Sondra Perl

Last updated
Sondra Perl
EducationPh.D, New York University
M.A., New York University
B.A., Simmons College
Occupation(s)Professor, researcher, educator
Years active1978–2016
Employer(s)Lehman College
Graduate Center of the City University of New York
CUNY Hostos Community College

Sondra Perl is a Professor Emerita of English at Lehman College and director of the Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She is the founder and former director of the New York City Writing Project. She writes about the composing process as well as pedagogical approaches to implementing composition theories into writing practices in the classroom.

Contents

Biography

Early life [1]

Born in Newark, New Jersey, Perl was the oldest of four children: two boys and two girls. Her father, a businessman, owned a fire alarm company, and her mother was a homemaker. After growing up in Millburn, New Jersey and graduating from Millburn High School, Perl moved to Boston to attend the all-female Simmons College. [2] She graduated in 1969 with a degree in art history.

Graduate work [1]

She began graduate studies at New York University in 1971 in a Masters in Arts and Sciences program. With a curiosity for teaching and how individuals learn, she switched to the Master of Education program. She student-taught at Seward Park High School on the Lower East Side, the inspiration for the book by Bel Kaufman, Up the Down Staircase . While earning her master's degree and undergoing teacher licensure, Perl became an adjunct teacher of writing in the fall of 1971 at CUNY Hostos Community College in the South Bronx. Following the completion of her Master of Education degree in 1972, she took up a full-time position at Hostos teaching writing following the influence of Troyka & Nudelman's Steps in Composition.

With a desire to study what she was doing in her classroom, Perl pursued a Doctorate in English Education part-time at NYU. Perl's Ph.D. program at NYU was influenced by Louise Rosenblatt and the transactional theory of reading, or how readers bring meaning to the text in front of them. Perl's dissertation, inspired by her own teaching experience and the work of composition theorist Janet Emig, consisted of a series of case studies on the writing process. From 1975 to 1978, Perl conducted her study on the writing processes of Hostos’ writers as they composed by asking students to think out loud as they wrote.

Professional career

In 1978, Perl moved to Lehman College, where she co-founded the New York City Writing Project, of which she also served as co-director, with John Brereton and Richard Sterling. [3] The project explored pedagogy as outlined by what is known today as The National Writing Project. [1] At Lehman, Perl continued to study the writing process. [1] She was involved with the Looking Both Ways Initiative from 1998 to 2006, a platform for high school and college writing teachers to discuss the teaching and assessment of writing. [4] She also spearheaded the CUNY Writing Across the Curriculum program, mandated by the CUNY Board of Trustees in 1999. [4] As Professor Emerita of English at Lehman College and director of the Ph.D. program in Composition and Rhetoric at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, Perl's research interests include writing, teaching, creative nonfiction, ethnography, women's studies, holocaust studies, cross-cultural dialogue, urban education, collaborative projects, and writing across curriculum. [5] Along with her studies of composition theory & rhetoric, felt sense, embodied knowing, digital composing, new media, creative nonfiction, memoir, Holocaust, and genocide studies, she specializes in autobiography, biography & life-writing; composition theory & rhetoric; digital humanities, textual & media scholarship; and pedagogy. [6] In 2011, she mentored a Ph.D. student project, The Writing Studies Tree, as a faculty advisor. [7] She retired in 2016. [4]

Honors and awards

Sondra Perl has earned multiple honors and awards for her work as a professor, advocate, educator, and composition theorist. Perl is a Guggenheim Fellow and Carnegie Foundation's Professor of the Year for New York State. [5] She won the 2016 Exemplar Award from the Conference on College Composition and Communication, as well. [8] Her involvement with The Olga Lengyel Institute yielded her roles as founder and director of the Holocaust Educators Network and creator of the New York City Summer Seminar. [9]

Methods

Recursive writing process [10]

Much of Perl's work in composition theory stems from her skepticism toward the idea of the writing process as a linear procedure. Instead, Perl argues that writing is recursive, or that writers refer back to previous stages of the writing process as they progress to later stages of the process. Writers are constantly rereading their work and assessing its representation of their goals for a particular piece of writing. Perl also argues "felt sense," or the feelings and reactions surrounding the writing manifested when the writer rereads the work, inform the writing process in a way that relies on a holistic sense of the writing already present in order to move forward.

