Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric Apr 2013 Open Access

Prison Collaborative Writing: Building Strong Mutuality in Community-Based Learning

Grace Wetzel ; “Wes”

Abstract

This essay explores the pedagogical lessons of student-inmate peer reviews conducted during a prison outreach project in a first-year composition class. Collaborative writing between inmates and students reveals the positive outcomes that can result from strong mutuality in community-based learning relationships. Through a qualitative analysis of student reflection papers and prisoner oral reflections, this essay shows how an emphasis on the personal during this project did not preclude systemic considerations, but rather produced productive, political outcomes. This essay concludes with a response from my community partner—a prisoner in a medium security facility and participant in the peer reviews. We hope to demonstrate how a reciprocal, relationship-based orientation can facilitate not only productive community-based learning outcomes for students and communities, but also a new type of scholarship—one more thoroughly enriched by community voices.

Journal
Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric
Published
2013-04-01
DOI
10.59236/rjv12i2pp66-89
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Open Access
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Topics
first-year composition writing pedagogy service learning collaborative writing
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References (14) · 3 in this index

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     ↗
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  4. Cushman (2002)
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    College Composition and Communication
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Show all 14 →
  1. Goldblatt (2005)
    Alinsky's Reveille: A Community-Organizing Model for Neighborhood-Based Literacy Projects
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  2. Herzberg (1994)
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    College Composition and Communication
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    College Composition and Communication
  4. Kerr (2004)
    Between Ivy and Razor Wire: A Case of Correctional Correspondence
    Reflections
  5. Pompa (2004)
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  6. Schutz (1998)
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