University of North Dakota UND Scholarly Commons Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Senior Projects January 2016 Ecocomposition As Writing Curriculum: An Ecological Approach For Writing Program Administrators And Composition Instructors Erin Renee Lord Kunz Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.und.edu/theses Recommended Citation Kunz, Erin Renee Lord, "Ecocomposition As Writing Curriculum: An Ecological Approach For Writing Program Administrators And Composition Instructors" (2016). Theses and Dissertations. 2038. https://commons.und.edu/theses/2038 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, and Senior Projects at UND Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UND Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ECOCOMPOSITION AS WRITING CURRICULUM: AN ECOLOGICAL APPROACH FOR WRITING PROGRAM ADMINISTRATORS AND COMPOSITION INSTRUCTORS by Erin Renee Lord Kunz Bachelor of Arts, University of North Dakota, 2010 Master of Arts, University of North Dakota, 2012 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of North Dakota In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Grand Forks, North Dakota December 2016 PERMISSION Title Ecocomposition as Writing Curriculum: An Ecological Approach for Writing Program Administrators and Composition Instructors Department Educational Foundations and Research Degree Doctor of Philosophy In presenting this dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a graduate degree from the University of North Dakota, I agree that the library of this University shall make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for extensive copying for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor who supervised my dissertation work or, in her absence, by the chairperson of the department or the dean of the School of Graduate Studies. It is understood that any copying or publication or other use of this dissertation or part thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the University of North Dakota in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my dissertation. Erin Renee Lord Kunz November 11, 2016 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………vii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………………ix CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION………………………………………..………………...……10 II. COMPOSITION AND RHETORIC HISTORY: MOVING TOWARD ECOCOMPOSITION……………………………………………………………22 Becoming a Composition and Rhetoric Scholar….…………………………………………………………..……24 James Berlin’s History of the Field……………………………...26 Process Pedagogy………………………………………….….….35 Post-Process: Writing as Ecological……………………….…….40 III. THE LENS OF ECOLOGICAL LITERACY IN COMPOSITION AND RHETORIC……………………………………………………...……………….50 An Interdisciplinary, Ecological Perspective…………………………….52 Ecological design intelligence…………………………………...53 Ecofeminism and traditional ecological knowledge……….…….57 Action-based Education…………….……………………...…….………58 Place-based Education…………………………………………...59 Out-of-Classroom Education…………………………………….60 Ecocomposition—An Emerging Pedagogy………..……………..……...63 Theoretical Foundations………………………………………….65 iv Stories and folklore………………………………………69 Sense of place in writing………………………………....72 Ecological writing process……………….………………75 Ethics in ecocomposition………………………………...77 Ecocomposition as Writing Program……………..…………..………….79 Defining the subfield……………………………………………..80 Classroom methods………………………………………………85 The Lens of Ecoliteracy to the Application of Ecocomposition…..……..90 IV. ECOLOGICAL WRITING PROCESS…………………………....…………………………………………..93 Ecological Reading in Process Pedagogy………………………………..97 Reading for Local Contexts…………………………………...…97 Indigenous Knowledge…………………………………………101 Feminist Critiques………………………………………………104 Ecological Invention in Process Pedagogy……………………………..107 Kinesthetic Movement………………………………………….109 Outdoor Environment…………………………………………..111 Ecological Drafting and Revising in Process Pedagogy………………..113 Ecological Editing in Process Pedagogy………………………………..117 An Ecological, Recursive Process……………………….……………..120 V. CHOOSING ECOLOGICAL COURSE MATERIALS AND ACTIVITIES…………………………..…………….……………..…...………123 Story and Folklore………………………………………………………126 v Reading Sense of Place…………………………………………………130 Sense of Place Texts……………………………………………130 Place as Text…………………………………………………....135 Writing Sense of Place……………………………………………….....137 Place-based Writing…………………………………………….138 Interdisciplinary Writing………………………………………..140 Holistic Writing………………………………………………...144 Environmental Exigence………………………………………..149 Implementation of Ecological Course Materials and Activities………..151 VI. A MODEL FOR AN ECOLOGICAL WRITING PROGRAM CURRICULUM………………………………...