A New Writing Classroom: Listening, Motivation, and Habits of Mind - Softcover

Sullivan, Patrick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0874219434 ISBN 13: 9780874219432

Publisher: Utah State University Press, 2014

Synopsis

In A New Writing Classroom, Patrick Sullivan provides a new generation of teachers a means and a rationale to reconceive their approach to teaching writing, calling into question the discipline's dependence on argument.

Including secondary writing teachers within his purview, Sullivan advocates a more diverse, exploratory, and flexible approach to writing activities in grades six through thirteen. A New Writing Classroom encourages teachers to pay more attention to research in learning theory, transfer of learning, international models for nurturing excellence in the classroom, and recent work in listening to teach students the sort of dialogic stance that leads to higher-order thinking and more sophisticated communication.

The conventional argumentative essay is often a simplistic form of argument, widely believed to be the most appropriate type of writing in English classes, but other kinds of writing may be more valuable to students and offer more important kinds of cognitive challenges. Focusing on listening and dispositions or "habits of mind” as central elements of this new composition pedagogy, A New Writing Classroom draws not just on composition studies but also on cognitive psychology, philosophy, learning theory, literature, and history, making an exciting and significant contribution to the field.

About this title

About the Author

Patrick Sullivan is professor of liberal arts at Manchester Community College.

Review

"[A]n important provocation for others to take up, and there are many places within the text that beg for exploration, innovation, and extended conversation in our scholarship and in our everyday practices."
—College English

Edition details

• Publisher: Utah State University Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0874219434
• ISBN 13: 9780874219432
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 223