English teachers are the C3POs of disciplinary discourse: how to teach 'disciplinary literacy bridges’

Every reader can identify works that challenged them. Perhaps it was a great work of philosophy like Kant’s critique of all that came before or Nietzsche’s disgust with a single morality. Maybe it was a great work of literature like Joyce’s flowing prose in Ulysses or Dante’s terza rima in The Divine Comedy. We all have that text that made us question our own intellect.

Our students are often enrolled in a series of courses that span the disciplines. For one hour, students may need to speak the language of chemistry, with all its exacting prose and strict structures, but in another hour may need to speak the sometimes indecipherable language of modern poetry. The challenge of our students is thus analogous to a traveler lost in a distant land, unfamiliar with the language and customs of an exotic country.

Thankfully, English Teachers are the C3POs of disciplinary discourse. In this interactive session, Dr. Cisco will argue that we have an opportunity to create “disciplinary bridges,” whereby we can take a student’s reading stance and translate how that stance may or may not relate to one or more disciplinary lenses. By doing so, we can help students decipher the ways in which disciplines make meaning.