Teaching Subject, A: Composition Since 1966, New Edition

Title Page, Copyright Page

A Te Achi ng Sub j ec T Fro m revi ewS o F T he Fi rST edi Ti o n o F A T e Achi ng Subj ec T Harris offers one of the most interesting of recent approaches to the postDartmouth attempt at defining English as a subject. He clearly identifies the teaching of writing as central to defining English. In the pages of this well-written monograph, Harris explores ways in which five key words—growth, voice, process, error, and community—have figured in discussions of the teaching of writing. He is not only adamant on the importance of the study of writing in defining the role of English departments, but equally adamant that the teaching of writing is why we explore writing. —Sidney I. Dobrin, College English The contribution of Harris’s book lies in how he alerts us to the situatedness and contingency of our practices as writing teachers. His always insightful and gracious discussions of the work in composition since 1966 encourage us to the same intellectual work that he encourages in his students: we are led to reflect on our practices in the teaching of writing not simply to defend them but to imagine how we might change them to better respond to the changing contexts of our own and our students’ lives. —Marilyn Cooper, CCC Harris does not simply marshal a critique—pointing out problems and flaws—and then move onto the next target; he routinely offers substantial suggestions or models. . . . The interchapters offer solutions or possibilities in ways that most academic books do not: a written exchange between a student (Heather), writing about Mike Rose’s Lives on the Boundary, and Harris’s colleague and coteacher (Rashmi Bhatnagar) offers a superb example of how teachers might respond to a competent but flat, safe, student essay—the type we see every day—in ways that really push students to think and to see again. This exchange between student and teacher serves well to illustrate “what Harris wants” when he insists that our teaching could be more intellectual and more challenging to students. He wants more wrangling: the goal is not to get outside constraints but to strain against them. —Nedra Reynolds, JAC A TeAch i n g Su bj ecT Composition Since 1966 new edition j o Seph hA r r iS u TA h STATe u n iv erSiT Y p reSS Logan, Utah 2012 Utah State University Press Logan, Utah 84322-7800 www.usupress.org© 2012 Utah State University Press All rights reserved A previous edition of this book was published by Prentice Hall, Inc. Manufactured in the United States of America Cover design by Kristin Heal ISBN: 978-0-87421-866-4 (paper) ISBN: 978-0-87421-867-1 (e-book) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Harris, Joseph (Joseph D.) A teaching subject : composition since 1966 / Joseph Harris. — New ed. p. cm. Includes index. Summary: “Reviewing the last 50 years of the development of writing studies as a discipline through five key ideas, Harris unfolds a set of issues and tensions that continue to shape the teaching of writing today”— Provided by publisher. ISBN 978-0-87421-866-4 (pbk.) — ISBN 978-0-87421-867-1 (e-book) 1. English language—Composition and exercises—Study and teaching. 2. English language— Rhetoric—Study and teaching. 3. Report writing—Study and teaching. I. Title. PE1404.H364 2012 808’.042071—dc23 2011029926 For Patricia, again, and always ...