Shoukr, Ahmed

CRL 4

It's time for class: toward a more complex

pedagogy of narrative by Robillard
Summary
In his essay, Its time for class: toward a more complex pedagogy of narrative, Robillard
explores issues of how teachers, students, and writers view time and how their social status
effects their view of time. First, Robillard starts out with a little biography about himself and
how his brother and him are always on time for everything as a result of their mothers obsession
with being on time, although not understanding why she was obsessed with time and their sister
being always late as a rebellion towards her mothers attitude. He then discusses how often
students from the working class, such as those that attend Syracuse University with a scholarship
or financial aid, do not like to talk about their past at all because it somehow embarrasses them.
This could be extremely dangerous as it erodes that character of many students and gives them a
feeling of aimlessness. Students who try to forget about their past tend to forget about their
morals and ethics and then have to rebuild themselves from scratch later on, or, if they do not do
so, they end up missing a piece of themselves. This can often be seen with people with all kinds
of traumas, including something as simple as losing a family member, and then trying to
understand where they are in life, which could take years. Moreover, he acknowledges teachers
suspicions of students who open with a reflection as a hypocritical do as I say not as I do and
sees it being counterproductive to students pedagogy. Robillard argues the importance of writing
about and knowing ones past not so they can be stuck there or deviate from learning about their
futures, but to form a basis for their character that can help them grow and thrive as they take
them to the next stages of life.
2-3 Concepts
1. Focusing on the future and not the past (Harrison)
The author, Harrison, mentioned by Robillard, always argued that people should focus on their
future and not their past because it is always more productive to focus on the future. However,
Robillard argues that it is a much better idea to at least acknowledge the past because it helps
people have values and ethics that help complete their personalities.
2. Class is a relationship and not a thing Syracuse students
Syracuse students who work, attend on financial aid, and/or scholarships were used as an
example by Robillard to show why many choose not to talk about their past because of their
social status that they would not want everyone to know about. However, the author argues that
class is merely a relationship and allows students to understand the problems of the class from
which they came, but does not necessarily have to limit them in any way.
3. Problem do as I say, not as I do
Many teachers are suspicious of students who write with a reflection about themselves or an
aspect of their lives but the author believes that this is hypocritical and can often counter

students pedagogy because they do not acknowledge their past as often as they should. Many
teachers and authors do this to help them write better work but when students are prevented from
doing so because it is too easy, it can be harmful tot heir learning. Instead, teachers should put
aside their feelings about how hard assignments should be and instead try to have constructive
assignments that help students.

Quotations

As Steedman makes clear and as I argue further below, telling stories of the past does not limit
one to simply telling what happened. Telling stories of the past involves selection and
interpretation. The choice to tell a story of the past is a rhetorical one (page 7).

The author makes that argument that people can tell stories in order to constructively give
themselves better tools in confronting the future. Talking about the past does not necessarily have
to be a burden.

We have to pay attention to the present-time effects of the stories we tell about our past (page
12).

Robillard argues that certain stories can be selectively pulled from our past in order to help give
us a guidance. In addition, telling stories about the past can help construct good ethics based on
what we believe is the right thing to do that can help us in the future.

As a writing teacher, I want to put out a call for a more complex pedagogy of narrative (page
19).

Robillarddoesnotargueforteacherstojuststartaskingforreflectionsfromstudent.
Instead,hearguesthatteachersshouldseethebenefitsofstudentswritingabouttheirpast
andunderstandhowitcanhelpthemgrowandmanifestintheirquestforknowledge.