Teaching Materials: Syllabus: English 114

English 114 – First Year Composition

Syllabus

Instructor: Troy Croom Office Phone: TBD
Date and Time: To be announced. Office Hours: TBD
Email: tcroom@mail.sfsu.edu


Course Overview
Welcome to English 114!
This course is different from many typical writing courses. Where some writing class place the teacher at the center of the course, ours makes every endeavor to place you at the center, encouraging you to make meaning from the readings and to form meaning in your writings in your own way, developing your own voice as a writer. 
 
While the goal is to give you every opportunity to develop yourself as a writer in the academic community, thematically, the course is designed to generate discussion by examining the changing shape of the American family. The purpose of this thematic approach is two-fold: to connect you with writing through relevant conversations about yourself, specifically how family affects you, and how you connect to family. Also, this thematic approach provides access to critical thinking, asking you to look beneath the surface of things, possibly discovering, even questioning, values you weren't aware you had. Critical thinking leads to clear thinking, and clear thinking to clear writing.

Though, in some ways, this course adapts concepts from sociology, the goal in this course is to help you develop as a reader, writer and thinker.  For instance, you will be reading essays on the importance of audience and purpose while reading and discussing essays on the family as well. You'll be blogging each week on relevant subjects to give you a chance to speak your mind, and develop your confidence in your own writing, since we tend to speak most confidently about subjects that are most important to us. As your confidence grows, whole-class and small-group discussions will further help you develop the ideas you will defend in your writings. 
 
Crucial to improving your writing is learning to give and accept criticism in peer review. Each paper will go through two drafts – peer review draft and final draft. (Later, you will have the option of revising one paper yet again, potentially to better your grade.) To further encourage revision, I will occasionally select a student paper (anonymously) for class discussion and evaluation.

Writing Assignments

Unit 1: Media Analysis: How Popular Media Affect Our Views of the Family.

Your first writing assignment, a media analysis, requires a synthesis and interpretation of 2-3 pieces of media (film, TV, or popular song) which you will choose. You'll select a single family theme (roles of family members, family life, marriage, divorce) and select one film, one TV program and one song from the list of selections. In your writing, you will discuss how these three pieces of media portray this central theme, and what sort of emotional or cognitive impression you feel they convey. You'll need to discuss how the media pieces represent family, how they resonate with you and with the values learned from your family. Ultimately, you'll need to defend your position with information in the pieces you chose. To what extent have such media images shaped your personal image of the family? Finally, consider how the media have impacted what you call “family values.”

Unit 2: Cultural Analysis: How Society Affects the Family
In your second assignment, a cultural analysis, you will write an argumentative essay from interviews of one person from your grandparents' generation, one person from your parents, and one from your own. After examining the data, you will write about 2-3 themes common to the three interviews. The focus will be on taking a stand and supporting it with evidence you collected personally. How has the family changed over the last fifty years? What factors have influenced these changes? Would you say the family is more or less stable as a result of the changes? More or less happy? 
 
Unit 3: Argumentative Essay: How the Family Affects the Individual
Your third writing assignment, an argumentative essay, is the most rigorous. Where the first two units require analysis and support, in Unit 3 your argument is central to the writing, and you will be expected to anticipate and refute potential counter-arguments. You will choose a theme that you feel potentially threatens family or family values (for example, divorce or “coming out.”) Next, you will argue that a family member pursuing this issue poses a threat to the family or that, in this situation, the family poses a greater threat to the individual. Why is family important? How do we balance family membership and individuality? What are the repercussions when a family member rejects family values? When family rejects the “black sheep”?

Unit 4: Final Portfolio: Family Analysis +Revisions +Reflection Paper
This portfolio includes a Family Analysis, a Revision and a Reflection Paper. Here you'll examine and discuss family's importance to you. Consider: Why is family important? What price do we pay for family membership? What do we gain? How do family values shape our personal values? Also, you will have a chance to re-work one essay for a possible improved grade. Finally, you'll write a Reflection Paper discussing what you've learned, and to what extent the writing assignments complement each other. 
 
Grading Breakdown

• Unit 1: Media Analysis: How Popular Media Affect Our Views of the Family 15%
  
• Unit 2: Cultural Analysis: How Society Affects the Family 15%
  
• Unit 3: Argumentative Essay: How the Family Affects the Individual 20%
  
• Unit 4: Final Portfolio: Family Analysis +Revision +Reflection Paper 30%
  
• Blog 10%
  
• Participation 10%
  

For your blogs, I'll be looking at how you engage with the subject as well as your responses to classmates' blogs. Participation includes attendance, whole-class and small-group discussions and peer review.

Course Goals

• To organize your thoughts and reflect this organization with clear writing
  
• To read and think critically, and reflect this rigorous thinking with problematized writing
  
• To write with an understanding of audience and purpose
  
• To support your thinking with evidence, both in discussion and in writing
  
• To develop your own rhetorical style and voice
  
• To reflect on the your own writing and the writing of your classmates
  

Student Learning Outcomes

After completing this course, you will be able to:

• Exercise critical thinking in both reading and writing.
  
• Understand that writing is a revisionary process developed through multiple drafts.
  
• Understand that writing has many styles, each with different conventions and audiences.
  
• Explore and engage with a variety of rhetorical approaches in reading and writing.
  
• Demonstrate control over rhetorical and grammatical features.
  
• Evaluate sources and arguments from multiple perspectives.
  
• Argue a point from particular perspectives with supporting evidence.
  
• Read with engagement and flexibility for various texts and genres.
  
• Provide mindful, constructive criticism and feedback.
  
• Accept and act on constructive feedback offered by peers.
  
• Reflect on your reading and writing process, gaining insight into your strengths and areas for improvement in reading and writing.
  
• Incorporate evidence from multiple sources while providing thoughtful analysis.
  
• Critically review yourself and the world, explore the nature of identities and cultures.
  
• Understand that strategic reading and effective writing is not only at the heart of academic work, but is a skill that you can depend on throughout your professional career.
  

Pre-requisites

The California State University Placement Test (EPT) is required for entry into English 114.

Course Texts

• Wardle, Writing About Writing
  
• Articles, essays and assorted media posted on Ilearn.
  

