Balance the Basics: Let Them Write (Graves)

Donald H. Graves (February 1978)

Abstract:

This report is one of a series of papers presented to a continuing in-house seminar on learning sponsored by the Ford Foundation. The paper reports on several schools where writing and individual expression are valued, identifies one approach to the teaching of writing, and addresses two central questions underlying the crisis of writing in the United States:

Is it important to write? And, if so, why don't we write?

The first question is answered affirmatively in the first section of the paper with the reasons that writing contributes to intelligence, develops initiative, and is often the means to a personal breakthrough in learning. ("Why Writing is Important")

The second section of the paper discusses the second question and offers such reasons for our failure to write as inadequate preparation of teachers to teach writing and too little concern for the individual development of the learners themselves. ("Why Don't We Write?")

The third section proposes the process-conference approach to teaching writing as a proven, workable way to reverse the decline of school writing. This method is described as one in which teachers help students by initiating brief, individual conferences during the process of writing, rather than by assigning topics in advance of writing and making extensive corrections after the writing is finished. ("How Can Writing Be Taught?")

(ERIC link)

On Freshman English Transition (UNH)

See Carnicelli Annual Reports
See Murray, 1969-70 Sabbatical Report, p. 2 "And during the sabbatical I began to serve on a new advisory committee, which has begun to work with the Chairman of the English Department." -- this is a reference to a committee Carnicelli references as well, more explicitly linked to 401

Timeline of Professional Development for HS English Teachers at UNH (1950s/60s)

• 1949-50: English Department creates two "tracks" within the major, the "literature major" and the "teaching major."
• 1954: Members of UNH English Department meet with group of heads of English departments in NH high schools which leads to publication of document: "Suggestions for The Preparation of Students for Work in English at the University." See folder: B.2/F.8.
• (late-1950s/early-1960s): Formation of The New Hampshire Committee for the Improvement of Instruction In English of which Bingham was a member. See folder: B.2/F.4.
• July 9-Aug 17, 1962: Summer Institute at UNH (news article and catalogue description). "Staffed by regular and visiting members of the university faculty, the six-week institute will provide a program of graduate courses and workshops on the latest developments in the study of literature, language and rhetorical theory. [...] The long range goal of the institute, and the nationwide program with which it is associated, will be to improve the quality of English teaching in the state's secondary schools and, thereby, enhance the performance in English of New Hampshire's high school graduates, especially those who go on to college. Similar institutes will be conducted throughout the country this summer as many of the nation's leading universities. The impetus for a New Hampshire program came largely as the result of a study conducted by the state's own Committee for the Improvement of Instruction in English." Important for Context: "The NDEA institutes of 1965 drew heavily on the carefully planned institutes in English taught in the summer of 1962 and organized by the Commission on English of the College Entrance Examination Board." (see p. 1 of "The 1965 NDEA Institutes in English" by Donald Gray, in folder on NDEA workshops) "...the people who planned and taught in the institutes usually offered a conventional sequence of courses in language, literature, and composition and did not customarily experiment with new ways of teaching teachers. (see p. 12 of "The 1965 NDEA Institutes in English" by Donald Gray, in folder on NDEA workshops)
• 1963: MST created "for the refreshment of the high school teacher of English"
• 1965: First NDEA workshops held (not at UNH). See Donald J. Gray's report on the 1965 NDEA workshops for many interesting tidbits
• 1966: UNH English proposes to NDEA for a summer 1967 institute (failed proposal).
• 1968: UNH English hosts NDEA institute. Murray teaches "ENGLISH 801: Advanced Composition for High School English Teachers: A course designed to improve the teacher's skill in composition and to guide him in methods of transmitting such skill to his high school students." 

