Murray asserts that process should be taught over product as it is through the writing process that we discover language, the world, and ourselves. While the ideas presented in “Teaching Writing as a Process” are interesting and compelling, I am not sure how well they would work with our first year composition sequence. It seems, in many ways, incompatible. He states, “This is not a question of correct or incorrect, of etiquette or custom. This is a matter of far higher importance.” While this point is well taken, in our ENC1101 courses we do not have this luxury. When we grade our papers with the rubric provided, we are essentially saying there is a “correct” and “incorrect” way of writing. Further, he also advises that in order for students to seek and find the truth we must avoid giving them assignments as doing so “cheat[s] your student of the opportunity to learn the process of discovery.” Again, another incompatibility. Our sequence (at least for first year GTAs) comes with standard prompts and standard readings which will, for the most part, produce essays following the same lines of thinking. We know what kind of essay we want to be produced. We know what kind of “truth” we want them to find. So, can Murray’s ideas meet the goals of first year composition? We cannot answer that question until we determine what the goals are for first year composition, bringing us back to the discussion we had during our first class.
Sep 182015