Tutoring Services
The English Tutoring Center (ETC) is located in HUM 290. I strongly encourage you to visit the center if you writing asssistance. The ETC offers drop-in tutoring as well as dedicated weekly tutoring sessions for charge. You can visit the Learning Assistance Center (LAC) and the Campus Academic Resource Center (CARP) for additional tutoring.

Plagiarism
“Plagiarism is a form of cheating and fraud; it occurs when a student misrepresents the work of another as his or her own. Plagiarism may consist of using ideas, sentences, paragraphs, or the whole text of another without appropriate acknowledgement, but it also includes employing or allowing another person to write or substantially alter work that a student then submits as his or her own.” – SFSU College of Arts and Humanities

Expectations
You'll be expected to take responsibility for your own education in a way that might be new to you. You'll be asked to read carefully and to respond to readings on your Ilearn blog. You'll be writing a diverse selection of essays (two drafts each) and you'll be increasingly expected to take a stance and argue claims by providing evidence. 
 
You'll be expected to arrive in class on time with the readings and writings complete because these will be the focus of whole class and small group discussions. Your participation in discussions will be vital to your success in the course, since you get out of it what you put into it. You should expect to be challenged to expand yourself as a reader, writer and thinker. As reading is crucial to developing as a writer, you'll be cultivating collaborative skills in peer review, learning to give and receive feedback from colleagues. 
 
Attendance Policy
Attenance is required. If you must be absent, please contact me prior to class about whether your absence will excused. Unexplained absences will be considered unexcused, and more than three unexcused absences per semester will result in failing the course.

Disability Access
“Students with disabilities who need accommodation are encouraged to contact the instructor. The Disability Programs and Resource Center (DPRC) is available to facilitate reasonable accommodations. The DPRC is located in the Student Service Building and can be reached by telephone (voice/TTY 415-338-2472) or by email (dprc@sfsu.edu).” – SFSU Disability Programs and Resource Center.


Course Outline

Week	Class Activity	Assignments
1	Unit 1: Media Analysis: How Popular Media Affect Our Views of the Family. Analyses of family in TV, film clips and popular songs. Introduce the media analysis paper.	Read professional critiques of film, TV programs, popular songs with family themes. Read socio-cultural analyses of the family in literature. Blog: How have media portrayals of family changed over time? Why?
2	The importance of the rhetorical triangle, audience, purpose. Introduce peer review. Taking a stance with writing.	Peer review draft of media analysis due. Rhetorical studies: I Say, They Say.
3	Analysis of anonymous student papers. Discuss how the medium affects the message (e.g., how portrayals in song differ from film).	Final draft of media analysis due. Read McLuhans' “The Medium is the Message”
4	Unit 2: Cultural Analysis: How Society Affects theFamily Course introduction. Active reading exercises. Discuss Friere, student-centered study and student agency. Introduce cultural analysis paper. Student-centered study.	Read “Parenting as an Industry.” Read “Shitty First Drafts” and “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.” Students write questionnaire and prepare for interviews (one person from grandparents' generation, one from parents', and one from their own).
5	Focus on logos, ethos and pathos in the media. Peer review of second draft.	Peer review draft of cultural analysis due. Read “The Impact of Divorce on Children.”
6	Analysis of anonymous student papers. Tips on structure and transitions.	Final draft of cultural analysis due.
7	Unit 3: Argumentative Essay: How the Family Affects the Individual Introduce the argumentative essay. Claim, evidence, warrants, counter-arguments.	Read “Family Values,” “The Awakening,” and “Inventing the University.”
8	Introduce debate: point-counterpoint. In teams, students role-play arguments from readings, “husbands” vs. “wives.” Peer review.	Peer review draft of argumentative essay due. Read essays on academic discourse by Gee and Johns.
9 & 10	Analysis of anonymous student papers. Grammar mini-lessons.	Final draft of argumentative essay due. Read essays by Kantz and Porter on Textual Sources.
11	Unit 4: Portfolio: Family Analysis + Revision + Reflection Paper Introduce Family Analysis and Reflection Paper.; discuss Revisions.Grammar mini-lessons.	Reading on revision; “Writing Across the Drafts.” Revisions of previous works in progress.
12 & 13	Peer reviews of revisions. Teacher-student conferences. Analysis of anonymous student papers.	Read essays on the usefulness of proofreading and polishing. Revisions of previous works in progress.
14 & 15	Peer reviews of revisions. Teacher-student conferences.	Final Portfolio due. Blog: The Highs and the Lows: Which assignments worked Best, which the least? Why?

Teaching Materials: Four-Unit Course Plan: English 114

Troy Croom
English 710
Prof. Jennifer Trainor
27 May 2014


English 114 -- First Year Composition

Unit 1 - Media Analysis:   
How Popular Media Affect Our Views of the Family

The Big Picture

To understand our own perceptions of the family, it’s important to consider both our primary experiences and to analyze the influences that can shape our ideas on family, such as the media.  For example, notions about marriage are often colored by media images -- from TV, movies or songs -- about romance lasting “happily ever after.”

In your first major writing assignment, you will be taking a broad view of the significance of family for yourself and for others.  We’ll look at how media’s various depictions of family roles and family life convey certain thoughts and emotions that we may or may not adopt.  For instance, we’ll be analyzing The Temptations’ “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” Norman Jewison’s “Fiddler on the Roof” and AMC’s “Mad Men.”  At the end of the unit, you will write an analysis of one theme as portrayed in 2-3 different family-themed media pieces, discussing how they impacted you in light of the inputs you’ve gotten from your own family.

Questions

 Who controls our interpretations when we read, listen to or see a film? 
 Is it us or is it the artist -- or both? 
 What technical or rhetorical moves help these artists elicit the reactions that they desire? 
 If we control our final take-away, how is this done? 
 To what extent does your own family “filter” affect your interpretations of family as represented in the media?

“Reading” Media Analysis

You will select three media pieces from a list of chosen options that include TV programs, movies and popular songs.  (While I’d prefer that you stick to the list provided, if you favor selections of your own, we can talk.)  The pieces you select should generate enough analysis to merit a 3-4 page paper, and should provide a compelling portrayal of one family issue running through all these pieces.  Among other topics, this might include family life, the roles of family members, parenting, marriage or divorce.  For example, you might choose to discuss the role of parenting in the movie “American Beauty,” the TV program “Mad Men” and the song “Cats in the Cradle.”  Though you’ll be comparing and contrasting in your analysis, ultimately, you’ll need to find a theme, take a stand and support your point with evidence; in this sense, your media analysis is also an argumentative essay.

