Skip to main content


Repost Message
will copy the article into draft mode and enable you to edit/change dates and information.
Do not change the dates
of this posting because it will affect the original.

MCC Daily Tribune

The Composition Cemetery... Myths About Composition Debunked

Modeled after the West Virginia University’s OER called Bad Ideas About Writing and the Columbia University podcast titled “Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning,” this column will address common myths about composition and rhetoric. 

 

Myth #1: If a student has taken ENG 101, or is taking it currently, then they should have already learned everything about writing essays...

 

If only one class or one experience could make everything better, wouldn't that be great? Hmm.... While we all may wish that just one class can be what Yale University Composition Professor and prolific writer dubs ironically "pedagogical medicine," the reality of teaching and learning is far from a one-dose and you're done experience. Writing is a process. It takes time, effort, practice, attention, maturity, reading, sharing, and revising. It's a continual journey on the spectrum of reading and thinking. It increases over time and in proportion to how much we put into it.

Good student writing is an academic habit. As a habit, it requires a shared endeavor across the College to sustain. It needs continual reinforcement across all classes including future English courses as well as all of those in any and all pathways such as liberal arts and humanities, social and hard sciences, business and even math courses. Our students can use all of our support. As anything worth doing takes concerted energy, an individual's writing journey takes continual practice, time to develop nuance and variety, and all of our collaborative support to grow.

 

Check out the book or listen to the podcast for more:

Book:  https://textbooks.lib.wvu.edu/badideas/badideasaboutwriting-book.pdf

Podcast: https://ctl.columbia.edu/resources-and-technology/resources/podcast/

Attached is MCC's current composition newsletter for further reading.

Look for upcoming myths and responses in future Trib Announcements. Want to send along one to share? Drop me a note.

Attached Files:
Comp Notes Sept 2021 new.pdf

Angelique Johnston
English/Philosophy
09/17/2021