Brian Sztabnik Susan Barber Jennifer Dines Rusul Alrubail Ruth Arseneault Sarah Donovan Rebecca Mieliwocki Tracy Enos David Cohen Jori Krulder The Best Lesson Series Writing 15

Table of contents :
Acknowledgements
About This Book
Editor’s Note
Table of Contents
Teaching Social Justice Through Literary Analysis
“Essayer” Means “To Try”: Ending the Plague of Plagiarism
The Art of Persuasion
Using Mentor Texts For Autobiographical Essays
Talking Back to the Culture of Silence: Unpacking Community Violence through Essay Writing
Bearing Witness Through Biographical Narrative
Teaching the Writing Workshop Through Playlists:
A Blended Approach
The Mini-Multi-Genre Research Project
What Counts Cannot Always Be Counted: Examining Our Assumptions About Evidence in Argument Writing
Let Form Follow Function
The Bad Ad Analysis: Teaching Critical Thinking and Rhetorical Analysis Through Advertisements
Big Things Come in Small Packages
Final Exam Reflection Essay: Seeing Ourselves Grow as Writers
Believing and Doubting as Peer Critique
Write Like a P.O.E.T.

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Copyright © 2018 by Talks with Teachers All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below. Talks with Teachers www.talkswithteachers.com Editor: Brian Sztabnik Copy Editor: Ruth Arseneault Cover Design: Rob Allen Interior Design: Steven Plummer / SPBookDesign

Acknowledgements “One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.” ― Jack Kerouac

I want to thank all 14 teachers that had the patience to see this book through to the end. It was written by teachers, edited by a teacher, and published by a teacher. It has been a labor of love, with teachers involved in every step of the way. In these pages you will find a part of each teacher’s soul. It is our way of bringing our love of the classroom, our students, and writing to you.

About This Book Talks with Teachers started with a conversation in the car. My wife and I are both teachers with nearly 30 years of combined experience in the classroom. Three years ago we saw the conversation in education moving in the wrong direction. It felt like a dark time to be a teacher because the classroom had become a political punching bag and everyone was pointing fingers. No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top introduced crazy evaluation metrics that overemphasized test scores and did little to honor the relationships that exists between teachers and students. Budgets were being cut, yet teachers were being asked to do more. Our system and our results were being compared to countries like China, Finland, and Singapore, and it all mixed together to create a toxic cocktail of pressure, blame, and uncertainty. While all this tension existed, little attention was given to the voices of teachers. Jess and I wanted to do something to move the needle in the right direction. We wanted to promote the wonderful stories that teachers had about themselves and their classrooms. In the car that day, we decided to start a podcast because we wanted to shine a spotlight on all the amazing things teachers were doing in spite of all the negativity. We wanted to hear and share stories of how teachers had succeeded, the struggles they were able to overcome, the resources that had helped them, and the tips that they could offer to others. By late afternoon that day we were buying a microphone on Amazon and learning everything we could about podcast production and website development. Talks with Teachers quickly became the number 1 show on iTunes in the K-12 category. Empowered and invigorated from all these wonderful stories, I started writing about my own classroom experiences and providing tips for teachers on www.talkswithteachers.com. I used the blog to reflected on who I was as a teacher and what was working in my classroom. It also allowed me to think through challenges I was facing and articulate what I was doing and why. This reflective

thinking and writing made me a better teacher. I became more authentic in the classroom because I was in my students’ shoes—just like them I had to find the right words that would clarify my central claim. I had to find ways interesting ways to incorporate anecdotal evidence and research with fluidity and grace. I too had to find my own voice. In the fall of 2015, we published The Best Lesson Series: Literature. It was our way to move beyond a podcast and a blog and have a lasting impact by creating a tangible resource that teachers could use with specific, concrete lessons for them to incorporate into their own teaching. Fifteen master teachers pulled back the curtain on their classrooms and shared a glimpse of what worked in their classroom. It has helped thousands of teachers find new ways to reach their students through literature. Now, in your hands, is the second edition, The Best Lesson Series: Writing. I have found that writing instruction is one of the hardest things to do in the classroom. As William Faulkner said, “I don’t think anybody can teach anybody anything. I think that you learn it, but the young writer that is as I say demon-driven and wants to learn and has got to write, he don’t know why, he will learn from almost any source that he finds. He will learn from older people who are not writers, he will learn from writers, but he learns it — you can’t teach it.” So how do you help a student learn it? How do you do it when you have 100+ students that you need to help? I guess that’s why writing often gets reduced to a formula, a plug-and-play Mad Libs game that discourages independent thinking and promotes conformity. And that is a shame, because students are capable of so much more. In this book, we will take you beyond formulas and outlines. You will find innovative approaches to writing instruction that develop strong, original writers. These lessons can transform your classroom. The 15 teachers featured in this volume have shared their best writing lesson. Some are stand-alone lessons, others are short units, yet each chapter offers dynamic ways to improve student writing.

Editor’s Note This book was created with students in mind. It does not follow the typical lesson-plan format. It does not favor educational jargon and buzzwords. It was written with passion and love by 15 master teachers that want to share what has worked so well for them. Each lesson has been tested in real classrooms with students of all levels and capabilities. They have been honed over the years, resulting in engaged students, intense discussions, critical thinking and outbursts of creativity. They represent the best writing lessons from a select group of master teachers. And now they are yours to make your own. How the Book is Formatted In each chapter you will find: The story of the lesson’s inspiration. A backwards-designed lesson plan that emphasizes student learning, not abstract standards. Handouts, links, and resources. A reflection on what made the lesson memorable. Go to www.bestlessonseries.com for all handouts and resources.

Table of Contents Teaching Social Justice Through Literary Analysis by Rusul Alrubail “Essayer” Means “To Try”: Ending the Plague of Plagiarism by Ruth Arseneault The Art of Persuasion by Susan Barber Using Mentor Texts For Autobiographical Essays by David Cohen Talking Back to the Culture of Silence: Unpacking Community Violence through Essay Writing by Jennifer Dines Bearing Witness Through Biographical Narrative by Sarah J. Donovan Teaching the Writing Workshop Through Playlists: A Blended Approach by Tracy Enos The Mini-Multi-Genre Research Project by Todd Finley What Counts Cannot Always Be Counted: Examining Our Assumptions About Evidence in Argument Writing by Troy Hicks

Let Form Follow Function by Carol Jago The Bad Ad Analysis: Teaching Critical Thinking and Rhetorical Analysis Through Advertisements by Jori Krulder Big Things Come in Small Packages by Rebecca Mieliwocki Final Exam Reflection Essay: Seeing Ourselves Grow as Writers by Renee Moore Believing and Doubting as Peer Critique by Jodi Rice Write Like a P.O.E.T. by Brian Sztabnik

Teaching Social Justice Through Literary Analysis By Rusul Alrubail “When people frequently ask me, ‘What changed your life; what enabled you to come from this working-class, segregated home where [your] parents were not college-educated people into being one of our nation’s well-known intellectuals?’ [My answer is,] ‘It’s there in that space where I learned to be a reader and a critical thinker.’” —Bell Hooks

The Story Behind the Lesson Before teaching, I have always asked myself, “How can I help students to think, read, and write critically using a social justice lens?” Social justice was and still is a subject I am very passionate about, and combining that with critical thinking creates a powerful tool to introduce to students. Literary analysis is a vital aspect I cover in my classroom as a method to help students think and engage critically with the text. As I’ve progressed further in my teaching career, I’ve come to realize that social justice can be taught through literary analysis of the text. This practice helps students to understand the literary elements that are combined to deliver larger themes and issues to the readers. I found that discussions about social justice, culture, race, gender, ethnicity, and other issues that relate to students’ backgrounds and real life resonated with my students, especially students of colour. Many of my students were international students and EnglishLanguage Learners, and seeing them connect with stories on a personal level was very rewarding. The discussions and writings that stemmed from lessons such as this one allowed my students to think about concepts and issues that directly related to them and were very much relevant to their everyday lives. Integrating social justice in my lessons required me to do a bit of research into ways to have conversations in the classroom about those issues. It’s important to first foster a culture where students feel safe to contribute their thoughts and ideas meaningfully and respectfully regarding the subject at hand. Maintaining a safe

environment for students to voice their perspectives, opinions, and voices is my first priority, so fostering relationships with students and truly connecting with them as we explore issues they care about was a key to the success of this lesson and every other lesson that my students and I have. When it comes to nonfiction, one of my main goals is to help students to discern between subjectivity and objectivity. However, when it comes to works of fiction, such as short stories, it’s important that students first do a close reading in order to analyze all the different elements in the text. Close reading allows students to grapple with literary elements so they can then analyze their significance and develop a fuller understanding of the text. The ongoing process of literary analysis allows students to develop the critical thinking, reading, and writing skills that are essential to sharing and discussing the larger issues at stake. The last important stage in teaching social justice through literary analysis is to help students gather textual evidence to prove their point of view and opinions. We all have opinions, but supporting them with textual evidence allows us to present a strong argument that critically engages others in the conversation. The powerful story “So What Are You, Anyway?” by Lawrence Hill allows students to understand some of the complexities of racism and prejudice. The story’s simple language makes it easy to digest; however, its subtle literary techniques may make it necessary for you to offer students guidance on how to analyze connections between the techniques and the story’s characters, setting, and theme.

Teaching Social Justice Through Literary Analysis LEARNING GOALS BROAD IMPLICATIONS Students will understand that: Paying attention to detail in short stories helps us to further understand the characters, themes, and other literary techniques, Gathering evidence to support claims is vital to prove a point, Analyzing narration and point of view is essential to critiquing a short story’s impact.

KNOWLEDGE GAINED Students will know: Definitions of literary strategies used in the story, How specific strategies were used in the story to help advance plot, characters, theme, etc., How to write a strong thesis statement that clearly indicates main ideas and perspective, How to review peers’ essays.

SKILLS ACQUIRED Students will be able to: Locate evidence from the text to support their points of view and opinions, Identify specific literary strategies used in the text, Write a literary analysis essay that uses textual evidence to support a claim,

Provide feedback about their peers’ thesis statement and analysis.

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING Students will: Answer questions about different literary techniques and strategies in the story, Share their notes and discuss their answers with the rest of the class, Write a literary analysis essay where they will make an argument and support their opinions using textual evidence from the story, Complete an essay follow-up that will include a peer review sheet offering feedback and suggestions to peers regarding the rough draft of their essays.

LEARNING PLAN Pre-Reading Activity Doing a prereading activity before diving into Lawrence Hill’s “So What Are You, Anyway?” initiates thinking about personal experiences with some of the themes and issues associated with the story. A prereading activity also helps to sustain students’ engagement with the topic at hand. Reflect, Write, and Discuss Have students think about a time when someone asked them an uncomfortable question that they didn’t want to answer or didn’t know how to answer. Give them time to consider the following questions: What was the exchange? How did it make you feel? How did you deal with the situation? Was there someone that helped you out?

Students can share their thoughts with a peer or in a small group. Remind them that they might share their responses with the rest of the class. Of course, not all students have to share; some may want to keep their experiences private and just listen in the group. It’s important to provide an option not to share so that you are sustaining a safe classroom culture where students feel comfortable in sharing their experiences willingly. They might simply discuss answers with their teammates, or they might write out their answers. For some students, writing it down might come in handy later when they are composing their essays. After-Reading Literature Circles It might help students to discuss the concept of literary techniques before this lesson. Students should have a basic knowledge of some literary techniques, and generally understand why authors use them in stories to drive other elements, such as themes, characters, and setting. Students should have access to definitions of literary techniques as well. Eventually they won’t need the definitions sheet any more, as they will become well-versed in their definitions. “So What are You, Anyway?” is a very short story; it can easily be read in the classroom. Have students create groups of 3-5 people. Each group will receive 3-4 comprehension and literary analysis questions to guide them through the different elements of the story. After students complete the questions, discuss the groups’ responses as a whole class. Remind the students to take notes, especially when other groups are sharing their answers, so that they document different ideas and analyses. When students provide answers, guide them toward providing textual evidence to support their analysis and comprehension. This should prepare them to cite sufficient evidence when it comes time to write their essays. Comprehension and Discussion Questions

