O Brave New World...

I really enjoyed following Lad Tobin's journey in Tate's Guide to Composition Pedagogies as he moved from the traditional way that he was taught to write, through the shift to process pedagogy, and eventually his exposure to a post-process school of thought  (Tate).  The way he described his trek through that period and the changes that took place through each step, I really felt drawn in to what he was experiencing.  In reflecting on his narrative, I'm impressed that he recognized the benefits written about by the "expressivists" regarding the process pedagogy, but was also able to recognize that not every part of the traditional pedagogy was detrimental to writers.  I'm was also impressed by the fact that he defended his position at the regional conference when asked to participate in the development of a post-process course.  I think the main lesson that I take from this reading is that teachers of writing must keep an open mind about what works not only for them, but what will work for their students, as well.  I love the "expressivist" school of thought, and look forward to reading some of the books and articles referenced by Tobin.  However, while it would be easy for me to completely immersed in this pedagogy, I recognize that I can keep the foundation of process pedagogy as my main source for teaching writing while exploring other ideas that may supplement it. I believe that when teachers become closed-minded about their methods of teaching that the system starts to collapse, as many of our reading would support regarding the paradigm shift to process pedagogy.  They say that variety is the spice of life, so what better way to motivate students, and ourselves, than to "mix things up" and come up with recipes that really help students become better writers.  More later...