Philosophical Stance

Teaching Writing

My approaches to teaching writing are informed by a belief that the prerequisite to learning anything well is interest, (in at least two senses of the word) and that learning is, to a great degree, closely related to play. My thinking has been influenced by writers such as John Holt, Alfie Kohn, Howard Gardner, Susan Ohanian, John Dewey, Ivan Illich, Johan Huizinga, and Dr. Suess.

I think it is important that the work of students in a writing class should be connected to their lives in meaningful ways. The topics, forms, and styles they employ should emerge from their experience, their interests, and their goals, though with whatever nudges and guidance the teacher might find it useful to provide. I think the institutional and academic program goals can best be addressed in the context of students' interests, which may mean that some of the institutionally initiated course structures sometimes need to be relegated to the background or at least adjusted as necessary in order to accommodate the needs of student writers.

For example, this philosophy pretty much insists on treating students as individuals, and that may mean that each student's experience in the class will be at least a little different from every other student's experience. I have run classes in the past that resembled writing centers more than conventional classrooms, with students working on widely various self-defined projects, alone or in groups, and me making the rounds, helping each individual or group keep their work moving, helping them generate ideas, helping them plan, helping them assess their progress and their work.

I also believe students should be expected to take responsibility for their work and their learning; however, they need to have the requisite freedom in order to do so. In practice, that means I prefer to help them choose and define their own writing tasks and ask them throughout the process to assess their own performance. My job involves providing them with the guidance and support they need in order to achieve those tasks and helping them make good judgments about the quality of their work. Ultimately, grades should be arrived at through a collaborative process—initiated by the students, approved by the teacher.