Just as my teaching philosophy shifts to adapt to a given audience, so too does the pedagogical framework I employ. Likewise, there are some core practices that are (almost) universally successful in my classrooms. My own academic training originated in critical theory and literary criticism, but my intellectual career has crossed many disciplines, and I approach my teaching with the same interdisciplinary goals in mind. I approached teaching with these cross-disciplinary goals when I taught at one of the largest land-grant universities in the nation (which meant many, many different disciplines to cross), and I do the same at the smaller, private art and design college where I currently teach. If a method brings successful results in two seemingly disparate environments, I believe it's a beneficial method.

 

Writing Across the Disciplines:

 

Writing across the disciplines (or across the curriculum) has been a vital part of composition programs for decades. I give you (in list form) some practical reasons why it's important in my teaching:

 

1. We live in an across-the-discipline world. What job today doesn't ask for different skill sets, different approaches to accomplishing a given task?

2. The current state of the US job market is increasingly unforgiving for college graduates, and worse for those who don't finish college. Why not increase their employment chances by giving them well-rounded preparation?

3. What academic subject isn't inherently interdisciplinary? Why not highlight these connections in meaningful and useful ways?

4. When students repeatedly complain about the irrelevancy of a department, the wastefulness of a required course, the uselessness of an assignment, I like to find ways to make these useful, economically beneficial, and relevant, by using all of my available means of persuasion.

 

Writing for Revision:

 

As I state in my philosophy of teaching, I consider writing for revision a necessity in writing and composition courses. I typically require two mandatory drafts of each essay, then offer revisions until the end of the course term. It's up to each student how far they want to progress in their writing, but I like to encourage them by giving them the possibility of self-improvement. Like writing across the disciplines, the revision process has long been a standard in composition classes, and it is particularly relevant at an art and design school. Alongside any other kind of artistic practice, writing needs revision. The creative process, for whatever you are creating, takes time and perspective, persistence and clear-mindedness. Writing for revision allows for all of these. If you consider the current state of social media and digital journalism, you find a landscape ripe with faulty grammar, factual errors, and incomprehensible spelling, I'd say writing for revision is an imperative.

 

Project-based Coursework:

 

I'm a utilitarian, and while teaching project-based courses may not "maximize overall happiness," it does maximize overall preparedness in my students. Projects teach you organization, structure, how to have an editing eye, the importance of time and information management, and all the communication skills that accompany the presentation of the project. Whatever career path these students follow, these are invaluable skills to carry with them. And, students at an art and design school potentially have another work to add to their professional portfolio.

 

Process Analysis:

 

Process analysis is critical to the creative process.. When I started teaching at CCAD, I discovered how intrinsic critique and process analysis is to art and design coursework. This applies to writing as well, and is inextricably bound to writing for revision. Writing process analysis essays to describe their projects and the presentation of those projects gives students an opportunity to "sell" their work. I often joke with my students that they needed to be sure to answer the "who-what-when-where-why-how-so what?" question (to the point of absurdity) when writing process analysis essays, and they do exactly that. This helps them better understand their writing, their motivations, their weaknesses and their strengths, and the architecture of their ideas.

 

Presentations:

 

Regardless of future career paths, it is vital that students are able to demonstrate in tangible ways that they have actually synthesized the issues they have been researching and writing about, and can articulate their views verbally and visually. Writing doesn't mean just putting pen to paper, it means being able to communicate ideas in myriad ways, with different materials, and to a variety of audiences. Art and design students will have to present their work throughout their education, and hopefully, into their careers. Presentations allow students to showcase their own abilities, as well as offer their peers and me a chance to learn in detail new ideas and media.