Teaching Rhetoric

When first entering into the teaching profession, I was ultimately clueless about where to begin when teaching students how to effectively write. I therefore resulted back to my own foundation and how I learned how to write (which is not exactly the most effective way to get students to produce quality discourse that they themselves believe in…especially knowing that I did not believe in my own writing until I actually began writing for myself). I find the eight questions that Lindemann poses about rhetoric (p. 38) useful in understanding where to begin teaching students. Although it is difficult to get students genuinely interested in the study of rhetoricians, learning important rhetorical ideologies will grant them an essential foundation on persuasive techniques which they can employ in their own writing. In

Lindemann’s conclusion she states “Knowing that rhetorical principles reflect dynamic cultural practices permits us to question traditional assumptions and definitions of the art” which is exactly what students need to learn to do in their writing. Having an appreciation of rhetorical thought is a starting point which should be taken in the most appropriate direction. It is up to each individual student to determine the direction, but it is nevertheless ideal to use rhetorical theory as a foundation upon which to build.

In my own writing, I started off producing discourse for my teachers who advocated prescriptive writing for what I believe was just to perform well on standard exams. And this is exactly what I began teaching by students. While I do believe students need to be able to write in a manner that is organized, it does not have to be so prescriptive that it limits personal creativity or voice. Rhetorical goals are essential to producing a good argument. However, it should be up to the student how rhetorical goals will be used and executed in their writing.