1. How old do you think Carole is? Can you find textual evidence to prove this? 2. Who are the Nortons? Describe them using details from the story. 3. What question do the Nortons keep asking Carole? How does it make Carole feel? Find evidence to describe how Carole feels about the Nortons’ questioning. 4. What is the main theme of the story? What contributes to its development? Literary Technique Questions 1. Setting: Where does the story take place? How does the setting relate to Carole’s feelings throughout the story? Teacher Tip: Carole feels isolated and alone while being in a place with the Nortons. It’s important that students see the setting as a technique that the author uses to emphasize the themes of loneliness, othering, and isolation. 2. Irony: What is ironic about the Nortons asking Carole such a question in the setting of an airplane? Teacher Tip: Try to steer students to see the irony that Hill so subtly insinuates throughout the story. The setting is on an airplane, a place that holds people from many different cultures and backgrounds. The airplane should be a diverse place, where people shouldn’t feel out of place, yet the Nortons manage to make Carole feel out of place. 3. Narration: How does the narrator help us see Carole’s point of view, feelings, and thoughts throughout the story? Teacher Tip: It’s important to go over the types of narrators with students. Knowing the difference between narrative voices and points of view will help students to understand the perspective of the narrator. Guide students to understand that the narrator is asking us to empathize with Carole by describing her thoughts and feelings to us,

whereas we don’t hear the Nortons’ thoughts and feelings, except in their dialogue. 4. Dialogue: How does the dialogue develop throughout the story? How does the dialogue help us to further understand the characters? Teacher Tip: Guide students to focus on the tone of the dialogue and who’s steering the conversation. In this case, analyzing the dialogue would help students to see Carole’s innocence, which relates back to the first question about her age. Carole is much too young to be having such a conversation alone with the Nortons, let alone to be questioned by them in such a way. Her vulnerability and their lack of empathy is illustrated by the dialogue that Hill intensifies throughout the story. After students answer the questions in their groups, provide an opportunity for the whole class to share their discussion. Emphasize that each group has expertise in the questions they just answered, and now it’s time to share their knowledge with the other groups. At this point, students have already experienced how to analyze a literary technique and use textual evidence to support an argument. They would also have encountered several different perspectives and opinions from the class discussion. It’s a great time to get them to write their own thoughts using all the knowledge that they just acquired. Assignment Write an essay that focuses on one or more literary techniques in the story “So What Are You, Anyway?” by Lawrence Hill. Discuss how this technique relates to one of the following elements: characters, setting, theme. Your essay should use evidence from the story to support your analysis. Your essay should include: an introduction (with a thesis statement), paragraphs with topic sentences, supporting ideas, evidence, explanation (analysis) of evidence, and a conclusion. Reflection

Provide the students some time to read and understand what the essay prompt asks them to do. Direct students to their notes from the comprehension/analysis questions to find and develop connections on which they’d like to focus in the essay. Documentation is very important throughout this process. Encourage students to highlight key ideas in their work, either manually or using apps such as Evernote or Diigo. This allows them to go back to specific ideas that they might use in their essay. Remind students that even though it’s a short story, they need to cite the paragraph number for easy access when pulling out quotes. Outline Writing an outline helps students see their thoughts and writing process on paper. It can also help them focus their ideas to clarify them and make them more specific. An outline is also beneficial for organization and structure, helping the writer develop the main idea and showing how they will prove it. Here are some of the areas that students can include in their outlines: Introduction and thesis statement; Topic sentences for each body paragraph; Quotations that will be used in each paragraph; Analysis of the quotations; Conclusion, which can include their opinion. Some students may be reluctant to start by making an outline and would prefer to dive into writing. Rather than encouraging them to compose an outline, allow them to use a writing strategy with which they are comfortable. If they do not have an outline, they can present a first draft to peer review. Peer Feedback The process of peer feedback should begin a couple of days after students have started to write their outlines and drafts. Tell students to expect a peer feedback workshop at the beginning of this lesson—

that way, they can mentally prepare for the idea that their work will be read by their classmates. You can create some tips on a Google Doc to guide students through the process of peer review. Consider adding the following information to your checklist: What they should look for when they’re reviewing their peers’ work (thesis statement, topic sentence, textual evidence); Tips on how they should provide comments (Criticism must be constructive and positive. Students should offer at least one positive point and one area in which their peer needs to improve); Remind students that they’re not assessing technical elements such as grammar, spelling, or format. Rather, they are focusing on content, structure, organization, strength of argument, and thesis statement. The peer feedback workshop may be done with either pairs or a small group. While the students are checking each other’s work, you should call each student to have a one-on-one session with you. This will not prevent them from completing their peer feedback because you will do this with all students in your classroom. When you are workshopping with the student one-on-one, make sure to ask them the following questions about their work: How did you feel about the topic? How was the writing process? What was one aspect that you struggled with while writing this paper? What was one aspect that you found to be very easy to do while writing this paper? The one-on-one workshop shouldn’t take more than five minutes with each student, although some students will need more time with you than others. After they’re finished discussing their work and progress with you, they may return to their peer-review.

Final Stage of Writing After students have received the feedback from you as well as their peers, they are now equipped with numerous ways to improve their ideas and writing. They should look through their work, notes, feedback, and documentations to see how to incorporate and merge all these areas in their writing. This might take up a class on its own, where they’re writing and composing quietly. This type of final-stage writing workshop also helps struggling writers who may need more advice, feedback, and support from you or their peers. Wrap-up After the students have submitted their essays, it’s best to do a bit of a debrief together as a class regarding the writing process. Encourage students to have an open discussion about what worked, what didn’t, and how you can improve the process together next time around. This stage is pedagogically necessary for you as a teacher, as it will help to inform you about the effectiveness of your pedagogy and students’ engagement and learning. It is also beneficial for students to hear the takeaways, concerns, and other issues that are important to the process of writing.

HANDOUTS/LINKS/RESOURCES Alrubail, Rusul. “The Power of Peer Feedback.” Edutopia. Web. March 5, 2016. http://www.edutopia.org/discussion/power-peerfeedback Alrubail, Rusul. “Teaching Literary Analysis.” Edutopia. Web. March 5, 2015. http://www.edutopia.org/blog/reaching-literary-analysis-rusulalrubail Alrubail, Rusul. “Critical Thinking and Textual Analysis: An Example Using Romeo and Juliet.” Heart of a Teacher. Web. March 5, 2016. http://rusulalrubail.com/2016/01/01/critical-thinking-textual-analysisan-example/ Alrubail, Rusul. “Strategies to Help Struggling Writers.” Edutopia. Web. March 5, 2015. http://www.edutopia.org/blog/strategies-to-helpstruggling-writers-rusul-alrubail Alrubail, Rusul. The Writing Project. Computer software. The Writing Project. The Writing Project, 01 Dec. 2014. Web. 05 Mar. 2016. .

Hicks, Troy. Crafting Digital Writing: Composing Texts around Media and Genres. Heinemann Publishing. 2013. Hill, Lawrence. “So What Are You, Anyway?”March 5, 2016. Web. https://docs.google.com/viewer? a=v&pid=sites&srcid=b2Nkc2IuY2F8bXItc2hlYS1vY2RzYnxneDoyM WI1ZWNiOGE1OGIzYjU2 Sztabnik, Brian. “4 Steps to Better Writers.” Edutopia. Web. March 5, 2016. http://www.edutopia.org/blog/4-steps-to-better-writers-briansztabnik Wiggins, Grant. “On Close Reading, part 2.” May 17, 2013. Web. March 5, 2016. https://grantwiggins.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/onclose-reading-part-2/

WHAT MADE IT MEMORABLE Representation matters in literature, and so it matters in the classroom. An instrumental aspect of teaching for social justice is incorporating a diverse set of readings for the students—diverse in subject, authors, and themes. Exposing students to stories about gender, race, culture, discrimination, prejudice, and many other social justice issues is just as important as exposing them to works by women and authors of colour. This exposure allows students to connect to the work, but it also inspires every student to read and engage with the work of someone who looks like them. This type of representation in the classroom helps to cultivate an environment for all students to feel safe in expressing their voice and identity, and to engage in critical conversations about issues that are meaningful to them. Teaching “So What Are You, Anyway?” by Lawrence Hill is always a memorable lesson as it’s a time where many of my students feel comfortable to share their experiences and encounters with interactions similar to what Carole experiences. Having discussions about racism, bias, and prejudice is often hard for teachers to do, but I find that many students want to have these conversations because they have a direct impact on their everyday lives. Students of colour and English-Language Learners really do connect with readings that touch on themes of isolation, injustice, fear, and loneliness. This is a sad truth, but with such important discussions that cover and touch

on these themes happening in class, students no longer feel alone. Many of my students have shared that they have been through tough encounters similar to the one Carole had with the Nortons, and willingly talking about these experiences helped them to feel a sense of solidarity amongst their peers. And that alone can make all the difference in our classroom.

AUTHOR BIO Rusul Alrubail is the Executive Director of The Writing Project, a student literacy and publishing platform. She is also the author of “Digital Writing for English Language Learners”, a speaker, and a social justice advocate. Alrubail has taught English and literature courses to college and undergraduate students. She has published with Edutopia, Education Week, PBSNewshour, EdWeek Teacher, Teaching Tolerance, Educational Leadership, Edsurge, Medium and other prominent publications. Her work focuses on teacher professional development and training, pedagogical practices in and out of the classroom, English-Language Learners, equity and social justice, and media literacy as a means for professional development. Alrubail believes in the power of student voice and agency as one of the main elements that can shift education forward and empower others to create positive change in people’s lives. You can follow Rusul on Twitter at @RusulAlrubail.

“Essayer” Means “To Try”: Ending the Plague of Plagiarism By Ruth Arseneault “How do I know what I think until I see what I say?” ―E. M. Forster

The Story Behind the Lesson I had a dreadful experience at the beginning of my teaching career. It resulted in my feeling betrayed, my beloved students being angry and anxious, and parents threatening legal action. Plagiarism. Back when students and teachers were just beginning to realize the potential of the Internet, I foolishly sent my darlings off on Christmas break with instructions to draft the Shakespeare essay they had been researching. Almost a third of my grade 12 students returned to school with plagiarized essays. Offences ranged from the obviously accidental to the ridiculously obvious (one young swain printed his paper directly from a website—photos, header, URL, and all). Although I was aware that students could copy and paste information, I was still blindsided by the extent of the plagiarism, the boldness of students’ use of work that was not their own, the absolute refusal of some students to accept responsibility for the problem. It made me sad that their essays were worse than lacklustre, and that many of them were capable of much better work than what they had found online. Never again. I realized a few things from this experience and from subsequent disasters and glitches in teaching the essay. I considered plagiarism a moral lapse that should righteously be punished with a zero, but I knew my students. They were not shifty kids. Their plagiarism stemmed from fear, disconnect, and uncertainty about how to proceed. Traditional “canned” essay prompts rarely inspire excellent student work anyhow, and with the temptations of the digital essay singing the siren song of the easy out, I knew I had to provide opportunities for personalized topics and support students to find their own ways through a text.

Unless students feel confident expressing their own ideas, unless they genuinely have ideas and opinions to express, essays will be wooden, derivative, sparse, plagiarized. Students need to find out about themselves as readers and writers so that they can transfer the skills they practice when writing essays to multiple situations. A high school essay unit should lead learners through the process without their fear of failure inciting them to plagiarize, or at the very least without their being able to plagiarize easily. Instead of hiding the “I” of the author under a façade of fauxobjective, formal, third-person language, the essay I now assign is intended to communicate a student’s thinking explicitly. It traces a student’s understanding of the ways that a short story answers an essential question, in the sense that Wiggins and McTighe define the term in Understanding by Design: “questions that are not answerable with finality in a brief sentence . . . . Their aim is to stimulate thought, to provoke inquiry, and to spark more questions—including thoughtful student questions—not just pat answers” (106). Answers to such questions are not clear-cut, and this ambiguity is such a central feature to the study of literature that it makes little sense to me to have students develop a thesis that glosses over problems in interpretation. In this project, students write to generate ideas, to inform an audience of fellow classmates, to argue the validity of their stance on a particular story, to trace their thinking as it has developed, and to reflect on their learning. Finally, they respond as critical readers, not only of the short story, but of their peers’ essays.

“Essayer” Means “To Try”: Ending the Plague of Plagiarism LEARNING GOALS BROAD IMPLICATIONS Students will understand that: Effective writing targets a specific purpose and audience; Essays are a form of written conversation.

KNOWLEDGE GAINED Students will know: Strategies for generating ideas, planning, drafting, revising, and editing writing; Their own writing strengths.

SKILLS ACQUIRED Students will be able to: Use the writing process to develop a literary essay from inception to publication; Write for various purposes: to develop and explore ideas, to express opinions, to explain, to argue, to communicate with peers, to evaluate, to reflect; Synthesize ideas from various sources; Reflect on their development as writers and readers; Experiment with writing strategies and consider what works best for them; Read closely to comprehend texts and find evidence; Demonstrate understanding of a text; Connect a text to self, the world, other texts;

Revise ideas, organization, and sentence structure; Craft introductions and conclusions; Integrate and cite quotations; Develop effective transitions.

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING Students will: Write a literary essay centered around the student’s thinking about an essential question; Provide artifacts from the writing process: notes, plans, drafts, revisions; Show their processes and learning via metacognitive writing; Reflect on the experience in writing; Evaluate a peer’s essay in writing; Participate in small group discussions; Participate in student-student and student-teacher conferences.

