INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE / JANUARY 16, 1990

 

beginning to take in my own teaching are the follow-
ing:

— I try to start by believing that every person in the
room—regardless of the level of the class—has
something valid to say that is worth his or her time
to learn to say in writing.

— I focus my class on writing first and last because it is
a writing class. I avoid the seemingly safer ap-
proaches of grammar for grammar’s sake or exer-
cises to fill the hours. These approaches vest me
again with all the responsibility (I have all the right
answers!) while stealing writing and thinking time
from the class.

— I encourage collaboration in writing and at times
teach effective methods of collaboration. I’m aware
of strong opposition to collaborative writing by
teachers who fear their students will never become
independent writers. But I have seen dramatic gains
in writing skill and confidence by students encour-
aged to learn from one another's strengths. Peter
Elbow makes a wonderful point about collaborative
writing:

If we help them use collaboration to make
their own papers better than they could
make them without help . . . they will have
the feel for a good paper. They will have the
taste of it in their mouths. That feel or taste
may be the biggest aid of all in the ensuing
year when it comes to learning to do it
alone.

— I’m learning to listen and respond to ideas I’ve never
thought of before, which arise from students forced
to come up with their own ideas. This forces me,
also, to take the risk of thinking on my feet.

— I’malso learning to endure blank spots and silences,
rather than filling them myself. This allows students
to learn about silence, about its being good at times
and embarrassingly revealing, like nakedness, at
other times.

— I try consciously to push aside cynicism, which rubs
off on students like newspaper ink on fingers and
leaves them too tarnished to accept all the fresh
ideas that could be available to them.

— In place of cynicism, I try to cultivate and convey an
honest appreciation of my subject and a strong sense
of purpose. I found this to be impossible when I
was doing no writing of my own.

I realize that these are not concrete suggestions for
specific action, as we would demand from our stu-
dents. But maybe every now and then we need to stop

and think hard about why we do what we do and let
the how develop on its own. I’m just beginning to
discover how this more positive approach can affect
my teaching and my students’ learning. One overall
suggestion I can offer is to try each semester to give
students something you can all be thankful for: Teach
them to prepare their own feasts.

Elbow, Peter. “A Note About Collaboration.” Teach-
ers & Writers Magazine 19.4 (1988): 4.

M. A. Elliott, Instructor, English

For further information, contact the author at El Paso
Community College, P.O. Box 20500, El Paso, TX
79998.

 

Suanne D. Roueche, Editor

October 27, 1989, Vol. XI, No. 25

©The University of Texas at Austin, 1988
Further duplication is permitted by MEMBER
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