Montaigne, Studentessa, and Performance :: Music Composition Studies

Montaigne, Studentessa, and Performance The field of composition studies has worked to define and make sensory faculty of the basic writer for decades. In 1977, Mina Shaughnessy screamed basic writing the pedagogical west, a frontier, unmapped, except for a few blazed trails that individual teacher aim through their texts (4). Since Shaughnessy, the work of David Bartholomae, Min Zhan Lu, Bruce Horner, and others, has expanded upon, and called into question, the term basic writer. In this paper, rather than do away with the term al together, I will ply a study of a writer who would be typically labeled basic. This study will place her work beside that of an acclaimed and historical expert, Michel de Montaigne. Through a series of close readings, I hope to illustrate the rhetorical oves from discourse to performance that Studentessa (a former and anonymous student of mine) undergoes in her writing. At the uniform time, I will mark moments in which Montaigne reinscribes the se rhetorical moves into his own writing. Ultimately, these points of convergence will reveal the richness inherent in study of writers we call basic, and allow greater appreciation for the performative abilities of Montaigne. The scope of Studentessas audience, particularly with her foremost attempts at essay-writing, is extremely intimate. Specifically, Studentessa is talking to me, the instructor, in an attempt to answer my questions in writing. The first essay that we read in class was Richard Rodriguezs Achievement of Desire, a biographic account of Rodriguezs pedagogy and emotional growth. For their own writing assignment, students were asked to come up with a definition of education, and to test this definition against their understanding of Rodriguez. Studentessa did put together an initial thesis about education Education is an essential facet of our lives. Education is something that you share, but you as an individual can learn it for yourself. During angiotensi n converting enzyme of our many discussions, I asked Studentessa what pieces made up education--were there divers(prenominal) forms of education? In response, Studentessa came up with forms first, of course, was school, second, was life experience (which broke level into mother wit and street smarts), and third, relationships. We talked about the importance of applying these forms to Rodriguezs experience Did his education involve street smarts? In a revised draft, after our periodical meeting, Studentessa writes, there is another form of education called street-smarts, these people can brave out on the streets with their wit.