Thomas and Brufee

I think that, for the sake of the final, it would be very nice to have Thomas post his Power Point Presentation on Blackboard, because there was a lot of information in the presentation and not really enough time to let it all sink in.

As for the points on Brufee, he, like many of his contemporaries (Lunsford), argues for collaboration. However, his argument principally concerns human interaction, such as peer review, where another mind and voice can add to the writer's piece through questions about point of view and preconceived notions.

Brufee presented "Competing Models" for peer tutoring:

 - Monitoring (which deals primarily with a power-based diad where the tutor is "all-knowing" and the tutee knows nothing)

- Collaborative (the preferred method, where the tutor aids in the fundamentals of writing, an the tutee educates the tutor on the subject matter)

In the Collaborative method, the tutee brings the subject and support to the table, whereas the tutor can help refine the tutees writing methods.

Within the collaboration of education, Brufee commented on The Teacher, The Classroom and The Student. The teacher acts much like the tutor in that she contributes "her knowledge of learning, speaking, writing and thinking." The Classroom acts as a "real world construct" that models real conversation and writing that students will be expected to engage in once they leave academia. And The Students are the primary collaborators.

The benefits of collaboration, in a real-world context, seem to be much more logical than the drawbacks expressed in the presentation. However, Klayton raised a very good point. Some students act best on their own, especially if these students are constantly acting as both tutor and tutee in that they are constantly questioning what they know and are capable of. Lunsford seems to understand that a person can collaborate with a text or other ideas presented out of a real-world construct, and this did not seem to be what Brufee had in mind. I enjoy working in groups, to a certain extent, usually at the beginning of a project when ideas are scarce. When it comes time to get down to work, however, I do not want to be responsible for anyone else's activity, and, likewise, do not want anyone else to have to take responsibility for mine.

Brufee did have some good points, but he also seemed to offer a regurgitation of points already offered through our other readings and other theorists.