Reading Response: Collaborative Writing

Bruffee's three principles for collaborative learning:

1. Because thought is internalized conversation, thought and conversation tend to work largely in the same way
2. If thought is internalized public and social talk, then writing of all kinds is internalized talk made public and social again. If thought is internalized conversation, then writing is internalized conversation re-externalized.
3. To learn is to work collaboratively to establish and maintain knowledge among a community of knowledgeable peers the process that Richard Rorty calls ‘“socially justifying belief.”’ (37)

The core of this rests on our belief that thought and conversation operate "largely in the same way." I may need to do further readings to understand what is meant by this, but it doesn't intrinsically strike me that thought and conversation serve the same purpose. Further, I would suggest that there is a difference between a conversation in which one person functions as "both parties" conversing and a conversation where two discrete minds (which cannot know thoughts of the other) function as separate parties.

Still, perhaps the point is not so much the outcome of thought and conversation but merely the act itself. That is, they operate "largely in the same way" only in that a conversation occurs. From this, I suppose there can be some usefulness in mapping similarities between thought and conversation as a way of bridging a gap between those who work alone and those who work together such that we can make the two feel similar and thus help students take advantage or either mode of collaboration (assuming we call thought collaboration...which I suppose we do given our social nature). If we can make them FEEL the same while acknowledging advantages of either mode, we can help students comfortably switch between modes depending on their needs.