Response to Monaghan, J. E., & Saul, E. W. (1987). The reader, the scribe, the thinker: A critical look at the history of American reading and writing instruction. In T. W. Popkewitz (Ed.), The formatting of school subjects: The struggle for creating an American institution (pp. 85-122). New York: Falmer Press.
As I develop professionally, I can't seem to find my home. I know the study and teaching of writing and its applications across the disciplines is in my heart, but I haven't found a place in the university where I can pursue that interest whole-heartedly. As an undergraduate, I became a generalist through a liberal education core and courses in education, communciation, literature, reading, theater, and writing. Wanting to focus on writing, I tried a master's degree in Composition and Rhetoric but left because there wasn't enough application to teaching. Now in my PhD program, I just learned that the emphasis I've been claiming (literacy) isn't really my emphasis. Literacy students in Curriculum and Instruction at Kent State University take a core of reading, not writing, classes.
Luckily, Monaghan and Saul's chapter shed light on the history of reading and writing. Due to factors like the profitability of basal readers over pens and pencils and "theories of learning and language" (p. 109), reading has been privileged over writing for many years. Reading got an additional boost through government Title I funding which placed reading specialists in schools (there were no comparable writing specialists) (pp. 109-110).
Compositionists have made progress, though. A few decades ago, freshman composition was viewed as a service course to be passed off to graduate students and adjuncts as described in Ray Kytle's 1971 CCC article, "Serfs, Slaves, or Colleagues--Who Shall Teach Freshman Composition?" Today, the proliferation of graduate programs in Composition and Rhetoric is writing scholars' attempt to gain the upper hand. When I entered the college job market in 2003, a MEd got me a full-time position teaching English at a community college, but last year a local community college told me I wasn't qualified for a comparable job because my degrees are in education. My colleague was told her MA in English (literature) and MFA (fiction) did not qualify her either. University English departments are taking similar stances in requiring a Composition and Rhetoric degree for those exclusively teaching freshman composition.
While English departments are stepping up to finally privilege writing over reading, schools of education still have some catching up to do with their reading endorsements (I'm not aware of any writing endorsements) and reading-focused "literacy" programs.
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Katie,
ReplyDeleteYour post resonated with me. Though I would say that I have a background in reading and writing, I was required to take the courses for a reading endorsement before really getting into the meat of the doctoral program. I'm glad I received the certificate, but I felt that many of my experiences in those classes were more of an affirmation of my past work. None the less, I needed that piece of paper that said I was qualified to teach reading.
While taking the courses for a reading endorsement, I was also enrolled in the English Language Arts Leadership Academy with Dr. McCracken. (Did you know her? I think you would have very much enjoyed her.) After completing those courses (which were very rigorous), Kent awarded us a writing certificate, but the state of Ohio did not. Apparently the ODE was considering such an endorsement, but has scrapped the idea. That is no surprise given, to my understanding, they have eliminated the OAT (now OAA, are we all keeping track of this?) writing assessments. The only writing assessment students will have in on the OGT. While this may in some ways be a good thing (no beating kids to death with the five paragraph essay), in my experience what is tested is what is taught. I guess we'll have a lot of writing for extended response questions now all over Ohio.
I must say that I often think about what I should pick as a line of inquiry that will ultimately lead to a dissertation topic. While I adore my work on differentiated grammar, I am not E/LA certified (though I am HQT, are we keeping track of the letters?), so I have been advised to stay away from that area as a dissertation topic. After all, wouldn't it be nice to find work after all this? So my heart goes out to you.
Perhaps you can find that place where reading and writing connect? Have you read Carol Booth Olson's The Reading Writing Connection? It is a great book. I'd love to hear more about where you are headed with your program. I thought you were thinking about Ed Leadership at one point?
Petra