Critical Expressivism- Theory and Practice in the Composition Classroom, 2014a

Expressive Pedagogies
re-inscribe the simplistic attitude toward expressivism I seek to contest. However, I
use these terms because they frame the field’s long-standing debate about pedagogies
involving personal writing (another term Elbow complicates in useful ways). In analyzing
the complexities involved whenever any theory is adapted to classroom practices,
this essay can be read as a first step toward Elbow’s goal of eliminating the word
“expressivism”—and the assumptions that surround it—from our historical lexicon.
2. Other readings included excerpts from Henry David Thoreau’s and Simone de
Beauvoir’s journals; The Education of Kate Haracz: Journal of an Undergraduate,
which was originally printed in a 1970 issue of Change magazine; and a chapter
from Barrett Mandel’s Literature and the English Department that examines students’
journal writing in an Honors drama course. Mandel had previously taught at
Pitt and had worked alongside Bramhall on curriculum reform.
REFERENCES
Alternative Curriculum Records. (1973-1979). University of Pittsburgh Archives,
Archives Service Center, University Archives, Pittsburgh, PA.
Arts and sciences review committee reports open hearing findings. (1970, January
19). The Pitt News Microfilm.
Berlin, J. A. (1987). Rhetoric and reality: Writing instruction in American colleges,
1900-1985. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Fulkerson, R. (2005). Composition at the turn of the twenty-first century. College
Composition and Communication, 56(4), 654-687.
Haracz, K. (1970). The education of Kate Haracz: Journal of an undergraduate.
Change in Higher Education, 2(3), 12-26.
Holt, J. C. (1972). Freedom and beyond. New York: E.P. Dutton.
Holt, J. C. (1964). How children fail. New York: Pitman.
Kambic, M. (1974, March 4). Unusual class prepares frosh. The Pitt News Microfilm.
Levenson. (1969, May 27). Bramhall talks course review. The Pitt News Microfilm.
Macrorie, K. (1970). Telling writing. Rochelle Park, NJ: Hayden.
Mandel, B. J. (1970). Literature and the English department. Champaign, Il: National
Council of Teachers of English.
Marbury, D. (1969, October 22). ASRC: Curriculum innovation. The Pitt News
Microfilm.
Neill, A. S. (1977). Summerhill: A radical approach to child rearing. New York:
Simon and Schuster.
Paley, K. S. (2001). I-writing: The politics and practice of teaching first-person writing.
Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
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