Basic Writing: Structuring the Class
Branscombe, N. Amanda, Dixie Goswami, and Jeffrey
Schwartz, eds. Students Teaching, Teachers Learning.
Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook, 1992.
This collection of essays reveals teachers' and students' experiences
as co-researchers and collaborators in elementary through graduate school
settings. While each of the fifteen essays describes a different student
population and a different project, the underlying ideas about how students
can best learn are similar and reiterated throughout the book. These ideas,
some of which are listed below, provide pedagogical advice for all teachers
and learners:
1. Teachers should draw on students' interests. The curriculum in Ellen
Schwartz's classroom emerged based on what she carefully observed to
be the interests of her students. Meaningful discussions about "larger
issues" can originate from students' individual interests.
2. Not only should students' interests be considered, but projects
should be grounded in the contexts of students' lives. This can make
learning meaningful in the students' present and future lives. Branscombe
wrote about Charlene, a student who was given the project of using ethnographic
research methods to study literacy in her community. Charlene researched
the progress of her young son who was just learning language, and years
later used the same research techniques to record her son's performance
at school.
3. By giving students the responsibility of co-researching, teachers
allow students to see that the knowledge gained by both the teacher
and student is valuable. There may be multiple answers and perspectives,
all of which are valid.
4. Many of the essays mention children's natural curiosity and eagerness
to learn, which should be encouraged, not dampened by drills and meaningless
exercises which can cause boredom or fear of writing.
5. Writing is more meaningful for students when they write for real
purposes and actual readers. They also do well and stay involved when
these readers respond with interest.
6. Students learn by doing and researching. Also, research promotes
inquiry and encourages students to find answers and to help others find
answers, promoting peer support.
7. Students should be encouraged to think about how and why they are
learning, which helps them find meaning in what they are learning.
Elbow, Peter. Writing Without
Teachers. New York: Oxford, 1973.
Preface: Having control over words is a way of becoming "less helpless."
This book will not describe the characteristics of good writing. It has
two purposes: "1) to help you actually generate words better--more freely,
lucidly, and powerfully: not make judgments about words but generate them
better; 2) to help you improve your ability to make your own judgment
about which parts of your own writing to keep and which parts to throw
away." (vii-viii)
Students can learn to generate more words through freewriting exercises.
Students learn to make judgments about their own writing by reading it
to their peers and taking their comments. The teacher is actually not
necessary to learning to write. Removing oneself as teacher from the classroom
involves taking part in all exercise done by the students. The teacher
must give honest, personal responses to writing without making comments
directed at "correctness." The teacher must be another learner in the
classroom.
Elbow proposes a class of 7-12 people, all of whom will have perfect
attendance. That's enough to give a good amount of feedback without overwhelming
the student. The class should meet for ten weeks.
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