For the Betterment of Students:
Position Statements

Hi everyone, 

As I continue to plan my FYC course for the fall and get more in the weeds with everything, I thought I would dedicate this week's blog post to position statements released by various organizations within the English, educational field. 

WAP's Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition 

The Council of Writing Program Administrators (WAP) released a statement on July 18th, 2019, outlining the ideal outcomes of first-year composition courses, hoping to both "represent and regularize writing programs' priorities." WAP organizes their ideal FYC outcomes into three major categories: rhetorical knowledge, critical thinking, reading, and composing, and processes. WAP recognizes rhetorical knowledge as "the ability to analyze contexts and audiences and then act on that analysis in comprehending and creating texts," and students are expected to learn key rhetorical concepts, and gain exposure to various genres and rhetorical situations by the end of first-year composition. WAP states that critical thinking, reading, and composing is "the ability to analyze, synthesize, interpret, and evaluate ideas, information, situations, and texts," and that critical thinking, reading, and composing practices are the foundation for academic writing. By the end of students' time taking first-year composition courses, students are expected to compose and use a diverse range of texts for inquiry, learning, and communicating in a variety of rhetorical contents, think critically about the texts they consult, and to use a variety of strategies "to compose texts that integrate the writer's ideas with those from appropriate sources." WAP defines the third category, processes, as the stages writers go through when writing their own text. WAP states composing processes are "seldom linear" and are "flexible," allowing writers to "adapt their composing processes to different contexts and occasions." By the end of their of their time taking first-year composition, students are expected to finish a project by completing multiple drafts, develop flexible strategies in their writing process, allowing students to discover and reconsider ideas, and collaborate with others, gaining and giving feedback on various writing projects. 

WAP's ideal student outcomes for FYC courses are extensive, but creates a great foundation to aim for when teaching FYC. KSU's requires FYC instructors to assign three assignments: a rhetorical analysis, an argument, and a narrative. I believe these three assignments do a great job at helping instructors meet WAP's criteria for a successful FYC course, as all three assignments either teach, or can be used to teach,  rhetorical knowledge, critical thinking, reading, and composing, and the writing process in one way or another. 

NCTE's Definition of Literacy in a Digital Age

On November 7th, 2019, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) released their definition of literacy and what literacy means now that we live in a digital age. NCTE defines literacy as a "collection of communication and sociocultural practices shared among communities," and highlights that "as society and technology change, so does literacy." NCTE argues that digital literacy is important as the world is increasingly becoming more and more digital, with digital literacy acting as an essential tool for effective communication with globalization. Instructors can better help improve students' digital literacy and prepare students for a digital and global world by giving students access to accessible tools, texts, and information and allowing students to participate "effectively and critically" with the networked, digital world, curate and create digital texts across contexts, and build global and cross-cultural connections by examining one's own bias and determining how texts can be used to amplify and silence various narratives. 

In undergrad, I never quite understood the importance of digital literacy, or why my professors incorporated multimodal elements to assignments. While I did often enjoy incorporating a multimodal element, I thought its purpose served just that, to help my generation, Gen Z, a generation that grew up with computers and social media, more engaged. Now that I am preparing to teach my own FYC course, I better understand the importance of including a multimodal component, and how just because you grew up with technology and social media does not mean that you know how to create media that effectively communications to various rhetorical situations. When I teach FYC in the fall, I am going to try and incorporate various multimodal assignments, as well as have students evaluate the credibility of various sources, to hopefully further support my students' digital literacy. 

NCTE's Statement on Anti-Racism to Support Teaching and Learning

On July 11th, 2018, NCTE released a revised statement on anti-racism in the English classroom. NCTE states that there are two proponents to racism: difference (us versus them) and power (systematic). NCTE states "Racism in America is the systematic mistreatment and disenfranchisement of people of color who currently and historically possess less power and privilege than white Americans." However, NCTE clarifies that they also recognize "cultural racism," which allows for biases and systematic mistreatment toward ethnic groups that cannot always be distinguished from white Americans. NCTE recommends instructors to identify and challenge individual and systemic acts of racism and other forms of discrimination within education, express solidarity with people from diverse cultures and backgrounds, support and and enforce racial and ethnic discrimination in education, and to pursue professional development that affirms cultural diversity, 

Creating an anti-racist classroom is an extremely important goal that all FYC instructors should strive for. Racism is still prevalent in all facets of life, including education. My undergraduate institution, Georgia College and State University, was predominately white, and although the English department tried to diversify the curriculum, the majority of authors taught were white, largely originating from Western European and the American South (Flannery O'Connor's influence). Although most of my experience at GCSU came from the English department, I imagine other departments suffered from the same lack of diversity. 

Although I will never truly be able understand what minorities go through, it is my goal when teaching FYC to implement a variety of texts, exposing students to different experiences, perspectives, and voices. Although the Department of Educator's recent "Dear Colleague" letter has made challenging systemic racism more difficult, I intend to confront and question any racism and prejudice I see in my classroom, and elevate students' voices surrounding their experiences regarding race, religion, and sexuality. 

Works Cited

NCTE. "Definition of Literacy in a Digital Age." 7 Nov. 2019, https://ncte.org/statement/nctes-definition-literacy-digital-age/. 

NCTE. "Statement on Anti-Racism to Support Teaching and Learning." 11 July 2018. https://ncte.org/statement/antiracisminteaching/. 

WAP. "WAP Outcomes Statements for First-Year Composition (3.0), Approved July 17, 2024." 18 July 2014. https://wpacouncil.org/aws/CWPA/pt/sd/news_article/243055/_PARENT/layout_details/false/. 

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