LEARNING PLAN Step 1: Choose a Text Give the class three or four short stories to read. Of course you can base this work on any form of text, such as poetry, plays, art, advertisements, but short stories have a balance of depth and length that appeals to my burgeoning essay writers. I have found the best writing comes from relatively complex stories that present reasonable challenges—too simple and it is difficult for students to find a foothold, too complicated and they get frustrated. To help each student work at an appropriately challenging level, I carefully select stories that reflect the range of my students’ abilities based on criteria such as length, intricacy of language, complexity of ideas, and narrative structure. Sometimes I quietly guide particular students to a story so they find a suitable level of challenge.

After a “draft” reading of all the stories, each student chooses one to work on in more depth. Reading all the selections facilitates changes if any students find that they have made a poor choice; it also allows students to respond to anyone’s essay, regardless of the central text. I allow students to switch to a new story at any time up to the drafting stage. Allowing a change after this point puts students under too much pressure to generate ideas quickly and may tempt them to look at work online as a result. Step 2: Generate Ideas Students freewrite for ten minutes in response to the story, addressing anything they find of interest, parts that seem important or confusing. (See the instructions for freewriting below.) After ten minutes have passed, students look over what they have written and highlight any bits that appeal to them or that might have merit if ideas were developed a bit more. Freewriting Write down any thought that occurs to you without judging it. This is writing is a kind of “brain dump” intended only for the writer, so you need not worry about your ideas, phrasing, structure, style, or any other consideration. Your one job is to keep writing. If you stall out and can’t think of what to say, try to write through it by jotting down whatever is in your mind until you are able to work you way back to the story. Keep your pen moving until your time is up. Place students in discussion groups of no more than five, based on the stories they have chosen to write about. You may have them center their discussion on a specific question or topic such as, “What is the smallest detail in this story that has the biggest impact?” or “How has the main character changed over time?” or you may simply ask students to share their ideas if they are used to leading their own discussions. At the end of about 20 minutes,

have each student jot down five ideas that their group discussion generated. Students go back to their stories again, this time reading more closely. Here is an annotation system we’ve found useful. Annotation 1. Using two different colors, highlight any figurative language used to describe character or setting. (Character, Setting) 2. Circle any items, words, or phrases that are repeated. Note anything that seems to represent something beyond itself, even if you’re not sure what. (Motifs, Images, Symbols) 3. Put brackets around the bit of dialogue that seems most significant. (Dialogue) 4. Juxtapose the beginning and end of the story. What is similar? What, specifically, has changed? (Plot) 5. Put a square box around any important or abstract ideas that appear; write any additional ones in the margins if you could infer them from the story. Make a list of the text’s key issues or ideas. (Ideas, Theme) 6. What “big ideas” or “messages” does the story communicate? Look for quotations that help to reveal the theme. Underline them, and label them with the theme. (Theme) 7. How does the author accomplish the effect of the text? On a separate sheet of paper, make two columns. On one side, write down striking passages or lines. What is beautiful, disturbing, inspiring, confusing, thought provoking? On the other side, write down what you find compelling about the passage. Think about: the ideas communicated, the author’s means of crafting the passage, connections to other parts of the story. (Form, Craft) Give each student a list of essential questions that literature may address. The Greece Central School District in New York has developed an excellent, comprehensive list, which you can find at www.jaymctighe.com.

Students highlight any questions that may relate to their stories of choice. Students choose one of the highlighted essential questions and freewrite for ten minutes, discussing anything they can about the story in relation to this question. Repeat this freewriting process using an entirely unrelated question from the list. Choose the essential question that seems most provocative. Each student builds a t-chart to explore how the question is addressed in the core text. Write down quotations or paraphrases from the story on the left side. Tell how each point might relate to the question on the right side. Details from the story How does each detail connect to the essential question? Students write down a tentative hypothesis about how the story presents an answer to the essential question. Then, write down at least one alternative answer to the question. Students develop a tentative thesis. Develop a tentative or working thesis by thinking about your essay as a conversation with your reader. Here are some prompts that will help you to put down on paper the most important ideas to communicate. Dear Reader, 1. A question that this short story explores is _________. (What essential question will your essay address?) 2. I want to convince you that a good answer to this question might be _________. (What is the one very most important thing you want to communicate to your reader?) 3. The reasons you should believe me are _________.

(List some of your main ideas.) 4. You should care about my ideas because _________. (What is the impact or change that occurred? Why is this idea significant or important to the text? So what?) Now, take those ideas and write 1-2 sentences that present your argument. Pass it to the teacher for approval. Students conduct a written dialogue with their imaginary readers. Have the writers think about their “ideal reader,” someone who is kind and smart, curious about the topic, and critical enough to tell them the truth about their ideas. Ideal readers do not let writers get away with flabby thinking or incomplete explanations. How could your ideal reader push you to think about your topic? Write a dialogue with this reader, explaining the hypothetical answer to your essential question and telling how you arrived at the answer. Have your ideal reader respond to your points by questioning you. As you answer these questions, the conversation will develop naturally, prompting more questions from your reader. Some questions a reader might ask: What’s so important about this idea? What do you mean by _________? What makes your way of looking at _________ unusual? I don’t understand where you got that idea. Can you give me an example? What other ideas does this connect to? Step 3: Plan Students make a plan to draft their papers. 1. Write the tentative thesis on top of a piece of paper. 2. Under that, list the most important ideas the essay will address.

3. Then, develop a tentative topic sentence for each idea. 4. Put these ideas in an order that seems logical. 5. Under each topic sentence, jot down two or three specifics from the story that support it. Step 4: Draft Students “bash out” a rough draft in one class period. This is only intended to be a first attempt at getting something down on paper. It will need a great deal of revision, but students will feel relieved to have a basis to work from. By treating it as as sort of timed essay rather than agonizing over it, this process takes away the fear of the blank page. All that the students need to do is to refer to their plan and do the best they can to get their ideas written down. Step 5: Peer Feedback Set students up in writing groups of 4-5, all of whom are investigating the same story. Each student comes to class with two “clean” (legible, perhaps typed) copies of the rough draft. Ensure that every student looks at a minimum of three essays. Before anyone begins to give feedback, remind them that they will be required to work quotations from two peers’ papers into their own essays in the next draft. They should write down the name of the student author and record verbatim any ideas from other students’ essays that they might be able to use as support or argue against in their own essays. Have students give a copy of their own paper to two members of their writing group for “Skeleton Feedback.” The peer reviewers comment only on the “skeleton” of the paper by answering these two questions: 1) What do you see as the main points and subpoints of the essay? 2) What is the support/evidence the essay presents for each point? Each reviewer then hands the paper over to another member of the group for “Pointing Feedback.” These reviewers simply

highlight the words/phrases that stick in their minds without commenting any further. Step 6: Revise Students go back to the story, rereading to see if there is anything they can use that they have previously overlooked. Give a mini-lesson on integrating quotations. Show students how to integrate direct and indirect quotations from the core text and the quotations they gathered from their classmates. Have them tinker with two paragraphs to include quotations from their peers or write entirely new paragraphs integrating the quotations and discussing their relevance. Have students cut a copy of their essays up into paragraphs or smaller segments, and re-arrange them into a different order to see if they work better. They should look for gaps in sequence or logic, lack of textual support, insufficient explanation, and places to integrate their peers’ ideas. From this, they should go on to plan their amendments and rewrite the bodies of their essays. Give a mini-lesson on writing good introductions. Have students create three introductions using different strategies for leads, such as beginning with an anecdote, giving context by revealing some important or surprising aspect of the story, introducing a character, offering a quotation that captures the question the essay explores, opening with a bit of the story’s dialogue, contrasting two apparently unlike things to highlight the paper’s problem or dilemma. They should then find a way to transition from this opening into the thesis. Have writing groups read each student’s three introductions and discuss the one they like best. The student need not use this particular introduction, but should listen to what the other students like or don’t like about the introductions. Give a mini-lesson on writing good conclusions. Have students consider the following information: Rather than just being a summary, a conclusion should help the reader understand the significance of the argument. If

the evidence and explanations were convincing, the reader should feel agreement about the thesis at this point. Now, the writer can express the paper’s thesis in a way that the reader would not have understood without reading the rest of the paper. As a way of making the paper feel complete, be sure to acknowledge the ending of the text under discussion. Tinker with your conclusion by experimenting with the final clincher sentence by using one (or more) of these strategies: Find a quotation or piece of evidence that summarizes the argument; Have the “snake eat its tail” by returning to the lead found in the introduction; Return to an earlier point or idea; Use a final metaphor to illustrate the thesis. Students write transitions to lead from one paragraph to the next. Some strategies: Consider the reasons one paragraph logically leads into the next and mention it explicitly. Determine what kind of thinking is evident in a paragraph. How is it different from that in the previous paragraph (e.g., presenting an idea and then comparing another one to it). Use a list of transition words to find one appropriate to that thinking and integrate it into the topic sentence or into a transition sentence. Find a word or phrase at the end of the previous paragraph that can be worked into the next.

Do a mini-lesson on a sentence construction such as parallel structure and have students tinker with one paragraph to include an example of it or any other type of sentence structure(s) you would like them to experiment with.

One enlightening activity for students who tend to write short, choppy sentences is to put each sentence on a separate line and compare the different lengths and types of sentences they’ve included in their papers. Offer them some alternative mentor sentences to use as models for sentence variety. Step 7: Edit Give students a list of the most common proofreading/editing errors you have noticed while looking at their work so that they can correct their essays. Have students read through a partner’s essay and simply highlight any place that they see an error in grammar, spelling, or punctuation. Let each student determine if there is an error where there is highlighting. This way, one student will not work errors into another student’s work. Step 8: Reflect Each writer composes a one page “cover letter” addressed to the teacher, which will be passed in along with the essay. Cover Letter: I find I can give much more useful feedback if students tell me a bit about what was going on for them as they wrote, and then answer some questions like these: What was our main point and goal in this paper? What effect were you trying to achieve? What do you see as the strengths of the paper, and what would you try to do if you were to revise it more? Which strategies worked best for you? What did not go so well? Are there ideas you wouldn’t integrate? Parts of the process that stumped you?

What feedback or reactions did you get at various times in this paper, and how did you make use of them, if at all? Any other kinds of help—from classmates? Teachers? Others? What would you do differently if you were to begin the project all over again? And, most important of all: What have you learned about yourself as a writer? What kind of feedback or response would you like to receive? Step 9: Peer Review Students come to class with two final copies of their essays. One goes to the teacher for grading; the other goes to a peer from the writing group. Each student will carefully consider one essay written by a peer and write a one-and-a-half- to two-page response. This student will act as the essay’s “intended reader.” They will anticipate the impact that the writer intended the essay to have on the reader and judge whether the paper achieves its purpose. (It may help writers to have a copy of the rubric with which the essay will be evaluated as they move through this process.) Some considerations for reviewing a peer’s essay: You might think of this as the same type of review written about a book, film, or video game. Your job is to evaluate the effectiveness of the work as a whole, referring to specifics from the essay. Comment on the ideas, the way the ideas are supported, and the explanations that the writer offers; Note specific writing techniques that worked well or that could have been used; Find specifics to compliment the writer on; Note any specific area that could be improved upon or suggest possible solutions to problems;

Identify where you got confused, and specify why, if possible; If you were quoted in the essay, did the writer characterize your ideas accurately? The more specific you can be, the more you, the writer, and the teacher will get from your essay review. Attach one copy of the review to the paper and give it back to the writer. Give the other copy to your teacher for assessment.

HANDOUTS/LINKS/RESOURCES Essential Questions: www.jaymctighe.com Metacognitive “Check In” Prompts: Problem solving What are you wrestling with right now? What strategies have you tried? Are they working? What’s your next step? What has to happen for you to get there? How have your ideas about the essential question changed? Planning Consider your planning process. Which type of writer are you? What has been working best for this project? “I think there are two types of writers, the architects and the gardeners. The architects plan everything ahead of time, like an architect building a house. They know how many rooms are going to be in the house, what kind of roof they’re going to have, where the wires are going to run, what kind of plumbing there’s going to be. They have the whole thing designed and blueprinted out before they even nail the first board up. The gardeners dig a hole, drop in a seed and water it. They kind of know what seed it is, they know if planted a fantasy seed or mystery seed or whatever. But as the plant comes up and they water it, they don’t know how many branches it’s going to have, they find out as it grows. And I’m much more a gardener than an architect.” —GEORGE R. R. MARTIN

Drafting When you consider your own drafting process, how do these words resonate with you?