Notes on Watt's An American Rhetoric

Preface:

I am especially indebted to...Edmund Miller, University of New Hampshire. (v)

The aim is not to convert the undergraduate reader into an embryonic linguist but to persuade him that his language is a fascinating living growth, not a rigid final fact--a profuse garden to cultivate, not a decorous cemetery of correct usage in which the lexicographers write the epitaphs and the English teachers carefully preserve the moss. (iv)

I believe is is the duty of the English teacher to guide the student cheerfully through Babel without assuming the omniscience of Sinai. The following paragraphs from the first edition of this text still describe my aims:

I have frankly slanted the book toward the kind of good writing that is appropriate for most occasions today: informal but not careless, plain but not flat, light but not jazzy. But I have tried not to clip an genuine wings or mislead the student into assuming that any book can prescribe appropriate usage for all occasions. I have included the essential rules for writing "correct English," but wherever those rules no longer apply, except in the most formal writing, I have tried to make clear-cut distinctions among levels of usage. I have tried to tell the truth about educated writing today without giving the student the dangerous impression that anything goes.

Since the book was written to be read, not merely consulted or assigned, I have attempted to make it readable for students to whom composition is not a feature attraction in the curriculum, but only a selected short subject. Although I disagree with those who believe that techniques can be intelligently discussed without technical terms, I have tried to avoid the deadliest sin of the textbook style: the proliferation of trade jargon. I have also tried to steer a treacherous middle course between the extremes of textbook tone: solemn omniscience and playful condescension. And I have not cluttered up the page with so many typographical "study aids" that there is no room for reading.

On Themes

Another illusion follows from the first: that there is a yawning gap between writing “themes” for the English department and writing under any other set of circumstances. (4)

The English professor may explain patiently… that theme-writing is simply a practical method of developing a student’s powers of expression—which are related, not only to writing, but to speaking, reading, thinking, and listening as well. (4)

Still the illusion persists. Writing for an English course, especially writing themes, is in a lonely unreal world of its own. (4)

Primary Assumptions:

The main point, however, is clear. Intelligent, educated people may differ about the meaning of value of “correct English” or argue about the virtues of an experimental novel or an original play, but they do not disagree seriously about the fundamentals of good writing. (5)

Whether he is composing a lecture or a sermon, a business letter, a sales directive, or a house-organ recital, an engineering report or a legal brief, a political speech or a talk to the County Medical Society or the PTA—the basic requirements of good writing will stay the same. (6)

Dimensions of “good writing”

• Correctness and clarity
• Force and flavor
• Lively and readable (6)

The fundamentals of good writing will be discussed in detail in various places throughout the book. (6)

Though the novelist and scientist may look at life through different lenses, accurate observation and meticulous recording are equally important to them both. (7)

On the Transferability of Literacy Skills

The student who does not regard the elementary composition course in college as merely a final dose of “English”—something to “take” like medicine or survive like measles—will find that any improvement in his writing and his language sense will help him to talk more effectively, read and listen more perceptively, and think more clearly. (5)

Levels of Usage: Formal, Informal, Vulgar

Of Informal, he writes:

The undergraduate should learn to read formal English and to write it, on the proper occasion, with precision, not prissiness. He should appreciate the special values of formal rhetoric, and he should know the conventions of formal grammar for what they are worth. But because most of the writing required of the college graduate will be informal, it is especially important for the student to practice writing accurately and easily on the middle level. (29)

And what is the "middle" or Informal "level of usage?

...a human being talking--easily but not at random--a literate, civilized man, but not necessarily an expert here on anything but his own reactions. (26)

...the language in general is that of the first person talking directly to a second person, using the natural idioms of educated conversation. (27)

Informal writing is natural writing, and natural writing has a clear note of speech throughout. When a student is struck for a word or conscious of an awkward phrase, he might ask himself not "How shall I write it?" but "How would I say it?" If he has had ample opportunity to listen to the speech of educated people, he should be suspicious of any expression in his writing that doesn't sound natural. (30)

 On Rhetoric

The goal for a writer is not to memorize three pat formulas but, by wide reading and careful listening, to develop an awareness of what is appropriate when and where. (28)

After a writer has sized up his audience and decided on the appropriate point of view, level of difficulty, and level of usage, he should follow them consistently unless he has good reason to change (29).

An implicit View of Undergraduates/Students

...there is hope for this student (31)

NDEA Institute at UNH (1968)

Two courses were taught, ENGL 801 (Murray) and ENGL 802 (Sullivan).

