Beverly Bragg

11/19/14
RAR / First-Year Composition
Word Count: 532

Meta-reflective - I chose this RAR for

two reasons. One, I enjoyed reading
the brief history of composition and
two, reading this text brought the
university aspect into the composition
classroom, which was something I'd
never considered before.

One theme that connects this weeks readings is how to create an effective freshman
composition curriculum that will benefit students as they continue to write in multiple disciplines
and multiple settings, and what role a students university plays in this process.
Composition as a teaching subject from the 1950s to the 1990s is said to be a
combination of linguistics, composing processes and academic argumentative writing. It has
also considered the positive aspects of personal and academic writing (Yancey, Robertson,
Taczak 1). However, as time has progressed, educators have moved toward the idea that in order
to help students develop writing knowledge and practices that they can draw upon, use and
repurpose for new writing tasks and new settings, (Yancey, Robertson, Taczak 1), students must
be given an environment, a set of circumstances, which will encourage students to incorporate
new information into existing frameworks of knowledge, look beyond immediate causes for
events to less apparent antecedents, to communicate these discoveries to others in writing, within
the conventions which . . .the university finds meaningful and valuable (Villaneuva 261). And
what a university finds meaningful and valuable will determine that universitys admission
standards, as well as their expectations for the students they enroll in their freshman composition
courses (Ritter 24, 26).
There are several questions that need to be addressed in regard to how educators can
support students in the composition classroom and help them develop writing skills that will
benefit them in future writing assignments. These include using sources, such as portfolios, that
encourage students to track the progress of their writing, and considering the role content and
theory will play in the classroom. Students must also be aware of how rhetoric may be utilized
as a way of understanding what goes on in our minds and how these ideas may be communicated
to the individual student and to others (Villaneuva 260). Additionally, local histories, traditions
and the needs of the institution must be considered.
The composition classroom seems to be a work in progress, always changing to meet the
needs of a specific group of students at a specific point in time, but always responsible for
providing students with a foundation in writing that will allow them to improve their writing
skills and write for other disciplines. I think it is assumed, though wrongly so, that students will
become better writers as they advance in their academic studies. However, this point of view
becomes problematic when reviewed in the context of this weeks readings. Students do not
become better writers simply by taking higher level writing courses. Instead, they must be

encouraged to build upon the principles they have learned in their freshman comp classes. One
major drawback in regard to the freshman composition classroom is the role the university is
expected to play, and it raises several questions. How much power should the university have in
regard to the composition curriculum? How will the guidelines set up by the university affect
transfer students? What about universities who have a high minority rate? Will the students who
are not included in that minority demographic benefit from the standards set by the university?