Page 155 - Composition in Convergence The Impact of the New Media on Writing Assessment

122 CHAPTER 5

These reformulated principles of good writing now both redefine
and reinforce my pedagogical stance. Because my graduate training
was steeped in the radical-critical pedagogy movement of Freire,
Giroux, Shor, Apple, McLaren, and others, my immediate classroom
concerns are to always create democratic, problem-solving environ-
ments in which students learn by posing ideas and solutions that ad-
dress an issue. Yet the radical-critical educator in me tends to be
skeptical, if not entirely pessimistic, about the benefits of media and
media technology in society. Although technology brings the world
closer together, the old global village concept of McLuhan (1964), it
also fosters forms of consumerism, nationalism, and colonialism
that balkanize people. I must admit that sometimes it is difficult for
teachers to determine whether all this technology helps or hinders
students' literacy development.
Since I have delved into computer-enhanced composition in-
struction, however, my cynicism about the uses for technology in
writing education has been tempered. Although I still find many of
the discussions centered around the use of computers in the writing
classroom to lean toward either propaganda or evangelism, the
majority of radical-critical teachers' strident positions against the
ludic writing found in much of cyberdiscourse is equally disturbing
to me. Spending time in Room 25 watching my students enact in
their writing and in their classroom behaviors many of the core
1
tenets of radical-critical pedagogy forced me to rethink how my
teaching philosophy could mesh with — according to the literature,
anyway — seemingly oppositional concepts like assessment and

1
For those unfamiliar with the underlying ideas in radical-critical pedagogy, Pamela
Annas of the Boston Women's Teachers group defined 16 points that outline the character-
istics of a "radicalteacher." Instead of citing each aspect of what makes a radicalteacher, let
me provide a brief summary of the main concepts. Radicalteachers are nonauthoritarian,
information-sharing, respectful, reflective individuals who possess a set of social commit-
ments and assumptions about the world and their subject area. Additionally, these teach-
ers are good listeners and are not afraid of the sound of students' silence in their classes.
Theory and practice, as well as process and product, are equally important and integral in
students' learning. Likewise, students' mental, material, and emotional conditions are in-
tegrated in their willingness to learn—regardless of the students' race, ethnicity, social
background, sexual orientation, or physical ability. Although concerned for the students'
well-being, radicalteachers are demanding of their students and refuse to accept passivity
or obedient, dutiful, nonquestioning behaviors in the classroom. Finally, radicalteachers
realize that there is much they do not know about life, their subject, and the ways in which
the world works—that is why it is important to question, to investigate, to challenge. For a
more in-depth discussion of "radicalteaching," see Pamela Annas' New Words: A Postrevo-
lutionary Dictionary (2004).