Also, once a week, you will be blogging about 2-3 significant points from the texts and the media pieces we analyze together.  Consider: What interesting points do the media pieces make about family?  How do they resonate with your personally?  Why or why not?  To what extent do they succeed?  What techniques do they use to move you?

Writing Media Analysis

You’ll be using your blogging to practice analyzing various media pieces.  As you do so, consider: What techniques do the artists (directors, screenplay writers, songwriters) use?  Summarize each media piece in a brief paragraph.  What’s the writer/artist’s purpose?  Who’s the audience?  How do depictions of characters and dialogue work together to impact the audience?  To what extent do your preferred media representations resonate with your own family experiences or with the values espoused by your family?  To what extent do you feel media representations of the family have influenced your values about the family personally?  How does the medium affect the message?  Provide quotes and examples to illustrate how the artist achieves her purpose.

What It Looks Like:

 4-5 pages double-spaced, 12 pt font, Times New Roman, 1 inch margins
 MLA in-text citations (see Purdue Owl.edu), where applicable

We will discuss in class various techniques of analyzing the portrayal of family in popular media, but time will limit our focus in this area.  If you’re interested in additional analysis techniques, you may want to read other TV, film or music critiques (magazines/websites such as Rolling Stone, Billboard and Entertainment).  You might also care to read up on the conventions of those genres, time permitting.    For instance, you might like to think about how music or lighting add to the overall effect of a movie, or how instrumentation or arrangement add to the drama of a song.  While you’re not required to do additional research, feel free if you think this would better serve your paper.  Also, any time you quote a source, remember to cite it according to MLA style.


Unit 2 - Cultural Analysis:
How Society Affects the Family

The Big Picture

So far, we’ve analyzed a variety of media to consider different perspectives on the family.  You’ve read about, discussed and written about various interpretations of the family, developing your critical thinking and your ability to defend your views.

In this unit, you will apply the analysis skills from Unit 1, to perform a cultural analysis of the family, drawing on interviews you will conduct with people from three different generations.

For the second writing assignment, your focus on how society is changing the family will go deeper, down to the level of the individual.  Building from the in-class cultural readings such as “Parenting as an Industry” and “Love, Internet Style,” you’ll examine how society is shaping the inter-relations of the American family.

Questions

 How has the American family changed in the last fifty years? 
 What influences have had the greatest impact on the family-- the economy, divorce, technology (e.g., birth control, computer dating), gay rights or other factors? 
 How does reading and writing about the family affect your feelings about these changes?

“Reading” Cultural Analysis

We will be reading articles on the way family has changed and the social implications of these changes.  As before, you will be blogging about 2-3 key points from each reading and thinking about how these aspects of family connect with your own experience.

We’ll also be reading articles on basic interviewing techniques.  These skills will aid you as you choose three people, from three different generations (one from your grandparents’ generation, one from your parents’, and one from your own) to interview.  Thus you’ll be “reading” these respondents as you synthesize their opinions on the metamorphosis of the American family.  As you do, consider how others’ opinions of the family affect your own.

Writing Cultural Analysis

Using the in-class articles for your foundation (though you’re welcome to seek out other sources on your own), you will need to design a questionnaire to guide you as you interview your respondents.  In addition to the questions above, try brainstorming additional questions.  Your goal, as will be clearer after we study interview techniques, is to create open-ended “essential questions” (rather than simple questions that can be answered Yes/No) in order to motivate your respondents to provide copious responses and personal anecdotes for examples.  This will ensure that you have sufficient data and quotes for your analysis. 

What It Looks Like:

 4-5 pages double-spaced, 12 pt font, Times New Roman, 1 inch margins
 MLA in-text citations (see Purdue Owl.edu), where applicable

In selecting your respondents, you’ll need one from your grandparents’ generation, one from your parents’ generation and one from your own generation.  The best way to record their responses is two-fold: a) record your interviews on a cell phone, then b) take notes of pertinent information (respondents’ mood, sudden dramatic change of voice, gesticulations, interview interruptions) that might prove useful later. 

Next you’ll write 3-4 pages of summary of your findings, including useful quotes.  Then you’ll look for themes in your research, and let your respondents “speak to each other.”  In other words, you’re looking for trends of agreement of disagreement.  For example, on the topic of marriage and dating, your grandmother might say X.  By contrast, your mother might say Y, while your sister says Z.  Nonetheless, you might find that, despite certain disagreements, they all tend to share a consistent perspective on A, B and C.

Finally, you’ll want to end with a section of your personal analysis of the changes of the American family over the last fifty years, as indicated by your research, and how you feel about these changes personally.  Like the tone of the analyses read in class, your tone here should be academic and reserved.  See handout for additional pointers.  Also, any time you quote a source, remember to cite it according to MLA style.

Unit 3 - Argumentative Essay:
How the Family Affects the Individual

In class so far, we’ve considered the state of the family through media analysis and cultural analysis.  You’ve examined the family as represented by popular media and by people you know from three different generations.  You’ve written about others’ viewpoints and questioned your own.  Gradually, we’ve been moving our focus on the family from the broad view to the more specific.

In this unit, you will learn to take a stand to argue your perspective of how family members balance family membership with the concept of individuality.  Your previous work has prepared you for this undertaking.  You will be able to draw on the information of the media analysis and from your own interviews to support your case as well.  After reading Richard Rodriquez’s “Family Values,” you’ll then defend the perspective either that individuality threatens the family or that the family threatens individuality.  Of course, you can draw from outside research and personal experience alike.  Consider this excerpt from Rodriquez:

    The genius of America is that it permits children to leave home, it permits us to become different    from our parents.  But the sadness, the loneliness of America is clear, too. (330)

Questions

 What kind of bonds -- spoken or unspoken -- tie us to family? 
 To what extent are you free to be yourself, separate from your family?
 To what extent do you feel required to follow in your parents’ footsteps? 
 How accepting are they of you to define your own autonomous path? 
 What are the repercussions when family members abandon each other? 
 If old values are abandoned, to what extent is a family still a family?

