Collaborative Writing Groups: Effectively Enhancing Student Authority

Wow. Leanne B. Warshaurer says a mouthful in her article "Collaboration as a Process: Reinforcing the Workshop." Not only does she stand up for the writing workshop, but she backs her argument with personal experience and some great minds! The focus of her argument is that teachers of the writing workshop need to decenter their authority within the classroom. In doing so, students are given the opportunity to develop their own sense of authority in the work they do. Again, I picked out some quotes that really stood out to me. They are:

“[One professor] explained that he pairs his
students together, “strong” and “weak,” and
has them edit each other’s papers” (87).

In separating students in such a way, this professor is developing a writing hierarchy in his classroom; he is giving power to those deemed "strong" and stripping those labeled as "weak" of authority in their own writing. Because the labeling comes from the professor -- who has obviously not decentered himself in this workshopping environment -- students will automatically assume that the labels are correct because he is the authority figure. Plus, students will realize which category they are supposedly in. The strong will assume take the powerful role granted to them by the authority whereas the weak will revert to submissiveness. In the end, this workshop will make little progress.

Warshauer points this exact idea out in saying that a student chimed in to point out that “such a pairing is demeaning to students;” however, the student's ability to speak out against a professor's writing pedagogy creates a special dynamic in which the "students were the authority” (87). By this she means that students have a greater capacity to understand the feelings of other students than professors. Therefore, the professor who feels students can easily be separated into "strong" or "weak" is quickly reminded that his authority is limited. There are arenas in which students rule. This is best described when Warshauer says:

“As a teacher, I had the authority of my
training and the authority granted to me
by the institution; as students, they had
the authority of experience” (88).

Again, we are left with a hierarchy in which the university is the authority of professors who are the authority over students. However, this scenario gives the students a place where they can be more powerful than teachers. This is called “a plurality of power and of authority among teacher and students” (88).

Another quote...

“Collaborative learning can lead students
to an appropriation of the types of discourse
valued in an academic setting” (88).

Using the talents of others, students can gradually adapt their language so that they may achieve an authority professors have already obtained – the authority that exists within academic discourse. Reading this, I thought to myself "I need more workshop in my life" because I am still trying to achieve this level of authority! Any suggestions or volunteers to workshop with me?

Finally, Warshauer seems to make her greatest argument for a teacher's decentering his or her self in the classroom in saying:

“As a teacher I have an undeniable,
unrelinquishable authority in the classroom.
Even in my workshop classroom, I’m still
an authority because the very choice to
have a workshop classroom is an
authoritative choice. However, I’m only
‘an’ authority, not ‘the’ authority” (91).

Well said! This should be the goal in every classroom. Students recognize the role of teacher as an authoritative role; however, an effective teacher will not stifle the academic and social growth of his or her students by stripping away the authority students inherently have within their thinking, collaborating, and writing.

It is nice have some tool to give students in order to help them take control of their thinking and writing. Workshopping. It's definately not a new idea, but this approach seems far more effective than the one used by my teachers in high school!

Au revoir pour maintenant!

--M