Bizzell Presentation

I definitely dig Patricia Bizzell. Culture is our key to connecting with students and getting them to think critically. It seems like there may be a connection to Graff here in the way Bizzell encourages the politicizing of texts. Again, it is the nature of conflict and differences of meaning and interpretation that enable dialogue and critical thinking. By bringing in the political aspect, the relationships of power can be explored, and students are challenged by opposing ideas. It is crucial for students to learn to take a position early on. When students learn to take a position, even with their own deep-seeded cultural beliefs, they are developing the “self-awareness” that Bizzell promotes.

Bizzell also suggests that students do not merely have a writing problem, they also have a thinking problem. The task of the instructor is to use the students’ culture as a tool to help engage students in critical thinking. When students begin to see the how they operate within their own culture and how this culture determines their thought process they can also begin to think critically about relationships to other, more diverse ideas and can begin to engage in dialogue within various academic discourse communities.