Letter to Susan Naomi Bernstein

April 30, 2013

RAsheda Young

301 West Sylvania Ave, Apt 349B

Neptune City, New Jersey 07753

Susan Bernstein

29 Castle Pl

New Rochelle, NY 10805

Good afternoon Susan:

Thank you so much for visiting our graduate class Basic Writing Theory and Pedagogy, Tuesday, April 16th.  I enjoyed learning of the guiding principles you used to compile the book Teaching Developmental Writers 4th Edition.  It is evident from the essays you've selected that diversity of scholarship is crucial to student success.  Honestly, reading diverse scholarship is crucial to my success as a learner, and I appreciate the various essays from minority writers.

Even though I enjoyed your presentation to our class, what I enjoyed most is our interview.  I learned a lot about labels and what labels suggest both to the student and for the person who uses them.  Since I've been a writing center tutor and adjunct instructor of Basic Writing for ten years, I thought I was a solid teacher.  Wrong.  From our discussion, I learned that referring to students as basic writers identifies them as less than and marginalizes the learner.  Implications of a "basic writer" do not carry the same implications of  a "honor student."  What then I wonder should we call them?  Students?  While I suspect that only referring to them as students isn't as injurious to their self-image as "basic", how then should we categorize or define students' lack of current ability to produce basic prose that include a main point, significant development and clear organization?

One of the essays in your book by Mina Shaughnessy, “Some Needed Research on Writing,” helped give me a better understanding of underprepared students and the challenges many basic writing instructors face in the classroom.  Shaughnessy asks four crucial questions that teachers/scholars still need to research.  The essay also presents problems that underprepared writers have in class.  I enjoyed reading this essay as it raises crucial questions for scholars to research and then answer.  It also helped me better understand students enrolled in these basic writing classes.  After our interview ended, I realized that our conversation extends the scholarship of Mina Shaughnessy by suggesting that both teachers and students move beyond the basic label.

Thank you so much for your visit.  I learned a lot.  I've included a portion of our interview.  This clip  is the beginning of our conversation about labels.  As I grow as a scholar, I look forward to braiding both your desire to remove the basic writer label and to extend the scholarship of Mina Shaughnessy as I search to find the “appropriate” title for students enrolled in Basic Writing classes.  Thank you for helping me rethink how labels either liberate and/or confine the learner.

Sincerely,

RAsheda Young

Sincerely,

RAsheda Young