Teaching English in the Two-Year College - Volume 37, Issue 2, 2009

This essay argues that only by sharing our mistakes and uncertainty can we fully reflect on our own process as teachers, only by understanding our process can we begin to identify the many factors that contribute to classroom messes in the first place, and only by acknowledging the perpetual messiness of our practice can we fully engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Kinsey McKinney responds to “The messy Teaching Conversation.”

This case study examines written peer response materials generated by small groups with varying gender compositions. Based on those observations, I offer several pedagogical implications.

Peer-response remains a central process in first-year composition; faculty can make it effective and efficient by “spotlighting”—designing the process as digital, emergent, and distributive.

Kip Strasma Responds to “Gender and Peer Response” by Elizabeth Tomlinson, and Tomlinson responds to Strasma’s “Spotlighting.”

This article describes a pilot study that suggests writing-faculty workload may affect the pedagogical focus and rhetorical effectiveness of written response to students’ essays.

The essay discusses a thematic approach to teaching the first half of the American literature survey, focusing on race, whiteness, and class.

This article establishes reasons for teaching metaphorical thinking and then goes on to argue that Angela Carter’s short fiction is uniquely suited for such an endeavor.

Editor’s introduction: In this latest in a series of commentaries from former chairs of the national Two-Year College English Association (TYCA), Sharon Mitchler, TYCA chair (2004–6) and the 2009 winner of the Nell Ann Pickett Service Award, shares her views on becoming involved in local, regional, and national professional activities.

Reviewed are:

Academic Cultures: Professional Preparation and the Teaching Life Edited by Sean P. Murphy, Reviewed by Lois Birky

Genre Theory: Teaching, Writing, and Being by Deborah Dean, Reviewed by Meredith DeCosta

Ideas That Work in College Teaching, Edited by Robert L. Badger, Reviewed by Raymond Bergeron

Inside the Community College Writing Center: Ten Guiding Principles by Ellen G. Mohr, Reviewed by Deborah Bertsch

Essential Literary Terms: A Brief Norton Guide with Exercises by Sharon Hamilton, Reviewed by John Benson