Fixing the World at 8 a.m.

One of the encouraging elements of the eportfolio model of first-year composition, which I have remarked on before, is that it provides the students with context and purpose for their work over the course of the semester. The scaffolded assignments and reflective essays require that students acknowledge and accept their responsibility for the completion of their work in a satisfactory manner, but they also closely parallel the sort of post-college world that most of them will be asked to take part in: assembling and analyzing information, creating ideas, and persuading to action. I have often reminded my students that one day I will be safely ensconced in my nursing home when I will depend on them to manage the planet in a way that I will have no cause to regret, and so in my own best interest I want them prepared to take on the responsibility of shaping the course of the world. This is also why I retained the problem and solution format for the large paper in the second half of the core composition sequence.

So the students are investigating real world problems, from the local to the global, from immigration to conservation to health, and they are investigating in areas that interest them and, in many cases, draw directly from their own experiences and personal concerns. As I said to my earliest class last Tuesday, after lamenting the time of day, they are solving problems for us all. “Yeah,” replied one of my sleepy but accomplished students, “we’re fixing the world at 8 a.m.”