Felt sense [10] [11]

Felt sense is a sensation used by writers during the writing process that is difficult to measure. It refers to the way the words flow in a piece of writing and the feelings surrounding the reader's reception to that flow. Perl describes felt sense as the physical reactions writers experience to their writing, such as when they pause while reading their work aloud. It may also represent the experience a writer has when they interact with a topic; what comes to mind when the writer encounters a topic embodies this felt sense.

Think-aloud protocol [12] [1]

Composition theorist Janet Emig inspired Perl's use of the think-aloud protocol in her composition and pedagogical research. In understanding the composing process and how students write, Perl employed a think-aloud protocol by asking students to speak out loud as they composed. This method of research offers a firsthand explanation of particular behaviors being performed by study participants. It continues to be used by researchers today as a way to understand the nuances of the writing process that may not appear on paper. It often points to recursive behavior as writers continue to reference previous steps or text from their composition.

Perl process [11]

Perl developed her own writing process based on her research of the recursive writing process and its elements of felt sense. Fellow composition theorist Peter Elbow outlines Perl's guidelines as a basic four step process writers can apply to any piece of work:

Works

"The Composing Process of Unskilled College Writers" [12] [1]

Inspired by Janet Emig's research of student composition, Perl's dissertation explores how students write and the process they follow to do so. As a teacher, Perl wondered why some students were better writers and whether it had to do with their cognitive development, their attitudes toward writing, or something else. Calling on think-aloud protocol, Perl's study translates recordings of students speaking as they compose into composing schemes. These schemes represent codes of behaviors students exhibited as they wrote, allowing Perl to study how the writing process unfolds over time. Perl discovered that the recursive writing process, or returning to their topic, earlier writing, or felt sense, helps students make meaning in their writing. Students who instead over-engage in surface-level editing find writing to be exhausting because they feel they need to be correct in their writing. Through this study, Perl concluded that writing as a process of discovery was more beneficial to student writing than teaching a reliance on rules. A process of discovery also allowed unskilled writers to make sense of what they write and feel more connected to it.

"Understanding Composing" [10]

Perl explores the recursive writing process and internally-addressed 'felt sense' contribute to the meaning of piece of writing. Through a process of changing and readjusting writing in a nonlinear fashion, the writing takes on new meaning each time it is approached by the writer. By considering themself both a writer and a reader, the writer challenges the idea of a clean and linear writing process. The patterns of composing involves going backward to go forward and to constantly pay attention to how a piece feels to a reader and a writer, where it has the potential to go, and what can be discovered through the writing.

On Austrian Soil: Teaching Those I Was Taught to Hate [13]

In this teaching memoir, Perl recounts her struggles with teaching Austrian students. She describes her pedagogical approaches to addressing Nazism's role in the past, present, and future, particularly with students whose ancestral pasts are so intimately connected to its prejudices. Through writing and dialogue, Perl learns the importance of confronting, teaching, and discussing history in combatting hatred. As a Jewish woman faced with teaching descendants of Nazis, Perl reflects on how education can overcome hate bred from any perspective.

Selected bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lehman College</span> Public college in the Bronx, New York

Lehman College is a public college in New York City. Founded in 1931 as the Bronx campus of Hunter College, it became an independent college in 1967. The college is named after Herbert H. Lehman, a former New York governor, United States senator, and philanthropist. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY) and offers more than 90 undergraduate and graduate degree programs and specializations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hostos Community College</span> Community college in the Bronx, New York, U.S.

Eugenio María de Hostos Community College of The City University of New York is a public community college in the South Bronx, New York City. It is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system and was created by an act of the Board of Higher Education in 1968 in response to demands from the Hispanic/Puerto Rican community, which was urging for the establishment of a college to serve the people of the South Bronx. In 1970, the college admitted its first class of 623 students at the site of a former tire factory. Several years later, the college moved to a larger site nearby at 149th Street and Grand Concourse. The college also operates a location at the prow building of the Bronx Terminal Market.

