Collaborative Learning and Writing: Essays on Using Small Groups in Teaching English and Composition

237 Pages·2012·1.22 MB·English

by  Kathleen M. Hunzer

Collaborative Learning
and Writing
This page intentionally left blank
Collaborative Learning
and Writing
Essays on Using
Small Groups in Teaching
English and Composition
Edited by
Kathleen M. Hunzer
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: I am very grateful to my family and friends who have
always supported me in my endeavors, my mentors who have helped me
become the professional I am today, and all of the contributors to this
collection who worked tirelessly in order to create this practical assemblage.
Thanks for all of your hard work.
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Collaborative learning and writing : essays on using small groups in
teaching English and composition / edited by Kathleen M. Hunzer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-6029-8
softcover : acid free paper
¡. English language—Rhetoric—Study and teaching (Higher)
2. Academic writing—Study and teaching (Higher)
3. Peer review. I. Hunzer, Kathleen M., 1969–
PE1404.C6135 2012 808'.042071—dc23 2012010906
BRITISHLIBRARYCATALOGUINGDATAAREAVAILABLE
© 2012 Kathleen M. Hunzer. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, i ncluding photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without p ermission in writing from the p ublisher.
Front cover image © 20¡¡ Shutterstock
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 6¡¡, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments iv
Preface KATHLEEN M. HUNZER 1
Part I: Why are collaborative learning
and peer review important?
Writing Courses Live and Die by the Quality of Peer Review JASON WIRTZ 5
Bringing New Perspectives to a Common Practice: A Plan for
Peer Review ANTHONY EDGINGTON 17
Reinventing Peer Review Using Writing Center Techniques: Teaching
Students to Use Peer-Tutorial Methodology CATHERINE SIMPSON KALISH,
JENNIFER L. J. HEINERT, and VALERIE MURRENUS PILMAIER 30
“It’s just too nicey-nicey around here”: Teaching Dissensus in Research
and Collaborative Groups JACOB STRATMAN 43
Part II: How do I best select groups in my classes?
Increasing Student Participation and Accountability in Group Production
of Text through Speed Interviews MIALISA A. MOLINE 55
Connecting Writing Process with Personality: Creating Long-Lasting Trust
Circles in Writing Classes KATHLEEN M. HUNZER 66
Forming Peer Critique Groups Through Personality Preferences
MIALISA A. MOLINE 75
Part III: How do I integrate collaborative learning
techniques into electronic environments?
Collaborative Learning and Writing in Digital Environments
CINDY TEKOBBE, YAZMIN LAZCANO-PRY, and DUANE ROEN 87
Keeping Up with the Future: Using Technology to Facilitate Small-Group
Collaboration in the Writing Classroom KELLY A. SHEA 99
v
vi Table of Contents
Cooperative and Collaborative Writing with Google Docs
DONNA J. EVANS and BEN S. BUNTING, JR. 109
Working with Groups Online: Collaborating with Web Conferencing
CHERYL HAWKINSON MELKUN 130
Part IV: Can collaborative learning and
writing work in all writing classes?
Blending Collaboration and Competition: A Model for Small Group
Learning in Business Writing Classes RANDI BROWNING 143
Revisiting Collaborative Writing and Electronic Dialogues in Business
Communication FLORENCE ELIZABETH BACABAC 166
Collaborative Composing: Practices and Strategies for Implementing
Team Projects into Writing Classrooms KARA POE ALEXANDER 181
Part V: Can special populations benefit
from collaborative activities?
Working Together Towards Greatness: The Cumulative Writing Model
and English Language Learners ROBB MARK MCCOLLUM 201
Anxiety Disorders and the Collaborative Classroom KATHLEEN M. HUNZER 217
About the Contributors 225
Index 229
Preface
I have a confession to make that may surprise you since I am here writing an introduction
to a book about collaborative learning. When I was a student, I lived in fear of being assigned
a collaborative project or being required to work in small groups. As soon as a teacher or pro-
fessor mentioned the words “group project” or “collaboration,” my heart sank. Historically, I
was put in a group of students who procrastinated on the project or who did not seem to care
about their GPAs as much as I did; therefore, for me, collaborative and group assignments
meant that I did the work while everyone got the credit.
