Reflecting on Don Murray's Implications for Writing Part 1

As writing teachers, we can teach how we were taught, we can teach as a reaction against how we were taught, or we can read what the experts who have come before us suggest is a best practice and we can try that. When it comes to teaching writing, a name I've gravitated to is Don Murray.

The Essential Don Murray: Lessons from America's Greatest Writing Teacher is a book that includes "Teaching Writing as a Process Not Product." Published in 1972, this piece explains the "implications of teaching process, not product." I'd like to reflect on how these implications have manifested themselves in my own teaching of writing (rather than pretending that I've come up with these practices on my own). This post will include Murray's first 5 Implications, with another post to follow regarding Implications 6-10.


Implication 1: Students use their own writing as the text for the course. In teaching Rhetoric, I've been asked to teach a course that doesn't require much reading of common texts. Rather, we use student writing for teaching; whether it's their first 100 or first 300 words, I am constantly reading and teaching based on their writing, whether it's 1:1 or as a whole class. We have the advantage of discussion boards, and I use them for students to post portions of their drafts. Then I pull them up on the LCD and we discuss thesis statements or blending quotes together.

Implication 2: Students find their own subjects. For Rhetoric, students choose their topics regularly. Unless we're writing about the common fiction piece during 102, I let them gravitate toward their own interests. The challenge comes from the genre of writing, so a topic with which the student is comfortable gives us a good starting point for writing. A few years ago, I taught Anthony, who loved sports. He found a way to write about sports for so many of his essays, but they were all different. From a compare-contrast essay about two sports movies to a research paper about racial breakdowns of participation in high school, college and professional sports, Anthony made it work. This added investment, too, which makes getting started a bit easier for any student.

Implication 3: The student uses his own language. I'm not going to pretend I have all the answers on any of these; rather, this is a reflection on what I have done, how it's gone, and ideas I intend to pursue in the future. This is the first year Hackney and I are having the students write blogs. I think this is a big step in having students use their own language. Another point I've advised my students on is this: when you get comfortable with language, each sentence should be an opportunity rather than an obstacle. When they know how to use a dash and a semi-colon, they have choices. When they know that, stylistically, I'm OK with a fragment when it's obviously intentional, they know there are choices for communication in their own language.

Implication 4: The student should have the opportunity to write all the drafts necessary for him to discover what he has to say on this particular subject.  Just as I'm learning about how blogging can affect student writing, I'm learning more about the drafting process, too. I will continue to struggle with this if for no other reason than time. When we have two weeks to write a 750-word single-text analysis, we're working on that first draft for 6 of our 10 school days. We'll conference and work together for 2 more, and the remaining 2 days will probably be larger group teaching about writing a paper like this as well as conferencing and peer editing. Then our syllabus requires us to begin anew, teaching them the next genre. When the current of instruction keeps moving, it's tough to stay tethered to any object for too long before we're swept downstream to face what's next.

Implication 5: The student is encouraged to attempt any form of writing which may help him discover and communicate what he has to say. Again, blogging has provided one opportunity for another "form of writing," but what was I doing before that? Probably not enough. I won't place the blame on the syllabus for Rhetoric. I like it, I like teaching the course. But what else should I be doing to provide those opportunities? Maybe it comes through in the draft process. Can a student explore ideas for a research paper by writing a poem? Can he add captions to photos he brings in to explore what he has to say for a narrative? Possibly. I haven't tried these things yet, but I'm open to it.

I found Don Murray's work when I was in college, and he has this way of writing that doesn't sound like a threat to what I already thought, did, or planned to do. Instead, reading his work sounds like what's best for kids, and it's hard to ignore. I'll post on Implications 6-10 soon enough. I think I have some new ideas to try in the meantime.