Here
are two scenarios which I have observed in writing education:
1)
A
student meets with a tutor for advice on a rough draft. The tutor takes the
paper from the student and hovers over it with a pen, marking parts that need
improvement: inserting commas and paragraph breaks, correcting syntax
and word choice, and revising topic sentences and the thesis statement. The
student sits beside the tutor, nodding occasionally as the tutor explains why
such a correction is needed. The only active thinking the student must do is to
explain a few content ideas that the tutor says are missing.
2) A
student comes for tutoring with a final draft that has been graded by the
teacher. The teacher has marked up the paper with commas and paragraph breaks,
syntax and word choice adjustments, and suggestions to revise topic sentences
and the thesis sentence. The student asks the tutor for help deciphering the
teacher’s notations since the student is not familiar with the editing symbols
or simply cannot read the teacher’s handwriting. The teacher has given the
student the opportunity to revise the paper for a higher grade. The only active
thinking the student must do is to add a few sentences to address a lack of
content that the teacher commented upon.
In
scenario 1, the tutor has chosen to foster passivity in the student. In
scenario 2, the teacher has chosen to foster passivity in the student. The
problem in both is that the student is not actively learning how to write
better! The student is having most of the work done by the tutor and the
teacher who are correcting by editing and not engaging the student in active
learning.
In future posts, I offer solutions that can help avoid this problem.
