Critical Pedagogies

I love the idea Ann George presents in Critical Pedagogies: “we see the world through the lens of symbols so natural, so unremarkable… that we often don’t see how they persuade us to think and act in certain ways and not others. In my critical pedagogy, we write together about the invisible” (91). The theme is continued in the analysis of cultural studies. In the discussion on the subject matter of composition, cultural studies is deeply and foundationally connected. In grappling with those invisible things made visible through words, the controversies and cultural practices that are inherent and often unnoticed become noticeable. Addressing culture in minor and significant ways is a product of seeing. Laura R. Micciche discusses a slightly more specific form of that cultural seeing, but one that also seeps into every essay a student might write naturally because of their cultural decisions that are again either conscious or unconscious. If “feminisit pedagogy… is more than a set of practices; it is an orientation to learning and knowing charged by social justice commitments,” then this seems to be an outcome of a carefully constructed course that combines the emotion of the subject with seeing (133). Micciche’s conclusion is strong: “these classrooms can make you feel differently about the world, creating alternative alignments with others and investments in wild, imaginative, hopeful, unorthodox futures” (140). The theme of teaching students (and yourself) to see differently has beautiful potential. This theme is consistent in the conversation about expressive pedagogy as well. The overall goal seems similar to the others, even if the approach is different: “to help students become morally aware citizens through self-reflective, expressivist writing” (112).

I was delighted by the use of a Thomas Merton quote. I was at a conference in Louisville this summer and my flight landed early so I had time to explore. Because of a line in one of my favorite songs quoting Merton, I was determined to use my free hours to search for the green historical marker where Merton is said to have had a revelation. The sign quotes the Trappist Monk’s writing, “In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world … This sense of liberation from an illusory difference was such a relief and such a joy to me that I almost laughed out loud… I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.”

Though Merton didn’t think he could tell people that they were unique and wonderful parts of humanity by their mere existence, he did because he wrote about it. And this seems to grasp at the same theme presented in these pedagogies. We write to see and we see to understand the humanity in which we find ourselves part of. And that seeing sometimes gives us the potential to impact humanity. This, then is my ideal composition pedagogy—writing to see, if that’s even a thing. As an instructor, this seems to mean creating engaging assignments that encourage examining perspectives. It also requires a foundation of respect and seeing students as the potential writers they could be. I like the idea of encouraging them towards publication possibilities as this made a huge difference in my own experience. It changes the purpose of the papers.

#TeachingComposition #ThomasMerton #CriticalPedagogy