“10 Steps to Becoming a Better Writer Write. Write more. Write even more. Write even more than that. Write when you don’t want to. Write when you do. Write when you have something to say. Write when you don’t. Write every day. Keep writing.” —BRIAN CLARK

Are you able to let yourself “write badly”? What is one benefit of doing so? “One thing that helps is to give myself permission to write badly. I tell myself that I’m going to do my five or 10 pages no matter what, and that I can always tear them up the following morning if I want. I’ll have lost nothing—writing and tearing up five pages would leave me no further behind than if I took the day off.” —LAWRENCE BLOCK

Explain how this statement is true of your experience drafting this paper. “The first sentence can’t be written until the final sentence is written.” —JOYCE CAROL OATES

Revision Choose one of these two quotations. Which one feels more like the work you have been doing as you revise your ideas? Why? “I think the deeper you go into questions, the deeper or more interesting the questions get. And I think that’s the job of art.” —ANDRE DUBUS III

“You do not have to explain every single drop of water contained in a rain barrel. You have to explain one drop—H2O. The reader will get it.” —GEORGE SINGLETON

WHAT MADE IT MEMORABLE If we are apprenticing our students into the study of literature, then we should have them write for the same authentic purposes as

professional literary critics, who use essays to explore their thinking about a text, to participate in a long-standing conversation about works of literature. The literary essay has lost favor among some teachers, who see it as a sterile, “inauthentic” academic exercise. In some cases, particularly when teachers rely on formulaic structures such as the five-paragraph essay, this opinion has merit. However, when it’s approached with a spirit of inquiry, the literary essay allows students to write themselves into expertise about a text. They also write themselves into critical readers and real writers. No other exercise does as much to initiate my students into the world of literary discourse. As they practice the skills required to participate in the discursive community of literary critics, our students should also be entering into written dialogue with their peers about literary texts. Students need a clear understanding of purpose and audience to develop quality written interactions. Most students, if asked, would say that the audience for a literary essay is the teacher: After all, it is the teacher who usually evaluates their work, and more often than not no one else reads it. In the traditional literary essay, the student is writing for an audience who knows more about the topic than the student does. That is a burdensome task for any writer, much less an apprentice in the craft. Because there’s no hope of impressing such a reader with ideas, student essays are often crammed with overly elaborate or stiff sentences and flowery word choices, which they think will “wow” the teacher. When students commit themselves to authentic communication with a peer, the stilted essay-speak that Ken Macrorie calls “Engfish” sharpens into the authentic tone and cadences of an individual. During the course of this project, students learn how to tackle a writer’s biggest challenge—generating good ideas—from different angles. Because it is recursive, like most aspects of writing, students return to this task repeatedly, articulating their own initial perspective, rereading the core text to refine ideas, engaging in oral discussions with their peers, considering the opinions of other student writers. Generating first drafts in one fell swoop and reading the work of their classmates usually reduces anxiety and makes writers less likely to tap the Internet for help.

Although most of my students will probably never fall in love with writing essays, they do tell me they feel confident that they can take on the work required of them when they enter post-secondary studies. And I no longer bang my head on the desk while marking papers.

AUTHOR BIO Ruth Arseneault

has been a passionate teacher of English to grade 11 and 12 students in Riverview, New Brunswick, Canada for 16 years. Because she only began teaching at 35, she has many, many more years to enjoy teaching writing to high school aged students, and anticipates being only a head on a robot body by the time she is able to retire. She hopes the red ink blotches on her hands will have faded by then. You can find her on Twitter at @Drama__chick.

The Art of Persuasion By Susan Barber “John F. Kennedy deployed a chiasmus during his inaugural address—“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”—and thousands joined the Peace Corps.” — Jay Heinrichs

The Story Behind the Lesson Like most teachers, I am continually pressed for time, so my lessons must incorporate multiple teaching and learning points. When I faced the dilemma of how to teach primary documents from the Revolutionary time period in an American literature class, I knew I needed a lens through which to read these documents. I wanted to offer students a means to apply content and to keep the lesson from being a repeat of a U.S. History class. I decided to use the documents as mentor texts for persuasive writing. What better way to learn the art of persuasion than modelling our thinking on that of American founding fathers who were desperately trying to convince colonists to join the fight for independence? These documents are full of rhetorical devices and strategies for analysis, so they make perfect mentor texts for students to learn rhetorical techniques. Students love to argue: Why not take a negative and make it a positive? I frequently hear students present arguments on topics such as how the school dress code infringes on their freedom, why this is the year for the University of Georgia football to redeem itself, and even why hunting deer with a bow is better than with a rifle. Most students have written and presented multiple persuasive speeches on controversial topics by the time they arrive in my 11th grade class, so I wanted to package the standard persuasive writing lesson differently. My goal for this lesson is for students to argue more effectively, but past students have had difficulty focusing on the craft of argument and specific writing techniques due to the serious subjects, research component, and formal nature of typical persuasive speech assignments. Instead of focusing this lesson on research and a formal presentation, I wanted students to incorporate

rhetorical strategies into their everyday thinking, speaking, and writing. I decided to let students choose their own topics and encouraged them to consider less serious subjects than the traditional controversial issue. As long as the topic had a clear side to argue, students could write and speak about it. At the heart of this lesson beats my desire to help students continue developing their voices and personal styles. Experimenting with different rhetorical devices and strategies forces students to write in new or unusual ways that they might otherwise find too risky. I share my go-to writing strategies, including contrast, parallel structure, and the rule of three, and show them examples of my writing where these devices appear. Then I appeal to students to find devices that work for them. This lesson introduces students to tools they can add to their writing toolboxes and use later, not only when writing persuasively, but with almost any form of communication.

The Art of Persuasion LEARNING GOALS BROAD IMPLICATIONS Students will understand that: Rhetorical devices strengthen arguments; Appeals to logos, ethos, and pathos strengthen arguments; The way an argument is organized affects its effectiveness.

KNOWLEDGE GAINED Students will know: Various rhetorical devices; The difference between logos, ethos, and pathos; Different components of an argument.

SKILLS ACQUIRED Students will be able to: Use rhetorical devices in speaking and writing; Support an argument with logos, ethos, and pathos; Organize an argument effectively.

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING Students will: Demonstrate effective incorporation of logos, ethos, and pathos; Include rhetorical devices; Display intentional organizational structure.

LEARNING PLAN This lesson is highly flexible: I use it as part of a two- to three-week unit. I’ve included enrichment activities with the main components of the lesson if a teacher wants to develop it further.

Days One and Two I need only review Aristotle’s argumentative appeals with my high school juniors and seniors, but the TED-Ed video “What Aristotle and Joshua Bell Can Teach Us About Persuasion” offers either a good review or introduction to the subject. If additional review is needed, we watch the following commercials and note what makes them effective: “A Boy and His Horse” (pathos), “I’m a Mac; I’m a Megan” (ethos), and “Campbell’s Light” (logos); or I may ask students for examples of commercials with logos, ethos, and pathos. I then give students notes on persuasion. (Notes are a rarity in my class, but these notes are more like a discussion as students weigh in with examples and illustrations of the points.) I then give students a copy of Patrick Henry’s “Speech to the Virginia Convention” and ask them to read it, looking for Henry’s use of argumentative appeals; the different components of the argument’s organization; and logos, ethos, and pathos. I typically model analyzing the first paragraph or two for them.

Days Three and Four I introduce students to rhetorical devices with a mini-lesson. Students discuss the Rhetorical Device handout, noting different examples of devices and how using rhetorical devices in writing and speaking is a method of strengthening an argument. This sheet is a primer with only the most elementary of devices, and while we discuss and incorporate more complex ones later, these will be the go-to devices that students will use in both academic and everyday argument, so they are our focus. Most of the examples on this worksheet are from the primary documents we will be reading in class, but I always offer my own examples and have students share some examples as well. We then watch a clip from Independence Day and discuss the different rhetorical devices used by the President. (Here are a few examples from the clip. Repetition:“Mankind. Mankind,” rule of three:“tyranny, oppression,

and persecution,” parallel structure: “We will not go quietly into the night. We will not vanish without a fight. We’re going to live on. We’re going to survive.”) We also analyze a clip from Legally Blonde. Students are then ready to return their focus to Patrick Henry’s speech and “The Crisis” by Thomas Paine to identify rhetorical devices, argumentative appeals, and argument organization. Depending on the ability level of the class, I may read one of these arguments and lead students in a discussion of persuasive elements and rhetorical devices, or I may let students partner up and read on their own, discussing after they are done.

Days Five and Six Students finalize topics and write their speeches. I tell them at the beginning of this unit that they need to be thinking of a topic for a persuasive speech that each student will write and present to the class. Since the focus of this lesson is rhetorical strategies, students choose their own writing topics. If an issue can be argued and is school appropriate, they can write about it. Past students have chosen standard debatable issues for high school students such as the death penalty, abortion, and the drinking age, but some more creative students have developed topics such as why we should colonize the moon, why there should be a college football playoff, and why Cinderella is the best princess. Students are given a Persuasive Speech Rubric that outlines their project. They have two days to research, write, and collaborate as they create their speeches. Writing days have a workshop feel, with students asking each other questions, asking me questions, and trying out different rhetorical devices and strategies in their papers.

Day Seven Students present their speeches to the class. Everyone participates, and I usually don’t have to deal with discipline issues because of the culture of the class. Some years, students may simply read their papers; other years, public speaking and presentation get integrated into the assignment. This is usually dictated by time and other curriculum units. I encourage students to take notes while their peers are presenting, noting how speakers have made good use of rhetorical devices and argumentative appeals. We discuss each

speech after it ends, focusing on ways the writer incorporated these devices into the argument. Extension or Enrichment Activities: Students can analyze famous speeches from American Rhetoric’s site for rhetorical devices, argumentative appeals, and effective organization. My students have studied “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, and George W. Bush’s 9/11 Address. Analyze excerpts from “Common Sense” and The Declaration of Independence. Instruct students in persuasive speaking and active listening using the Delivering and Preparing Students for Persuasive Speaking video from The Teaching Channel.

HANDOUTS/LINKS/RESOURCES Mrs. Manley’s Teaching Channel video: Delivering and Evaluating Persuasive Speeches. Her lesson refers to Conor Neil’s TED-Ed video What Aristotle and Joshua Bell Can Teach us About Persuasion. Commercials: “A Boy and His Horse,” “I’m a Mac; I’m a Megan,” “Campbell’s Light.” Handouts: What is Persuasion?, Rhetorical Device Handout, Persuasive Speech Rubric. Texts: Patrick Henry’s “Speech to the Virginia Convention,” “The Crisis” Thomas Paine, “Common Sense,” The Declaration of Independence, “I Have a Dream,” “George Bush’s 9/11 Address.” Movie clips: Independence Day, Legally Blonde.

WHAT MADE IT MEMORABLE This lesson has become one of the hallmarks of my American literature class; on day one, new students ask if they get to give a speech because they have heard of former students’ speeches. The power of choice is a great motivator in student learning: the opportunity to make an argument regarding something they are

passionate about inspires students to study material they would otherwise consider boring. Several speeches stand out in my memory, but one in particular that I will never forget was given by a quiet, deaf girl. Hannah, a conscientious student, received services through our special education department for her hearing impairment and had speech characteristic of someone who had suffered from loss of hearing. The prospect of delivering a speech terrified her. After much encouragement and coaching, Hannah—the last student in her class to present—stood at the front and spoke about how teenagers should be kinder and more accepting of those who are different from themselves. She spoke with passion, conviction, and courage. When she finished, the class broke out in applause and students rose to their feet cheering for her. Her parents sent me an email that night, detailing how nervous Hannah had been but how excited she was that she had faced and overcome a fear. From that day forward, she walked through the halls with her shoulders straighter. We have laughed over speeches examining why cats are better than dogs, pondered why pens are better than pencils, explored why Spiderman is better than Batman, and taken time to write soldiers overseas after a student argued that her generation was letting patriotism die. This lesson comes up over and over again when I see former students, who tell me they continue to use the rule of three, parallel structure, or repetition in their academic writing, business presentations, or arguments to their parents. An important concept, practical ideas, and supportive laughter make this lesson a favorite for me and my students.

AUTHOR BIO Susan Barber

is English Department Chair at Northgate High School in Newnan, GA, where she teaches AP Literature. In addition to teaching in public schools for over ten years, Susan has taught in private schools and even home-schooled for several years, giving her unique insight into all realms of education and learning. Having her Masters and Specialist’s degrees in curriculum with a research emphasis in holistic grammar instruction, Susan believes that public

education should be challenging yet accessible for students of all levels. She is an advocate for students, which is evident through her work at the county and state level on various education projects and at her blog Teach With Class where she writes about issues concerning the next generation. Her Twitter profile describes her best: “wife, mom, and caffeinated educator influencing the next generation to live worthwhile lives and love literature.” Susan lives in the Atlanta area with her husband Scott, daughter Brooke, and dog Bear. You can follow Susan on Twitter @susanclaireb.