Forty-six high school English teachers will become practicing critics and writers at the University of New Hampshire this summer as they learn the latest methods of teaching literary analysis and composition, according to Professor G. Harris Daggett, director of the Summer Institute. (Press Release, 1/16/68)

ENGL 801 Advanced Composition for High School English Teachers

A course designed to improve the teacher's skill in composition and to guide him in methods of transmitting such skill to his high school students. (Daggett Report)

Notable features of ENGL 801:

• Conferences Each Institute member is expected to have a conference on his writing every week. A conference schedule listing 46 fifteen-minute conferences, Thursdays through Fridays, will e posted on the door in Hamilton Smith Hall.
• Writing Assignments Institute members will choose their own assignments and may suggest an individual program or assignments which will produce an equivalent amount of writing. Papers will be due at 12:00 noon. [...] Rewriting is encouraged, and revision counts as a separate paper. 
• Grades There will be no grades on individual papers. On Wednesday, August 14, Institute members will select three pieces of writing which they want evaluated. The examinations and the three papers will be marked as pass, fail, or honors.
• Small Group Evaluation On [dates] Institute members will meet in groups of four or five [...] to read and criticize each other's work. 
• Text A Writer Teaches Writing

7/16 Lecture and Topic: Why teach writing? What is a good subject? Assignments, Motivation, The advantaged, the disadvantaged.

Additional Readings: "Learning to Write by Writing" (Moffett) & A Student Centered Language Arts Curriculum K-13; Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student (Corbett); "To Be Read" Ken Macrorie.

Fredelle Murray is cast as Murray's nemesis, see Daggett's thoughts on this, p. 7 of his report.

Next Trip to Durham (?)

Maybe look at Box 8, '64-78

UNH and "National Reputation" Sources

1. Wolff, C.W. "Building a Nationally Recognized Writing Program Over Lunch" In A Century In Durham. Durham, NH: University Publications, 1994.

(This collection of essays, written by former UNH News Director C. W. Wolff, offers readers a look at University life from its founding in 1893 to the UNH space program of the 1990s.")

2. Short promotional piece from UNH with Gary Lindberg photograph talks about "national reputation."

3. This:

See Photos library (6/15/17)

4. This passage from an advocacy letter Murray wrote on behalf of Fisher (letter, 10/11/82):

5. "Most of all, it would give support to the fact that we are already one of the leading centers in the country in the study of the composing process." (more, see Murray 1975-76 Annual Report, p. 4).

Third Epoch Notes

What are the things I want to touch in when I describe the third epoch?

As I'm reading through Amber Ahlstrom's dissertation, in particular the section called "The Dough Bubbles" (p. 116-134), I'm struck by the commitment on the part of the faculty of the department tot the TRAINING of English teachers--of all levels, including graduate students and instructors. Ahlstrom writes of her work with Lester Fisher in ENGL 810. She also writes of her teaching journal. She was a member of a community intensely interested in questions of pedagogy, of professional development, of teacher identity and development. It seems to me that this is an another important element to touch on in the story of the 3rd epoch... Graves is research children's writing and focused mostly on K-5 or so. Murray is training journalists and interacting with everyone, really, but esp college and high school teachers. Teacher development. I think that's an important thread in that story.

I've envisioned the third epoch as significant for its emphases on:

research on the writing process (Murray, Graves, Newkirk)
research on the teaching of writing (Newkirk,
research on the teaching of teachers (Ahlstrom, Tobin)

The Story of The Re-Establishment of Freshman English

Factors influencing re-establishment of Freshman English:

1. New Dean
2. New Dept Chair
3. Demand from colleagues
4. New program in general education (in keeping with the times, i.e. Harvard Redbook)

Blewett's Annual Report (1944) makes mention of a desire to return to a regular Freshman English course... "Many want the [functional program in Freshman English] as an adjunct to a more complete and thorough grounding of all students in English mechanics and usage. The Student Wartime Advisory Committee supports this point of view. The entire question will be thoroughly discussed by the Policies Committee in the coming months." (p. 5-6).

