A Teacherless, Studentless Classroom?

Elbow’s teacherless classroom seems to be a thing of complexity, a strange amount of forces thrown together which seem to converge into perfection. The thing is, I feel such a grouping of writers would fail more often than not. For one, writing is extremely personal- I still seize up at the very thought of sharing it. For the majority of people, “getting things into someone else’s head” is an alarming concept (76). I would rather, as Elbow suggests, play the coward and protect my own feelings. Still, adults with chaotic schedules often intend for the best, but we all know how well our grandiose plans fare. As Elbow phrases it, “all too often it is only the thought of the teacher that gets use to come to class” (113). The teacherless classroom requires a certain sort of student chemistry, as well as staunch motivation to improvement and learning- a combination surely akin to the Fountain of Youth.

However, Elbow’s insights into the idiosyncrasies of writers was primarily spot on. I am ever so apologetic when it comes to sharing my writing. It has something to do, I’m certain, with self-preservation. If I apologize in advance, announcing my work to be flawed due to whatever excuse, I am met with an understanding audience if they find it to be so. On the other spectrum, if the reader underestimates my piece, and then finds my work to be stellar, they are pleasantly surprised and may even consider me to be a genius.

The reactions of others to my writings, or toward general literature, does, unfortunately, cause me to label them from the off. Elbow finds that “if you oversimplify and pigeon-hole everybody- saying to yourself, “this is the grammar nut, this is the sentimental one, this is the overly logical one”- this too is a way of not really listening to them” (104). For this, I am guilty. The human mind loves to categorize, after all, that is what caused the invention of the constellations. Although, as Elbow imparts, variety is essential; in this instance I feel it shouldn’t be sought after by expecting certain reactions from others consistently.

Possibly the best section of Elbow’s approach, for me, was the bit about showing. The type of descriptive reaction that Elbow presents seems absolutely unique, revealing and fun. Sharing one’s response through comparing writing to the weather, clothing , or an animal seems an entirely fresh idea, and one that I feel would be at home in any classroom. Students are so locked into typical forms of expression, and so, showing would be definite means to broadening comprehension.