Using Mentor Texts For Autobiographical Essays By David Cohen “That’s why I write, because life never works except in retrospect. You can’t control life, at least you can control your version.” —Chuck Palahniuk

The Story Behind the Lesson The first time I used Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in a sophomore English class, I saved it for the end of the year. I anticipated that the book might present some unique challenges in terms of both style and content, and reasoned that more time together to build skills and a sense of community would be helpful. To some extent, that was true, but I also stumbled upon an approach to teaching the book that made it much more valuable as a starting point than as a culminating unit. That class had written plenty of analytical and argumentative pieces before we arrived at Caged Bird, and so I chose to use Angelou’s memoir as a mentor text, giving students an opportunity to show their understanding of the form by writing their own autobiographical essays. The big revelation for me was that we were only weeks away from the end of the course, and I was suddenly learning so many interesting things about my students at a time when it would do me the least good. I realized that I had overestimated how well I knew my students, and to an even greater extent overestimated how well they knew each other, beyond their close friends with whom they shared the class. Just as I was learning, students were learning more about their classmates through peer review. I resolved that from then on, any class studying that book would use it to start rather than end the year, so that all of the interpersonal benefits could be optimized to improve our work together. It’s not just that the joy of knowing people would have been enhanced, but perhaps more importantly, that I would have had more ways of connecting with students, more options to initiate conversations that could lead to better learning. Teachers often start the year with questionnaires and icebreakers that serve a similar purpose, but in these situations, students respond

to what’s chosen for them. Personal essays can open new topics, and allow students to delve more deeply into the experiences and topics that are most significant to them. It’s one thing to know that a student likes a certain sport, but another to understand what they go through to pursue that passion. Knowing that students immigrated from a certain country is fairly simple—and essential. When we read their reflections on their homeland and their new country, their relationships with family members in different settings, their linguistic and cultural adjustments, we understand them better. Using a mentor text helps students frame and develop their writing, which in turn becomes the means to explore and define their own lives while developing their voices. Studying Caged Bird primarily for its writing style and techniques, rather than its content, should not diminish the importance of identity issues such as race, gender, or class, nor should we ignore the social-historical context of the work. It’s also essential to be prepared for the chapters addressing the author’s experience as a childhood rape survivor. If you choose to follow this lesson sequence using the same mentor text, you must of course take care to know your students well, know your school community, and consider any overlap in your department and school curriculum that might serve your students’ efforts to make sense of the text in multiple ways. However, the lesson details and associated resources are written to work with almost any memoirs that might be part of your curriculum.

Using Mentor Texts For Autobiographical Essays LEARNING GOALS BROAD IMPLICATIONS Students will understand that: Employing the same writing techniques used by the authors of mentor texts, all of us can grow as writers, using varied approaches to communicate about our lives and experiences; The writing process for autobiographical writing relies on reflection, which deepens our understanding of ourselves, our experiences, and relationships; The classroom community is enhanced when students assist each other with the development of autobiographical essays.

KNOWLEDGE GAINED Students will know: The careful study and analysis of mentor texts can enhance our writing skills; A writing process that includes brainstorming, drafting, feedback, and revision can lead to more satisfying results in both form and content; Autobiographies and memoirs offer more than storytelling. Authors write about their lives and experiences using a variety of approaches. The three primary approaches to be studied (and detailed below) are: Narrative incident, Topical, Self-reflected portrait (focusing on another person in the writer’s life).

SKILLS ACQUIRED

Students will be able to: Recognize distinct characteristics of three modes of autobiographical writing found in mentor texts; Use appropriate writing strategies and techniques in their essays to reproduce those modes of autobiography; Function effectively in a writing group, particularly by: Identifying needed feedback to request from peers, Providing useful feedback to peers based on their needs and requests, Incorporating useful feedback in a robust revision process; Write autobiographical essays that provide readers with clear insights into the author’s life and experiences.

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING Students will: Correctly identify the distinguishing characteristics of different modes of autobiographical writing in mentor texts; Reproduce the three modes of autobiography studied in the mentor text in three separate rough drafts of autobiographical essays; Solicit and provide each other with feedback appropriate to needs in small writing groups; Revise an essay to demonstrate: Benefits of feedback and revision to improve upon the rough draft, Successful use of techniques studied in the mentor text, A clear, dominant idea regarding author’s life or experience(s).

LEARNING PLAN

For the instructor, the first step is to identify the different “modes” of writing in the mentor text, selecting multiple passages to serve as examples for study. You might want to find additional examples, especially contemporary ones, to make available to students who want or need additional readings. When using I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, I focus on three modes of autobiographical writing common in that text and others: 1. Narrative incident—detailing one experience in the author’s life, typically taking place in 24 hours or less. Some of the best examples focus on the events as brief as a few minutes. This mode is the most familiar to students, and usually the easiest to draft. 2. Topical approach—focusing on a subject of importance in the author’s life. This mode is the broadest of the three, and often the most revealing, simply in the selection of topics. 3. “Self-reflected portrait”—I invented this term to describe autobiographical writing that focuses on a person of importance in the author’s life, while still revealing much about the author’s life and experiences. I’ve found this mode is the most challenging for students to study and write, generally speaking. Any passage or essay that’s predominantly written in one mode may certainly borrow techniques from the others. For each of the three modes, there is a resource/handout included here. These handouts are written with a student audience in mind, but the information in the handouts may certainly be repurposed depending on your needs. The next steps are repeated three times, once for each mode. The total time allotment for these steps is roughly three weeks (assuming that your class time is not solely dedicated to writing, but also involves continued reading, discussions, and other typical ELA lessons and activities interspersed). Students read and analyze the mentor text passages for the mode of writing you’re studying. I suggest reviewing one

passage with the entire class, and then have additional passages selected for small group or independent study. Students brainstorm possible incidents, topics, or people in their lives, with the goal of selecting the focus of their rough draft. This step may be assigned as homework, or completed in class. Students may share their brainstorming or not, as you wish. A special note regarding student privacy: In my course syllabus, I have language ensuring each student’s right to privacy. I promise not to put them on the spot with questions about their lives or their personal beliefs, while still noting that English classes often work well when students engage personally with the curriculum and each other. As we begin this unit, I reaffirm that alternative assignments may be arranged, but I’ve never had a student decline to write an autobiographical essay. The author’s prerogative to select the content of the essay and the level of detail has been sufficient to assuage any concerns in this regard, though it would be prudent for any teacher to consider this issue not only from interpersonal and ethical standpoints, but also as it relates to any pertinent district or state education policies. For the narrative incident only, I find it helpful to ask students to make a list of up to eight possible incidents they could write about. Then I have them engage in some oral retelling of these stories, in a tightly-structured activity involving rotating partners. They tell and hear one story at a time, moving through 4-5 partners. Each storytelling turn lasts exactly two minutes, which helps them generate more details if they tend toward summary, and helps them focus if they tend not to. By the end, students have a better idea which story isn’t as interesting as they thought at first, which one has the most potential, which one their peers find interesting, and which one they’re most committed to writing. (Credit for this activity design goes to Ann Vosovic, my graduate school instructor and a former English teacher at Mountain View High School, Mountain View, CA). Using the mentor texts as guides, students write a rough draft of an essay, attempting to match the mode currently being studied.

In writing groups, students ask for feedback they feel would be most useful, and provide peers with feedback as requested. Based on the grade level you teach and the students’ prior experience with peer review and feedback, you can adjust the instruction you offer around this skill, For groups of 6-7 students, I allot 30-40 minutes for this process. It is not necessary for every student to read every rough draft. For additional advice and support, see the resource handout, “Giving and Receiving Peer Feedback.” Depending on your students’ ages, prior experience, and academic and interpersonal skills, you might manage with fewer norms, or perhaps need additional norms relating to cooperative classwork and productive use of time. Note: I do not collect or grade any of these rough drafts. Instead, I circulate through the classroom, skimming each essay for about a minute. In that time, I can generally pick out some clear markers of each mode of writing, recognize if the draft maintains a unified focus, and if it reaches a conclusion. I do not write on the draft or provide feedback at this time, but instead, merely enter into my records a grade for completion. If the essay clearly fails in any of these areas, I might quickly check in with the student, or invite the student to meet with me later. Thoughts on student grouping: For the writing groups, I plan out who will be in each group. Allowing students to form their own groups or assigning them randomly both work in certain situations. For extended collaboration with challenging academic content and skills, I find it’s important to accommodate and capitalize on the diversity of skills and backgrounds in the class. The groups typically include 6-7 students—a number large enough to provide a variety of readings and readers, but small enough that every student stays “visible” and can make a significant contribution. Keeping the same group throughout the unit helps students get to know each other as people and as

writers; often, students end up unsure which of their three drafts would be most worthy of a revision, and they benefit from being able to put the question to peers who’ve read and responded to all three of those drafts. The final steps: Students consult with their writing group one last time, helping each other as needed to determine which rough draft to revise. It can be gratifying to see students encouraging each other to revisit and further develop a piece of writing that might seem riskier or more revealing in some way. The narrative incident mode often feels safe because it is the most familiar and straightforward approach; young writers may benefit from some encouragement to revise an essay in a mode that tends toward more reflection and disclosure about their lives, thoughts, values, or relationships. The teacher’s involvement with this step might vary. Recall that for most essays, I’ve only conducted a oneminute skim review. For students who want more teacher input or feedback prior to selecting and revising a rough draft, I accommodate them in various ways depending on their needs and how much time we have. Students revise an essay draft of their choosing. I give them roughly one week to do this, with most of the revision completed as homework. The emphasis at this stage is on revision as reenvisioning the essay. Students are expected to make effective use of peer feedback, and many will have sought out my feedback as well at this point. Essays should include not only word- and sentence-level improvements, but also organizational changes, adjustments such as adding descriptions and dialogue, revealing thoughts and feelings, and trying new openings or conclusions. To maximize the benefits for the classroom community, you might consider a variety of options for students to share their final revisions with peers beyond their writing group. Having a broader, authentic audience is valuable for our student writers.

HANDOUTS/LINKS/RESOURCES Three handouts associated with this lesson sequence provide more detailed descriptions and some student writing samples relating to each of the three described modes of autobiographical writing practiced by students. The writing samples represent a range of skills and learner profiles. These samples are included to illustrate specific points, and not necessarily the highest levels of proficiency in every aspect of writing. I have corrected a small number of minor errors in punctuation and capitalization, but otherwise reproduced the writing as it was submitted at the culmination of the unit. A fourth handout offers guidelines for effective peer review and feedback in the writing process. Handout #1 NARRATIVE INCIDENT This mode of writing is the most common and basic kind of storytelling. When you think of an autobiography, you likely think of this approach, with authors telling the stories of their lives. When you’re reading a full length memoir, however, you’ll notice that authors switch to various other modes of autobiographical writing, some of which we’ll study later. The narrative incident is fairly easy to identify within the broader text: it usually recounts the events of a day or less, and sometimes focuses on an experience or interaction that lasts only seconds or minutes. You can spot these passages because they generally include “markers” early on in the passage: One afternoon, our neighbor knocked on the door... The morning of our graduation finally came around... Usually, we ate dinner together, but on this occasion... Everything changed on the day that...

Similar to short stories, these passages often conclude with some sort of epiphany, or revelation. There is some growth in the author’s sense self, understanding of life, or cognizance of the ways of the world. Alternatively (or concurrently), the author reveals something important that is apparent in the telling of the story, even if it wasn’t apparent at the time. Young writers often imagine that the most dramatic experience makes the best narrative incident, but that’s not necessarily the case.

Think about it this way: many people have been hurt on bikes or skateboards or playing a sport; they end up with sprained joints, torn ligaments, broken bones or concussions. As painful and dramatic as these experiences are to live through, they’re predictable for readers. We know the writer didn’t start a bike ride or a basketball game anticipating an accident or injury. It happens suddenly. It hurts. There’s medical intervention, and then healing, although the healing process is less interesting and beyond the scope of the incident. The lessons learned are usually variations on “don’t take good health for granted,” and “be more careful.” The more powerful and memorable writing is often that which avoids predictability, and finds potential drama or unique interest in stories that appear less exciting on the surface. Using the text we’re studying together, we will review some passages where we can observe this mode of writing. We might also look at some personal essays from other sources. As we read, ask yourself: Can I see the “markers” indicating where the narration of this incident begins? Are their transitions showing the narrative structure (beginning/middle/end)? Which sensory details, descriptions, and dialogue make the passage vivid? How much of the narrative is “in the moment” and how much represents insights gained upon further reflection after the event? What is the epiphany? What does the author learn or understand from this experience? Is there a lesson learned, or a revelation about life? What makes this story memorable, significant? Handout #2 STUDENT WRITING SAMPLES Nico has a vivid recollection of discovering of Christmas presents in the garage, and turns that story into a reflection on what it means to question his parents.

