Beyond Politeness: Flaming and the Realm of the Violent.

Although "flaming" (language and behavior considered outrageous in a classroom context) is a rupture of teacher authority, it can be used in the classroom as a viable pedagogical tool. A student in a basic literature course read a long and sexually explicit narrative in rhymed couplets. The rupture in the normal classroom environment caused by the student's poem is analogous to the rupture between computer users and flamers. In another class, the students were discussing homophobia, sexism, and misogyny over a computer network using graffiti collected by the students as a text. Flamers began to overload the session and dominate the computer mediated discussion. The teacher ended the class early but spent the next 3 days using transcripts of the "flame" to discuss the exact language the flamers used. Flaming springs forth from the anxieties and fears of students: it lacks forethought and craft but it is the students' own language. Perhaps teachers can use students' commitment to their own language and ideas to teach them the power of rhetoric. Flaming can bring a range and a kind of a language into classrooms that may otherwise be absent. Teachers should consider ways to use the material generated by a flame when it does occur. (RS) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** Beyond Politeness: Flaming and the Realm of the Violent