Customer Reviews

A Rhetoric for Writing Teachers

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Lindemann's book is well organized and developed, and provides many practial examples of the theories she discusses. If you had to pick one book to use for a teaching comp class, this would be the one to pick. For a more in-depth study, combine this book with Irene Clark's "Concepts in Composition," which is a more theoretical and historically-based explanation of composition concepts.

I have found this book to be well received by students preparing to teach HS English classes, as well as people already in the classroom. It covers thoroughly all the major aspects of composition theory in a succint and careful way, with lots of examples and good bibliography. For anyone who really wants to know what we have learned from comp theory in the last 25 years, this is a good book. It is not a how-to, and does not offer detailed ideas for the classroom; it is based on principles and research.

As a composition teacher in a continuing ed program, I saw this book on Amazon & ordered it in hopes it would give me many new ideas about not only what to teach but how to teach. I was dismayed, then, to find the writing dull rather than inspirational, with wooden prose and far too heavy a reliance on excerpts from academic research papers. In addition, anyone who is qualified to teach writing to begin with (by virtue of ability and interest, not mere credentials) will find much of the material obvious and some of it irrelevant.

Beyond that, as another reviewer noted, there is no mention of ESL issues, which to me are quite interesting especially as more and more non-native English speakers enroll in university-level courses. It is not vital that a book of this sort tackle ESL - but it would have been nice, especially since the author claims to take a comprehensive approach.

I will keep this book on the dusty end of my bookshelf to flip through now and then, but overall the most inspirational and useful authors on composition still seem to be those who themselves are good writers - e.g. Donald Hall, Carol Bly, John Gardner, etc.

This book really helped me a great deal. I was able to apply Lindemann's knowlege to the way I approached my students. As a first year teacher, Lindemann gave great insight on how to help students in the classroom. I used her advice on how to advise students during their conferences in regarding insightful ways to improve their writing skills.

One of the best background texts for the writing instructor--secondary or college-level. It will provide the knowledge that brings confidence and understanding to the beginning instructor, and it is worth going back to again and again.

Having surveyed many books on writing and its teaching, this book that I first encountered 20 years ago remains the best in its class. It is thorough, practical, and well worth the investment. I teach English teachers and I use several of the frameworks from this text in my teaching. It also has a practical set of strategies for teaching writing that can be implemented immediately from the book.

When I was in graduate school at UNC-Chapel Hill, Erika Lindemann had just had _A Rhetoric for Writing Teachers_ published, and everyone teaching composition there, including me, used it. It's a one-of-a-kind book that covers the essentials for teaches of writing, and it's extremely helpful, offering useful, practical guidance for those who are new to the discipline of composition and rhetoric. Now, many years later, I teach graduate student teachers of composition as well as other disciplines, and I still use _A Rhetoric_ and assign many parts of it to my students.

This text is a great review of composition research (as the original came-out in the 70s and Lindemann has done extensive revision to accommodate technological and theoretical advances). It is not a "how-to" book, but does offer sample ideas for the planning, instructing, developing, and evaluating of student writing. This is not a book for a person looking for a list of fun, gimicky lessons; instead it is a primer on the theory behind particular practices (especially the rhetoric of writing and teaching). I use this with a "Composition for Teachers" course and it is alwasy well received by boththe college comp. majors and the HS English majors. I use this book along with the Cheryl Glenn's Harbrace Handbook The Writer's Harbrace Handbook because Glenn focuses on the rhetorical effect of grammatical rules, not just the rule itself, in small boxed-off sections call "Thinking Rhetorically about..." - Andrea Lunsford also does this in the St. Martin's HandbookThe St. Martin's Handbook (though she calls it something else) - I use the St. Martin's in my High School Classroom.

One reviewer's critique denigrates the book, saying that it oversimplifies the teaching of writing - which is actually a very complex process (or something like that). Although it is true that it simplifies it, it does it in the spirit of not overwhelming either student or teacher. I would say that it allows for, even encourages, risks and strengthening of writing relevant skills better than some texts.

This is an outstanding book for new composition teachers. It is well organized, well written, and very practical. The section on responding to student writing has made me far more effective as a writing teacher and tutor.

The problem with this book is that it takes a fairly simple approach to teaching writing, even though teaching writing is quite complicated and difficult. Also, the book doesn't say enough about ESL writers or writers with dialects. Finally, I couldn't find any discussion of the fact that writing skills in our schools have declined even as research in writing has increased. Overall, I would say that this is a "feel-good" book that doesn't address the hard issues of writing instruction.