Showing that writing groups function first and foremost as literary events, this work argues that understanding writing groups as literary events requires that they be seen contextually. One can then begin to comprehend more fully the different types of collaboration that take place in writing groups across setting and communities and the nature of those collaborations. The contributors in this book address the following questions: What impact does gender, race and/or socioeconomic class have on power dynamics within writing groups? How does the local community of a writing group impact group members' participation in other local and global communities? When is a writing group a community, and are all writing groups communities? What actions contribute to a strong community of writers and what actions contribute to the breakdown of community? When and for whom are writing groups ineffective? Ultimately, what is it about belonging to a community of writers that makes writing groups appealing to so many within and beyond the academy? This book aims not to provide definitive answers to these questions, but to answer some of these questions as they relate to their local writing groups. It should be of interest to writing instructors, writing center directors and others involved with writing groups.
"Contents: B.L. Stay, Series Foreword. N.P. Highberg, B.J. Moss, M. Nicolas, Introduction: Writing Groups as Literary Events. Part I:Writing Groups Within the Curriculum: Pedagogical Approaches and Concerns.R. Jackson, ""I Don't Talk to Blacks,"" or Contextual Constraints on Peer Writing Groups in the Prison College Classroom. T.K.H. Piontek, Wrestling With the Angels: Writing Groups, Messy Texts, and Truly Collaborative Writing. J.A. Anderson, S.W. Murphy, Bringing the Writing Center Into the Classroom: A Case Study of Writing Groups. M. Gilewicz, Sponsoring Student Response in Writing Center Group Tutorials. S. Thomas, L. Smith, T.T. Barry, Shaping Writing Groups in the Sciences. H.B. Hessler, A.R. Taggert, Reciprocal Expertise: Community Service and the Writing Group. K. Day, M. Eodice, Coauthoring as Place: A Different Ethos. Part II:Writing Groups in the Extracurriculum: Broadening the Focus.C. Spigelman, ""Species"" of Rhetoric: Deliberative and Epideictic Models in Writing Group Settings. P. Mathieu, K. Westmoreland, M. Ibrahem, W. Plowman, C. Cohen, Questions of Time: Publishing and Group Identity in the StreetWise Writers Group. R.S. Nowacek, K. del Sol, Making Space for Collaboration: Physical Context and Role Taking in Two Singing and Songwriting Groups. L. Beckstead, K. Brooke, R. Brooke, K. Christensen, D. Jacobs, H.L.M. Jacobs, C. MacDaniels, J. Ratliff, The Thursday Night Writing Group: Crossing Institutional Lines. T.T. Barry, J.G. Bevins, M.K. Crawford, E. Demers, J.B. Hara, M.R. Hughes, M.A.K. Sherby, A Group of Our Own: Women and Writing Groups: A Reconsideration. E. Westbrook, Community, Collaboration, and Conflict: The Community Writing Group as Contact Zone. M. Nicolas, B.J. Moss, N.P. Highberg, Afterword."
Beverly J. Moss, Nels P. Highberg, Melissa Nicolas
Reviews for Writing Groups Inside and Outside the Classroom
"""The breadth of contexts represented in the book is nothing short of astonishing. Both academic and community groups can certainly learn from each other through this volume."" —The Writing Center Journal"
