 As with every woven tapestry, a story is revealed to the viewer. As we enter Chapter Three of this portfolio begins, I can signal the convergence of all of my areas of interests. I feel my story is finally revealed by the woven links I have chosen. I also believe that the papers in this chapter reveal where the pursuit of studying composition and rhetoric has taken me. In this chapter, the areas of interest including applied writing, composition pedagogy, literacy theory, and historical rhetoric are brought together in many unique ways. I was able to explore areas of gender-related issues and historically situated aspects of writing and rhetoric. While my interest in historical rhetoric was increasing, so too were my opinions about composition pedagogy. When I began my directed study of medieval rhetoric alongside my course in composition pedagogy, I was sure that these two courses could never and would never touch one another in content; but, I was wrong. While exploring notions of grammar instruction in the writing classroom, I was engrossed in a piece of scholarship concerning the problematic nature of understanding and teaching grammar in medieval universities. This historical perspective gave me a broader base from which I drew conclusions about teaching grammar in present-day, college composition classes. These conclusions include maintaining a balance between teaching grammar and writing. I believe from my readings on this subject including both historical accounts and contemporary theory about grammar instruction that grammar must be taught in the context of one’s own writing. Understanding our past pedagogical treatments of grammar has helped me to understand contemporary notions of it. It seems logical to me now that I would be drawn to the historical side of composition and rhetoric. Through my studies, I have developed the opinion that we as scholars can only understand our present in the context of our past. I believe that this effort to understand our past will keep us grounded in trying to decide what is the best way to teach our students how to read and write effectively. The first two papers represent an attempt to understand a part of our composition and rhetorical history. "Professional Writing and the Middle Ages: The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pisan" explores a contemporary topic, such as professional writing, in an historical context. In this paper, I wanted to show that Christine de Pisan was, indeed, the first female professional writer. As a contemporary, female, professional writer, I am inspired by her. Despite the fact that she lived 500 years ago, she made her way as mother, scholar, writer and woman in a society dominated by male influence. She was pristinely adept at creating her rhetorical space by her drive and intelligence. I believe she is a quintessential example of a medieval rhetor. By including her in our modern rhetoric al scholarship, I think we will broaden our notions of what it is to be a female, professional writer in today’s society. My interest in Christine has made me aware of how we must always strive to include the other, as we discussed in our literacy theory course. I hope that I will bring this desire of awareness and inclusion to my writing classroom so that students, no matter gender, race, or socio-economic status, will be inspired to explore themselves and the world around them through writing. The next paper evaluates rhetors of the Middle Ages. This paper was a concluding response to my studies of medieval rhetoric. I sought to apply my knowledge of medieval rhetoric to three different medieval writers. Again, I hope that in "Effective Manifestations of Medieval Rhetoric and Their Implications for Professional Writing" I bring together the two worlds of historical rhetoric and professional writing. Ultimately, I believe that this historical base will allow me to understand more fully composition and rhetoric so that I may bring to my writing classroom a deeper knowledge of writing. Because I am ever seeking to expound on my understanding of composition and rhetorical theory and practice, I have included in this portfolio a statement concerning my philosophy of teaching writing. This statement allowed me to articulate my philosophy of teaching writing which was born out of all of my areas of interest including historical rhetoric, literacy theory, composition pedagogy, and applied writing. Writing this philosophy also helped me to see that I had many opinions about teaching writing and made me realize that I was very eager to pursue this professional path. In this philosophy I have intergrated ideas about technology, grammar instruction, collaboration, and writing assessment, just to name a few. Ultimately, I feel that this philosophy is an ever-evolving piece, one that I should revisit again and again as I acquire experience as a writing instructor. Finally, as the last paper in Chapter Three and this portfolio, I have included a paper that I presented at the Conference on College Composition and Communication in Chicago, Illinois on April 2, 1998. "A Professional Writer’s Journey from the Practical to the Theoretical" represents two things in this portfolio. First, by writing and delivering my paper, along with my other classmates, I was introduced into the world of professional, academic writing. Attending the conference in Chicago helped to broaden my perception of my self as an academic. Not only was I fortunate enough to have the experience of delivering the paper to an audience, I was also able to hear speak the scholars whose articles I have been reading throughout this masters program. I appreciated the humbling effect of the experience, and I was also encouraged about my future in the realm of academic scholarship. And last, this paper details my development as a professional writer. As it is situated in this portfolio, this paper is a final statement of where I was, where I am now, and where I hope to be in the future as teacher and professional writer. |
