post-process theory

Lee-Ann Kastman Breuch's article on "post process pedagogy" took the reader on a long complex journey with, as the author herself admited, a rather unusual payoff. To understand what the article is about one must first understand what process is. The author explains that process is the theory that writing is a process with three stages (prewriting, writing, and rewriting). Breuch and other scholars have started to distance themselves from this definition of writing however and at the present time it is easiest to call the belief system they hold "post process theory". One of the major struggles for scholars studying post process theory is that applying their beliefs to teaching writing (forming a pedagogy) has proved unusually difficult. It was surprising for me to read that some people who had done work in the field had already determined that, while the theory might be sound, it was impossible to translate the theory to teaching writing. After all the explanation of what the theory was an arguments attempting to convince the reader that post process theory was a relevant idea I was happy that Breuch at least made an effort to suggest a method that the theory might be applied.
Dates weren't really given for when this theory began to emerge but because the author spends a good deal of time at the beginning of her paper slapping down critics to the theory I assume that these ideas must be relatively new developments.
Three important ideas about post process theory according to Breuch are that: writing is public, writing is interpretive, and writing is situated. When considering that writing is public the author believes it is essential to remember that writing is for an audience. The goal shouldn't simply be to make the paper look correct the paper must also communicate ideas to the audience. Applying some pedagogies that have been traditionally defined as dialectic can help develop a pedagogy for post process theory under this assumption. Writing is interpretative suggests that the writing both for the writer and audience is open to interpretation. Questions can be raised regarding this idea such as, are there any ideas which are not open to interpretation? The author cites a few philosophers who believe that interpretation never stops. Since writing is situated some people have argued that classrooms shouldn't have a single blueprint and should be constantly changing and adapting. There is an antifoundational undercurrent to this particular part of the post process theory. This part of post process demans that the writer is always aware of the public and professional communities which will review their work.
In a twist that I didn't see coming the author suggested that perhaps the best way to teach post process theory writing is in a one on one basis through tutoring or a writing center. Students play a much more active role in their education in both of these situations which would help satisfy the three major ideas about writing I listed in the previous paragraph. Breuch admits that even this solution isn't the perfect pedagogy but believes the benefits and drawbacks that the theory contains as well as the challenges and rewards of the individualistic writing center and tutoring methods offer might become an ideal match. Breuch urges teachers to let go of more the ideas of pedagogy they were brought up with and embrace the needs of the students which she believes post process theory address.