Andragogy involves teaching to adult learners, and adapting andragogical practices for first year composition classrooms may be useful for more than just nontraditional students. Adult learners are often returning to the classroom after years of being in the workplace and out of an educational setting, and so may have different strengths and needs.
Often, adult learners are not returning to the classroom just because it is the next thing to do. They've taken a different path, and their motives for returning are different. Many are mid-career and seeking education to further that career; others are hoping for credentials to change careers. Still others are returning because they know exactly what field they'd like to pursue; the difference between an eighteen-year old English major and a thirty-year old English major might be a degree of self-awareness and motivation acquired over the extra decade of life.
Because of this background, adult learners may have a different motivation, more intrinsic but also perhaps less patient. So how does a teacher address this different motivation, without losing traditional students?
One key way to address this different motivation is by making assignments relevant. Adult learners want to know why it's important to know something, and how a skill might help them in their careers. But this curiosity is not limited to adult learners; at least as common a question from traditional students as "Will this be on the test?" is the question "But when am I ever going to use this?"
For first year composition, this means that the instructor must thoroughly understand the course design and the individual assignments. Often in introductory composition courses, these are scaffolded assignments created for practice, and the question of audience is complicated. It may be best practice in this case to acknowledge that this practice is what these courses are designed to do, and it may be helpful to imagine where in a career the skill might be useful. Though many students dread first year composition courses, these courses are nothing if not practical and skill-based.
Also, in class, we have talked about the role of writing as part of becoming a citizen, and we've discussed the use of problem-based learning, using writing as an attempt to solve problems in the students' communities. While this sort of writing may not currently have a solid place in first year composition, it strikes me as an extremely important skill with which to equip students, and also inherently practical, in a way that writing a rhetorical analysis draft might not be.
I like your brief mention of citizenship here. If we're going to treat students as adults, and better accommodate our classes to non-traditional, older students, it makes perfect sense to include activities and assignments that encourage active and informed citizenship! I'd never connected those thoughts before.
ReplyDeleteI like that you discussed andragogy in terms of non-trad learners, and I enjoyed your discussion of them versus NEF students. I thought the idea of older learners being less patient was particularly interesting, especially since I would like to incorporate more emergent technology into my teaching practices should I ever get to design a course. That's an important consideration to be mindful of when trying to integrate newer, less familiar composition processes.
ReplyDeleteI like that you discussed andragogy in terms of non-trad learners, and I enjoyed your discussion of them versus NEF students. I thought the idea of older learners being less patient was particularly interesting, especially since I would like to incorporate more emergent technology into my teaching practices should I ever get to design a course. That's an important consideration to be mindful of when trying to integrate newer, less familiar composition processes.
ReplyDeleteNancy! So smart, as ever. I really like what you say about adult learners having different needs and perhaps being less patient. In the classroom, I've sensed the opposite, but am perhaps now understanding that there is a difference between attention and patience. For example, my freshmen seem less patient but really I think their attentions spans are just shorter, their concerns more fitful. My older students, however, are much more focused and engaged - probably because more is "at stake" for them - but tire of material they find irrelevant more quickly. Your post helped me parse this out a little more finely, so thank you!
ReplyDeleteTo that end, how do we address a classroom of varied learners? Students with similar needs but vastly different aptitudes and methods of assimilating information? Would the non-traditional learners be more or less patient in a classroom full of students in the same position?
Nancy, when you said "the difference between an eighteen-year old English major and a thirty-year old English major might be a degree of self-awareness and motivation acquired over the extra decade of life" you really put andragogy into perspective.
ReplyDeleteBecause of this degree of difference I can understand how some topics in the classroom that would seem important to the 18-year-old might not be as important to the 30-year-old. I can also see how some lessons could be non-sensical to the adult learner.
If you were to be placed in the situation where you had both ripe students and adult learners, how do you think you would adapt your teaching methods to address both students?
I thought it was very interesting that you focused on the students that have been away from school for a while rather than the traditional idea of a college freshman. It is so uncanny for me to think I may teach people who are older than me, that I often do not think about them. The variety of our students and their experiences cannot be undervalued. Very good post! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteJill, I think I did that because that was more my experience as an English student. I agree that we tend to start with what we know. Another reason I thought about it this way is that so many traditional students seem to be (and I'm making large and probably unfair generalizations here) focused on getting a well-paying job, while older students seem to have more self-knowledge, maybe. I think it absolutely takes a couple of years to figure out what it is you want and how hard you're willing to work, and though I think the traditional students will get there, I think many older students are already there. They also might not be quite so distracted by the novelty of living on their own.
DeleteAlso, I thought this FB post today from Humans of New York shared this experience nicely:
“I dropped out of college when I was nineteen, and now I’m going back at the age of thirty. I didn’t think I needed a degree for the longest time. I travelled a lot, and I've always been employed. But it’s just gotten too embarrassing to keep explaining why I don’t have a degree. It’s a deal breaker with most women at this age. They might spend the night with me, but they won’t call me in the morning. So I’m going back. But I’m much more focused now. I’m impatient. I’m the oldest one in my class, so I don’t even want to socialize. I have no interest in getting a beer with you after class. Unless you’re good at trigonometry.”
Nice connections here. I think the comments on your post, too, are right on. I like your ideas about scaffolding, as as we talked about in class, civic engagement. I'm a big fan of Roman Rhetoric, which suggested good writing is a good person thinking well. That's twofold: teaching people to use rhetoric for good, and then presenting writing/speaking with style and appropriateness. That resonates with what you're saying here in a few ways, methinks.
ReplyDeleteDr. Rice, I'd never heard this before, and will remember it. It seems to address writing as a life skill rather than an academic skill, and that appeals to me greatly.
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