Caleb }ames's !"#$%&'( *%&+,-,.

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When I attenueu the Little Rock Wiiting Pioject, Emily, a fiist giaue teachei, leu a
woikshop centeieu on a hanu map, a piewiiting activity that iequiies the wiitei to tiace
hishei hanu anu wiite an emotion in each of the fingeis anu an activity that evokes that
emotion at each fingeitip. I've auapteu this activity foi my classioom by ieplacing emotions
with values anu activities with behaviois. That is also how I've aiiangeu my teaching
philosophyfive values that I holu anu how they play out in the classioom.
*0,$"--1By now this is clich, but I stanu by the piocess appioach of teaching wiiting. I
uon't limit this view to just assigning multiple uiafts, but I believe piocess is the ieauing,
wiiting, thinking, anu talking about wiiting. To integiate technology's iole, I use uiscussion
boaius on the Leaining Nanagement System so that stuuents continue engaging in a uialog
about theii topics outsiue of the classioom, too. In auuition, aujusting uiscussion boaiu
settings allows stuuents to iemain anonymous when asking geneial questions about the
assignment anu get feeuback fiom peeis oi fiom me without feeling embaiiasseu.
*",.+"1}ust as wiiting is not a piouuct, neithei aie stuuents. Ny goal is not foi them to
auopt my opinions. I want them to shaie theii viewpoints fiom uiveise backgiounus,
challenging theii own anu otheis' views, anu iefining those views thiough ieauing, wiiting,
ciitical thinking, anu talking, as pait of the piocess I mentioneu above. I like to honoi theii
uialogical constiuction of knowleuge by tieating each with iespect anu openness, anu I
iequiie they uo the same with each othei anu with me. The fiist uay of each semestei staits
with a uiscussion ovei Kuit vonnegut's woius, "Love may fail, but couitesy will pievail,"
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Piompt stuuents to wiite infoimally to uiscovei what
they ieally think anu know about an issue.
Encouiage stuuents to iepiesent themselves as moie
than just a stuuent.
Bemonstiate common couitesy anu expect the
same.
Allow foi fieeuom of moue, meuium, anu genie.
Allow foi fieeuom of topic anu encouiage wiiting foi
a ieal-life exigency.
anu what it means. 0ltimately, we concluue that it's 0K to uisagiee but nevei 0K to tieat a
peison with less couitesy than we uesiie fiom otheis. We holu to this policy in oui majoi
assignments anu in oui uigital communication, such as uiscussion boaius, as well.
*20.,-" 3 425&"'$"1I value assignments that iequiie an authentic puipose anu
auuience, anu each assignment unit incluues eithei ieflective wiiting oi uiscussion ovei the
puipose of the uiscouise anu the auuience to which it is auuiesseu. Although I expect
stuuents to compose as if they weie going to uelivei the text to theii auuience, I uon't
iequiie it. Bowevei, because I value assignments with an authentic puipose anu auuience, I
also encouiage stuuents to compose in moues othei than alphabetic anu meuia othei than
piint. I piomote bieaking out of the iestiaints of alphabetic text in hopes that stuuents will
see acauemic wiiting as ielevant to theii ieal lives in hopes they will consiuei theii
ihetoiical choices, especially moue, meuium, anu genie, anu how they will affect theii
auuience anu puipose.
*#--&,'1I want my stuuents to be passionate about theii assignments. I want them to finu
intiinsic value in the wiiting itself, insteau of wiiting to only satisfy the assignment
iequiiements. I tiy my best to uesign assignments to encouiage that. 0ne way I uo that is
by allowing foi fieeuom of topics. Bowevei, I encouiage stuuents to choose topics that have
an exigency in theii own lives so that they can use wiiting in oui class to impiove theii
situation. Foi example, P}, a commutei stuuent who liveu with his paients, wiote them a
lettei iequesting theii peimission to move to anothei town anu tiansfei to anothei college.
Suie, he was an auult anu coulu've uone that without his paients' peimission, but P}
wanteu theii blessing to avoiu uiscoiu with his paients. Regaiuless of whethei P} gave his
paients the lettei, I consiuei the assignment a success because he useu wiiting to engage
with a situation that was impoitant to him.
*,067,+&,1I like stuuents' poitfolios, especially e-poitfolios, anu I've alloweu my stuuents
to use uoogle Sites anu Woiupiess in pievious couises. 0f couise, I like to see stuuents'
giowth as wiiteis anu allow them to showcase theii woik foi the semestei. But I like even
moie to see how they piesent themselves as inuiviuuals, because I get to know uiffeient
siues of them that uiun't come out pieviously in the classioom. Foi instance, Beavonte was
a stuuent who showeu up anu uiu his woik, but he mostly kept to himself. But when I
vieweu his final poitfolio, I founu out that Beavonte was also a musician that went by B-
Smoove. Be maue hip-hop music anu playeu uiums foi his chuich. Bis poitfolio wasn't
uevoteu to iepiesenting him as a musician; it was uevoteu to piesenting his wiiting, but he
chose to put pictuies of himself playing music to iepiesent how he iuentifieu himself. Bis
poitfolio is an example of how stuuents can ieflect on theii piocess of wiiting anu
themselves as a peison while using multimouality to uemonstiate theii passions insiue the
classioom.