Having had many of these experiences from K-16, consequently, I was a bit skeptical
when I entered my English M.A. program in 1992 and came face to face with my old neme-
sis—collaborative learning—again. We did not meet at first. First I learned many other
features of the “process” classroom. I learned to view writing as a recursive process that involves
prewriting, drafting, and revising; to embrace the social-epistemic nature of the composition
classroom; to decenter myself as a teacher so that I was more of a guide and a coach rather
than the sole authority in the classroom; to recognize the value of one-on-one conferencing;
to view the composition classroom a discourse community where students grow as learners
and thinkers; and far too many other traits and articles to name here. All of these I embraced
with open arms because they were the exact opposite of many classes I had taken and had not
enjoyed.
But then I met Kenneth Bruffee and others whose research demonstrated that collaborative
learning in writing classes was one of the best ways to create this “process” environment, and
as I read these works about the benefits of collaborative learning, all I could write in the
margins was “won’t work” or “yeah, right!” because of my past experiences. While the research
spoke of the powerful benefits of group work and the potential for growth in collaborative
environments, because of my personal experience with small group projects, I was convinced
that collaborative learning and small group projects were wonderful in theory but that, in
practice, they would never work.
Time and time again, the research told me that collaborative learning, when done well,
is highly beneficial for everyone, both students and instructor. I read and reread that collab-
orative learning helps students become accustomed to their academic environment and helps
them improve their communication skills, thus enabling students to more successfully negotiate
discourse communities both in and out of class. I also learned that collaborative learning can
help students better understand the rhetorical situation and consider the ethical effects of
writing on an audience. In short, collaborative learning was necessary in the “process” writing
class since the power is dispersed between the members of the group, thus demonstrating to
students the benefits of helping each other in times of confusion, success, and uncertainty—
of seeing writing as a process of discovery and learning. These benefits and others were why
1
2 Preface
I was supposed to promote a collaborative environment in my classes, especially in writing
classes, but I was still hesitant.
My skepticism remained until I became a TA for the late Alan W. France at West Chester
University in Pennsylvania, a man who convinced me that knowledge can be and should be
socially constructed and that, when done well, collaborative learning could and would succeed.
He coached me through my early classroom experiences with peer reviews as well as other
small group tasks throughout the semester. He spent time with me discussing not only the
benefits of collaborative learning but also the “how to do it” questions I had. How do I choose
groups? What tasks do I assign? How do I grade collaborative learning? Should I? What if
people think I’m trying to get out of work by assigning group tasks? And manyothers. All of
these questions were answered with great patience and respect. Near the end of the semester,
after he had observed my class twice, Alan France paid me an amazing compliment: he told
me that my use of collaborative learning and peer review was impressive because I had gotten
all of my students involved, had held them all accountable, and had conquered my fear of the
practice by appearing to be an “expert” in the technique. Me, an “expert” in the practice I
had doubted and resisted for so long? Perhaps, I thought, collaborative learning was not so
bad after all.
With this newfound confidence in my abilities to use collaborative learning successfully,
I embarked on my career as a writing instructor. I spent two years teaching six writing classes
per semester at four different schools before moving on for my Ph.D., and no matter where
I taught, I relied heavily on groups for peer review, group analyses of non-fiction texts, col-
laborative evaluations of speeches, and many other tasks. My frequent use of collaborative
learning continued as I completed my Ph.D. in composition and rhetoric and taught at a
community college. After nine years of practice, I felt more prepared to speak intelligently
and from experience about the benefits of collaborative learning. My nemesis and I had clasped
hands and become friends.
In 2003 when I accepted my current job, which was my first tenure-track job, I faced a
daunting task my first semester: a three-hour night class titled “Human Issues in Literature.”
Now, as a writing specialist, I had taught some literature, but this was not my forte, and three
hours? What was I to do? And that’s when my former nemesis spoke loudly—use collaboration
and small groups to explore the works—and so I did, every night in every class period. The
results were amazing. Every night students were involved in analyses of some deep and chal-
lenging pieces, and at the end of the class, these reluctant students from a variety of disciplines
who were “forced” to take the course as a General Education requirement told me that they
had never learned so much about or had so much fun with literature.