The Conference on College Composition and Communication is a national professional association of college and university writing instructors in the United States. The CCCC formed in 1949 as an organization within the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). CCCC is the largest organization dedicated to writing research, theory, and teaching worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Writing process</span> Process in which words and phrases are formed to produce a text

A writing process is a set of mental and physical steps that someone takes to create any type of text. Almost always, these activities require inscription equipment, either digital or physical: chisels, pencils, brushes, chalk, dyes, keyboards, touchscreens, etc.; each of these tools has unique affordances that influence writers' workflows. Writing processes are very individualized and task-specific; they frequently incorporate activities such as talking, drawing, reading, browsing, and other activities that are not typically associated with writing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Composition studies</span>

Composition studies is the professional field of writing, research, and instruction, focusing especially on writing at the college level in the United States.

Patricia Bizzell is a professor of English, emerita, and former Chairperson of the English Department at the College of the Holy Cross, United States, where she taught from 1978 to 2019. Bizzell is the 2008 winner of the CCCC Exemplar Award, and is a former president of Rhetoric Society of America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First-year composition</span> Introductory core curriculum writing course in US colleges and universities

First-year composition is an introductory core curriculum writing course in US colleges and universities. This course focuses on improving students' abilities to write in a university setting and introduces students to writing practices in the disciplines and professions. These courses are traditionally required of incoming students, thus the previous name, "Freshman Composition." Scholars working within the field of composition studies often have teaching first-year composition (FYC) courses as the practical focus of their scholarly work.

David John Bartholomae was an American scholar in composition studies. He received his PhD from Rutgers University in 1975 and was a Professor of English and former Chair of the English Department at the University of Pittsburgh. His primary research interests are in composition, literacy, and pedagogy, and his work engages scholarship in rhetoric and in American literature/American Studies. His articles and essays have appeared in publications such as PMLA, Critical Quarterly, and College Composition and Communication.

Cognitive science and linguistic theory have played an important role in providing empirical research into the writing process and serving the teaching of composition. As for composition theories, there is some dispute concerning the appropriateness of tying these two schools of thought together into one theory of composition. However, their empirical basis for research and ties to the process theory of composition and cognitive science can be thought to warrant some connection.

The process theory of composition is a field of composition studies that focuses on writing as a process rather than a product. Based on Janet Emig's breakdown of the writing process, the process is centered on the idea that students determine the content of the course by exploring the craft of writing using their own interests, language, techniques, voice, and freedom, and where students learn what people respond to and what they don't. Classroom activities often include peer work where students themselves are teaching, reviewing, brainstorming, and editing.

Anne Haas Dyson is a professor at the University of Illinois. Her fields are the study of literacy, pedagogy, and contemporary, diverse childhoods. Using qualitative and sociolinguistic research procedures, Dyson examines the use of written language from children's perspectives within their social worlds, and as they engage with popular culture. Books she has published include The Brothers and Sisters Learn to Write, Popular Literacies in Childhood and School Cultures (2003), Writing Superheroes, Contemporary Childhood, Popular Culture, and Classroom Literacy (1997), Social Worlds of Children Learning to Write in an Urban Primary School (1993), Multiple Worlds of Child Writers: Friends Learning to Write (1989). Dyson has also written articles for professional journals.

Writing education in the United States at a national scale using methods other than direct teacher–student tutorial were first implemented in the 19th century. The positive association between students' development of the ability to use writing to refine and synthesize their thinking and their performance in other disciplines is well-documented.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theories of rhetoric and composition pedagogy</span>

Theories of rhetoric and composition pedagogy encompass a wide range of interdisciplinary fields centered on the instruction of writing. Noteworthy to the discipline is the influence of classical Ancient Greece and its treatment of rhetoric as a persuasive tool. Derived from the Greek work for public speaking, rhetoric's original concern dealt primarily with the spoken word. In the treatise De Inventione, Cicero identifies five Canons of the field of rhetoric: invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. Since its inception in the spoken word, theories of rhetoric and composition have focused primarily on writing

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital studio</span>

A digital studio provides both a technology-equipped space and technological/rhetorical support to students working individually or in groups on a variety of digital projects, such as designing a website, developing an electronic portfolio for a class, creating a blog, making edits, selecting images for a visual essay, or writing a script for a podcast.

