Though it’s contrary to every impulse teachers have, not marking student papers not only saves time but is consistent with decades of research showing that teacher corrections inhibit learning and teacher comments are usually ignored or misunderstood. “The greatest thing I’ve learned about teaching composition is to sit on your hands the first time you read a student’s paper,” Mayberry said. All of this learning is accomplished without Mayberry scrawling notes in red pen in the margins of his students’ papers. The writer of the piece that’s being talked about seems more relaxed with the input of his peers, and with the guidance of Mayberry the students suggest changes to his work that will make it stronger. ![]() Mayberry concentrates on each student as he or she reads, and when he or she finishes reading he asks the student’s classmates questions about the piece. Watching his students, as they read aloud the third essay they have written in the early weeks of the semester, it seems like they are all still testing the boundaries of writing beyond the comfort zone of the five-paragraph essay. Through this exercise and other assignments Mayberry is giving his students the tools they need to look at things differently. He knows the value this quick writing exercise bears, and for three minutes nothing this crop of 18-year-olds writes will be the wrong answer. While his students continue to write, Mayberry sits and quietly observes. “Writing is fun like putting together a puzzle is fun,” he said with a smile. His teaching career began as a composition instructor at the University of Oklahoma in 1979, and over the years he has taught at seven other institutions before taking a position at CSUCI. Along with his work as an instructor, Mayberry is a playwright who has published eight plays, most recently one in 2002 titled: “A Single Numberless Death,” which recounts the experiences of a woman who was captured by the secret police of the Argentine military junta during the Dirty Little War of the 1970s. The process of writing is something Mayberry, associate professor of English and director of the Composition Program at CSUCI, knows well as it is one of his favorite pastimes. I’m teaching them the process of writing,” Mayberry explained. “They come into my class just out of high school knowing how to write a polished five-paragraph essay. Everyone in this classroom is writing, and for three minutes no one is staring back at Mayberry with a blank look on his or her face. ![]() Mayberry is asking his students to jump-start their minds with an exercise that will trigger words to travel from the mind to where the pen or pencil touches the paper. “Write! Whatever comes to your mind, just write it down for the next three minutes, go!” “Art is what you can get away with.’ What does Andy mean by that,” asked Bob Mayberry to a room full of freshmen. Professor Bob Mayberry Teaches Students the 'Write' Way
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