As word spread of my successful use of collaborative learning in this class and many
others, I seemed to become the “go to” person when people had questions about using groups
in their own classes. Many instructors knew of the benefits of collaborative learning and were
seeing me integrating the practice quite successfully into my own classes, but they also had
many questions—many of the same questions I had worked through over the years: how do
I choose groups? How do I manage my time with group work? How do I handle personality
conflicts? What kinds of tasks should I assign? What if one or two students in a group does
all the work? How do I handle a student who tells me that group work is problematic because
the student has an anxiety disorder? Can I rely on collaborative learning too much? And other
such practical questions that involve the actual implementation of collaborative learning.
As I answered these questions for my departmental colleagues who struggle with group
work (especially new(er) instructors), for our students training to be secondary school teachers,
and for instructors outside of my home department who have heard of my success with
Preface 3
collaborative learning, I realized that our field needed a practical sourcebook that answers
these questions, and that is what you will find in this volume. The essays in this book are here
to help you actually docollaborative learning in your own classes. We all know that we should
do it; this book helps you learn how to do it.
Because I have been asked so many questions about small groups and collaborative learn-
ing in the past, I have arranged this book around some common questions that I have always
tried to address with both theory and pedagogy. In Part I, a variety of voices answer the ques-
tion “Why are collaborative learning and peer review important?” Jason Wirtz in his essay
“Writing Courses Live and Die by the Quality of Peer Review” provides a thorough analysis
of the benefits of peer review as a type of collaborative activity. “Bringing New Perspectives
to a Common Practice: A Plan for Peer Review” by Anthony Edgington supplements this
analysis by providing you with strong foundational information on how to promote successful
peer review sessions. The third essay in Part I, “Reinventing Peer Review Using Writing Center
Techniques: Teaching Students to Use Peer-Tutorial Methodology,” expounds on the benefits
of re-visioning the performance of peer review in writing classes. Inspired by the format of
the one-on-one peer tutorial structure of a writing center session,Catherine Simpson Kalish,
Jennifer L. J. Heinert, and Valerie Murrenus Pilmaier provide helpful pedagogical suggestions
for how to help your students embrace this new format for peer review. Finally, wrapping up
Part One is Jacob Stratman’s essay “’It’s just too nicey-nicey around here’: Teaching Dissensus
in Research and Collaborative Groups,” an essay demonstrating how we can combine consensus
and dissensus productively in collaborative environments.
In Part II, three essays provide new answers to the age-old question “How do I best select
groups in my classes?” Drawing on her background in professional writing classes, Mialisa A.
Moline invites us to try “speed interviews” when forming groups, in her essay “Increasing
Student Participation and Accountability in Group Production of Text Through Speed Inter-
views.” In my essay, the second in this section, I relate my successes using a very simple
question as a first-day writing prompt to form groups. My essay “Connecting Writing Process
with Personality: Creating Long-Lasting Trust Circles in Writing Classes” not only provides
you with some techniques I use to select groups but also provides a few in-class practices that
can foster trust between group members. In order to demonstrate how successful this group
selection technique is, I include at the end of the essay actual student comments that I garnered
from a short survey. Supplementing my essay is another piece by Moline, “Forming Peer Cri-
tique Groups Through Personality Preferences,” that demonstrates how the widely-acclaimed
Myers-Briggs personality indicator can be used to promote successful collaboration.
The next section, Part III, addresses the pressing question, “How do I integrate
collaborative learning techniques into electronic environments?” Cindy Tekobbe, Yazmin Laz-
cano-Pry, and Duane Roen’s essay “Collaborative Learning and Writing in Digital Environ-
ments” introduces many ways that collaboration can be integrated into digital classes.
Supplementing this overview are other pieces that address specific practices in electronic envi-
ronments. “Keeping Up with the Future: Using Technology to Facilitate Small-Group Col-
laboration in the Writing Classroom” by Kelly A. Shea specifically addresses small group
collaboration in electronic environments. How to address collaborative writing needs when
using a platform such as Google Docs is the topic of Donna J. Evans and Ben S. Bunting,
Jr.’s piece titled “Cooperative and Collaborative Writing with Google Docs.” Finally, Cheryl
Hawkinson Melkun in her essay “Working with Groups Online: Collaborating with Web
Conferencing” demonstrates not only how to use web conferencing with collaborative learning
but also how to select a proper web conferencing platform.
Many people question if collaborative learning can work beyond the first-year composition