The Peaceable Classroom

by Mary Rose O'Reilley, Peter Elbow (Foreword)

"Is it possible to teach English so that people stop killing each other?" When a professor dropped this question into a colloquium for young college teachers in 1967, at the height of the Vietnam War, most people shuffled their feet. For Mary Rose O'Reilley it was a question that would not go away; The Peaceable Classroom records one attempt to answer it. Out of her own experience, primarily as a college English teacher, she writes about certain moral connections between school and the outside world, making clear that the kind of environment created in the classroom determines a whole series of choices students make in the future, especially about issues of peace and justice. Animated throughout by the spirit of the personal essayist, The Peaceable Classroom first defines a pedagogy of nonviolence and then analyzes certain contemporary approaches to rhetoric and literary studies in light of nonviolent theory. The pedagogy of Ken Macrorie, Peter Elbow, and the National Writing Project is examined. The author emphasizes that many techniques taken for granted in contemporary writing pedagogy -- such as freewriting and journaling -- are not just educational fads, but rather ways of shaping a different human being. "Finding voice," then, is not only an aspect of writing process, but a spiritual event as well. To find voice, and to mediate personal voice in a community of others, is one of the central dialectics of the peaceable classroom. The author urges teachers to foster critical encounters with the intellectual and spiritual traditions of humankind and to reclaim the revolutionary power of literature to change things.

Genres: Teaching, Education, Spirituality

184 pages, Paperback

First published November 17, 1993

Reviews

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite teaching books. I love Mary Rose O'Reilley's gentle, peaceful approach to effecting change in the world.

[Linda Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book changed my life. Not everything is practical, but it's definitely a philosophy worth considering and perhaps adapting to your situation.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most important books about teaching that I have read. I really loved this book, and frequently return to its insights.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been meaning to get this book for a few years, but have found it quite difficult to find. And that is a pity in my view because this book deserves to be better known. In this book, Mary Rose O'Reilley uses a course on war poetry to reflect on the simple question, posed to her in the maelstrom of campus politics in the Vietnam War, "How do we teaching English without killing anyone?". That seems an odd question, but, at a time when flunking out of college lost one their deferment from the army, it was legitimate one.

The result is a rather meandering, but incredible insightful reflection on how does one run a peaceable classroom. That is, how does one encourage peace, while teaching English. I won't do a spoiler, of course, and, besides, O'Reilley is the last to think she has the answer for that question, since she is rather a 'live the question' kind of person. But this book raises important questions about how we teach students, how we run our classrooms and the complicated power dynamics in them and what kind of society do we want to see.

And, O'Reilley is funny. Well, okay, funny in a curmudgeonly way, which is an acquired taste, but with a genuine heart for her students and the world around her. I would read her on the subway going into work at my school and just laugh aloud at a passage.

But, as a caveat, keep in mind, the book is written twenty years ago and reflects experience from the late sixties and early seventies. Sometimes the language is jarring. It was a jarring then too, but more so now.

But, yes, if you're a teacher or a student or just interested in how to teach, definitely read this book!

[Rose Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a lot of ways, this book felt like coming home. I "grew up" as a teacher with Macrorie and Elbow and Parker, and O'Reilley's mentions of them signaled memories of immersing myself in their writing in college. Her writing style, her constant questions, her insistence on pacifism all took me back to a specific time in my pedagogical development, and that was a comfort.

But just as one can be forced to confront feelings of having outgrown their past upon returning home after time away, The Peaceable Classroom felt a little too small for the teacher I've become now. The epilogue resonated most with me, where O'Reilley volunteered to teach writing at a psych ward and had to reckon with this "teaching" experience in the midst of pretentious colleagues at conferences. She drew no trite conclusions and offered no easy truths. That chapter felt true--to her AND to me.

[Salamah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. I have been reading a lot for my dissertation and this was not what I expected. I was expecting something a little more academic but this was a wonderful break from the academic writing. It was down to earth, relatable and more human as a text. There is a lot of goodies sprinkled throughout the text. Overall it is about one's experience as a professor/teacher. Some of the gems I found were things I also feel as a teacher but it was nice to read that someone else felt the same way when they were in the classroom. One gem was what would it be like to teach from the conviction that are students are already artists, poets and in my case researchers? Another: select a vocation that helps realize your ideal of compassion. Another: Conform. Go Crazy. Be an Artist.

[D.J. Desmond · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’d say this is required reading for English teachers. It also just has good concepts on life. Life is a classroom, and it could be so much better. Freeweiting FTW