Writing Performance in the Classroom

Before I even comment on this week’s article “Performing Writing, Performing Literacy,” I want to address how teaching 102 has affected the way I now read articles. I caught myself deliberately looking for the authors’ rhetorical moves, and when I detected them, I made notes, not just for the sake of annotating this article but to think about how I would mimic the moves in my own writing. The article opens with a breakdown of composition research then explains the methodology of the said study before launching into the pedagogical implications of incorporating writing performance in the classroom. At this moment in my writing timeline, I am particularly interested in the moves articles make because I am drafting my thesis prospectus. Consciously, I have never paid as close attention to the steps an article takes in relaying information to the reader. Usually I am too wrapped up in analyzing the content, rather than both the content and the form.
One of the first research question asked by the authors of this piece is “Can we expand our curricula and our pedagogies to make room for performance in the writing classroom?” (226) Throughout the article they answer this question by suggesting that performance “stands to reinvigorate both teaching and learning in the writing classroom” (227). Realizing that performance cannot be separated from audience, the writer is forced to think about the complexity and individuality of every piece. Knowing that a piece will be performed effects every step of the writing process and often serves as motivation for the writer to think about not just the clarity and organization of the material but the entertainment value for the proposed audience. Take for example, 102’s performance component. In groups, our students will present their research project on a particular academic discourse community. The more successful performances will be those that are organized around specific research questions, such as the study illustrated in this article.
But as the article claims, the performance element of writing does not only come at the end of the process; it can come at the beginning or even the middle. One of the student writer contributors, Beth McGregor, describes her performance as a writer. She takes on a character while she is writing, who assists her in silencing her inner critic in order to conquer writer’s block. This section reminds me of Ballinger’s advice in The Curious Writer to give the writer “permission to write badly.” In McGregor’s case, acting like a writer, or taking on the character of a writer, helps her to write. She describes this liberating experience, “Success! My paper got written, largely because of the help of an adopted character, who was just an elevated form of myself, but a character, nonetheless […]” (236). The performance aspect of writing is not reserved for the end but any part of the process. Writing performance as a tool should be implemented in our composition courses because it is empowering and relevant for our students.