Cheering for Collaboration

Recently, I have been considering the usefulness of collaborative writing in the classroom. I am in an English composition class this semester that focuses on the concepts of teaching writing. Earlier this month, we read an excerpt from Invention as a Social Act by Karen Burke LeFevre. Her studies in writing and rhetoric align with one of the collaborative writing lessons I used in my middle school classroom last week. Surprisingly, or perhaps not surprisingly, it was the most successful lesson I taught.

Prior to reading this article I never considered that there could be a debate between individual and collaborative writing within in the classroom, but while reading it, I was able to use my own experiences to easily connect with what LeFevre was saying.

Throughout elementary and middle school, I, as a student, was exposed to many writing activities that usually required individual thought and reflection as apposed to collaboration. Specifically, I remember many writing diagrams that I was responsible for completing individually and then using those diagrams to create my own rough draft or final essay. Now, considering what LaFevre says, I believe it seems silly to reserve so much class time for individual writing without reserving time for reflection or discussion.

I understand the premise that “social intercourse necessarily destroys the philosophic act” (LaFevre 11). However, I do believe that the classroom is a social environment and when activities are correctly implemented and developed by a teacher, collaboration leads to further and higher thinking that ultimately helps students produce better writing.

In her conclusion, LaFevre states, “One invents in part because of others, because one thinks fruitfully in the company of a great many others, who are both possible and real” (93). I agree with this theory and believe it is up to the teacher to create meaningful and beneficial lessons that help students learn and grow by sharing their ideas.

For example, I participated in multiple Socratic seminars and I have seen them used in classrooms during my student teaching experience. I find them to be an effective literacy strategy that prompts students to deliberate on their opinions and stances on important issues and assists them in making sense of their own thoughts through cooperative dialogue. As a teacher, I would use this practice and perhaps have my students develop their own writing prompt from the seminar based on their thoughts and the thoughtful contributions of their classmates.

Also, I have seen a Kagen structure called Numbered Heads Together and I am a fan of this because it finds a balance between individual and group writing. The students are given a question or writing prompt and then once they have had time to reflect and write individually, they separate into groups of four to compare answers, and then they use their individual thoughts to create a collaborative answer that they present to the rest of the class.

Furthermore, I have seen collaborative writing bring a new motivation for engagement in the classroom. As I mentioned earlier, the collaborative writing lesson I used did wonders in my classroom. Considering I teach a first hour class, my students are often sleepy and slow to participate. So, to try something different, I started my final lesson of the week with a collaborative writing activity. Students each started with a different two sentence scary story prompt. They were given two minutes to contribute their own thoughts on how the story continued, and then they passed it clockwise to another students so he/she could continue the story. This process was repeated until each student received his or her original prompt again.

The loved sharing their creative ideas with one another! They were attentive and partook in the activity more than any prior activities. They were learning and I was so glad to present something that would make writing more fun. I owe a big thank you to my College of Education peer, Sarah Brill. We are placed at the same school and we spent the week planning together, so this lesson was her idea and it was beyond impressive. I now have a list of other collaborative writing lessons I can use thanks to her creativity.

In closing, the balance of individualism and collaboration is what I believe to be important in the writing process and finding a balance between the two is vital. As a teacher, it will be my responsibility to ensure my students are producing writing that reflects who they are as an individual, but writing that also shows a growth or progression in their thoughts that stemmed from class discussion or cooperation, as well as writing that is FUN and appealing to students.

Resources:

LeFevre, Karen Burke. "A Platonic View of Rhetorical Invention." Invention as a Social Act. 1st ed. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1986. 10-95. Print. Studies in Writing and Rhetoric.