Barry Lane: "Don't Fix My Story, Just Listen to Me"

Ah, to achieve that golden mean between teacher input and student self discovery in the writer's conference. His use of the word "codependency" in the subtitle of Chapter 7 speaks to. We want a symbiotic relationship between teacher and student, not a parasitic one.

First, I sighed with relief when I read the anecdote about the conference he had, to which he had come "unprepared." I can't recall the many hours I spent with the students' papers that I'd drag home to grade over the weekend. Now, I am not feeling so guilty about the fact that I rarely got to them all, hoping I could address writing issues on the spot during the next week. Now, of course, I am getting ideas for a sane strategy that will both help the student, yet allow me to have a life of my own, as well.

The story of the "witch" teacher as enabler is classic. I'm not surprised that the tactic eventually backfired. Gimmicks may work for a while, but they lose their power over time. I'm glad that Barry pointed out the nature of the relationship she had established, that of a codependent one, which I would simply call parasitic. Teachers often fall into the trap of doing so much for the student that the student is eventually unable to do anything independently. I see these kind of relationships in families and between citizens and their governments. Perhaps we might call this classroom type a form of student welfare. However, the teacher has neither the resources nor the time to carry on this scenario for long.

Referring back to statements that Rodney made this morning about the FOUR BIG QUESTIONS--How? Why? What? and What if?--I like the four simple directives Lane gives for peer editing: "I like, I wonder, questions (I would help them understand the BIG 4), plan for action."

First, I've picked up on the idea that for every "negative" comment, the writer needs a good dose of "positive" comments. I like the Lane's approach better: Help the reader see WHAT he or she is doing, making no judgments couched in the terms, "This is good" or "This is not so good." Such subjective reactions do not give the writer language he or she can use, a notion we agreed upon in one of our sessions today. The young writer needs to be initiated into the language of writers in order to see and think as a writer. Not only will student writers gain valuable insights into their own work, but teachers will be less prone to "correct" or "help" the writer in the revision process.

I think we teachers tend to want to "fix" students' papers because we are so unduly influenced by our materialistic, product-oriented culture. We want results and we want them now. We need to kick the Madison Avenue mindset out of the classroom and back onto the street where it belongs. In my own case, my own natural perfectionism often drives me in a wrong direction. Thus, I anticipate that Lane's practical suggestions will prove valuable to me in my second year.