Reflection is important in a composition classroom and reflection also meshes well with Process Pedagogy and Expressive Pedagogy.

Community-Service Pedagogy is interesting to me, but seems hard to enact in a “traditional-styled” freshman composition classroom. While Community-Service Pedagogy seems exciting because according to those that use it, it actively engages students in contemporary society; the difficulties may be tough for some teachers to overcome (Julier 133). These difficulties could be finding companies to collaborate with, building in the proper amount of reflection, or grading the pieces created for a company, rather than a classroom. Do the standards and rubrics used in a classroom transfer to a company’s expectations? How do you fit the classroom into the company and vice versa? While discussing difficulties, I am compelled to mention Stotsky’s claim that “the teaching of writing, which has ignored its ethical concerns and moral obligations other than in issues of plagiarism or discussions of logical fallacies, is integral to preparing students adequately for their roles as citizens” (Julier 134). The reason that I felt the need to mention this quote was that it makes composition teachers sound like they don’t care about producing democratic citizens (similar concerns of Critical and maybe even Cultural Pedagogies). It seems that Community-Service Pedagogy supporters want teachers to use community-service to fill this void that they feel is evident in composition classes today. Filling this large ‘void’ could be overwhelming to teachers trying to find a pedagogy to work for them. But in spite of the perceived difficulty that goes into creating a class based on this pedagogy, there are positives that stand out to me.

What I enjoyed about Community-Service Pedagogy is that it gives students a chance, a way to connect with the community and compose pieces of writing that have a real-world/business world audience. Students are encouraged to become engaged in what they create. And with reflection (reflection is important, vital to this pedagogy), students can see their growth and see the skills they gained through the community-service experience. Another positive is that students are learning skills that will (should) transfer to life beyond college. Students can also use their experiences to “join the academic conversation from a position of authority” (Woodland qtd. in Bacon qtd. in Julier 141). As teachers all the positives of this pedagogy seem wonderful and something that teachers aim to teach their students. Now the question becomes, how can I use some of these ideas in my own teaching?