Conversations Going Nowhere

I just want to take a bit of time to reflect on the idea of collaboration and workshopping in the composition classroom. We are all aware of that wonderful social-constructionist pedagogy, where learning and writing are seen as a social construct; the creation of a small culture of shared ideas and artifacts with shared meanings. In this pedagogy, the teacher assumes the role of "facilitator" rather than "instructor." While I wholeheartedly agree that the teacher should never assume a sole role as "ruler" or "instructor," I'm not sure that collaboration, in most cases I have seen, is really as effective as social constructionists seem to think.


I'll begin with a brief discussion of Kenneth Bruffee's "Collaborative Learning and the 'Conversation of Mankind.'" In this article, Bruffee suggests that we should encourage students to "harness the powerful educational force of peer influence that had been—and largely still is—ignored and hence wasted by traditional forms of education" (418). Bruffee asserts that students' conversations during collaborative learning often lead them to a means of developing a much broader framework for the subject or assignment. In addition, they are able to "talk through" any issues they are having with their writing, either with content or with mechanics.


Although I agree with Bruffee on his assumption that collaboration usually leads to better writing, I'm not sure that a peer-to-peer (P2P) collaboration is the most effective means. Especially as freshman, our students most likely have not developed the means of effectively constructing and evaluating their own writing (hence, our job as their guides on the road to good writing). With this in mind, how can we expect that they will be able to truly help each other?


I harp on my students constantly about their ineffective workshop methods--talking about the weekend, chatting about other classes, or remaining in complete silence. They are given a handout with specific questions to address about their peers' papers, but all I can get them to do is fill out the sheets and hand them over. Much as I try, I cannot get them to engage each other in genuine conversations about the assignment or subject. Nearly all of my students thusfar have agreed that peer workshopping is useless to them; they prefer my comments on their drafts, which are often in the form of questions, suggestions, or guidance. These notations are my form of collaboration with these students.


I think that collaboration should remain at the student-teacher level or the student-tutor level in freshman composition courses. Workshopping can be invaluable to upper-level and graduate students because of their mutual experience, but when inexperienced freshmen get together to critique each other's work, little of value often comes of it. Writing Center sessions can be a great way for students to collaborate, but I think that at least one participant must have some grasp of what's going on--otherwise how can anything develop?

Bruffee, Kenneth. "Collaborative Learning and the 'Conversation of Mankind'." Cross-Talk in Comp Theory. Ed. Victor Villanueva. 2nd ed. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2003.

Draft Commentary: It's a Real Bummer!

I often find myself spending way too much time evaluating initial drafts (at least it seems like it). I spend an average of 15-20 minutes per paper making adjustments, comments, and asking questions. This means I spend between 5 and 6 hours on one set of student drafts. My students always gasp when they see all of the blue scribbles on their drafts, but then it also seems that they appreciate the guidance. I don't mind spending that much time critiquing drafts, but I am now beginning to wonder if it is even worth it.

Although they seem grateful for the assistance, I usually find that they do not make the majority of the changes or answer many of the questions I pose in the initial draft stage. Why should I use so much time trying to guide them to more specific and coherent writing when the majority of them don't take the initiative to make the changes?

I know that several of the GAs make little-to-no comments on their students' initial drafts, but I think that might not be the right solution to my problem. We certainly do our students a disservice by not giving them feedback--otherwise, how can we expect them to improve or understand the grade they are assigned? But it is endlessly frustrating when I spend so much time commenting on drafts, only to be disappointed with lazy revisions that contain many of the same mistakes. I've tried stressing to them the importance writing as a process, and that my and their peers' critiques are meant to assist them in refining their own work. It just seems like they aren't listening, or just don't care. How can we get them to take the initiative to actually make these changes and address the questions posed?