The reading for this evening's class is a mix of texts that, taken together, chronicle significant moments in the formation of Rhetoric & Composition, now more often called Writing Studies, a term that more aptly captures all the various ways scholars in R&C approach their work. 

Please post your Reading Responses for this week to this space. Expect that we will read each other's posts and respond to them in various ways during our class meeting on 1 February 2022. If you have questions about what to post, please check out the Reading Response assignment by clicking on this link or by using the drop down menu at the top of this page. What is the central argument or arguments you can trace through the readings for this week? 

Remember: You only have 500 words so you will not be able to give each reading the same attention. I know that and honor that. 

HOW TO POST

1. Click on the "comments" button at the top right of your screen or click on "reply" on the bottom left of your screen. 
2. Fill in the information they ask from you (name and email address)
3. Use the dialogue box to post your response. I suggest writing your post in word or a google doc and cutting and pasting into the blog post dialogue box so you don't lose anything and, also, so you have the chance to read and revise what you've written before it goes live.
4. Click the "send" button and you are done. 

For our First Discussion Board Post, I am interested to your reaction to the "Why Johnny Can't Write" article from 1975 that appeared in Newsweek magazine. This article started a back to basics movement in both K-12 and Secondary Education that returned phonics to prominence and was the impetus for the kinds of high-stakes testing like MCAS that has such a grip, to this day, on the American Education Landscape. 

For this first post, I invite you simply to react. What do you think about as you read this article? There is no word count or particular requirement, simply respond to what I see as a kind of historical document (a DB for a DBQ?) for the field of Literacy Studies.