Reading the Argumentative Essay

You’ve been reading articles on the changing face of the family.  Rodriquez’s “Family Values” raises a troubling question that’s familiar to young adults challenged by parental limits -- the freedom of individuality that so many Americans take for granted.  The Rodriguez article is an argumentative essay in that it defends a particular point of view.  All of the readings this unit are apt models of persuasion, so be sure to pay attention to both the message and the medium.

In your blog, you will write about 2-3 points that speak to you, especially as they resonate with your personal experience about family.  As you read these argumentative essays as models, ask: What moves is the author making to promote her points?  How do you feel when she succeeds?  What moves might be useful for your own arguments?

Writing the Argumentative Essay

Drawing from your readings and your blogging, write a 3-4 page argumentative essay in which you either defend individuality or you defend the family.  This is an exercise in clarifying your critical thinking, fortifying your writing and persuading your audience.  For the purposes of this paper, you can assume that your audience are all opponents to your message, so your skills in persuasion will be challenged in a new way.  Be sure to anticipate your opponents’ views where applicable, and to refute them whenever possible.

This doesn’t necessarily require you to personally agree 100% with the point that you’re defending, but it does require that you fully examine and utilize key logical points (logos) and emotional points (pathos) of persuasion to pull your audience of disbelievers over to your side. 

What It Looks Like:

 4-5 pages double-spaced, 12 pt font, Times New Roman, 1 inch margins
 MLA in-text citations (see Purdue Owl.edu), where applicable.

You’ll be using the in-class readings and your own strong feelings to fuel your argument.  Any time you quote a source, remember to cite it according to MLA style.  Be sure to:

 consider the material you’ve read.
 choose 3-5 points to defend.
 support these points with examples and/or quotes.
 consider and refute your opponents’ arguments where applicable.

Unit 4 - Portfolio:
Family Analysis +Revision + Reflection Paper

The Big Picture

So far, you’ve developed reading, writing and thinking skills to help you analyze views of the family -- yours and others’.  Also, you’ve improved your ability to make a point and defend it with solid evidence.

Your final assignment, the portfolio, will include three activities: a Family Analysis, a Revision of previous a paper, and a Reflection Paper.  First, you’ll write a Family Analysis in which you examine what family means to you, providing pertinent examples and quotations; also you’ll discuss the way your own values have been shaped by family values and family experiences.  Next, you’ll revise one previous paper, not merely to polish up details, but to re-imagine it again.  Finally, you’ll write a short Reflection Paper on how your examination of the family has impacted you as a writer.  That is, how have these assignments helped you to improve your writing skills? 

Questions

 To what extent are we autonomous from family?
 To what extent are we influenced by our family’s values?
 Why is family important?  Or is it?
 What price do we pay for family membership?  What do we gain?

Reading Family Analysis

We will be reading Jeanette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, along with other family-themed narratives.  As you read, consider: How have the people in your own family and their values shaped your personality and values?  What family experiences have made you the person you are today?

As you read these texts, be aware of how the writers select certain events and techniques to convey a thought or an emotion.  Be thinking about the events you want to examine in your Family Analysis, and the ways you will write about them.

In reading these texts, be conscious of what resonates with you personally.  Choose 2-3 significant parts in each text; elaborate on the importance of these parts in relation to your own life.  In your blogs, you should describe which experiences influenced the characters’ perspective of family.  To what extent do these perspectives resonate with you personally?

Writing Family Analysis

After weeks of reading, discussing and journaling about personal narratives, you’re getting ready to examine your own family experience more deeply.  You’ll need to choose one or two key events in your family history that you feel represent your overall perspective of how what family means to you and/or the price you pay for family membership.

Consider these questions as you begin: Which key sensory memories stand out as most significant?  How did these events make you feel?  To what extent did these experiences change the way you view family and the way you view the world?  What is the broader message you’d like to convey through the story of your family?  How will you do this?

What It Looks Like:

 3-4 pages double-spaced, 12 pt font, Times New Roman, 1 inch margins

Your goal is to connect with the reader in terms of the specifics and the “broad strokes” as well, so you’ll need to supply interesting details to hook your reader, to “paint” your picture, and to try to arrive at a significant response to the question in your reader’s mind, “So what?”  That is, your story narrative should depict some kind of understanding or growth.  What images will help you tell your story?  How did these experiences change your point of view about yourself, your family or life in general?  As with all previous papers, you’ll need to find a central theme and support this with examples and quotes.  Ultimately, what idea or feeling about your family will you leave your reader with?

Revision

You have the option of revising one previous draft with the possibility of improving your grade.  As a rule, you will write two drafts of each paper -- a peer review draft and a “final draft.”  However, Unit 4 permits you to further re-work one of those “final drafts” for a portfolio draft.  More than a chance to simply “touch up” your writing, your portfolio draft is an opportunity to re-think your paper, with the advantage of having time away from the subject, and a new perspective.

Reflection Paper

This is a short (1-2 pp) assignment where you look back at your experiences in this course.  Where were you as a writer when the term began?  Where has the course taken you?  What skills have you learned -- pre-writing, writing, revision?  What other aspects of the course were useful -- peer review, blogging?  What advice would you give to a colleague considering taking this course?  What comments would you offer to me, as a teacher?

Writing Sample: You've Got Mail: Analysis of a Literacy Event

Troy Croom

English 832

Prof. Anne Whiteside

17 October 2014

                                                                You’ve Got Mail:
                                                     Analysis of a Literacy Event


         “How does life in a literate environment affect or change social relationships?
    How do social relationships influence. . . the way that literacy is acquired and used?”
                                                                                      -- Weinstein-Shr
  
Introduction
According to one source, the average American resident is inundated with forty-one pounds of junk mail every year.  If this is daunting for people with adept at reading the mail, postal literacy, it can be frightening for those still developing such skills.  In her analysis of the daily life of the Hmong in the U.S., Weinstein-Shr (Weinstein-Shr 1989) illustrates just how much is at stake for language learners struggling to decode their mail, especially if they depend on government assistance.  Moreover, millions of Americans who read well are taken in by many sophisticated direct mail ploys.  Thus, for language learners, just going to the mailbox can be intimidating.  This paper examines the sometimes bewildering process of postal literacy.

