Writing in the Real Classroom

Lori A. Dunn is an ESL teacher and editor of the Toronto women’s
magazine Feminie.

Parsons has outlined a whole-language teaching approach in a practical
guide for the classroom teacher. He provides step-by-step guidelines for
implementing and maintaining a writing process, drawing on his own
extensive experience and awareness of the reality of the classroom
situation, for which he provides practical hints to compensate for those
limitations.

In his program, the teacher fills the various roles of mentor,
supervisor, and editor, while the students are encouraged to take
responsibility for their writing, to become risk-takers, ideally losing
the usual teacher-induced dependence. Most importantly, he has created a
marking process that satisfies the students’ desire for good grades
and the structure of the school system itself, but still incorporates
the style of his program—rewarding students for the steps they take in
reaching the finished piece, including collaboration and consultation,
plus their various drafts, revisions, and the final product. Parsons
even supplies tailor-made forms to facilitate the implementation of his
co-operative evaluation process.

The techniques Parsons proposes appear to work well, if the examples he
includes are any indication: the student pieces are refreshing and well
written. Although complete in itself, the process still requires a great
deal of commitment on the part of the teacher and students to make it
succeed as it should.