Writing about Writing (WAW) is a method or theory of teaching composition that emphasizes writing studies research. Writing about Writing approaches to first-year composition take a variety of forms, typically based on the rationale that students benefit when engaging the "declarative and procedural knowledge" associated with writing studies research.

Gertrude Buck was one of a group of powerful female rhetoricians of her time. She strived to inspire young women to take on leadership roles within the democracy using the written word. She wrote many books, plays, articles, and poems relating to her cause. Buck dedicated her life to "challenging the patriarchal paradigm with her reformist views of pedagogy and rhetoric".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathleen Blake Yancey</span>

Kathleen Blake Yancey is the Kellogg W. Hunt Professor of English at Florida State University in the rhetoric and composition program. Her research interests include composition studies, writing knowledge, creative non-fiction, and writing assessment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linda Adler-Kassner</span> Writing Studies Scholar and University Administrator

Linda Adler-Kassner is an educator and university administrator. She is known for her work in the field of writing studies, including co-authoring Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies, which was recognized by the Council of Writing Program Administrators.

Ann E. Berthoff was a scholar of composition who promoted the study of I.A. Richards and Paulo Freire and the value of their work for writing studies.

Janet Emig was an American composition scholar. She is known for her groundbreaking 1971 study The Composing Process of Twelfth Graders, which contributed to the development of the process theory of composition. Her article, "Writing as a Mode of Learning" (1977) is also frequently cited and anthologized by the Writing Across the Curriculum movement.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sondra Perl: Oral History of Teaching Writing at City University in the 1970s, 14 November 2015, retrieved 2021-05-04
  2. ↑ "College Corner", The Item of Millburn and Short Hills, September 1, 1966. Accessed May 6, 2021, via Newspapers.com. "Three Millburn High School alumnae have been named to the dean's list of scholars at Simmons College in Boston for the year..... Sondra A. Perl, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Herman Perl of South Orange Avenue, will be a sophomore in the department of education."
  3. ↑ "Our Staff" . Retrieved 2021-05-04.
  4. 1 2 3 Sondra Perl Accepts 2016 CCCC Exemplar Award, 27 April 2016, retrieved 2021-05-04
  5. 1 2 "English Department - Sondra Perl - Lehman College". www.lehman.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
  6. ↑ "English PhD Program, The Graduate Center, CUNY". www.gc.cuny.edu. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
  7. ↑ "Writing Studies Tree". www.writingstudiestree.org. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
  8. ↑ Perl, Sondra (2017). "2016 CCCC Exemplar Award Acceptance Speech: Forty-Five Years as a Compositionist". College Composition and Communication. 69 (1): 161–164. doi:10.58680/ccc201729301. ISSN   0010-096X. JSTOR   44784336.
  9. ↑ "Program Director Dr. Sondra Perl, Winner of the CCCC Exemplar Award | TOLI". TOLI | Bringing the lessons of the Holocaust into today's world. 2017-01-10. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
  10. 1 2 3 Perl, Sondra (December 1980). "Understanding Composing". College Composition and Communication. 31 (4): 363–369. doi:10.2307/356586. ISSN   0010-096X. JSTOR   356586.
  11. 1 2 "Sondra Perl's Composing Guidelines". previous.focusing.org. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
  12. 1 2 Perl, Sondra (1979). "The Composing Processes of Unskilled College Writers". Research in the Teaching of English. 13 (4): 317–336. doi:10.58680/rte201117867. ISSN   0034-527X. JSTOR   40170774.
  13. ↑ Sondra, Perl (2005). On Austrian soil : teaching those I was taught to hate. State University of New York Press. ISBN   0-7914-6389-3. OCLC   897113160.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.