>That is, my students' literacy and other life experiences don't come together
>the same way that mine did when I was in college. IMHO,this doesn't mean their
>cognitive development is *different* from mine, just at a different stage
>than mine was when I entered college as an aspiring poet and voracious consumer
>of novels.
Hmm. I'm suspicious of this idea that students who don't seem to be like
me are simply further behind and should be helped to catch up. I'm not
that sanguine about the value of aspiring poethood or the voracious
consuming of novels.
>Isn't the potential there for my students' interest in literacy,
>and consequently their writing ability, to take off? Especially if their
>English classes are really reading- and writing-intensive? (And if they have
>some control over what they write and read, just so long as they do a lot of
>it.)
I'm afraid I reject the missionary model for what I do. Pace, Matthew
Arnold. I'm much different from almost all the students I teach, and I
consider it improper to be in the cloning business. I think I can teach
people much different from me a few skills that I'm good at teaching. I
don't expect them to appropriate my values and interests.
Fred Kemp
Texas Tech
f.kemp@ttu.edu