Comments on: Federman’s article discussed at Weblogg-Ed http://michaeljfaris.com/blog/2005/12/federmans-article-discussed-at-weblogg-ed/ rhetorics, compositions, technologies, literacies, sexualities Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:05:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Sara Jameson http://michaeljfaris.com/blog/2005/12/federmans-article-discussed-at-weblogg-ed/comment-page-1/#comment-30 Sara Jameson Tue, 13 Dec 2005 23:12:51 +0000 http://oregonstate.edu/~farism/blog/?p=40#comment-30 The point that resonated with me most is the question of “What is valued as knowledge, who decides, and who is valued as authority?“. This is the question I pose to my students in composition classes. When we read something, I ask who is this person? Why should we listen to him or her? When we look at the selection of essays in the textbook, I ask - who is represented here? who isn't? why or why not? Why are all the essays taken from the Wall Street Journal? Who reads the WSJ? Who writes for the WSJ? Who doesn't get heard from? What does that tell us about the bias? Compare the selection of essays in a chapter to the sources you might assemble for your own essay - it's a conversation, it's a party. Who are you going to invite to your party? Who will you let speak? So often freshman students begin only looking at the content of an essay and don't consider the author to situate him or her. I push them to consider the author and the original intended audience, the location where the work was first published. These are at least as important as the content, I think. Hmm -- more to ponder. Thanks for the question. The point that resonated with me most is the question of “What is valued as knowledge, who decides, and who is valued as authority?“. This is the question I pose to my students in composition classes. When we read something, I ask who is this person? Why should we listen to him or her? When we look at the selection of essays in the textbook, I ask – who is represented here? who isn’t? why or why not? Why are all the essays taken from the Wall Street Journal? Who reads the WSJ? Who writes for the WSJ? Who doesn’t get heard from? What does that tell us about the bias? Compare the selection of essays in a chapter to the sources you might assemble for your own essay – it’s a conversation, it’s a party. Who are you going to invite to your party? Who will you let speak? So often freshman students begin only looking at the content of an essay and don’t consider the author to situate him or her. I push them to consider the author and the original intended audience, the location where the work was first published. These are at least as important as the content, I think.

Hmm — more to ponder. Thanks for the question.

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