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Ken Macrorie ContributionsThe Contributions of Ken MacrorieKen Macrorie has served as editor of College Composition and Communication, taught at Michigan
State, San Francisco State, and Western Michigan universities, and for thirteen summers was an instructor at the Bread Loaf School of English. He has published seven books: The I-Search Paper: Revised Edition of Searching Writing (1988), Telling Writing (1985) Writing to Be Read (1986), Uptaught (1996), Searching Writing (1994), Twenty Teachers (1987), and A Vulnerable Teacher (1975). Additionally, he has also published numerous essays for College Composition and Communication, College English, and The English Journal. Ken Macrorie’s biggest and most recognized contribution to composition was the I-Search paper. It is an
inquiry-based writing assignment suitable for any grade level. Founded in the Expressivism pedagogy (but having an impact on others such as Process and Collaborative), the I-Search project is a student-centered approach to teaching the research process, the end result is a research paper which has four components: a summary of what the student knows about the topic, a statement explaining why the student chose the topic including what the student wants to learn about the subject during the research process, a record of research activities, and what the student learned that was new as a result of the research process. By making the experience more personal, students will feel more empowered and confident in their writing. Erika Lindemann, while serving as the Director of Composition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
serving on the Executive Committee of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, and the Board of Directors of the College English Association in 1982 wrote of Macrorie that his “work generates questions because he asks us to think for ourselves. He urges us to discover what reading, writing, and teaching are about by I-Searching our experiences as teachers and users of language. . . Because Macrorie asks hard questions and is a searching, telling writer in answering them, his six books will continue to challenge our comfortable notions about teaching.” Macrorie’s central focus of the I-Search is self-discovery and is centrally writer-based. Believing that when students
possess a vested interest in a topic they will be motivated intrinsically to research further in-depth than if a topic is presented to them. He advocates using primary sources (interviews) rather than secondary sources to make the research more concrete and realistic. Topics vary in range, but generally fall into the categories of self-discovery, careers, or hobbies. He discourages the use of “Engfish,” the nonsensical, pretentious language by schools and the academy. Macrorie believes in the everyday language of real people, and practices what he preaches. In a book review, Dan Kirby writes that Macrorie writes “In unpretentious and most human language Macrorie
shares with readers his methods and results.” Kirby reveres Macrorie’s efforts, his knowledge, and application to the teaching of writing and discovers that “There’s a certain joy in watching a really good teacher at work. Ken Macrorie has been bringing that kind of joy to students and teachers alike for several years now by sharing his successes as a teacher of writing.” Macrorie has not been without his critics though. He has been criticized as being reductive and self-indulgent. In
1979, James Vopat of Carrol College wrote about Macrorie’s theories and states, “I am not against the world of experience. I am not against childhood, love affairs, or anger. I am not against the beauty and truth of the pain at a mother’s death. But I am against the isolated, unexamined reminiscence about such matters serving as the ‘starting point’ for a course in writing.” He continues on to say “. . . I do not think I could use such writing as a place to criticize style.” Additionally, in 1989, Susan Belasco Smith of Alleghany College wrote that “The I-Search Paper is not a new book
about writing. Computers and writing labs don’t enter the discussion, and much of Macrorie’s theory and pedagogy remains rooted in The Age of Aquarius.” Whether a proponent for or an advocator against Macrories I-Search project, there is no doubt that the I-Search
project has had a huge impact to the writing community as a whole and to those who follow Process and Expressivism pedagogies. Macrorie’s I-Search project has been developed by the Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), was the basis for Ken Wachsberger’s Transforming Lives: A Socially Responsible Guide to the Magic of Writing and Researching, now in its second edition. Wachsberger is an internationally respected editor and writer who has taught at Michigan colleges, universities, and prisons for more than twenty years and has been referred to as the dean of I-Search teachers today. Macrorie’s influence has also reached national writing program members such as Edward Darling, who is with the National Writing Project in Vermont at the University of Vermont, and Jay Herman with the Bay Area Writing Project, established in 1974 and has since spread to over 160 colleges and universities. |