Writing Groups in Action:
The
To prepare for this group workshop: (1) Develop a draft of something you are
going to revise. (2) Bring “enough copies of the piece so that each person in
the group has one unless there is good reason for not copying the work (good
reasons might include the piece containing highly personal material or the
writer wanting an aural rather than a visual response to the piece)” (Brooke
128).
To get the group going: In Small
Groups in Writing Workshops: Invitations to a Writer’s Life (1999), Robert
Brooke shares how he gets these writing groups started:
In the very first
week of class, I tell students that I want the author of each writing to be in charge of the discussion
of her piece. They, as authors, need to develop strategies to guide discussions
so they can get the responses they need to keep themselves writing.
Consequently, I suggest that, in general, groups should divide their time
equally among the writers (for four writers, a fifty-minute period divides into
about twelve minutes a piece, leaving a few minutes for shuffling papers,
moving chairs, and the like), and that during this time each writer should (1)
tell the responders what sort of response she wants; (2) read the piece (or a
portion of the piece) aloud; and (3) repeat the request for response, asking
direct questions where necessary. These procedures, in general, help all the
group members feel like they get equal treatment and can control the responses
they get.
I also suggest
that just dividing the time equally between writers and letting the author
guide is not enough. As authors, each of us also need to figure out what kinds
of response will (1) make us feel like continuing to write, and (2) make us
able to improve our pieces. I suggest that we need to develop strategies for
response that address both our feelings as writers and our particular writings,
and that these two needs sometimes come into conflict. Our emotional needs as
writers often include respect, support, and companionship, while our particular
writing’s needs often include advice for changing the content [and] help
imagining the needs of the . . . audiences for our pieces. . . . The emotional
needs for support and the developmental needs for constructive criticism often
are at odds, and we need to prepare for that if we are to develop effective
strategies for soliciting response. (133)
The benefit of adapting a strategy like
this to the writing group situation lead by a tutor is that the writer won’t be
required to work from this level of responsibility. The tutor can take over this role, leaving the
writer free to sit back and take in the feedback more directly.
During
each workshop period, the tutor should begin by finding out how many papers are
available to workshop. Divide the hour up accordingly. THEN, the tutor should ask the writer to share a little info with
us about her paper. What pleases her about the current draft? What worries her?
When is it due? What else do we need to know about it before we begin?
To conclude the Group Workshop experience:
“After the group
discussion (either in class, if there’s time, or sometime later that day), each
person is required to write a response to the group meeting, in which he or she
addresses three questions: ‘What happened?’ ‘What do I think of my piece now?’
and ‘What will I try next?’ (. . . questions adapted from Elbow and Belanoff
1989)” (128).
I’d like for you to wrap it up this way
today, as well. As you answer these questions, though, I’d like for you to be thinking
about two things: (1) What happened? (2) If I had written that essay we
workshopped, what might I think about my piece now? (3) How do I feel about
sharing my own work now? (4) What concerns do I have about this process?
Created by Dr. Shannon
Carter,
for English 100/110