……………………………....153 Course Descriptions…………………………………………………….155 Ecocomposition Outcomes……………………………………………..156 Example Assignments…………………………………………………..159 An Ecological Curriculum……………………………………………...166 VII. CONCLUSIONS: ECOLOGICAL WRITING FOR AN ECOLOGICAL CRISIS…………………………………………………...……………………..169 APPENDICES………………………………………………………………………………….172 Appendix A: Writing Program Administration Outcomes……………………………..173 Appendix B: Former Course Descriptions……………………………………………...175 REFERENCES…...………………………………………………………………...…………..176 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to everyone who has helped me in the process of finishing this dissertation. This was truly a communal experience, and I could not have done it without the ongoing support of my mentors, colleagues, friends, and family. Thank you to those who assisted me in my graduate study, particularly the English faculty of my Masters’ Degree who made me unafraid to write. Thank you to the Educational Foundations and Research Program at the University of North Dakota, especially Dr. Marcus Weaver-Hightower, for being patient with my unending emails and neuroticism, offering his consistent, patient support. Thank you to Dr. Cheryl Hunter, who protected me throughout my whole program and always made me feel valued and important. To Dr. Joshua Hunter, who ignited the flame for this dissertation topic and taught me about both ecological work and kindness. To Dr. Christopher Basgier, who put so much work into this dissertation and pushed me to make it better—I know how long that commenting takes. And finally to my classmates and friends, particularly Emily, Stacey, and Yuliya, who supported me and listened this whole time. I would also like to thank the incredible campus where I have the privilege of working, for being my biggest cheerleaders and giving me the room to grow and finish this work. I hope to give back an ounce of what you gave to me. Thank you to my students, who drive me crazy but without whom I would have no fire at all—serving you is the most important part of my work. Thank you to my family and friends who have supported me in the thing I was doing even if they weren’t quite sure what that thing was because I never articulated it quite right so they simply cheered when I asked them to cheer. To my dog, Sydney, who napped in the office vii while I worked and made me feel a little less lonely. Finally, thank you to my ever-constant husband, Carter, who brought me hundreds of cups of tea while being married to the back of my head, as I sat in front of my computer, for so many years. I promise to finally clean up the office and put my books away. I hope our little one can come in to a future that is better because of the work I did in this dissertation, and have a Mama who is present and ready to love the world. viii To my future little one and all the future little ones. May we leave you with a place to know, love, and protect. ABSTRACT This dissertation forwards an argument for an ecologically-based composition and rhetoric curriculum that also emphasizes the best practices established by the Council of Writing Program Administration, particularly the writing process. I concentrate on how a writing program administrator can utilize ecological literacy to navigate her own experience in a new place and also how themes of ecological literacy can be applied to the writing program itself. Based on personal experiences as well as literature that establishes the need for best practices in composition and rhetoric curriculum, I argue that ecological composition, or ecocomposition, can assist in implementing an ecological writing program. This implementation of ecocomposition recognizes the needs of 21 st century higher education institutions to educate students to be ecologically literate across the disciplinary spectrum, an education that may help to mitigate the environmental crisis. This dissertation outlines the theoretical reasoning from both composition and rhetoric theory as well as ecological theory for an ecocomposition program, along with an articulation of the ecological writing process and potential curriculum content. ix CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION When I decided to go to graduate school to study English Language and Literature, I was not—to my family’s disapproval—thinking about job prospects. I was not career planning or trying to build my CV. I simply wanted to study my subject more. I had the opportunity to be awarded a graduate teaching assistantship with a tuition waiver, which made my scholarly pursuits possible. Like many other students trying to get through college, I was paying my way, fighting through