Immediately after discovering that Santa Claus didn’t exist, I ran upstairs as fast as I could, tears of rage running down my cheeks. My whole childhood could have been a lie! I found my parents sitting in the sofas of our living room, drinking tea. How could they be so relaxed when they perfectly knew that they were lying to me, their son? I went to stand in front of them and told them upfront what I had on my heart, words flowing out of my child’s mouth in a wild disarray, like autumn leaves blowing into the wind. I said everything that I wanted to say, not leaving any weight on my mind. At the end of my confused speech, I was crying with my whole body, shaking and sobbing. I was so lost, I didn’t understand why my parents had done this to me, destroyed my precious fantastic world. They stayed speechless for several minutes, not knowing how to respond, with only my sobs covering the silence. My mom finally stood up and came to pick me up. She gave me a cuddle like she had done so many times in the past when I was sad. Then, rocking me for several minutes, she helped me finally stop crying and eventually I got to sleep. It was only the next day when I woke up that they told me why they had done that, saying matter-of-factly that every child in the world was going through this at one point or another, in one shape or another. I felt relieved at their explanations even if at this time, I didn’t understand entirely. Now, after all these years, I’ve grown up a bit. I’m not a sheep anymore. I can make decisions alone, and I ask myself questions like, “What is the meaning of life?” or “Why am I doing this right now?” Teenager stuff, basically. I’ve started questioning the decisions my parents make, and although a lot of times they are right, we can often have a discussion that will help us find either a compromise or sometimes make them entirely change their mind. Learning to think and make decisions by myself is a process that took a lot of time to find its place into my brain and that Christmas was the trigger of my life train starting on its long journey, full of bumps and unexpected events. In this excerpt from his narrative incident, Sam incorporates a combination of narrative techniques, creating a multisensory experience for the reader, adding some of his thoughts and conversations as well.

After what seemed like the most painful hours of my life, we finally reached the top of the ridge. Despite my uneasiness, we unanimously decided to push on, despite the accumulating weather. As we crossed over the ridge to the trail on the back side of the mountain, we passed by a sign that said “Warning! Extreme lightning danger! Do not go on if you observe dark clouds, hail, thunder or rain!” I was a little bit shaken up by this, because there was dark clouds looming in the distance, but Andrew and his dad assured me, despite my doubt, that the clouds wouldn’t come to us. Walking at this altitude was extremely hard, and just walking at a slow pace was like trying your best on the mile in P.E. As we neared the base of the last hill to the summit, the clouds we saw earlier were almost directly overhead. “Andrew, the sign at the start of the ridge trail said we shouldn’t go on,” I said. “We’re so close, we have to do it! Come on!” he said desperately. I agreed hesitantly, because of my overwhelming desire to reach the top. The final push to the summit was hard, but I was so motivated to get there, it didn’t even matter. My legs felt like fire, but the pain pumped me up to plow on up the final stretch to the summit. Topical We often think of autobiographies and memoirs as people’s life stories, but storytelling is not the only kind of writing authors use to write about self. Often, authors will use topical passages that add important context regarding their lives. Such passages might provide a description of a setting, an overview of a time period or series of related events, a pattern of events, a tendency or trend, or other personal and important ideas, opinions, or observations. Passages written in a topical mode often enhance those that are written as narrative incidents. When we know more about the writer’s life, the events make more sense and have a greater impact on us as readers. However, these topical passages can be powerful on their own as well. Some of the most important aspects of our lives gain their importance through repetition. Think about the meaningful patterns in your life, celebrations and traditions, for example. There might not be a particular Christmas morning that has a remarkable story to go with it, but when you look back on it, the year-after-year experience might be quite influential in your life. Other interesting topics might include the transitional adjustment to life in a new place

or new school, or the gradual evolution of your favorite hobbies and activities. Maybe there’s a physical place that’s meaningful to you, ranging in size from your bedroom, to your to a park or beach, a neighborhood, city, state, or country. Some writers use this mode to address the role of their culture, nationality, ethnicity, race, or religion in their lives. While narratives are usually organized chronologically (beginning/middle/end), these topical passages can be organized in any number of ways – which can also make them slightly harder to identify. However, they do still have some markers we can look for. They may contain adverbs (or adverbial phrases) that indicate patterns or frequency: Every time my grandmother came over, she brought us a surprise. Often, we stick around after the picnic and watch the fireworks. Typically, the teachers at my old school would make us stand in straight lines. Sometimes I help with cooking, but I still play with my younger cousins too. Compared to narrative incidents, topical passages or essays are more likely to have verbs in present tense, indicating something that continues to happen in the present time. You will also see conditional forms of verbs, indicating patterns rather than singular events, but entirely in the past: my dad would act surprised that the tooth fairy came. As we study these passages, ask yourself: Can I see some of the markers of the topical mode? What is the topic or focus here? What is the author trying to convey about his or her life? What blend of writing techniques are folded into this mode? Does it have a variety of descriptions, sensory details, figurative

language? Is it is more expository, laying out information for us to think about more than to see, hear or feel? Student Writing Samples In her topical essay, Zoe focuses on a summer camp that has been part of her life every summer since she was a toddler. Note how the setting plays a central role in the experience, while the people are discussed almost as part of the setting, without names or specific dialogue: The summer I turned thirteen was the first summer I got to go on the overnight trip with other kids my age. We hiked up to a place known as the Pots, and after a day of swimming and a dinner of quesadillas, the day turned to night and as soon as the sun had set the sky lit up with the brightness of millions of stars. We laid there for a long time, talking and laughing, with the night sky spread out over us like a dome. It looked like someone had sprinkled salt on black paper, and I had never seen anything more beautiful. Shooting stars flew across the sky, the first ones I had ever seen. I don’t remember falling asleep - in my memories, the night just lasts forever.

As Zoe approaches the conclusion, she conveys the importance of friendships, while the setting retains its significance in having facilitated this long-term bonding: Although I love all the memories I’ve already made in my many summers at Fallen Leaf Lake, my favorite memory is of the very first night of camp this year. I sat with all my friends in the lodge, talking about all we had done in the past year and laughing about our favorite old camp stories. People change a lot in just a year, and I always love to see how each of us has changed since last summer. Even though we only see each other once a year, we’ve all watched each other grow up. As I sat in the warmth of the fireplace with hot chocolate in my hands, finally with some of my favorite people in the world, everything felt right in my world.

Nandini wrote about the importance of theater in her life, why she loves it, what she’s learned. In this passage she draws lessons from different types of experiences at different ages. I learned the most from the show I directed, “Alice in Wonderland.” It never occurred to me that so much patience, leadership, and respect is required to be a good director. Being the boss of twenty middle schoolers when you are a middle schooler is ridiculously difficult because so many of them don’t listen. It also didn’t help that my codirector couldn’t care less about the show. I was basically in charge of the entire show. The path was rocky, but I am assured that by the end, my peers respected me more, became a great leader, and experienced something extremely educating. My favorite show I participated in during eighth grade was “Seussical Jr., The Musical.” One lesson “Seussical” taught me was how amazing a community can be. Generally, “Seussical” is meant to have a large cast. Palo Alto Children’s Theater was putting on a production of “Seussical” at the same time my middle school was, and their cast was about fifty to sixty people. Our cast, on the other hand, was a little less than twenty people. What made the show so memorable was the fact that before the

auditions even happened, we already knew each other really well. So when “Seussical” itself took place, everyone was already best friends. We had such a strong community and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

Handout #3 SELF-REFLECTED PORTRAIT We recently studied how a memoir or autobiography does more than tell one story after another. In addition to narrative incidents, authors mix in passages that employ a topical mode of writing, providing information about settings, patterns of events, and important aspects of their lives. The third mode we’re going to study is a more specific type of topical approach, in which authors turn our attention to one other person, someone with an important role in the author’s life. The name we’ll use for this mode is “self-reflected portrait.” A portrait is a picture of someone, and a self-portrait is an artist’s picture of himself or herself. In this mode of writing, authors of memoir focus on another person, but in the process, reveal much about themselves. This can be a complex mode to analyze, or to use in your own writing. Consider these possibilities within this mode: The author describes a positive relationship with a loved or admired person. The author describes a negative relationship with a loved or admired person: for example, a friend might have a negative influence on the author. Someone described in positive ways could make the author experience negative feelings like jealousy or insecurity. The author has a negative experience with a person described with negative qualities. The author describes a person who’s unlikeable and exerts a negative influence, but the author’s strength, growth, or maturity may help overcome this negativity, making the overall tone of the passage more positive. The author presents a relationship in a way filled with ambivalence (both positive and negative).

Among the various modes of autobiographical writing in our mentor texts, the self-reflected portrait demands the most of students as readers. Then, when you choose to attempt this mode in their own writing, two frequent challenges emerge: either the student writes predominantly in a descriptive mode, without making the person come alive, or, simply ends up writing a narrative incident that involves that other person. To ensure success in this mode, study the mentor texts closely, and ask yourself: How does the author provide a variety of physical descriptions of this other person? Can I see and hear that person? Are the physical descriptions offered with an underlying attitude, a sense that the author finds these physical traits attractive or unattractive in a person? What does the author reveal about himself or herself in these descriptions? How does the author present the primary other person in relationship to still more people? Can we understand the personality and attitudes of that person? Does the author present this person in a positive, negative, or ambivalent light? What does the author reveal about their own personality or values through the focus on this other person? How does the author balance observations of and interactions with this other person? Do we learn more about the author through descriptions of shared experiences and activities with this other person, or through the way the author observes the person from a distance? What conclusions can we draw from this passage? What has the author revealed about himself or herself through a temporary focus on someone else? Student Writing Samples Writing about his father (called “Baba”), Noah includes physical descriptions, personal history, and personality traits, and also demonstrates how he can relate to and learn from his father’s experience.

Baba’s glasses frame his kind, round face, large ears, and bushy eyebrows. He stands proud with his head full of thick, gray hair. While most Asians dye their hair when they begin to gray, my father keeps his silvery crown just the way it is. But he wasn’t always this way. When he was growing up, he was an awkward immigrant child and did anything to fit in. For example, he told me that from elementary through most of high school, he was reluctant to raise his hand to answer questions, because he didn’t want to stand out in class. It wasn’t until his college years, when my father spoke English fluently and had acclimated to the American culture, that he felt more confident to express himself. He took a public speaking class in college, and actually enjoyed making speeches in front of a large audience. Looking back at my own experience in elementary and middle school, I felt that same pressure to fit in. Even though I am not an immigrant like my dad, I felt the need to look and act like the “All American Kid.” I begged my parents to buy me clothes and shoes that I saw on the “cool” kids. Furthermore, instead of thinking for myself, I signed up for the same summer camps, played the same sports, and participated in the same activities as my peers. For example, if my friends were going to see a movie that I’d already watched, I’d go again, even if I didn’t like it the first time. As I look back, I realize I was wasting too much time trying to fit in. Now that I am older, I’m learning to be more comfortable with being myself, and respecting my own needs and choices.

Amaya provides details about her father’s appearance and habits, while revealing her feelings for him. Her insights reveal her own observational nature, leading to questions rather than answers at this point. As a child, I believed it was impossible for my father to feel pain. Not once do I recall him getting sick. When he stood, my father stood tall, almost defiant, as if challenging life to throw an obstacle his way. Laughter started deep within his core and bubbled over, refusing to keep the happiness confined. His speech, commanding, calculated, every word a precious treasure not to be wasted on irrelevant chatter. If my father was a spider, charisma and charm were his web, ensnaring any who wandered too close. In my head, my father was an iron man, unbroken, unshakable, unafraid. That superhuman picture I held on to, however, wavered every time my father turned on a tune. The only inconsistency to an otherwise impenetrable image lied within the slow, melancholy notes that followed my father everywhere. My iron man loved listening to sad music. The wails of the singers barged their way into my ears despite my attempts to barricade them out. I was powerless against their rich, methodical reveries. Each song told an epic ballad of tragedy. Problem after problem, wrong doing after wrong doing, choked out words to faded out pleas, each one paralyzing to the soul. Some singers begged for a second chance at love, while others longed for easier times. Cherished ones were mourned and unanswered questions were raised in a sickly melody. I did not see or hear agony, I felt it. Suffering seemed close enough to touch and tormented cries were nearly palatable. Obvious weakness, vulnerability, a display for all to take in, sung as if with a dying breath. It puzzled me, to hear these tortured men and women, then to look over at my indestructible father. Why would such a man listen to sad music?

Handout #4 RESOURCE: GIVING AND RECEIVING PEER FEEDBACK

Peer feedback can be valuable in the development of writing skills, but it depends on writers being willing and able to provide useful feedback to each other. Here are some guidelines that will help if this process is new to you, or if you’d like to make it more effective than it has been in the past. Even if you’re skilled at working in peer groups to provide writing feedback, it’s a good idea to start a new group with some reminders about expectations and norms for writing groups. 1. Let the writer determine the scope of the feedback. Some writers want detailed proofreading, recognizing that they need assistance with grammar, punctuation, various writing conventions, vocabulary, or idiomatic language. Other writers are confident they can handle those finer points on their own, and instead, they’re seeking insights into the reader’s thinking. The writer should tell their peer reviewers what kind of feedback is desired, and reviewers should honor that request. 2. Offer specific feedback and questions. Bland praise (Good job!) and general critiques (Work on grammar) are minimally useful. If there are general observations that will be helpful, be sure to identify examples that illustrate the point you’re making. 3. Keep your purpose in mind. If you’re interested in the topic of the writing and want to talk about it with the writer, save that conversation for later, and focus on the writing. If you disagree with someone or dislike what you read about, remember, your job at this time is to help a writer, not to argue with the writer or try to change anyone’s opinion. 4. Be honest, and kind. Your reactions are likely similar to other readers’ reactions, so help the writer identify potential improvements, in the same manner that you would like to be supported. Try these techniques:

1. Use “I” statements. Instead of “You need to make this part clearer,” say or write, “I want to know more about this part to understand it better.”

