Argues that authorship and not authority should be celebrated in the writing classroom. Argues that texts that students and composition teachers write should be considered not as definitive or authoritative, but open-ended, growing, and free. (RS)

Discusses an essay, "Cheerio," written to support the author's argument that there is no such thing as a dull subject. Reflects on the influence of "occasion" on the writing process. (JAD)

Argues that the metaphor of writing as a tool is still used because the ideas of Kenneth Burke have not been applied comprehensively. Argues further that Burke's "A Grammar of Motives" implies a radical change in what it means to teach students to analyze and produce texts--a change leading up to and beyond Freireian pedagogy. (RS)

Examines women and the deaf/hearing impaired to develop the metaphor that the "illiterate" can neither give nor receive the language of power--they are, in effect, deaf and dumb. Argues that replacing illiteracy with literacy is eradicating something not fully understood and replacing it with something for which the definition is not…

Argues that exploratory discourse, an old but little appreciated genre, may be particularly suited for revealing and enabling the kind of thinking in matters that do not lend themselves to absolute proof. Discusses exploratory writing assignments suitable for freshman composition courses. (RS)

Offers a writing pedagogy maintaining that the content of any particular knowledge is largely a function of the language in which that content is expressed. Argues that each of the many languages available within a given language is representative of an approach to knowledge. Discusses the theoretical base for the pedagogy. Offers a sequence of…

Argues that the Allan Blooms of the right and the Harold Blooms of the left are equally culpable for inculcating and perpetuating a pedagogical psychopathology which edifies (or brutalizes) students and teachers "for their own good," and creating an air of rarefied mystification surrounding language use and interpretation. (RS)

Argues that digressiveness enables the effective writer to avoid the limitations of the small thesis statement and to explore freely thought and experiences. Describes several kinds of digression, including: Platonic thesis; structural; the example "digressio"; figurative; modification; monistic; allusive; and Dali. (RS)

Notes that college freshmen are generally inexperienced writers writing on topics about which they are not knowledgeable. Explores college freshmen's concomitant process of acquiring knowledge. Argues that composition should be conceptualized as an interweaving of writing and knowledge acquisition. (RS)

Examines gender differences in topic choice by analyzing freshman writers' narratives of an incident they witnessed. Finds that pronounced, gender-based patterns influence text production, with women demonstrating caring and nurturing values in everyday life and men engaging in romantic fantasies of self-aggrandizement or apocalyptic fascination…

Describes an initial writing assignment given to college freshmen that asks them to describe their experiences as writers. Argues that responses give the instructor preliminary information concerning students' assumptions, values, and attitudes about writing. Includes excerpts from a questionnaire that helps students recall their previous writing…

Describes the author's estrangement from her chosen field of rhetoric and composition. Attributes it to her appointment as Director of Composition, her felt need to use a writing textbook, and her inability to make sense of articles on composition theory. Relates her gradual reconversion to composition via remembering that ethos is everything. (SR)

Discusses the philosophical thought of Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault as it applies to writing instruction. (SRT)

Argues that peer writing tutors must have a theory of reading that recognizes the dangers of readers' appropriating the writer's text by projecting or imposing their own ideological programs onto the text. (RS)

Discusses three perspectives on audience awareness as used in the classroom; rhetorical, informational, and social. Finds that the social perspective, with its emphasis on the transactional nature of writing, is the most productive way of dealing with audience in the composition classroom. (RS)