Reproduction, Critique, Expression, and Cooperation: The writer’s dance in an intertextual world

Abstract

Schooling, of course, introduces students to educational texts that convey rich cultural heritages and knowledge. But not everything our forebears tell us is the full or accurate truth, always applicable, always to be trusted. Nor is making of knowledge at an end. Authoritative words conflict with each other, have limits, and bear ideologies and interests. We and our students have to become wise critics and skeptics through critical analysis and argument. But we also then need to develop our own point of view, embodying our experiences, perspectives, needs, and interests. Writing education can foster finding our voices and elaborating our ideas and points of view. Yet another step is to share and cooperate with others as part of communal endeavors of extending knowledge, carrying out original research to gain new research, and participating in constantly evolving institutions and organizations. Writing education can help students work within genre and activity systems to make their unique contributions even as changing technology and social systems transform the skills needed for effective writing to develop thinking, feeling, and identities within our complex intertextual social world.