Imagine My Emotions: Helping Students Get Past Pathos and Into Logos
Ed Comber
Instructor of Freshman Composition
Central Michigan University
Email: combe1er@cmich.edu
"It's a manic-depressive world out there, Ed," said a mentor of mine once. He had no idea how right he was at the time. Neither did I.
Manic-Depression, also known as Bipolar Disorder, is passed on genetically and can be very debilitating, more so if the poor soul plagued with it either refuses to admit their problem or refuses to seek help, guidance, and medication. There is no cure--although recently the medical field has miraculously been able to isolate the gene that causes the disorder--and only medication and hard work and determination minimize its effects, not drinking or drugs, as many afflicted believe (that's called self-medicating). But what does all this have to do with teaching? Or with academics? Everything.
The ups and downs of the world are based on emotional reflex and reaction. We aren't logical creatures; we don't think: "Gee, I truly admire that person's intelligence; I wonder if they will marry me so that we can produce more intelligent offspring." Instead, we react: "Wow! I'd like to get to know him/her better." We feel something; we like them, we love them, we get married or simply live together, and/or we have children; all of this is predicated on emotions. Strong, undying, enduring emotions; similar to what manic-depressives deal with every single day in a condensed manner. These are the same emotions that our students contend with when they come to college; additionally, we must especially note how the emotions of our freshmen students are often considerably more manic and depressive than our upper-classmen.
My freshmen composition students are no different than any other professor's; they react with elation at the rare "A" I give out, and erupt in tears, anger, confusion or some other emotion upon learning that college writing has higher expectations than high school writing. They, as we all do, have a penchant for emoting and melodrama. At the start of the semester, my students cannot and do not understand the exigency of studying every night for the same class; successful writing is a process that cannot be done in one night at 3:00 a.m. after going to a party and having become a Minor In Possession statistic that didn't get caught--yet, I try my best to change that.
I, as many of my composition colleagues, require multiple drafts (hardly something new), but I take this to a different level. I emotionally engage my students to think critically and, thus, logically. I encourage them to explore and expound upon their emotions, their pathos/pathetic reactions. I am one of the few professors in my department who attempts to guide every assignment consciously through emotional appeals as a means to helping them logically and critically approach their writing in the future. While I do much of what Elizabeth Haller discussed in her piece "The Option of Collaboration" (see January/February 2003 issue), I add an emotional quality to the activities of the day--that goes well, since I am an emotional creature.
There are a few key ingredients to my practice in the manic-depressive classroom:
- Love the subject matter: if you don't, your students won't either. Your emotional attachment or detachment is contagious.
- Mix it up; BE BIPOLAR: yell and shout, then be whispery. The change in decibel level is an attractant.
- Ask (in both the margins of their essays and in class and in conferences and wherever you can): Why do you FEEL that way? Why are you upset, happy? Why do you "like" or "dislike" this activity or story or assignment? WHY do you or do you not care?
- Walk around and act crazy (optional idea: I stand on desks, the sudden change in where I am grabs their attention and usually gets either a laugh or smile--all students are paying attention and engaged at this moment). Then, suddenly, become completely serious and lecture from the podium.
This felt odd when I first started this approach, but found that the number of nodding heads and glazed-over, bored eyes nearly completely ceased appearing daily. And, once they became more emotionally invested in the class, they also began to naturally think--logically--about a myriad number of things, but most importantly, they began to slowly realize their "dumb" errors in their and their peers' writing.
Now, two years after having started this manic-depressive mode of teaching, I listen to my colleagues complain about low attendance (especially on Fridays)--even for those with attendance policies--and can't help but smile because I have a remarkably high overall attendance (even on Fridays--95% of my students consistently show for class). I have tried to explain to many the advantages of emotional engagement, of acting the part of bipolar teacher. Unfortunately, many of them think I'm "crazy" for even contemplating such a means of teaching such a serious subject matter as English composition. Perhaps I am.
Academic Exchange Extra invites reader responses to any writings in this issue--especially articles advancing the scholarly debate of issues raised.
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