Roseanne Gatto
Assistant Professor of Writing, Institute for Core Studies
First-Year Writing Program, Institute for Writing Studies
A.B.D. in Composition, Indiana University-Pennsylvania
gattor@stjohns.edu
A Greek of the fifth century B.C.
lived in a polis—a civilized community the size of a small city but
with the political autonomy of a state. In such a situation a youth
would grow to manhood feeling his constant interrelatedness with
the life and aims of his polis and knowing that the principal road
to success was likely to lie in a political direction. The virtue,
the arête, the human excellence that the youth would wish to
develop for himself would be personal and political at
once.
— Phillip Wheelwright
The problem is not changing
people’s consciousness--or what’s in their heads--but the
political, economic, institutional regime of the production of
truth.
— Foucault
On teaching...
As a teacher, I look to the sophists pragmatically. Have we
instilled this type of connectivity with our students? Where is
their “interrelatedness” with their lives and the goals of our
city/state/country/world? I’ve often wondered how students can
become active participants in their education. Perhaps we should
let them know they have a voice by asking them to speak, to create
on their own terms. I believe that only when our students attain
agency are they truly able to develop into wise, compassionate,
thoughtful, autonomous citizens. Call to them to participate in the
defining/investigating/deciphering of truth. Maybe if we looked at
our students more sincerely as writers, as artists, maybe if we
valued their cultures and listened to their voices, allowing the
space for them to write about what is most meaningful to them, they
would in turn become the leaders we are hoping for. It is here that
I hear the charism of St. Vincent de Paul echo so strongly.
On writing/research...
My approach to interrogating my teaching philosophy has been
influenced by both the theories and scholarship of expressivism and
the praxis and philosophies of St. Vincent DePaul. First, my
dissertation has allowed me to look critically and in-depth at the
theories that support the pedagogy I bring to my classroom. For a
semester-long project I call on students to reflect on their
personal histories. Not only the history that has been written for
them, but the narrative they have written for themselves. I ask
them to reflect on the stories they have grown up with. The stories
they intend on passing on. The stories they wish were never told. I
ask them: what they are burning to tell the world? I look to
expressivist rhetoricians to understand why this assignment is so
important and meaningful to so many of students. I look to
expressivism to recognize how I can be responsive to their needs as
well as the needs of the University.
Second, my interaction with a number of service organizations,
committees, and professional development programs within the
University has informed my teaching in regards to the influence of
the charism of St. Vincent de Paul. Most notably, it is my work
with the Vincentian Mission Program that has enlightened my
pedagogy in ways that would have been impossible prior to coming to
St. John’s. Before my time with the Vincentian Mission Program and
Campus Ministry, my prayer life was in a state of disconnect with
my academic life. The time I spent with the cohort of the VMP as
well as the students I have spent the last two summers serving
alongside in Lourdes, France, has opened my eyes to the connections
that were always available, although not visible, as a professor
and member of the St. John’s community. I look to St. Vincent in my
prayer now. I look to his mission when creating syllabi. I look to
his example when I work with students, when I hear their stories.
This is what guides my writing and research.