Democracy and Writing

“Youthful minds sometimes give way beneath the weight of correction excessively severe, become despondent and grieve and in the end…in their fear of blundering everywhere, attempt nothing” (Marcus Fabius Quintillian, 91 AD)

Even in Ancient Rome, it was apparent to language teachers that students have to feel comfortable to grow as users of the language. Practice is key for students to grown in language competency, and while that is what we are striving for—we can not expect it on day 1. If we stress the conventions, often times students shut down rather than taking risks and demonstrating “boldness” that we want to see (even if it isn’t on the rubric). I think what Quintillian is expressing is a sentiment that many of us have always held: we want our students to feel as though they are supported and cared for, allowing them to blossom.

In Community of Writers, as Zemelman and Daniels explain what is process writing, they reference their previous research which includes the following quote:

Teaching writing is connected with democracy, with teaching and enacting respect for human beings, helping them to respect themselves […] Teaching writing—if it’s done in a good way and not just to put kids though their paces—is about helping kids see that all of them are heroes in this country. The grow up to be the people who make it run, keep it afloat, sustain its values, suffer deprivations and self-destructiveness, pick up its always reviving struggle for connection, for community, for joy and creation.

This quote hit me like a ton of bricks. The connection between democracy and writing is so brilliant in my mind. Writing is about voice and really that’s the cornerstone of our democracy. They go hand-in-hand, but I don’t think our students get that (how could they if their teachers don’t?). The things is, we have to show them how to do this and then let them experiment to figure out that thing that we [teachers] can’t give them—their own voice. If we allow them to write, revise, write again, start over, write and eventually produce a product that represents them, then we are helping them understand the American system of democracy. We are showing them that language, like our society is flexible and constantly changes to fit our values and purpose.

Zeleman and Daniels explain that this concept represents the “Whole Language Movement,” which gives the fundamentals for a process-centered classroom. The whole language movement is built on students working with “real” texts—newspapers, notes, blogs, essays, etc. Students look at the whole text to understand how language works in context, as opposed to isolated drills (pg. 14). This makes sense for our students, often times if we break down all of the elements before showing them or telling them what the big picture is, they struggle. However, if they know where we’re going and what the end result is, they are more receptive to getting into the details. This was true in my history classroom. This past year, I really focused on book-ending my lessons—starting the class by giving a focus and ending with a recap and explaining how it would connect with the big picture. This was fundamental when we spend our entire 3^rd quarter studying the Cold War Era. We studied events all over the world and over the course of 50 years, but by the time we got to the end, students were able to see how all of those isolated events can be tied together to be called the “Cold War.”

Moving to the English classroom, I think it is important to look at a whole text and break down what’s happening with language, with elements of writing and with the audience to see the purpose of the whole text. I think if students see the big picture and how that is created, they’ll be more in tuned to explore in and practice mimicking it. Through the reading process students will change their thinking about the writing process. Zeleman and Daniels note that there are 8 fundamental differences in writing instruction between the “traditional” methods and the process-oriented classroom:

1. Writing is a process to be experienced
2. There are many processes for different situation, subjects, audiences and authors.
3. Writing is predominantly learned rather than taught
4. Writing often engages unconscious processes.
5. Writing processes are varied and recursive.
6. Writers learn best from attempting whole texts.
7. The rhythms and pace of writing can be quite slow, since they writer’s actual task is to create meaning.
8. Writing is essentially social and collaborative.

I want to focus on this last difference. How often do we think of the writer sitting isolated from the world, penning a masterpiece (Brave New World, anyone)? But that isn’t how the process goes. There’s a lot of collaboration, sharing of ideas, revision, editing, etc. I believe students can better understand the collaborative process if we recreate it in our classroom through the writing workshop, but also through the use of literature circles. If reading and analyzing text is done through collaboration, doesn’t it make sense that the creation of text also requires collaboration?

This all being said, I like the ending that Zeleman and Daniels give for the second chapter: “Orthodoxy is the enemy” (32). As I continue to go through their text I want to remind myself that I am reading them to challenge my own perceptions of what an English classroom can be. I am trying to explore ways to create a classroom that is centered on my students—which can be found in a single text. Collaboration will not look the same in every situation, just as in the beginning of this post I realize that not every student’s voice is going to be the same. Like democracy, the classroom must be set up to allow for fluidity so that it reflects the participants in the classroom. 

As the Roman rhetorician, Marcus Fabius Quintillian noted, students should practice and teachers "shouldn't stress correctness so much as 'boldness' and 'exuberance'" for it will make them wary to continue to write. Students much feel as if they have a place as the table even if don't consider themselves "worthy," because we as teachers know that they all have great potential and all have a voice that deserves to be heard.