Key Questions/Takeaways:

• In the age of fake news and AI, how can universities hold up to their standards of truth? How does the UMSL community hold up to this?

• Does rhetoric seem distant and disconnected to us (prior to being enrolled in ENGL 5890)? If so, how?

• What does tension tell us (beyond that of the dark history of virtue)? How can groups utilize this idea to their advantage/growth? Are there groups we familiarize ourselves with that practice this idea?

Week 3's readings definitely had me thinking about education's fundamental roots, how we combat cheating, and the conscience we have to uphold it all.

Note: I'd recommend reading this article. If you are not a NYT subscriber, you do have to create a free account.

There was a distinct image in this article that captured my attention. Vandenburg discusses how rhetoric acts as a sphere around the idea of composition. I can't help but imagine (a hypothetical and hungry) rhetoric swallowing composition, engulfing it to its core. Silly, but it makes me question if composition is the sole fuel that drives rhetoric forward. Or if the two feed off each other (no pun intended).

I would love to know additional thoughts here!

Takeaway from Podcasts:

The two podcast options for this week (Babb and Kahn) really had me question my teaching assistantship with UMSL's English Department (but in a good, self-reflective way). It made me realize that I am not alone in my journey as an educator (outside the scope of UMSL). Likewise, I reflected on not only the overall purpose to teaching composition, but my individual purpose as well.

If anyone has any key advice on teaching, I would appreciate it!

For this reading response/notes, I wanted to write down as much information as possible and reflect on what I read. I didn't ask many questions while reading this week because I noticed that this is a topic that I didn't really have a baseline understanding about. I needed to develop a general understanding and sit with it before diving into questions (that will hopefully form during the later weeks). It was critical for my understanding for me to see how disability is defined and how important it is to incorporate, allow, and provide access to those individuals.

I really liked how in Friend's "Student Writing Must Be Graded By the Teacher" writing courses should emphasize students to see writing as professionals. This philosophy (to me) encompasses not only the variety of majors first year composition courses see, but also the practicality in how we need to teach writing. There are no grades in business, in a doctor's office, or at a construction site. There are real world implications for utilizing one's writing process/writing product (that I feel sometimes students forget in the age of AI). Collaboration (via peer review) was key to Friend's argument and is a practical skill in and outside the classroom (hence the professional mentality).

These are some my general thoughts. Feel free to comment on this or anything left in the OneNote!

Now this metaphor isn't perfect. This doesn't account for pros/experts in the field that hit "strikes" every time and it doesn't account for space/environments. These ideas could be perhaps argued as transfer logic. However, I wanted to draw on this connection to provide a loose example/image that I felt these specific readings might have lacked.

Overall, I found these readings to be of interest to me and something I'd like to explore further. Feel free in the comments below to list any other examples these readings may have inspired in yourself - I'd love to read them!

1. For writing instructors to feel comfortable with implementing ChatGPT, should they take into account the level of maturity, self-reflection, and honesty met by their students? How is the implemented/measured in the classroom?

2. How can the idea of language (universal) standards and multimodality work collaboratively in the classroom/work environment? Are they in conflict with each other? Can these ideas bolster each other?

3. Is there a fine line between developing cognitive awareness/thinking skills and using tools (such as AI, digital technology) for learning? What is that line?

Feel free to answer any of these!