Blewett's Annual Report (1945) English proposes a plan for the establishment of two courses, "one of which would emphasize improvement in thinking, reading and coherent expression in both speech and writing, and another which would emphasize speech. The current English 1 would be retained to give remedial work to below average students." Also, Colleges of Ag and Tech apparently want to require communications offerings of their students. (p. 6)

Blewett's Annual Report (1946) mentions "the building of an effective college program had been started in 1940" and "it has been possible for the faculty to adopt a program which makes great strides toward helping students to achieve the objectives which were set for the college by faculty action in 1944-45." Establishes that each student must take English 1-2, Freshman English.

• Explicitly mentions re-establishment of Freshman English and also how president vetoed plan for speech course. 
• Includes course description.
• Includes more information about students of varying levels, etc.

Blewett's Annual Report (1947) "During 1945-46 our major problems were the establishment of an effective program for the college and the provision of an adequate faculty. In 1946-47 we devoted ourselves to the task of working together to secure the benefits of the new program for a record number of students. It was not an easy job." Much more on the swelling of the student body.

"Professor Bingham states that "The reinstitution of Freshman English has proved most wise. The course is not only excellent for the weeding-out of the unfit but has also been stimulating to the average and the finest minds." (this is a quote from Bing's report to Blewett)

Additional discussion of the challenges of teaching writing and need of all faculty to commit.
More on members of English, including note on Richards' passing, promotions of Bing and Towle, and this: "Under his chairmanship a completely new freshman English course enrolling more than eleven hundred students in forty-five sections has been organized and offered. The department staff of eighteen was augmented by ten new excellently qualified men and women selected with great care and discernment from among a number of candidates." (29)

Note on Towle and his writing courses.

Blewett's Annual Report (1948) "Substantial progress was made during the past year toward a more complete realization of the established objectives of the college. This was done as a part of the program of curriculum revision initiated in 1940."

Long discussion of writing in the disciplines, discussion of faculty dissatisfaction with student writing (and example).

Discussion of the creation of remedial courses, ENGL A, B, C.

Remand system still in place.

Blewett's Annual Report (1949) This report offers a retrospective on Blewett's "first ten years"

Overview of the re-instatement of Freshman English in 1945 and some light is shed on the "why" (i.e. recommendation of Student Advisory Committee and also Engineering really apparently wanted writing instruction for their students)

Detailed discussion of results of ENGL A

Discussion of developments within the English Department, in general, and not just the communications objective.

1. Includes discussion of "a completely revised program of courses":

The revision was accomplished in an attempt to make the courses more inclusive and more definite and to strengthen the major by increasing literature requirements. Courses in literature open to beginning students were strengthened. 

See paragraph 1 at top of p. 22 for more...

2. Includes discussion of the English Department being the first in the college "to take advantage of the faculty authorization to require a comprehensive examination of all students majoring in the department." And includes some statistics on this.

3. Includes discussion of the new "teaching" major, but for students whose "records showed exceptionally high standing" the literature major is allowed.

Blewett's Annual Report (1951) Terrific paragraph summarizing Bingham in which he outlines the overall functions of the department. Really interesting to see how little work at this time was being done with actual English majors. Definitely will want to utilize this to contextualize this epoch.

Blewett's Annual Report (1952) 

Terrific passage on UNH students of this era: "The overwhelming majority of our students comet o us seeking, primarily, material success..."

Lengthy quotes from Bing's annual report in which laments the lack of preparation of UNH freshman. Much conversation of "students can't write!" including from other faculty members.

Nice summary of English's work, including Daggett teaching at RIC and Maynard painting during his summer break. A full paragraph relates articulation work between UNH English and NH high schools, including attendance at NH Association of Teachers of English and Richardson is on a panel on preparation of high school students.

Blewett's Annual Report (1953) Despite all the changes they were making, we hear that Bing is still dissatisfied in the ability of the dept to achieve the Communications objective.