Topic Overview
Shizue “Suzie” Watson is a survivor.  Growing up in war-torn Japan, Suzie’s teacher shuttled her and her classmates away from the bombing of the city to the safety of the countryside.  Years later she would escape poverty-stricken, post-war Japan when an American soldier named Dick Watson courted, married and brought her with him to make a home in Northern California.  Still, she knew virtually no English and lived in fear, entirely dependent on her husband as her sole support -- mate, bread-winner, English teacher and chauffer.  Against significant odds, she would go on to bring up four little children and, after seven years, enroll in adult school to learn enough English to earn her driver’s license and her citizenship. 

 Her husband, Dick, made an excellent living in sales, but his vices  -- alcohol and gambling -- often left the family financially destitute, necessitating that Suzie take any job she could find to help pay bills.  This would find her running a small restaurant, then, later, cleaning the homes of wealthier people for some 25 years.  Because of her tenacity, even when Dick passed away prematurely at 49, she was able to pay off their mortgage herself, thus allowing her to maintain her standard of living and her sense of pride.
  
 At 79, Suzie has created an impressively independent life for herself in spite of her English, which, she says, is far from fluent.   She handles all her bills, her ikebana classes and the upkeep of her home, with its large backyard, bursting with an array of exotic flowers.  In fact, her spoken English serves her well: when unwelcome telemarketers ring, she’s not too shy to send them packing.  However, the one area where she lacks independence is in reading her mail, which is the focus of this paper.  Specifically, I’ll be looking at the ways that Suzie and her daughter, Judy, negotiate the contents of the daily mail, how their relationship affects this literacy event, and how the event impacts their relationship.

Problems With the Mail
Suzie frets about her mail for good reasons.  First, her deceased husband’s addictions at times wrought unforgettable damage to the family finances.  Just as often as he gambled away the money for the household expenses, he simply forgot to pay the car insurance, or failed to read the bills in the mail, forcing Suzie to turn around the family finances herself.  Ever since then, she’s been pro-active in paying bills, leading to her hyper-vigilance in confronting every piece of mail she receives.  A second cause for Suzie’s mail scrutiny appears to arise from her hope of discovering a lucky break that could save her money, a vital concern for anyone like Suzie, who is retired and dependent on a fixed income.  Yet another reason for her caution is the dread that stems from her own history of misreading the mail and succumbing to seductive and perplexing advertisements.  For instance, there was the time she began receiving a number of magazines she didn’t recall ordering.  She eventually realized this followed her response to a Publisher’s Clearinghouse ad promising to make her a millionaire; in fact, it promised that she’d already been pre-selected to win!  Then there was the ad for the record player housed inside a handsome, hand-carved wooden frame, a striking replica an old-fashioned radio.  However, when it arrived in the mail, they discovered the interior parts were “total junk -- useless!”  Clearly, Suzie has apt cause for concern with regard to the mail.  

Methods of Data Collection
Initially, I interviewed Judy and Suzie initially for over two hours.  On a subsequent visit, I broached additional issues that occurred to me in the interim for nearly as long.  Finally, realizing I hadn’t really witnessed the literacy event itself, I observed them discussing the mail piece by piece, and spent another hour discussing related topics. 

Mail Call: Analysis
Where some functionally illiterate, like a few of those in Weinstien-Shr’s depiction of the Hmong community, might need help understanding much of the mail they receive, Suzie has developed considerable skills and independence.  Her routine approach to the postal literacy practice is to carefully comb through her mail on her own, then set aside the more troubling pieces for Judy to unpack later when their busy schedules permit discussion.  The following is Suzie’s selection of the most confusing specimens of mail on Saturday, October 11, 2014.

First up, Judy reads through an ad appealing to homeowners whose houses, like Suzie’s, were built before 1933.  Suzie comments that home repair contractors are always trying to get her business.  “If I wanna, I call; don’t call me!” she says with gusto.  Judy explains that the company in the advertisement is trying to scare readers with the threat of bursting water pipes, which can lead to an expensive repair job.  In fact, Suzie recalls such a costly emergency that struck a few years back requiring that she pay, not only for the repair, but over $400 in overspill charges to the local water district.  Nonetheless, Judy concludes, “We don’t want this.  They’re just trying to sell you water pipe insurance!  We don’t live in fear.”  Suzie is very animated through Judy’s talk, emitting several “Ah-ha”’s of comprehension and gasping as well at the company’s gall, both of them laughing loudly in the end.

The next piece of mail seeks money for the Veteran’s Memorial funeral service program.  “This doesn’t even apply to us,” Judy says.  Suzie says, while her deceased husband had been in the Army, he wasn’t enlisted long enough to qualify for such veteran benefits.  Judy summarizes, “It’s a scam: They’re trying to scare you, saying they’ll take away 50-60% of your veteran’s benefits check if you don’t cooperate.”  Suzie says, “I don’t even receive veteran’s benefits!”  Finally, Judy holds up an item from AARP.  “They want you to buy life insurance.  I guess they think you’re not gonna be around for long!  Toss it!” she says, adding that they’re not in the habit of buying unnecessary insurance.  With this, Judy chuckles and Suzie tucks the letter into the burgeoning waste basket, patting the kitchen table before her contentedly, as if to say, “Ahhhh -- closure!” 

Notable in Judy’s readings of the three letters is her ability to summarize the offer, point out certain drawbacks, choose a course of action and defend it with a justification.  Judy’s multi-facted break-down of the mail reflects Heath’s view that, in a literacy event.  
Speech events may describe, repeat, reinforce, expand, frame, or contradict written     material . . .  (Heath 1982)

If one of Suzie’s obstacles in postal literacy is her limited English, another is the challenge to see through a marketer’s sophisticated ruse.  Once Suzie told Judy with great excitement, “I think I won $50,000!”  Judy asked how she knew.  She exclaimed, “It says right here I pre-selected!”  After a close reading, Judy found there was a $12.95 fee.  “I told her: Mama, it’s a scam!”  Discriminating between the honest and dishonest is more difficult for some than others, but this is a vital function of postal literacy. 

