Hello again everyone. I am currently working on a research project for my language and human behavior class where I am researching the importance of the writing tutor. I am questioning the role and the necessity of the writing tutor in the writer's writing process and comparing the writing tutor conference to the modern day classroom. What I want to bring to you today is something that has stemmed from my research, something I feel applies more broadly to writers in general.
As I have discovered, the key problem to teaching writing in the modern day classroom is that learning to write is not a process that builds upon itself, such as math or science does. Donald Murray states that: “The writing class unlike the history class does not move from the Revolutionary War to the War of 1812 to the Civil War; each student in the class is facing his own problems at his own pace.” Writing is not learned as science is. When one enters a Physiology class one can expect to study the electrochemical gradients involved in the sending of action potentials, the gas exchange between the lungs and the blood, and endocrinology. Even though each of these students may individually possess a different amount of knowledge on these subject prior to the class, no one student has the upper hand on any other student because they are each given an equal amount of time to prepare for each test, and the material presented to them is new and moved through linearly.
Comparing this to the writing classroom, it can be seen that no two writers are alike. Where one writer struggles, another writer may excel. Revisiting the physiology class, the instructor can advise the students that equation A is more efficient for solving problem 2 where as equation B is more suited to problem F. In this way the Physiology instructor easily addresses and solves a universal problem for his class. Because they are all studying the same topic there is only one topic for them to be stuck on, so the professor can easily enlist a helpful equation to answer all of their problems. This same remedy will not work for the writing instructor because of the wide array of individual problems each writer faces in his or her own writing. Because of this, there is no universal equation that a writing instructor can give to his students because what may effectively work for one student aiding his writing, may not work for another student. This is where the writing tutor comes in. The writing tutor is able to sit down with the writer and address each and every one of the writer's problems pertaining to their specific writing task. The writer is not part of a class, but stands on his own. His problems do not need to be universalized so that they can apply to the whole class, instead the tutor can craft writing equations and answers that will help this writer with his own specific problems.
Now, here is where I fear I may have lost you. In this blog I am not advising that anyone see a writing tutor, nor am I trying to focus on the writing tutor itself. Instead, I want to reveal to you the individualistic qualities that are inherent in any person's writing and the importance of what Murriel Harris calls: the writing conference. Anyone who has taught a writing class can attest to how difficult it would be if the teacher tried to roam the classroom and correct every error in every student's work. They simply just could not do it. But, the writing tutor can because it is a one on one scenario and the writing tutor is only having to focus on that one writer's work. So, as I stated above, I am trying to stress and advise the writing conference in any writer's writing before attempting to publish it. And the writing conference is simply talking about your writing with another person.
Writing is a communal process, unlike what many books and articles say about it, and it often requires that the writer allow other people to read his work before the final product can be achieved. It is hard for the writer to assess the quality of the work, or how the reader will take his work because of the fact that he has written it. The writing conference overcomes these challenges. The writing conference can occur between any two people. It can between yourself and your friend, a teacher, a neighbor, a person walking down the street. What is important is that other people read your work and critique it. They can address small problems that the editors of a magazine, because they receive so many submissions, can often not. They can find a section of your story that doesn't seem to work, or a metaphor that doesn't accomplish what you (as the writer) had hoped.
My overall point: have other people read your work. Use your community, your friends, your professors, anyone really, the important thing is that other people are reading it, and you are receiving input on your pieces. You don't have to listen to them, but at least you can see for yourself what is and isn't working.
Until we meet again,
Nick Hart
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