Topic: Response to Writing--A Tempered View

10-second review: Collection of articles on “...reaction to writing, formal or informal, written or oral, from teacher and peer, to a draft or final version” (Freedman) “…moving far beyond an idea of response limited to comments written by the teacher on a piece of student writing.” p. 234. The editor’s and reviewer’s perspective to this pedagogy is balanced, not biased.

Title: Review of Writing and Response: Theory, Practice, and Research, ed. CM Anson (Urbana: NCTE, 1989, 371 pages). Reviewed by AR Gere. College Composition and Communication (May 1990), pp. 233-235.

Summary: Of interest to me (RayS.) is that the tone of the articles in the collection does not celebrate “the answer” to all problems in writing. The response to the technique of response to writing is “measured.”

Quote from the reviewer: “In my view, the best feature of this collection is its measured and tentative tone. Too often advocates of a new pedagogy, overcome with zeal for their approach, make inflated claims for its value. The new pedagogy is hailed as the solution to all classroom problems. In contrast, the authors included here take a much more tempered perspective.” p. 233.

Comment: Oh, how I wish the same could have been said for “whole language.” RayS.