Making writing meaningful for our students entails, to a great extent, finding a real audience for their ideas. Students, after all, instinctively know they are writing for their instructor, which often turns what should be audience-based decisions into gradebased decisions. The movement toward public writing seems to have considered this need, as real readers not invested in the student earning an “A” enter into the picture. Yet, instructors of writing have struggled to find space for student work outside the classroom, especially for assignments dealing with social or political concerns. Seemingly innovative ideas from years ago-letters-to-the-editor assignments, sharing drafts on electronic bulletin boards, client-based service learning projects, blogging-appeared to have missed the mark in terms of public impact. While dedicated instructors have focused on the New Media and continue to seek ways to have their students’ voices heard, Nancy Welch in Living Room: Teaching Public Writing in a Privatized World reminds us of the political limitations put upon citizens in the 21st Century and suggests that any possibility for public success starts with reviewing the history of class and labor struggles.
A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric