Composing Public Space: Teaching Writing in the Face of Private Interests

"The public classroom is a place where ideas can be engaged, interrogated, argued for, and investigated without fear of reprisal and in the spirit of inquiry- every idea can be questioned and critiqued, even the teacher's."

-Michelle Comstock, Mary Ann Cain,and Lil Brannon

Creating public space allows diverse voices to be heard and engaged.It enables all participants to explore the contradictions, coherences, and conflicts of their identities in relation to one another.

Drawing on multidisciplinary research, Michelle Comstock, Mary Ann Cain,and Lil Brannonexplore what counts as research in composition, discuss whose voices matter, and demonstrate how teachers can foster and support diverse classroom perspectives. Composing Public Space:

• highlights and critiques the problems of privatizing public debate
• encourages teachers to engage with students in investigating assumptions and ideas
• provides models and methods for working toward collective action to resist privatization.

Teaching must foster genuine inquiry, critical thinking, and the oral and written representation of individual and collective identities.Composing Public Space invites you to take a stand and make a case for the creation of public space and collective civic engagement in every classroom.