NCCRESt

part of the Education Reform Networks

You are in: Subject —>

Freshman Composition

• Literacy, Dialogue, and Difference in the "Electronic Contact Zone."
  Discusses a first-year writing class composed of both Hispanic-American and Anglo students, arguing that rather than regarding online conflicts between students as mere "flaming," such conflicts can be seen as a way of helping students develop as literate citizens more aware of difference. (SR).
• Power and Contact: Transcending Authority in the Classroom
  One of the prerequisites or unavoidable results of multiculturalism is that the classroom becomes what Mary Louise Pratt calls a "contact zone." Within the spectrum of student political approaches is the student who is openly belligerent to the multicultural agenda and the student who is "converted" or will simply give the teacher what he/she wants.
• Power and Contact: Transcending Authority in the Classroom
  One of the prerequisites or unavoidable results of multiculturalism is that the classroom becomes what Mary Louise Pratt calls a "contact zone." But how does the teacher keep discussion productive without taking sides? How does the teacher abdicate enough authority to diminish the asymmetricality but not so much that the class becomes a shapeless mass?.
• Promoting Multiculturalism in Developmental Education
  Asserts that the teaching profession needs to recognize the natural connections between multicultural and developmental education. Presents eight steps developmental educators can take to promote pluralism, including (1) establishing a clear link between cultural pluralism and institutional and programmatic mission and goals; (2) striving for diversity at all levels; and (3) embedding multiculturalism in the curriculum.
• Tossed Salads: Family Recipes That Define Our Cultures
  Describes a writing assignment in which students think about how their families celebrate their own cultures through special meals or a certain dish, find out how this dish became part of their rituals, write a brief summary of the history of the dish, and write up the recipe itself. (SR).