WRITING GROUP PROCEDURE

 

Descriptive Responding

Note:   The emphasis of this response procedure is feedback (“This is what I heard") rather than advice (“I think you should. . . “) or evaluation (“Sounds good to me.”)

 

1.       The person on the writer's left reads the writer's draft aloud.

2.       The writer reads her own draft aloud. (Second reading of same draft, if time.)

3.       After both readings of the draft, listeners write down their responses.

a)       List memorable words and phrases

b)      Summarize what the piece is about

(What seems to you to be the main point or focus of the draft?)

c)       Discuss any questions you have about the draft

4.       At the same time, the writer writes down what she noticed as her piece was being read by the group member.

5.       Writer and listeners read their responses aloud and talk about them.

6.       The writer tells about his intended audience, his goals for the piece, the problem areas in the paper, and so on.  The group discusses any questions the writer wishes to ask.

7.       Written responses are handed to the writer.

8.       The same procedure is used with the next writer.

One member of the group should be responsible to see that each writer's work receives a reasonable and fair amount of time.

 

 

A quick summary of possible approaches for descriptive response:

 

¨      Sayback.  “Say back to me in your own words what you hear me getting at in my writing.”

¨      Pointing.  “Which words or phrases stick in your mind?  Which passages did you like best?”

¨      Summarizing.  “What do you hear as my main point or idea or event or feeling?  What do you hear as the subsidiary (or supporting) ones?”

¨      What’s Almost Said.  “What’s almost said, implied, or hovering around the edges of what I’ve written?  What would you like to hear more about?

¨      Center of Gravity.  “What seems to be the source of energy, the focal point, the center for this piece?”  (The “center of gravity” may not be the “main point,” but rather some imager, phrase, quotation, detail, or example.)

¨      Structure, Voice,Point of View, Attitude toward Reader; Level of Abstraction or Concreteness, Language, etc.  Ask readers to describe some of these features of your writing.  This can be done at any stage of your writing when you feel you need more perspective.

 

--from Peter Elbow and Pat Belanoff, Sharing and Responding (New York: Random House, 1989).  See also Elbow and Belanoff, Being a Writer: A Community of Writers Revisited (McGraw-Hill, 2003) for other useful kinds of group response: SKELETON FEEDBACK, BELIEVING AND DOUBTING, and CRITERION-BASED FEEDBACK.

 

Download an RTF version of Writing Group Procedure.