Teacherless Writing Classes

I found Elbow’s exploration of the effectiveness of using a teacherless writing class to improve all writing an interesting topic. In my experience, peer review workshops have never been overly useful, as both a writer and a reader. It’s hard deal with criticism, whether that means giving feedback or taking everyone else’s comments in, swallowing them whole. As a reader, too often there exists an unspoken rule that you should tread lightly when you tell the writer what you thought about his/her piece. Nobody wants to rock the boat or create waves with truly constructive criticism because there is a fear that the writer may perceive it as negative criticism (the two are often confused). When I read a peer’s paper, I try to be honest, but I, too, tend to hold back. Additionally, time constraints and the idea that writing workshops are essentially free periods that should be rushed through never produce great peer editing.

From my perspective as a writer, I find it’s very rare that another student is actually able or willing to give feedback that I can use. Statements are vague, like “That was really good,” or “I wouldn’t change anything, except this minor thing.” When this happens, I always suppose it’s nice to hear that my paper was easy to read and comprehend, but I also feel like the other student copped out; I was robbed of an opportunity to improve my writing. Overall, I find that the prevailing passivity prevents progress.

The teacherless writing class would be a great way to be more proactive; I could put myself out there as a writer and open up myself to the views, opinions, writing styles, voices, and interests of others as a reader. One problem with the concept of such a class, however, is that it seems impractical. Gathering a group of at least 7 dedicated writers (whether they work in similar or different fields) who can spare two or two and half hours a week for ten weeks would be a difficult task for anyone to accomplish. Many people simply can’t make such a commitment when there are other pressing matters like work and home life to occupy the day. Nevertheless, and despite the infeasibility of the teacherless writing class, I still see the tips Elbow gives to his readers on giving and receiving criticisms as quite useful and I plan to apply them in future peer reading/writing workshops.

Too often I realize that I’m guilty of being a reviewer who “tells” but doesn’t “show.” To remedy this, I plan on creating, as Elbow suggests, metaphors to describe my experience of a piece of writing. At first, I’m sure this will be tricky since I’m not used to this method, but it will be a worthy technique to test out in class. I will also try to be more specific about my reactions. Normally I look for particular parts of a paper that I can discuss with the writer, but many times my response oversimplifies the work. This usually happens because of the time limits in school; there just isn’t enough class time to do a proper review of a two or more peers’ writing or improve one’s own skills as an editor. I genuinely believe that the teacherless writing class would be a useful tool for self-improvement, but because it’s not utilized in educational systems, young readers and writers miss out on this opportunity for growth.