Ansom Graham: Becoming Todd

 Becoming Todd. 

Todd thought that giving little instruction on writing assignments would leave his freshman basic English class free to write without restrictions. That they would enjoy their new found freedom and run with it. Well it turns out 18 year olds that need remedial English (yes, I used remedial) are not that excited about free writing. 

Even if one section seems interested in race, politics or current events, this does not mean that all classes will be able to write or think critically about such issues in an open class forum. 18 year olds that have shown no interest or particular talent in writing  until this point, or students that dread writing, have been trained to write for (typically bad) teacher only. Even good high schools only allow so much group work and group think and the rest is about being told what to do, how to do it, and how to get the best grade. There is no critical thinking left in modern education. 

So what I wonder is how do I teach about interesting topics and still get them to think about them not just throw pop culture at it? If I take new ideas on gender and show them what the thoughts were 50 years ago versus a decade ago and newest thoughts on "performative gender" how do I get them from talking about drag queens and key west to Twelfth Night and Anzaldua?

I want to be a hip teacher, but I also want basic English students to learn how to do more than pass scantron assessments and write bad essays prone to error and regurgitation. But if they don't care and if teachers like Todd keep screwing around with their only college level English requirement, how will they ever learn to communicate effectively on paper. Read effectively in New media? How to succeed in anything that uses any form of communicating.