Of course, it’s not easy to say how much of this is a reading issue and how much a sociological issue for Suzie.  As devious mail ploys are so prevalent in America, it bears questioning whether Suzie’s growing up in a different culture contributed to her tendency to interpret mail offers at face value, rather than viewing them with a suspicious eye as so many Americans seem to do.  Nor should we expect simple answers from complex situations.  Rather, this literacy event highlights the intersecting influences impacting the teacher, the student and the text that explain, in part, why Judy reads and dismisses lightly texts that Suzie has troubled over for days.  In Gee’s perspective, none of these factors can be analyzed apart from the others:

Literacy . . . only has consequences as it acts together with a large number of other social     factors, including a social group’s political and economic conditions, social structure and     local ideologies.  (Gee 2012)
  
 It may be that Suzie’s development in perceiving con-jobs has been limited by social circumstances.  Whisked away from her Japanese home at an young age, she was effectively sequestered by her husband from paying bills and reading the mail, resulting in what could be seen as a sort of stunted growth in understanding certain aspects of American culture.  Indeed, some might consider Suzie a product of the mechanized mindset of militaristic Japan, what Freire calls a “culture of silence.” (Friere 1970)  If so, this might account for her apparent difficulty in critical thinking. 

If breaking down the mail for Suzie puts her mother at ease, it seems to enliven Judy.  A devoted mother herself with an empty nest (two sons in their 20s), she’s a natural teacher -- in fact, she’s taught art classes professionally -- and, with Suzie as her student in postal literacy, she appears purposeful: class is in session.  Following Judy’s recent divorce, she moved into Suzie’s mother-in-law unit.  For both of them, living nearby and reading the mail together brings back familiar times when Judy acted as teacher and advocate, and Suzie offered a sense of purpose for someone who very much needed to be needed.  Weinstein-Shr speaks about the sometimes complicated nature of repaying others for services such as decoding the mail (Weinstien-Shr 1989).  In the case of Judy and Suzie, though, they’ve been so close for so long, and have helped each other in so many ways, when it comes to helping with something like the mail, the service itself would appear to be all the payment required.  This follows the idea tha "A person whose social network is comprised of kin is likely to have a rich pool of     resources that will be at . . . her disposal." (Weinstien-Shr 1989)

While Judy is explaining the mail, on the surface, it looks as if Suzie has surrendered a portion of her power, and Judy very happily appears to take charge of the moment.  Inasmuch as the issues in the Suzie’s mail selections revolve around demands for her money, Judy in is in effect assuming the role of financial advisor during the event.  Nor does she ask Suzie her opinion, but tells her the best course of action.  This is clear from the body language as well, Judy leaning forward in her chair forthrightly, Suzie hanging back in a submissive, unchallenging way.  Judy does the talking; Suzie’s echoes support, but rarely asks questions.  Yet, Judy and Suzie have a strong sense of trust, and it’s clear that Judy has no personal agenda.  Rather, what I’m witnessing is Judy speaking on her mother’s behalf in a kind of shorthand informed by an understanding of Suzie’s goals and limitations.  Moreover, if Suzie appears to surrender her power during the reading, I’m struck by how empowering the event is for both Suzie and Judy.  It’s impossible to miss the look of worry in her eyes before Judy unpacks the mail but, with each piece she reads, she adds a humorous comment, so that, literally and symbolically, they appear to laugh in the face of trouble.  By the end of the readings, Suzie’s look of worry is replaced with one of levity and optimism.  Thus, Judy’s close connection with Suzie, built on fifty-plus years of support, turns the reading of troublesome mail into an act of empowerment.












   

Writing Sample: Music Therapy for Nurses: Thinking Critically About Healthcare

Troy Croom

English 832

Prof. Whiteside

15 December 2014

Music Therapy for Nurses:

Thinking Critically About Healthcare

Before entering graduate studies at SFSU for English Composition, I was in a pre-nursing program where all classes were taught by lecture and lab where, unlike my graduate work, no opportunity was created for discussion or critical thinking. Beyond the memorization of scientific data, the only analytical exercises were applications of anatomical facts to lab questions, but never the chance to question the ideologies that underpin the healthcare industry. My research suggests that pre-nursing courses share this same lecture tradition with many nursing schools. Not surprisingly, there has been an outcry in recent years for more critical thinking for nursing school pedagogy. (2008; Ozkahraman, 2011; Shin, 2008; Walker, 2003). In the spirit of this scholarship, the goal of this paper is to offer a proposal to apply notions of literacy as a social act to help students develop critical thinking skills in the nursing room classroom.

Literacy Review

The literacy foundation for this proposal stems from the importance of insisting on the understanding multiple literacies, rather than the conventional, narrow view of literacy. Where the term literacy has for too long described learners simplistically and ineffectually as literate or illiterate, capable or incapable, the term literacies takes the broad view that all people are capable of multiple literacies, developing and utilizing literacies for various kinds of communication and success, for example, math literacy, computer literacy or health literacy (Barton & Hamilton, 2000; Kern, 2004; Walter, 1999; Weinstein-Shr, 1989, Santos, 2014; Nutbeam, 2000). Literacy has been described using a variety of metaphors -- literacy as skill, literacy as task, literacy as practice and, finally, literacy as critical reflection, also referred to as critical thinking or as social action (Barton & Hamilton, 2000, p. 13 , Hernandez-Zamora, 2010, p.9, Walter). For the purposes of this paper, I shall use the term literacy as social action.

Promoting health literacy as a social act is a vital movement empowering students with a greater understanding of health practices and health services ( Nutbeam, 2000; Santos, 2014) Although this paper discusses music therapy as a heath literacy, I’m tailoring the term to fit my proposal in an unconventional way. Where heath literacy generally addresses the education of the marginalized directly, helping them improve health habits or to locate and access health services (Nutbeam, 2000; Santos, 2014), my application of literacy empowers the marginalized -- that is, the elderly in long-term care facilities -- indirectly by empowering tomorrow’s nurses with a therapy not normally at their disposal, namely music therapy.

