Alvarez 1

Ricky Alvarez

Mr. Lasley

Critical Thinking and Writing I

9 October 2017

The Past Experience to understand New Knowledge;

The Importance of the Personal Narrative

In Its Time for Class: Toward a More Complex Pedagogy of Narrative, Amy Robillard

stresses the importance of the personal narrative within a college composition course in order to

further connect the students and their course work. To demonstrate the importance behind a

personal narrative, Robillard injects her own backstory into the narrative to both further her

stance on the subject and create a personal connection to her intended audience. By doing so,

Robillards stance juxtaposes the current ideology of these college courses, which are solely

rooted in drawing arguments, analyzing, and interpreting the text chosen by the professor.

In addition, the use of Joseph Bizups BEAM method allows for the reader to obtain a

better understanding of the argument Robillard has made for the use of the personal narrative.

The four attributes of BEAM: background, exhibit, argument, and method, places a perspective

on the argument, as it does not solely connate itself with one perspective. The BEAM method

moves does not limit the reader to articulate the article as solely a source, rather it places an

emphasis on making connections to other fields of study and the world around them. Therefore,

in conjunction with Joseph Bizups BEAM method, Robillards stance on the personal narrative

strives to develop the pedological benefit behind the students backstory, as it seeks to create a
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new class consciousness to allow students to gain confidence and obtain a holistic style of

learning.

The use of background materials allows for the author to assert what they are presenting

as facts, where the information they are drawing upon is already widely accepted. In order to do

so, Robillard bases her stance on the relationship time plays with the learning done by the

students, particularly those of the middle class. Students from the middle class often times have

trouble with gaining information, as their focus is placed on receiving the information needed to

pass the course, rather than fully understanding the concepts addressed within throughout the

course. Working class students often find themselves without the ability to draw the connections

and interpret the material due to the fact that the current ideology behind college composition

classes follow the notion that all students have the same understanding of time, rather than the

separation brought by class. In addition, personal narratives are able to shape the forward

movement of time (Sennett 30) by examining the consequences and the reasons for which

certain events occur. Students from working class background find themselves lacking this

ability to comprehend what has occurred and simply take what has been given to them without

any interpretation or a better grasp of understanding behind the actions. This brings about the

need for the personal narrative so that students from the working class to create their own

meaning from their own histories (76), where they now use their own backstory to gain a new

sense of interpretation and grasp of the subject matter.

Following background, exhibit materials are often found to bring about a new explication

or interpretation of the subject matter. Robillard does so by injecting her own personal narrative

into the argument, which allows for her to both connect with the reader and display her argument
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at work. Her personal narrative allows for Robillard to interact with the readers, as it shows that

her argument is not solely being driven by text and examples, rather it shows the implications of

her practice. By writing about her past, Robillard demonstrates the use of interpretation in a

personal narrative as it moves from what happened to what has happened to what was

happening to what may happen, (Moffett 35). The focus is now placed on the narratives as they

explained her reason for why and how things occurred, rather than retelling the events. Personal

narratives no longer marginalize the working class students as Robillards own narrative

demonstrates the importance of the narrative as it has not only allowed for her to articulate and

better understand her argument, but to show the ability to make connections, even from a

working class perspective. The inclusion of her personal narrative juxtaposes the very nature of

what is being taught within the classroom. Authorities, such as the dean of schools at

universities, have already established how we should learn, whereas the approach, as Robillard

argues, should not be revolved around one sole way of thinking. Both her story and the argument

being made interact with one another. First year students are solely taught to think in terms of the

future, which in many cases causes them to only lose sight of interpretation and only pick and

choose what they want to learn. Robillard focuses on her personal narrative to set an

interpretation, rather than having the students strictly viewing history as facts. Robillards

personal narrative gives way to understanding a new set of interpretations and allows for

thoughts and ideas to not solely be based in the development of thought and argument.

The role of argument within the BEAM method is the focused place on connecting their

works to those that further define and extend their proposed argument. Following Laura Z.

Bloom, Robillard uses the personal narrative to help further analyze and to not only strengthen
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their ability within their composition courses, but to help them move through the rest of their

courses (75). In addition, Robillard addresses the importance of a personal narrative as

proposed by Carolyn K. Steedman that once we are able to analyze our past, it no longer is solely

apart of us, rather it becomes apart of history and in turn becomes an interpretative device (79).

By allowing for narrative to become a form of analysis, students would then be able to find their

voice and begin to develop a new sense of confidence within the country. Narrative analysis

allows for a further understanding of our present as we begin to interpret our past, analyze its

details, and selecting the plot line (84). By doing so, Robillard argues that the personal narrative

allows for pedological teaching, where the retelling of our own narrative allows for us to gain a

better interpretation and further develop our ability to analyze text. This is most evident with

Robillards introduction and the incorporation of Linquist, Brodkey, and Bloom all give reason

towards personal narrative as it is due to the fact that everything has a reason for it. The use of

the personal narrative allows for the personal interaction and further analysis of the text. The

personal narrative then allows for a distinction between the social life and an education.

Serving as the last aspect of BEAM, method places a focus on how the author develops

their argument and the governing concept that help form their stance. For Robillard, her method

is derived from the governing concept that these college composition courses need to teach

students on how to draw upon their experience from others. The interaction that the writer has

when using their personal narrative drives the new meaning and helps push your understanding

behind their stance. In addition, Robillard draws from Joseph McMillian as we come to

understand ourselves, when we create stories about ourselves (79), where our personal narrative

is what drives our very nature. It is only when we choose to analyze our narrative, is when we
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truly are able to analyze and gain new insight of the argument. Robillard finds that the nature of

the course should not be focused on the makeup of social classes that make up the course, but the

manner in which the course is being taught to the students. Along with this, Robillard takes

notice of how our students write their stories, why they write their stories, and how they

conceive of time in these stories (91), as the need for the personal narrative is not only from the

manner in which the course is taught, but how the working class student perceives the purpose of

their writing. Robillard then goes to state that the choice to tell a story of the past is a rhetorical

one (79), as the personal narrative calls for us to think about our own experience through an

external lense and we must come to understand and analyze the results that may have led to

where we are now.

In conclusion, Amy Robillard strives to bring about a new understanding of the personal

narrative within collegiate academia. By placing the focus on the pedological benefits, the

personal narrative is no longer viewed as solely the regurgitation of your lifes story, rather it

brings about new abilities to both analyze and interpret new ideas. The personal narrative allows

for the classroom to be a place of shared interest, rather than begin filled with common

experience. Ultimately, Robillard demonstrates the full purpose behind the personal narrative as

it not only shows the importance of her story, but shows the full extent of her argument.