2. Ask questions instead of making statements. Instead of saying, “Take this part out,” ask the writer, “Why did you include this part?” Instead of saying “ What effect were you aiming for?” 3. Avoid overkill. The further we go in this process, the less each reviewer probably needs to say. Don’t duplicate comments, or cover the draft with excessive commentary and editing marks. 4. Consult experts as needed. If members of the group disagree regarding grammar, vocabulary, writing rules and conventions, or any other advice for the writer, there’s no need to argue. Look up answers in an authoritative resource if available, and then ask the teacher if necessary.

WHAT MADE IT MEMORABLE Over the course of many years teaching this approach to autobiographical writing, I’ve seen some important benefits for both my teaching and my students’ learning. Using these lessons at the start of the school year helps me gain some useful insights into the writing skills and strategies my students bring with them from the outset. Personal writing removes barriers because students don’t need to gather or synthesize information from other sources; they already have the subject matter expertise and can focus on writing. The sooner I have an understanding of their needs, the sooner I can begin to support them as emerging writers. The most memorable aspect of this assignment, not surprisingly, has more to do with knowing my students as people overall, beyond knowing their writing. When you take care to establish a safe and trusting atmosphere among everyone in the classroom, this work can really take off and enhance that climate. Each essay draft provides useful insights into students, creating the basis for stronger academic and personal relationships. The little bits of information I glean from these essays often become points of connection that make it easier to check in with students during the school year. We find out that we have common interests in going to hear live music, or shared experiences messing up on stage in an elementary school play. I know who’s getting up early to row with the crew team before school, and find out who’s involved with the Best Buddies club or doing volunteer work in the community. Given an invitation to reflect on their

lives, students will open up about the importance of their cultural heritage, or how they’ve navigated their peers’ questions about having same-sex parents. Years later, when I look back at rosters of students who are now adults, I can often remember how their autobiographical essays helped me connect with them so long ago. We can tell students that we care about them and hope they believe our declarations, but centering our students in our classrooms, taking a genuine interest in their lives and their well being, demonstrates our caring more convincingly.

AUTHOR BIO David B. Cohen is a National Board Certified Teacher, and has taught in the Palo Alto High School English Department (Palo Alto, CA) for more than half of his 20-year career. In addition to teaching, he has been active in his local and state teachers union, and has participated in or helped direct a variety of teacher leadership projects at the state and national level. David’s blog at EdWeek Teacher is titled Capturing the Spark, and his book with the same title, details his year of visiting public schools and observing classes all over California. You can follow David on Twitter at @CohenD.

Talking Back to the Culture of Silence: Unpacking Community Violence through Essay Writing By Jennifer Dines “In a world gushing blood day and night, you never stop mopping up pain.” ― Aberjhani

The Story Behind the Lesson Responding to the violence that occurs regularly in our schools and in our community requires both courage and creativity. In the Boston Public Schools, where I teach, there is often a pervasive culture of silence when it comes to issues of violence in our community. I have worked in the Boston Public Schools since 2005, and, despite such significant events as the Boston Marathon bombing, the attempted murder of a student by a dean at the English High School, and ongoing crimes committed by the MS-13 gang in East Boston, teachers have been offered minimal guidance on how to address these issues in our classrooms. And yet, despite our efforts to ignore or silence these tragic events, the effects of violence enslave our students’ minds with worry, anger, and fear, and prevent them from achieving mental and spiritual health as well as academic achievement. Last year, I made a public commitment to talk about community violence by addressing it head-on with my students. This year, I decided that all of my students would enter the Do the Write Thing Challenge, an essay writing competition sponsored annually by the National Campaign to Stop Violence. Do the Write Thing offers three guided questions for students’ essays: How has violence affected my life? What are the causes of youth violence? What can I do about youth violence? Writing itself is a courageous act for my middle school students, most of whom are long-term English-Language Learners with learning disabilities. As a result of having experienced years of schooling with low expectations and little explicit instruction in ESL, my students struggle with all areas of written expression—encoding, sentence construction, and discourse. Writing assignments of any length are taxing and cognitively demanding, and my students often

express emotionality about writing. When there is a writing task, they ask to use the restroom, go to the nurse, or simply put their heads down on their desks. I plan every lesson with their struggle in mind, and a recurring theme of my instruction is acknowledging the courage it takes to face a blank page and put down words. In planning the seven-day mini-unit for completing the Do the Write Thing essays, my primary objective was that each student independently produce an essay for submission to the challenge. In the first few pieces of the lesson, I focused strongly on building background knowledge through readings, movement, and discussion because I know that, while my students have certainly felt the effects of community violence, they did not have the vocabulary to name and reflect upon the violence. Another focus of the lesson is to model and explicitly teach students how to be a Real Writer. I project a blog post that I wrote and that was published last year by the National Board. I read the post aloud to the students, and I question them about their thoughts on the author’s message and intent as well as the topics of each paragraph. Then, I discuss my own thinking behind the post. When students are completing their drafts, I expect them to write the whole time, with writing defined as looking at their papers, thinking, and writing down words. Students can consult any written resources from their folders, notebooks, dictionaries, and thesauri, but they are not permitted to talk during this stage of the process. To lessen the anxiety caused by writing, my students use the mantra In My Writing Place, In My Writing Space. Additionally, I provide my students with snacks—“Pirate’s Booty” is the popular choice—which they munch on as they maintain focus on their work. My hope throughout the year is that my students come to view themselves as real writers, and for this lesson specifically, I want them to have both the language and the courage to tell their truths.

Talking Back to the Culture of Silence: Unpacking Community Violence through Essay Writing LEARNING GOALS BROAD IMPLICATIONS Students will understand that: Violence is never healthy; They have choices in responding to violence in their communities; Creating an action plan is a means of making deliberate choices for responding to community violence.

KNOWLEDGE GAINED Students will know: Definitions and examples of different types of violence; Actions they can take to stop or prevent violence; Expectations for drafting like a real writer.

SKILLS ACQUIRED Students will be able to: Orally share personal narratives and ideas about how violence affects their lives; Take notes through constructing main idea and details graphic organizers; Construct an essay that weaves personal narrative, reflection, and action planning.

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING Students will:

Complete journal writing prompts; Clarify their thinking through main idea and details graphic organizers; Participate in conversations during Meeting of the Minds Jigsaw Reading activity; Draft their essays.

LEARNING PLAN Day One This initial day is focused on building background knowledge and vocabulary around the broad topic of violence. There are many different activities that involve reading, discussion, and movement, so that students have multiple means through which to understand the concept of violence. We begin with defining different types of violence. I then guide students through the expectations for the Do the Write Thing challenge, and following that, we transition out of our seats to engage in a “Very Violent/Very Peaceful” listening and movement activity in which students classify scenarios as violent or peaceful by moving across the room. Students return to their seats and, with partners or table groups, respond to a true/false survey quiz on violence, and we discuss data and misconceptions about violence through reviewing the answer key. Finally, students complete a journal prompt: Write as many thoughts ideas as you can about violence. I read the students’ journals after class in order to gain an understanding of their insights at the start of our unit—a type of formative assessment.

Day Two The second day of instruction is geared toward building background knowledge specific to gang violence. We begin by reading and responding to two poems by Gwendolyn Brooks and reading some preliminary information about gangs. Students then discuss and create a visual that shows their own personal values (pp. 71-73). We then closely examine together the consequences of choices through viewing the “Which Road Will You Choose?” Visual (p. 74). Finally, we

read a recent article about the recent activity of the MS-13 gang in East Boston, and the students respond to a journal prompt: Imagine that you are a mother or father, and you think your child is going to join MS-13. Write a letter to your child that will convince them not to join MS-13.

Days Three and Four These middle days of instruction are focused on notetaking using a student-created main idea and details graphic organizer. I elect to teach students how to draw their own graphic organizers in their reader’s notebooks rather than providing them with a graphic organizer printable, so students can apply the technique independently at any time in their academic career. I have my blog post printed on a transparency, and I switch between the post and a blank transparency which I use to model notetaking on the main idea and details graphic organizer. We begin with students writing in their reader’s notebooks. I model writing the title of the article at the top of the blank transparency, and then I draw two columns, labeling the left column “Main Ideas” and the right column “Details.” I tell the students, “I write, you write,” and they copy my organizer and notes. I read the article aloud, stopping to ask them periodically, ”What is the author’s message in this section?” We record the message under the main idea column, and then we add two details, which I define as two cool or interesting facts connected to the main idea. After students participate in shared writing with me, they practice main idea and details note taking on a fresh page with a new article. Each table team receives a different news article on youth violence in Boston, and I instruct the students to read and take notes with the goal of preparing for a Meeting of the Minds, where students who read different articles come together in small groups to discuss the question: How can one act of violence affect many people? This activity is akin to a jigsaw reading. Finally, students respond to a journal prompt, which is the same as from Day One: Write as many thoughts ideas as you can about violence. This provides me with an assessment of the quality and quantity of students’ written expression around the concept of violence.

Day Five

Today is a writer’s workshop day. Before we begin writer’s workshop, however, I share with them one final piece of background knowledge —the article Ten Things Kids Can Do to Stop Violence. We then review the Do the Write Thing Project Description with the students, and I instruct them to follow the Writer’s Workshop Guidelines. A student helper distributes the snacks, students have the whole time to write, and at the end of class we spend a few minutes reflecting on how strictly they adhered to the guidelines and how their writing went.

Day Six Today is dedicated to peer feedback. I follow the instruction plan from the Peer Edit With Perfection Lesson on ReadWriteThink.org. However, instead of using the sample student writing on ReadWriteThink, I instead use a piece of student writing that I have printed on a transparency to model peer editing. I share my thoughts aloud as I move through the process of providing compliments, suggestions, and corrections on the student work. I tend to pick the highest quality student work in the class, so my students are exposed to a model draft that will give them ideas about vocabulary, sentence structure, and paragraphing. Corrections are focused on using the CHOPS acronym—Capitalization, Handwriting, Organization, Punctuation, Spelling. Once students are finished giving and receiving peer feedback, they write a second draft that incorporates the feedback they have received. Students often need to complete their second draft at home, so they are prepared for the final day of the lesson.

Day 7 Our final day of this mini-unit is another writer’s workshop day. We again review the Do the Write Thing Project Description with the students and the Writer’s Workshop Guidelines. Additionally, students are provided with the Final Draft Checklist as an additional resource. Then, as is our writing ritual, snacks are distributed and the writing begins. At the end of class, the student essays are collected to be scanned and submitted to the contest. Just like real writers do, we then wait and see whether our submissions were accepted.

