Nonviolent Response by Sheri Rysdam

Nonviolent Response by Sheri Rysdam

The words teachers write on student work have the power to help students think critically and to hone and project their voices with confidence. They also have the power to shut students down. These words may affect student identity, motivation, and improvement of writing skills. Research suggests that many of the types of comments teachers and other reviewers write on student papers are negative, nonsensical, unhelpful, and even potentially harmful, especially for first-generation, working-class, and otherwise disenfranchised students. This harm can be understood as a form of violence. Nonviolent Response, which is centered on tenets for nonviolent teaching practices, presents an approach to writing responses that helps eliminate harmful affect and integrates efficient, carefully crafted, and clear guidance to writers. Sheri Rysdam and JT Torres offer evidence-based methods for effective, timesaving, motivational responses useful to teachers of writing and other responders or reviewers in professional and public contexts.

Drawing on Indigenous theories of listening, connectedness, and equality, Sheri Rysdam and JT Torres offer a model of nonviolent response with powerful implications for teachers and others committed to empathetic engagement with writingStriking the perfect balance between theory and practice, the book makes a compelling case for this approach to response, and its reflective prompts equip readers to undertake this valuable work.

-- Ellen C. Carillo, University of Connecticut

Nonviolent Response offers a framework to not only revise the ways teachers think about response strategies and techniques in relation to student writing (especially marginalized students), but also to rethink the craft and delivery of personal, professional, and civic response. Notably, the authors draw on current learning science, in addition to contemporary composition theory, to offer a fresh understanding of familiar material.

-- Steven Corbett, Methodist University

Sheri Rysdam (Author)
Sheri Rysdam is professor in English/Writing and director of the Writing Center at Eastern Oregon University. She is also author of The Doula Dialectic: Feminist Rhetorics for Childbirth.

JT Torres (Author)
JT Torres is director of the Houston H. Harte Center for Teaching and Learning at Washington and Lee University. He is the coeditor of How to Incorporate Equity and Justice in Your Teaching and the coauthor of How to Use Writing for Teaching and Learning and the arts-based ethnography Situated Narratives and Sacred Dance: Performing the Entangled Histories of Cuba and West Africa.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780822948995
ISBN 10	0822948990
Title	Nonviolent Response
Author	Sheri Rysdam
Series	Composition Literacy And Culture
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	University of Pittsburgh Press
Year published	2026-05-05
Number of pages	240
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.