My proposal is informed by key voices in the literacy field who have helped re-imagine literacy as a social act, as opposed to viewing literacy as a social practice. As Barton and Hamilton and others use the term, literacy as social practice limits its scope to reporting the way literacy operates to improve life on the interpersonal and intergroup level (Barton and Hamilton, 2000; Weinstein-Shr, 1989). However, as Walter (1999)points out, this perspective tends to simply record literacy events, rather than asking difficult questions about assumptions behind the status quo and prescribing options for action. (p.35) 

In this way, literacy as a social practice tends to enforce the dominant ideology, repeating what some call marginalization of individuals and groups, without offering a remedy. (Freire, 2001; Hernandez-Zamora, 2010; Walter, 1999) Interpreting literacy, not merely as a social practice, but as a social act, creates a much more active social dynamic. The former sees literacy as a personal problem, not a social issue, thus requiring no resistance to the status quo. Where the former lays the burden of illiteracy on individuals’ problems, the latter perspective sees literacy issues as systemic and calls on leaders in the field to address the political implications of education, and the need for promoting literacy as critical reflection. (Freire, 2001; Wallerstein, 1983; Walter, 1999) On the personal level, this approach has the potential to help students discover their voice, their true identity, since literacy is a “fundamental practice for self-authoring one’s place in the world” (Hernandez-Zamora, 2010, p. 9) or in Freire’s words, in learning to read, students learn to “read the world” (as cited in Kern, 2014, p. 36). Indeed, Freire (2001) goes so far as to say that literacy is meaningless unless it leads to “the right of self-expression and world-expression.” ( p. 340) 

Beyond the personal level, critical thinking can lead to the betterment of society overall, as it challenges people to re-think social priorities, thus reshaping the “collective consciousness” with revolutionary implications. (Walter, 1999, p. 44) In this sense, literacy has the power to affect the masses, whether they’re conscious of these literacy events or not (Barton & Hamilton, 2000, p. 13).

Why Music Theory?

My interest in applying music therapy to the nursing school classroom started after seeing the documentary “Alive Inside” on using personal music systems for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients in long-term rest homes. In the film, patients presented iPods with music chosen to match patients’ preferences come to life in a miraculous way. People largely limited to drug therapy, previously withdrawn and non-communicative for years, unable to remember specific memories of their lives -- thus essentially devoid of a sense of identity -- now recall vivid details of their lives with fluid speech and often ecstatic recovery of their personal identities. Thus, where drug therapy has apparently failed, music therapy holds tremendous promise. Moreover, the benefits, and the importance of, administering music therapy in this personal way are based on solid, peer-reviewed research. (Gerdner, 1992; Remington, R., Abdallah, L., Devereaux Melillo, and Flanagan, J., 2008).

Dan Cohen, MSW, a former social worker, has made it his mission to promote this program of personalized music therapy, which he named Music and Memory.org. In addition, Cohen has developed a series of webinar workshops to train rest home personnel across the country in the application of this therapy. As successful as the program has been already, Cohen has met with major resistance from rest homes, though the reason is unclear. One doctor in the film who is sympathetic to Cohen’s mission explains that, while there would be no problem in prescribing $1,000 in medications for a patient, the powers that be are very reluctant to help out with $40 for a personal iPod due to existing regulations, possibly the power of the pharmaceutical industry. (“Alive Inside,” 2014) The mystery behind this is a central part of the workshop.

If Cohen’s Music and Memory program has met with obstacles, nonetheless, it seems ideally suited for the purposes of my proposal, that is, challenging the nursing school classroom with a fresh perspective on treatment of dementia while championing literacy as a social act. In fact, perhaps because this program has met with resistance, this further legitimizes my proposal since this controversial approach, as represented by the film “Alive Inside,” seems the ideal conversation piece for igniting critical thinking in a nursing school classroom.

It should be noted, incidentally, that this application of critical thinking quite likely differs from the one typical nursing school pedagogy calls for. Where that literature urges teachers to move toward student-centered pedagogy to help students think analytically, I’ve seen no encouragement toward questioning the health industry. However, in my proposal, I hope to inspire students to find their own voices, to ask the difficult questions about the industry in an environment that welcomes inquiry and reflection.

THE PROPOSED WORKSHOP

The Guest Speaker

I’m calling this presentation a “workshop” because I visualize an outside instructor trained in this specific curriculum going from nursing school to nursing school as a guest speaker to present the proposed lesson plan. This guest instructor would need very specific qualifications. In addition to being an affable and professional communicator, he/she would ideally have training in gerontology nursing; experience in long-term nursing facilities; experience in treatment of dementia patients; an understanding of the ideologies and regulations that govern local long-term facilities.

The Lesson Plan

Goals: after completing this workshop, students will be able to:

Discuss the challenges facing dementia patients in long-term care.

Discuss the challenges facing nurses who treat dementia patients.

Discuss the power of the pharmaceutical industry on long-term facilities.

Evaluate critical thinking benefits for the nursing school curriculum.

The lesson plan overview:

1. Introduction: Brief Presentation -- teacher and program (5 minutes)

teacher’s background:

the background, purpose and agenda of the workshop:

“Alive Inside”

Music and Memory.org

the purpose and benefit of a critical thinking workshop

2. Getting Acquainted:

Individual quick write -- guided questions (10 minutes)

Why did you become a nurse?

What do you anticipate will be the most enjoyable parts of your job as a nurse?

What do you think will be the most challenging parts of the job?

Small group work (2--3 people) -- discuss quick writes (10 minutes)

3. Whole Group discussion of Students’ Schema --

finding out what they already know (15 minutes)

What training do you have in treating dementia patients?

What experience, if any, do you have in treating dementia patients?

From what you’ve learned, what are the symptomatic issues of dementia patients?

From what you’ve learned, what are the benefits of pharmaceutical treatment for dementia patients?

What do you know about the benefits of music therapy, especially personalized music therapy?

What is your experience with critical thinking exercises in nursing school?

4. Presentation of Film Clips from “Alive Inside” (25 minutes)

5. Whole Group Discussion -- initial reactions to film (5 minutes)

6. Small Group Discussion-- guided questions (20 minutes)

How do you think it feels to be a nurse for dementia patients?

From the film, how successful do you think drug therapy is?

From the film, how successful do you think music therapy is?

Why do you think Dan Cohen has had so much resistance in promoting personal music therapy with iPods?

What would it take to help you make a balanced decision on the benefits of music therapy vs. drug therapy for these patients?

7. Quick Meta-Write (10 minutes)

Your thoughts on workshop content:

How much do you value the information in “Alive Inside”?

How much do you question the long-term care system?

How much do you question the pharmaceutical industry?

Evaluate critical thinking exercises for the nursing school curriculum (1-3 lines each)

How useful was this workshop today?

How important do you think it is to be able to question the industry you’re about to enter into?

Why is it important for students to be able to express their opinions?

