Writing/Teaching: Essays Toward a Rhetoric of Pedagogy (Pittsburgh Series in Composition, Literacy and Culture)

2001 CCCC Outstanding Book Award The vast majority of academic books are written from the scholar’s position, even those that primarily concern teaching. __Writing/Teaching__, on the other hand, is a book about teaching written from the position of the teacher. As the title suggests, Kameen’s book is split into two halves—yet both, in different ways and through different discourses, are derived from his work in the classroom, and his own struggle with issues and problems all teachers of writing must face. The first half is a series of essays originating from a graduate seminar Kameen team-taught with professor and poet Toi Derricotte in 1994. Included are essays Kameen wrote, a selection of pieces written by other members of the group, and a reflective “postscript.” These essays combine personal narrative, reflective meditation, and critical inquiry—all used as discourse to depict and examine the process of teaching. The second half of the book contains essays on Plato’s dialogues—primarily Phaedrus and Protagoras—as a means to interrogate the position of teacher through the lens of the most famous of Western pedagogues—Socrates. Here, Socrates is used as a tool to examine and critique both Kameen’s own teacherly identity and, in a wider sense, the set of cultural forces that pre-figure the available positions for both “teacher” and “student” in contemporary education. What unites both halves is the way Kameen approaches each—the “personal” and the “scholarly”—from his position as teacher. The texts presented provide the occasion for a complex and nuanced meditation on the classroom as a legitimate arena for the production of knowledge and research. Sure to be timely and controversial, __Writing/Teaching__ will enter into the debate on whether to reconfigure the relationship between research and teaching currently taking place among teachers of composition, cultural studies, and rhetoric. Compelling reading for teachers or those contemplating a career in the profession.

The vast majority of academic books are written from the scholar s position, even those that primarily concern teaching. Writing/Teaching, on the other hand, is a book about teaching written from the position of the teacher. As the title suggests, Kameen s book is split into two halves—yet both, in different ways and through different discourses, are derived from his work in the classroom, and his own struggle with issues and problems all teachers of writing must face.
The first half is a series of essays originating from a graduate seminar Kameen team-taught with professor and poet Toi Derricotte in 1994. Included are essays Kameen wrote, a selection of pieces written by other members of the group, and a reflective postscript." These essays combine personal narrative, reflective meditation, and critical inquiry—all used as discourse to depict and examine the process of teaching.
The second half of the book contains essays on Plato s dialogues—primarily Phaedrus and Protagoras—as a means to interrogate the position of teacher through the lens of the most famous of Western pedagogues—Socrates. Here, Socrates is used as a tool to examine and critique both Kameen s own teacherly identity and, in a wider sense, the set of cultural forces that pre-figure the available positions for both teacher" and student" in contemporary education.
What unites both halves is the way Kameen approaches each—the personal" and the scholarly—from his position as teacher. The texts presented provide the occasion for a complex and nuanced meditation on the classroom as a legitimate arena for the production of knowledge and research. Sure to be timely and controversial, Writing/Teaching will enter into the debate on whether to reconfigure the relationship between research and teaching currently taking place among teachers of composition, cultural studies, and rhetoric. Compelling reading for teachers or those contemplating a career in the profession.

Booknews

Arguing that the classroom provides a setting for the construction of new knowledge (not just the distribution of pre-constructed knowledge), half these essays comprise an ideological autobiography focused on a graduate course Kameen (English, University of Pittsburgh) team-taught with Toi Derricotte. The second set of essays consider Plato's dialogues, with special attention to the role of the teacher as Plato describes it. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

2001 CCCC Outstanding Book Award

The vast majority of academic books are written from the scholar's position, even those that primarily concern teaching. Writing/Teaching, on the other hand, is a book about teaching written from the position of the teacher. As the title suggests, Kameen's book is split into two halves—yet both, in different ways and through different discourses, are derived from his work in the classroom, and his own struggle with issues and problems all teachers of writing must face.

The first half is a series of essays originating from a graduate seminar Kameen team-taught with professor and poet Toi Derricotte in 1994. Included are essays Kameen wrote, a selection of pieces written by other members of the group, and a reflective "postscript." These essays combine personal narrative, reflective meditation, and critical inquiry—all used as discourse to depict and examine the process of teaching.

The second half of the book contains essays on Plato's dialogues—primarily Phaedrus and Protagoras—as a means to interrogate the position of teacher through the lens of the most famous of Western pedagogues—Socrates. Here, Socrates is used as a tool to examine and critique both Kameen's own teacherly identity and, in a wider sense, the set of cultural forces that pre-figure the available positions for both "teacher" and "student" in contemporary education.

What unites both halves is the way Kameen approaches each—the "personal" and the "scholarly"—from his position as teacher. The texts presented provide the occasion for a complex and nuanced meditation on the classroom as a legitimate arena for the production of knowledge and research. Sure to be timely and controversial, Writing/Teaching will enter into the debate on whether to reconfigure the relationship between research and teaching currently taking place among teachers of composition, cultural studies, and rhetoric. Compelling reading for teachers or those contemplating a career in the profession.

The vast majority of academic books are written from the scholar's position, even those that primarily concern teaching. Writing/Teaching, on the other hand, is a book about teaching written from the position of the teacher. As the title suggests, Kameen's book is split into two halves -- yet both are derived from his work in the classroom.The first half is a series of essays originating from a graduate seminar Kameen team-taught with professor and poet Toi Derricotte in 1994. These essays combine personal narrative, reflective meditation, and critical inquiry -- all used as discourse to depict and examine the process of teaching.The second half of the book contains essays on Plato's dialogues -- primarily Phaedrus and Protagoras -- as a means to interrogate the position of teacher. Here, Socrates is used as a tool to examine and critique both Kameen's own teacherly identity and, in a wider sense, the set of cultural forces that prefigure the available positions for both "teacher" and "student" in contemporary education.What unites both halves is the way Kameen approaches each -- the "personal" and the "scholarly" -- from his position as teacher. Sure to be timely and controversial, Writing/Teaching will enter into the debate on whether to reconfigure the relationship between research and teaching currently taking place among teachers of composition, cultural studies, and rhetoric. In Writing/Teaching Paul Kameen brings together essays examining the process of teaching and ones that look at the figures of teacher and student in contemporary education using the writings of Plato and Socrates.Winner of the 2002 CCCC Outstanding Book Award "Kay Boyle, who has published more than 30 books in a rich career that stretches back to Paris in the 20's, gives her final performance at the Los Angeles Theatre Center and is interviewed by Sean Wong"--Container