The Paperwork Revolution: A Manifesto for English Instructors

Jean Reynolds is a longtime English instructor, professional writer, editor and consultant who thinks a revolution is overdue: English instructors need to do less paperwork, and students need to do more learning. This provocative paper examines the power issues embedded in an activity most of us take for granted: grading student papers. Most English instructors, Reynolds says, spend endless hours editing and revising student papers. The inevitable results are exhaustion and burnout for instructors, and helplessness and confusion for students down the road when they're faced with workplace writing tasks. Reynolds believes that power issues are embedded within our traditional teaching models, with much of the knowledge and experience weighted heavily on the instructor's side. She advocates classroom practices that empower students to take ownership of their learning under the guidance of instructors who act as coaches and resources rather than paperwork machines.

Dr. Jean Reynolds is Professor Emerita at Polk State College in Winter Haven, Florida, where she taught English for over 30 years. She is the author of eleven books, including three books about writing, and she is co-author (with the late Mary Mariani) of "Police Talk" (Pearson).
She has taught basic education to inmates and served as a consultant on communications and problem-solving skills to staff in Florida's Department of Corrections. At Polk State College she has taught report writing classes for recruits and advanced report writing and FTO classes for police and correctional officers.
Jean Reynolds holds a doctorate in English from the University of South Florida and is an internationally recognized Shaw scholar. She is the author of "Pygmalion's Wordplay: The Postmodern Shaw," and the co-editor of "Shaw and Feminisms: Onstage and Off," both published by the University Press of Florida.
She is an accomplished ballroom dancer. She and her husband, garden writer Charles J. Reynolds, live in Florida, where they enjoy reading and traveling.