McCormick - Blog 4

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:  How might we "map" McCormick's text-reader-ideology model (chapter 3) onto our 8 learning objectives?  You're going to have to do some creative philosophizing here because there's not a one-to-one correspondence between specific parts of the model and the SFSU learning objectives. However, if McCormick's theory of how reading work is true, then it must somehow "show up" in most of the learning objectives.  (Make sure that your read and comment on your group-mates' blog postings.)

Learning objective for SFSU development/first-year composition:

1. Read actively and effectively and use information acquired from readings, research and other sources critically in their own writing.

Okay, to start McCormick is all about active reading, a reading process that engages with the text as text and the text as response and looks at the two (text and reader response) in context, in ideology and in dialogue with their respective ideologies. Can I just repeat this idea for all the SLOs? No? Darn. But let's keep going, for SLO 1 here, I think the idea of critical use is key in McCormick as well, since she wants readers to engage critically with texts and with themselves as readers (all that contextualizing takes some major thinking).

2. Use writing processes and strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proofreading their work; collaborate with others during the writing process, developing ways to offer constructive criticism and accept the criticism of others.

Not much on the writing front in McCormick. On the other hand, this SLO describes students as constructive critics, and students who are able to act in the dialectical manner which McCormick describes (seeing historical, social and cultural ideologies at play in our understanding of texts) would I hope be able to call other students out (I mean provide thoughtful critiques) on strengths and weaknesses in their written endeavors.

3. Reflect on their reading and writing processes as an avenue to achieving greater control of these processes and increased effectiveness as readers and writers.

A McCormick reader is self-aware. All McCormick had to say about "the repertoire of the reader" early in Chapter 3 I think is getting to this point?

4. Demonstrate a basic familiarity with rhetorical conventions, composing effective expository prose with regard to purpose, audience and genre.

"basic familiarity?" Hell no! I don't see a real McCormick reading of a text as "basic" in any sense. If we're looking at texts in terms of their historical ideologies--that is, the ideological framework that influenced the writer and original readers of a text--then students in a McCormick class will be all over purpose, audience and genre, n'est-ce pas? 

5. Create and apply a research plan to locate, use and evaluate information from a variety of sources, including library resources.

If McCormick got into specifics of research, I didn't notice. However, her view toward historicizing texts could logically include student-led research on topics and themes surrounding the ideologies that informed original vs contemporary readings of various texts. 

6. Use evidence and analysis to successfully support the central purpose of their writing; demonstrate ethical conduct in their writing and the appropriate use and citation of the works of others;

This is a stretch, because really this SLO is about good academic conduct and mastering MLA/APA styles. I could see McCormick at play in the use of evidence and analysis to support a central purpose. An expressivist reader doesn't need outside evidence to support their ideas, but I think McCormick would value the use of external sources to analyze multiple possible readings of a text. 

7. Develop knowledge of genre conventions ranging from structure and paragraphing to tone and mechanics; control such surface features as syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling;

Sorry, I'm not gonna twist McCormick into this one. Genre conventions in writing are important for many reasons, but I don't think they're particularly McCormicky (I'm sure I'll be proven wrong in class).

8. Grain and use knowledge of the academic community to support their development as learners, readers and writers.

This may prove to be McCormick's favorite SLO, since reading is a communal, social, cultural enterprise and students who are able to enter the academic community will be well-suited to read and produce texts in concert with their peers.