Raise or Raze?

Given the four theoretical frameworks for teaching composition (text-focused, context/culture focused, writer-focused, and reader-focused) which might cause the most amount of tension for you when thinking about the writing process? Interestingly, there wasn’t any one single idea that I completely and thoroughly disliked.

There were sentences in each of the four areas that I disliked. In the more text-focused area, I didn’t like the linear aspect, but I did like seeing sentences that supported the writing process (brainstorming, prewriting, drafting). In the context/culture focused area, I didn’t like how it described writing as being shaped by power relations. While this is true, I feel that it is our job as teachers to make it less so. I saw pieces of the writing process in here as well – how the writing process involves critical reflection on how meaning is constructed and by teaching students critical lenses it can open up the world to them and they can situate their writing in more situated ways. In the area about the writer-focused teacher, I liked how it said, “give students lots of opportunities to explore, find their own ideas…” but then I didn’t like how the sentence continued: “figure out what essay form or structure eventually develops out of those ideas.” The reason the rest of the sentence caused tension is because it felt as if the teacher wasn’t running a well-organized and thoughtfully planned out classroom. I don’t feel that any teacher should ever go into a classroom unprepared. The students would eat you up and spit you out and then spend the rest of the YEAR challenging everything you do!

So if a future teacher cannot select a specific area that they like the best out of these four (text-focused, context/culture-focused, writer-focused, or reader-focused, then what does that mean? What if a teacher sees value in each of the areas? Is it better to select one area and forget about the things that you like in the other areas? Or is it OK to splice up, and hack together pieces of each?