Elbonics

In Peter Elbow's "A Method for Teaching Writing" are two proposals: Students produce and convey thoughts, and therefore must first establish personality and truthfulness within their writing before tackling foundations such as grammar, syntax, and reason. And once, given free reign to "voice" their writing, the students shall then discuss and grade in an open forum the essay's of their peers.

I'm kind of on board with the first proposal. In one passage Elbow writes, "Maybe the quickest path to good reasoning and decent sentence writing is through learning better how to write words that reveal conviction and a person" (123) and in another, "Teachers put students into a trap by telling to do x and y and not z, when the best way to do x and y is to do z" (123). What Elbow fails to mention is why it is better to encourage believable prose before mechanics and structure. One conclusion could be that a student, knowing that they're not being graded on spelling and punctuation, may find more enjoyment in focusing on realism, therefore instilling more desire to learn. When flip-flopping the traditional sequence of composition instruction, a buffer could be created inviting otherwise disinterested students.

The second proposal, on the other hand, is a bigger pill to swallow. While class discussion is very contstructive, allowing the students to "take over" in a sense and become teachers of one another seems destructive because of their lack of discipline (mechanically speaking). Elbow's thought process here is that a student will be more excepting of another student's critisizm than that of the instructors, however unbennificial. According to Elbow, "Students seldom really believe what the teacher says about their writing" (117). I think the better word to use here would be understand.

"We are slow to realize that belief is what you call on when action is required and knowledge and evidence do not provide certainty". I really like that quote.