Donald Murray, writer and educator, passed away on December 30. To me and many other writing teachers, A Writer Teaches Writing and “Teach Writing as Process Not Product” are foundational, landmark texts; ones that continue to hold much value.
Donald Murray, RIP
Everybody’s talking on WPA about the fact that Murray always required his graduate students, mentees, etc. to take up an activity they don’t know how to do, an activity that is a challenge, so that they always have a fresh understanding of what it’s like to be in the position of learner of something completely new and intimidating. And he would have his graduate students write about how that activity enhanced the way they understood the writing process.
Oh no! He was one of the first writers/teachers/theorists that I read before graduate school, and his ideas are ones that I keep coming back to year after year. Murray blended common sense and craft in ways that made learning to teach writing (as a process) exciting and fruitful.