Resistance Within the Classroom Space: Teaching Contested Texts as Social Action

Abstract

Drawing from classical rhetoric and from scholars such as Paulo Freire, James Berlin, Henry Giroux, Ira Shor, bell hooks, Kristi Fleckenstein, and others, I seek to interrogate pedagogical implications of incorporating "hot-topic" texts within First Year Composition (FYC) classrooms. Chapter 1 explores the scholarly conversations about critical pedagogy and provides the theoretical framework for the study. I discuss the relationship between social-epistemic rhetoric and critical pedagogy, and examine the ways students might be encouraged to participate in productive citizenship. In chapter 2, I report and explain a teacher research project I constructed to study possible forms of resistance FYC instructors exhibit when they encounter hot-topic texts in their classroom spaces. I began my research project with a personal reflection journal where I recorded my reactions toward classroom discussions that included socially-contested issues. I became curious to know if other FYC instructors reacted similarly, so I conducted the formal study which consisted of an online survey for FYC instructors to participate. Finally, in chapter 3, I discuss specific implications of a critical pedagogy that privileges ethics in the composition classroom. Calling on Berlin's article, I connect pedagogical practices with their underlying ideologies. Second, I trace the relationship between ethics and rhetoric in the composition classroom, pursuing a method that extends this relationship to incorporate how teachers choose course readings and why choosing hot-topic texts can be productive for critical pedagogy. Finally, after exploring how language is a skill that involves purposeful instruction, I offer a heuristic that allows for a composition instructor to utilize hot-topic texts as one avenue through which she can encourage critical writing for all students within their differing value systems. I argue that through the practice of critical pedagogy, there is an ethical responsibility to incorporate hot-topic issues in first-year composition classrooms in order to foster opportunities for dialectic and critical writing: which leads to productive citizenship.