Terrific!!!! passage, quoted from Bing's annual letter, in which Bing writes: "As a consequence, it has voted that henceforth, one-third of the class time in Freshman English be devoted to the teaching of writing. Next year one day each week the classes will be concerned, not with punctuation, grammar, and spelling--unless they fundamentally pertain to the subject--, but with the elements of good expression. This apportionment of class time to writing does not, of course, eliminate conference work on the individual student's themes. It attempts to allot more scheduled class time to instruction in writing.

Terrific quote from Bing: "Each year, therefore, the University presents one or more illiterates and many a scribbler with the bachelor's degree."

We learn that very few students are sent back to English A after their Freshman year.

It's really becoming more and more clear how much they are struggling to crack this nut and failing and, how aware they are of it and how much it is driving Bing nuts.

Blewett's Annual Report (1954) Wonderful short history of the college since 1939 that also includes numbers increase in college of liberal arts. Worth using in my book.

Brief passage on ENGL 1/2 with reference to revisions of the course and focus, now, entirely on expository writing and reading.

Blewett's Annual Report (1955) Long passage about the struggles of faculty/students in English A.

Brief mention of articulation efforts with NH high schools and mention of "a list of subject matters which high school students coming to college should be taught"

Blewett's Annual Report (1956) More discussion of ENGL A,B,C and also discussion of abolishing these courses. More discussion of articulation efforts with NH high schools.

Blewett's Annual Report (1957) Brief discussion of plans for increased enrollment--awareness of the tide that is coming... Bingham makes recommendation that students who are taking ENGL A be charged additional $$$ for the course.

Blewett's Annual Report (1958) This is Blewett's swan song and it contains a really useful summary of developments in the college during his tenure, which ran 1939-1958.

Dean's Annual Report (1967) Nice paragraph outlining developments in English department for 1966, including Bing's retirement, plan to allow writing courses to count towards the major, plans for Ph.D. program, and news about writers and awards.

NHC College Bulletin Notes

1903/1904

1903/1904 NHC Material begins on p. 1,477

Gibbs Inaugural Address 1903 is on p. 326 or 1802 (Appendix)

Also, note alumni address in the appendix, might be cool to read

First English Professor (following creation of the Department):

Bulletin Descriptions of English Courses:

Example of Freshman Entrance Requirement Exam:

1911/1912

Evan J. David (AB)—Prof of English

Mabel Hodgkins (librarian)

Clarence Scott (Prof of History and Political Economy)

Description of English courses and faculty (48)

Engl 6 a requirement of Animal Husbandry, Forestry, Horticulture, Agriculture students during senior year (p. 71)… it says in the course description: “For agriculture seniors. Elective for Chemical Seniors and Arts and Sciences Sophomores and Juniors” (49)

For students in the General Course, there appears to be a progression from writing to literature electives (74-80)

Chemical Engineering: Engl 6 or Phil 3 senior year (82)

Electrical and Mechanical Engineering: None

For students in the Two-Year course in ag:

Grammar and Elementary Composition, 1^st sem

Grammar and Composition, 2^nd sem (113)

English Comp and Rhetoric includes introduction to literary criticism

Notes on my UNH project from the Dartmouth Conference

Much ink has already been spilled about the University of New Hampshire and its writing programs.

I spent a considerable amount of my doctoral years coming up to speed on what Bishop writes about, this process by which expressivists like Murray were made into these embarrassing old fogies to be filed away as the field moved on in the 1990s to more pressing agendas (i.e. social construction, etc.). But what I became more interested in was not what Murray and other so-called expressivists said about writing and its teaching but what he and others had done to make UNH an institution with first a national and then an international reputation for the teaching and researching of writing and writing pedagogy.

