3 in 1

Well we had three readings to read for Monday’s class. The first was the introduction to Cross Talk, the second was Donald Murray’s article entitled Teach Writing as a Process Not Product and lastly we read Janet Emig’s Writing as a Mode of Learning. All three are obviously educational pieces and are meant to help fellow teachers in the art of teaching English.
The introduction simply stated why and how the book was complied and ordered. The intro stated that one must understand completely the theory of a subject to be able to use it freely, which is very true. Murray’s article argued that writing should be taught as an on going process rather then a product. Murray said that, “Instead of teaching a finished product, we should teach unfinished writing, and glory in its unfinishedness.” Meaning that the student is there to learn, he does not come to class already being a scholar; let the student work it out. Murray was for the idea of having his students use what ever form of writing and pick a topic of their choice to get across what they wanted to say. This articles’ thesis seems to be, that the teacher “should respond to his students, not for what they have done, but for what they may do…”
Janet Emig’s article states that Writing is the best mode of learning. I really agree with her theory here. Although Janet made some very compelling arguments about why her theory is correct, none was as effective as this. She said that there are three types of learning, (1) enactive-we learn by “doing”; (2) iconic- we learn “by depiction” in an image; and (3) symbolic- we learn “by restatement in words” If these three ways of learning are accepted, then Janet is right by saying that writing envelops all three.
I think all of these articles go very nice with Bruffee’s collaborative teaching theory. I also agree whole heartedly with Janet’s theory of writing being the best learning tool. For example I take notes in all of my classes if I need to or not. I do this because I know if I listen, write and then look over what I have written I will most likely remember what the teacher said.