Lauren W. Callihan
English Composition: Approaches and Materials
One of my biggest goals as a composition instructor is to create an open space that fosters creativity and discovery. I do this by facilitating a writing workshop environment that allows the students to take chances with their writing, learn from feedback from their classmates and I, and come to understand writing as a process, not a product.
Through my exposure to teaching with technology at Auburn, I have fallen in love with writing and technology and I incorporate blogs, and open source materials into my teaching methods to help my students realize their full potential as writers and communicator in a very technological world, not just as writers in a composition classroom.
English 1100 and 1120
Instead of treating the classroom as a lecture space where I, the teacher, stand before the class and argue for the importance of writing, I prefer for my students to learn to write through classroom workshops. I find that many incoming freshmen are intimidated by the idea of sharing their work with their peers, but one of my first activities is designed to help them break out of this mindset.
My composition students work together in semester-long writing groups to share their thoughts, ideas, and methods for writing through the use of blogs. Not only do blogs help students get used to writing for an audience, they also feel empowered by having their very own space to publish their writing. With their writing groups, the students to view writing as a communal activity.