Types of writing about “the UNH school”

·      Defenses of and autobiographies about Donald Murray

·      Autobiography about the place (Sunstein)

·      Descriptions of the writing program there (Newkirk, Nuts and Bolts)

·      Articles, books, about teaching freshman English (Newkirk, Newkirk/Tobin, Knoblauch/Brannon)

·      A site of research (Sunstein, Tobin, Chiseri-Strater)

·      Go to UNH and read/review dissertations…

I’m struck by the idea that at UNH, being a writing teacher was made an honorable job, a desireable job. Here’s Wendy Bishop on this…

…the reasons we are not all simply and happily just teachers of writing are complex. It takes encouragement and courage to find a clear passage to the safe harbor of affirming oneself as teacher within an institution that valorizes almost every other role first. (“A Place to Stand”, p. 13)

In 1966—community colleges were the fastest growing element of u.s. higher education…

Progressive education/reform…how do we remember these in the face of neo-liberal educational practices…

Three threads of writing at UNH:

1.     Creatve writing

2.     Journalism

3.     Writing pedagogy

The idea of having something in the curriculum (i.e. “about”) – see Robert P. Parker p. 34

1992 UNH conference—transcripts (Kate)?

Other themes:

The tribe defined itself as outsiders in higher education, but my journey has been one of movement to becoming an insider, both within the tribe and within higher education…

An era of reform… draw on applebee’s tradition and reform in the teaching of English.

Begin with 1963 and then briefly go back to understand the “tradition” that needed to be reformed… maybe go back even earlier, briefly, to identify an earlier era of reform… (1911-1935)

End the book with 1994—the year that Newkirk and Tobin’s second edited collect appeared (and did Graves retire this year?)

--

This passage may be useful in helping me to frame the purpose of the book (from Reviewer #2 in Notes of a Native Son feedback):

Moreover, the author reaches an important conclusion in terms of arguing for a historically, socially, and culturally situated understanding of the UNH approach. This conclusion is significant for discussing the expressive tradition in general and/or the UNH school in particular, for this pedagogical and theoretical tradition has been critiqued to the point of newer scholars dismissing it out of hand without understanding how and why it emerged and how it has shaped the field—and shaped students and teachers—in significant ways.

UNH, Donald Murray, and the Field of Composition: Or Talking about UNH

Individuals can and often do come to stand for communities of people and/or social movements and the community of writers, teachers, and scholars at the University of New Hampshire were both—a community and a social movement. FDR and the New Deal. Reagan or Thatcher and neo-liberalism. Michael Jordan and the Bulls. Donald Murray was one such figure. Same for Donald Graves.

Should I begin with a chapter that tries to bring us up to speed on UNH as a place of significance and Donald Murray as a figure of significance in the field of composition? I’m really struck by the quote above…

For many years, Donald Murray was a founder that we in the UNH tribe could feel proud of. There he was, under the heading of “The Givens In Our Conversations: The Writing Process”—the lead article in what was for many years and still is in many quarters the leading vehicle of disciplinary socialization in the field of Writing Studies, Villenueva’s and now Villenueva and Arola’s Cross-Talk in Comp Theory

But Paley seems to defend the wrong victim in the wrong way because the courses she observed do not look expressivist in the first place. The first-year course required four papers: an autobiographical narrative, an"analysis:' a persuasive argument, and a research paper. In the advanced course, no topics or genres were assigned; students were to choose their own topics and write once a week. Paley, however, identifies the Boston College program as "expressivist"(56). The only reason I can determine is that it is directed by Lad Tobin, who received his doctorate from the University of New Hampshire under Don Murray et al. and who has often written about expressivism and its relationship to "process pedagogy:'The inclusion of a single autobiographical narrative in the first course is a perfectly standard practice and doesn't warrant labeling the course "expressive."
(668)

Lad Tobin’s intro to A Guide to Composition Pedagogies…

Karen Paley’s book

Lad Tobin’s book (rants)

Richard Fulkerson’s article…

The article where they looked at citation practices and found how often Murray was cited.

How did UNH become “a writing university?”

Ways in:

·      Syllabus compare and contrast, 196X – 1987

·      The memo that Murray wrote as secretary on the big meeting

·      The memo on Freshman English and radical changes to the course

·      Publications from the 1980s that boast of a national reputation in the teaching of writing

1946-1966: An era of conformity, conservatism, and continuity

Looking Back at the UNH English Department during the post-war years.

Change coming…1960s

First major chapter: 1963-197?

Second major chapter 197?- 19