Reconvene -- individuals volunteer personal reports from the Meta-Write

(10 minutes)

Application of Theory

My proposal echoes scholarship in a significant ways. First, as a critical thinking lesson, the way it makes students question their world, and in the way they have to take a stand, these are steps toward developing voice and identity (Friere, 2001; Hernandez-Zamora, 2010; Wallerstein, 1983; and Walter, 1999 ). Second, from a very pragmatic point of view, informing nursing students about music therapy empowers them (Friere, 2001; Hernandez-Zamora, 20120) with a useful option, should conventional therapy fail, while introducing them to the options of alternative medicine in general.

As to specific classroom techniques, the workshop begins by getting acquainted with the students in order to build on their shared schema (Kern, 2014) by asking students to grapple with their experiences and their feelings, which they use to synthesize final conclusions after making meaning from a text (p,94). In this way, I borrow from concepts of “redesigning meaning” from existing Available Designs. (Kern, 2014, p. 55) I use film as a text, which functions as a code to trigger emotional response from students to help them express their feelings in problem posing exercises. (Wallerstein, 1983, p. 20). Arguably the film’s strongest tools, it might be argued, are the stories it presents; stories are effective in the literacy classroom, Kern (2014) posits, because they are “the overt expression of schematic knowledge.” (p. 99) In fact, my lesson plan harkens back to Kern’s “three Rs” -- responding, revising and reflecting (p. 307) After seeing clips from “Alive Inside,” students evaluate their initial interpretations in small group discussion; after hearing others’ viewpoints, students consider possibly revising their opinions in a dialectic. In the final Quick Meta-Write, students reflect upon the ways the documentary and the critical thinking exercise have affected their thinking.

Potential Challenges

Naturally, not every nursing school will be interested in sponsoring a critical thinking workshop. Some schools may see my lesson as someone trying to push his own ideology. Even if my program is embraced, the presenter has to be careful to focus on critical thinking, rather than “transmitting a world view.” (Auerbach, 2001, p. 271) Likewise, even if the presenter is very careful, there’s the chance that some students may interpret the lesson as a political class, rather than a critical thinking class. Granted, there is sometimes a fine line between the two. As Auerbach says, “. . . the dilemma is . . . how to acknowledge and embrace the . . . political nature of participatory pedagogy without imposing a political analysis. This is the dilemma I struggle with in all my teaching.” (p. 271) Of course, another challenge is that my nursing students, unlike Wallerstein’s students, may have had little or no specific life experience with the code I present. To some extent, the success of my program hinges on more general schema that students can connect to through the stories in the film.

Conclusion

Encouraging nursing students to question the overarching assumptions of the healthcare community can help them develop critical thinking skills, which can make them more adept and independent in thinking for themselves, an essential skill for nurses since, so often in healthcare settings, patients’ problems don’t always go “by the book.” Opening students’ minds to the benefits of alternative therapies can equip them with new techniques when the traditional means fail, and help develop their confidence in other solutions. In a sense, though, this only takes literacy as far as literacy as a skill.

The greater potential of literacy as a social act, I feel, is to give students the permission to ask questions in ways that they perhaps never could in typical nursing school classrooms. Granted this permission, students are empowered, I hope, to consider how the health care industry provides care and how it limits care; how nursing schools provide a learning opportunity and how they may sometimes hinder learning. If this empowers students, it is because they’re challenged to think outside of conventional confines, yet within a safe and supportive environment, redefining their sense of identity with the power to question power.

Perhaps the most interesting conclusion that I have found regarding literacy as a social action is it fluidity of application. Where, historically, the application of this theory (Friere, 2001; Hernadez-Zamora, 2010; and Walter, 1999) has been to aid the marginalized, especially those trapped by poverty or prejudice, I find it fascinating that the same theory of equally empowers educated, middle-class nursing students, stymied by American educational and health systems and, thus, oppressed in a sense as well. In both applications, literacy offers students the key to open doors once presumed to be pad-locked shut.

References

Auerbach, E. (2001) “Yes, but . . .”: Problematizing participatory ESL pedagogy. Campbell, P & Barnaby, B. (Eds.) Participatory practices in adult education.

New York: Lawrence Erlbaum. 267-305.

Barton, D. & Hamilton, M. (2000). Literacy practices. In Barton, D. and Hamilton, M. & Ivanic, R. (Eds.) Situated literacies: Reading and writing in context, 7-15. London: Routledge.

Freire, P. (2001). The adult literacy process as action for freedom. In Beck, S. & Nabors-Olah, L. (Eds.) Perspectives on language and literacy: Beyond the here and now. (335-351) Cambridge, MA: Harvard Educational Review.

Hernandez-Zamora, Gregorio. (2010). Decolonizing literacy: Mexican lives in the era of global capitalism. New York: Tonawada.

Gerdner, L.A. (2012). Individualized music for dementia: evolution and application of evidence-based protocol. World Journal of Psychiatry. 2 (2), 26-32.

Kern, Richard (2014). Literacy and language leaning. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Nutbeam, D. (2000) Health literacy as a public health goal: a challenge for contemporary health education and communication strategies into the 21st century. Oxford University Press. 15 (3), 259-267.

Ozkahraman, S. & Yildirim, B. (2011). An overview of critical thinking in nursing and education. American International Journal of Contemporary Research. 1 (2), 190-196.

Cole, B. & MacDougald, A. (producers), Rossato-Bennet, M. (director). (2014) Alive inside. United States: Bond/360.

Remington, R, Abdallah, L., Devereaux Melillo, K. and Flanagan, J. (2006) Managing problem behaviors associated with dementia. Rehabilitation Nursing, 31 (5). (Sept- Oct). 186-192.

Santos, M. (2014) ESL participation as a mechanism for advancing health literacy in immigrant communities. Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives, 19 (6). 89-105.

Shin, K. (1998) Critical thinking ability and clinical decision-making skills among senior nursing students in associate and baccalaureate programmes in Korea. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 27. 414-418.

Walker, S. (2003) Active learning strategies to promote critical thinking. Journal of Athletic Training, 38 (3). 263-267.

Wallerstein, N. (1983). Language and culture in conflict: Problem-posing in the ESL classroom. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley Publishing.

Walter, Pierre (1999). Defining literacy and its consequences in the developing world. International journal of lifelong education. 18 (1) (Jan-Feb 1999), 31-48.

Weinstein-Shr, G. (1989). From the mountaintops to the city streets: an ethnographic investigation of literacy and social practice among the Hmong of Philadelphia. 272- 292. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press.