HANDOUTS/LINKS/RESOURCES Handouts 1

DO THE WRITE THING PROJECT DESCRIPTION; Name__________________________ Guiding Questions How has violence affected my life? What are the causes of youth violence? What can I do about youth violence? Task: Write an essay in which you answer the guiding questions. Describe the reasons why youth violence occurs. Offer suggestions about what you can do to stop violence in your home, school, and neighborhood. Share your personal experiences with youth violence in your life and the lives of your family members and friends. Audience: The Do the Write Thing Committee at UMass Boston will organize a recognition ceremony to honor the boy and girl from each participating middle school who submit the best entries. The “School Ambassadors” will be invited to attend the recognition ceremony. The Do the Write Thing Committee will also publish the writings of all their “School Ambassadors” and distribute the publication to area community, business, and governmental leaders. Each Do the Write Thing Committee will designate two “National Ambassadors” - the boy and girl from the jurisdiction who submit the most thought provoking entries for the 2016 Challenge. The two National Ambassadors along with each student’s teacher and one parent or guardian will be invited by the National Campaign to Stop Violence to attend the Do the Write Thing Challenge National Recognition Week activities in Washington, DC in July of 2016. Handouts 2 WHAT IS VIOLENCE? What is violence? There are many different types of violence. Physical violence occurs when someone uses their body or a weapon to hurt your body. Verbal abuse occurs when someone uses words (written or said out loud) to hurt your feelings or scare you. Sexual violence occurs when someone makes you do some kind of sexual activity when you don’t want to. Neglect is when someone who is supposed to be taking care of you does not take care of you. Gang violence means acts of violence committed by a group of people who regularly

engage in criminal activity against innocent people. The term may also refer to physical hostile interactions between two or more gangs. All of these kinds of violence affect our mental and physical health. GRAPHEMIC CLUE Semantic Clue G———————————— Violence committed by a group of people against innocent people or violence between two groups N——————— When a child is not taken care of by their parents or guardians S—————————————— When someone forces another person to do a sexual activity against their will P———————————————— When someone hurts another person’s body V——————————— When someone uses words to hurt another person emotionally Handouts 3 GWENDOLYN BROOKS AND GANG VIOLENCE; WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT VIOLENCE? “We Real Cool” Draw a picture or write a few words about how this poem makes you feel or what it makes you think about. “To the Young Who Want to Die” Draw a picture or write a few words about how this poem makes you feel or what it makes you think about. Handouts 4 GANGS WHAT ARE GANGS? A gang is a group of people; a criminal gang, which is often called a gang, is a group of people who use the same symbol, wear the same colored clothing, and get together to break the law, do and sell drugs, or hurt others. What are some pros of gang involvement? Some pros include: money, partying, friends, back-up, sense of family, people respect

you. What are the cons of gang involvement? Some cons include: jail, criminal record, death, permanent physical injury, loss of time, missed opportunities, loss of friends, in trouble with family. People don’t respect gang members—they fear them. Handouts 5 TRUE/FALSE SURVEY QUIZ AND ANSWER KEY; The Truth about Violence 1. Child abuse only occurs in poor families. 2. Most violent behavior occurs in a fit of temporary insanity. 3. The victim and the assailant in a violent crime are usually not strangers. 4. The victim and the assailant in a violent crime are usually not the same race. 5. Most violent crimes are committed under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. 6. When homicide occurs, it is usually motivated by economic gain. 7. Adults are more likely to be victims of violent crime than teenagers 8. Teenagers are most likely to be attacked in malls, commercial buildings or parking lots. 9. Violence is a normal and instinctive response to feelings of anger and aggression, especially for men. 10. Violence is much more likely to occur in families living in poverty. Adapted with permission from Nurturing Skills: ACT II by Family Development Resources, Inc., 3160 Pinebrook Road, Park City, UT 84060, 1991 Life Planning Education, Advocates for Youth, Washington, DC Leader’s Resource Statements. Resource Answer Key: The Truth about Violence 1. Child abuse only occurs in poor families. FALSE: Child abuse can occur in any type of family. However, societal pressures such as poverty and lower socioeconomic status are contributing factors in child abuse. 2. Most

violent behavior occurs in a fit of temporary insanity. FALSE: When a person commits a violent act, they usually know what they are doing, even if they do not always understand why. Violence often occurs when someone gets so frustrated and angry that she or he resorts to the violence they have learned from watching others in their environment and through the media 3. The victim and the assailant in a violent crime are usually not strangers. TRUE: About half of all murders occur between people who know each other: 16 percent are family members and 33 percent are friends or acquaintances. At least half of all rapes occur between two people who know each other or are dating. 4. The victim and the assailant in a violent crime are usually not the same race. FALSE: In 90 percent of murders, the victim and the assailant are of the same race. 5. Most violent crimes are committed under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. TRUE: Eighty-two percent of stabbings and 75 percent of shootings are alcohol related. Acquaintance rape occurs most often under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. 6. When homicide occurs, it is usually motivated by economic gain. FALSE: Only one 1 of 6 homicides occurs during a robbery or another economically motivated crime such as arson. Adapted with permission from Nurturing Skills: ACT II by Family Development Resources, Inc., 3160 Pinebrook Road, Park City, UT 84060, 1991 Life Planning Education, Advocates for Youth, Washington, DC 7. Adults are more likely to be victims of violent crime than teenagers FALSE: Teenagers are much more likely to be victims of violent crime than adults of any age—67 out of 1,000 teens are victims of violent crime, compared to 26 out of 1,000 adults and only 4 out of 1,000 senior citizens. 8. Teenagers are most likely to be attacked in malls, commercial buildings or parking lots. FALSE: Over half of all violent crimes against teenagers age 12 to 19 occur in school buildings, on school property or on the street. Street crimes are three times more likely than school crimes to be committed by an offender with a weapon. 9. Violence is a normal and instinctive response to feelings of anger and aggression, especially for men. FALSE: Violence is learned behavior, not a biological instinct. It occurs in cultures in which children grow up seeing adults or teens behaving in violent ways and in which children are often the targets of violent acts. In cultures that do not practice violence, children do not

learn it. Violent behavior is also not related to gender. In some cultures, women are more aggressive and violent and men are more passive and nonviolent, because they are reared that way and see adults of the same sex behave that way. 10. Violence is much more likely to occur in families living in poverty. FALSE: Many families experience violent behavior. Consider the following facts: AImost every adult today was spanked as a child. One out of five husbands approves of slapping his wife’s face. Violence in middle class families is widespread, although such families are less likely to end up in court or be investigated by social service agencies. Most homicides in the U.S. occur between marriage partners. Over 3 million children annually see some violence in their families. Handouts 6 WRITER’S WORKSHOP GUIDELINES Do the Write Thing: Writers’ Workshop Guidelines (aka How to Be a Real Writer) In My Writing Place, In My Writing Space 1. Write the Whole Time. 2. Be Brave - look at your paper, think, and write down words. 3. Keep to yourself. Don’t ask questions. Don’t answer questions. Just write. 4. Silence is Golden. 5. Use your brain. You may use any resources in your folder. You may also use a picture dictionary. Texts: “We Real Cool/To the Young Who Want to Die” by Gwendolyn Brooks; How Violent Street Gang MS-13 Operates in Massachusetts; Before Shooting, Former English High School Dean Was To Be Fired; 7-Year-Old Boy Shot in Dorchester in Good Condition; 14-Year-Old Boy Charged in Shooting of 9-Year-Old Brother in Mattapan; Amid Grief, A Call to Action;

Ten Things Kids Can Do to Stop Violence Curriculum Resources: “Very Violent/Very Peaceful”; Peer Editing with Perfection; ReadWriteThink.org

WHAT MADE IT MEMORABLE Crafting reading and writing lessons that connect personal identities and social justice has always been a part of my professional practice over the past decade. My students have written essays following the Boston Marathon bombings, letters to Malala Yousafzai after she was shot by the Taliban on her way to school, and sympathy cards to French President Francois Hollande following the recent attacks on Paris. However, entering the Do the Write Thing challenge empowered my students to be able to name, reflect upon, and respond to violent events in their individual lives. What I found most interesting was that, at the start of the unit, my students said that violence did not affect them. However, as their vocabulary around violence was enhanced, the students were able to identify that, while they were not victims, violence in their communities had a ripple effect that projected outward from the violent event itself and into the community. I learned a lot about my students through this unit, and I gained empathy and compassion for them, as well as admiration for their strength. I also saw that their engagement was high through the quantity of writing in their final drafts. I was careful not to give them critical feedback during the unit, so the writing would remain their own, and I encouraged them to rely on their resources and their own decision-making skills. Sometimes it is hard for me as a teacher to let go, but in the end it was best because the quality of voice resounded throughout their writing. What made the unit most memorable, however, was reading my students’ work and taking pride in what I had facilitated—not only writing, but helping my students to live examined lives in service of a great good. I will leave you with a few sentences from my students. “Youth violence is a problem around the City of Boston. People get into crimes or fights. That’s why I try and be careful wherever I am.” (Erick, Grade 7)

“Youth violence has affected my life by leaving a scar on my face. I could cover up this scar with makeup, but when I take it off, I’m left with the reality of that on my face. I guess there’s some things that makeup can’t fix.” (Arijeta, Grade 7 ) “I want to change this world to a world without violence. No gang violence, neglect, sexual violence, physical violence, or verbal abuse. A world of peace—no crimes. A safe place for children, teenagers, and adults. Some may have been used to this all the time, but the world needs to change for everyone, and everyone in the future.” (Melissa, Grade 6)

AUTHOR BIO Jennifer Dines

is the Special Education and Student Services Coordinator at the Gardner Pilot Academy K-8 School, a Pilot School in the Boston Public Schools. Jennifer is a National Board Certified Teacher in the area of English as a New Language. She is a graduate of Berklee College of Music, Lesley University, Northeastern University, and the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions. Jennifer is the Editor-In-Chief of and a contributing writer to WritingIsThinking.org, a collaborative blog focused on writing instruction for ELLs and Students with Disabilities. Jennifer is also a blogger for The Standard, the official blog of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. You can follow Jennifer on twitter @literacychange.

Bearing Witness Through Biographical Narrative By Sarah J. Donovan “When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” ―Ernest Hemingway

The Story Behind the Lesson So much of our communication these days is fleeting and inconsequential. Think about quick text messages, Snapchats deleted in seconds, tweets in 140 characters. Technology allows us to communicate in an instant, to gather data, to reach out across the globe with a click. It is powerful, but its efficiency can veil the richness and complexity of the lives it connects. While such digital communication is a part of 21st-century learning, so too is communication with people and ideas quite distant from us —distant spatially and emotionally. Many schools are moving to 1:1 technology, which means screen time may overcome the classroom community if teachers do not plan time for face-to-face, real-time relating. Our lessons must teach how to use digital tools, but also what those tools can do to deepen our understanding of one another, and to imagine a more just society. I think stories are our best hope. I have always started the school year asking students to write stories from their lives. I’ve seen many beautiful life maps and have read stories that moved me to tears and laughter. I feel privileged to carry over a decade of students’ stories in my mind and heart. When a student writes a personal narrative, she is the authority, and my job is to probe into the gaps and suggest places to stretch and bring to life the memory. When they read or share those stories with their peers, I witness connections and compassion among students—the foundation of a healthy writing community. However, I wondered what it would be like for them to start the year writing about a classmate’s memory. Imagining the weight of that responsibility was enough to try it. Have you ever written a story about another person’s life? Have you ever read a story someone wrote about your life? Imagine it: reading your life, written by another. What does it take to make that happen? Asking for and listening to someone else’s story is a

powerful experience, but being responsible for rendering that story into a public piece is quite something else. We talk about authentic writing, so what can be a more real than asking for, carrying, writing, and sharing another person’s story? The English classroom can be a place where the lives of our students are not only valued but are, in fact, the lesson. According to Shoshana Felman, who wrote Testimony about the testimony of Holocaust survivors, “the interview-listener takes on the responsibility for bearing witness that previously the narrator felt he bore alone.” The encounter of coming together with another human to revisit a memory makes possible a shared story; speaker and listener engage in the joint responsibility of witnessing a life, which is the source of the emerging narrative and new memory of what happened. The writer then takes on the role of an artist who must render the the memory anew in narrative form. The biographical artist-writer develops an allegiance to subject’s memory and must use their craft to render the details and the sentiment for readers. The artist-writer cannot merely reproduce events to “tell” readers what happened; she must imagine it so that readers can also imagine. Though nonfiction, it is still an imaginative medium, which has the task of opening up in the reader the imaginative capability of perceiving history—what has happened to another human being. In this lesson, writers work through the biographical writing process: interviewing, drafting, seeking approval from the subject, revising, and publishing on a website. The process is about the responsibility for conveying a story that belongs to another human being; and in using technology to publish this story, the writer brings readers into a position to bear witness to the life of a classmate. Each story works to unveil the richness and complexity of the lives it connects.

Bearing Witness Through Biographical Narrative LEARNING GOALS BROAD IMPLICATIONS Students will understand that: Digital tools can be used to share stories and build community; Open-ended questions allow people to respond with greater depth than yes or no questions; Listening requires paying attention to what is said, how it is said, and what is not necessarily said; Narrative can mean telling other people’s stories, and with that comes responsibility; A single story cannot capture a person’s life or a community.

KNOWLEDGE GAINED Students will know: How to elicit a story for a biographical narrative; Various methods for organizing a narrative; How to negotiate which parts of a biography can be ethically imagined or somewhat fictionalized while still capturing the intended meaning.

SKILLS ACQUIRED Students will be able to: Conduct an interview; Adapt an interview into a narrative; Write a lead that introduces the interviewee at a specific time and place in his/her life in first or third person;

Organize the memory in a sequence that unfolds logically, perhaps using flashback; Use dialogue to develop an event or “character.” Create a sensory scene to capture the mood of a memory; Use transition words to signal time change or shifts in the narrative; Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on the narrated experience; Revise the narrative with feedback from the interviewee; Seek consent and publish the narrative on a blog, citing the source of the content; Interact with other writers using technology by posting meaningful responses to the published narratives.

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING Students will: Write a well-organized biographical sketch telling a story that closely captures the subject’s shared memory; Include and color-code evidence of skills: dialogue, sensory language, colon for emphasis, interjections, and complex sentences; Communicate with their classmate to analyze and revise the narrative for accuracy and meaning; Show written consent to publish the biographical sketch on a website; Reflect upon their own writing, noticing how it impacts the reader as a human being, a reader, and a writer.

LEARNING PLAN Preparation

Before class, make copies of the Interview Guide for the Biographical Sketch (see below) for all your students with a few extras. Using your class lists, make partners who will interview one another for this project. Consider matching people who may not typically chat in class. This is an opportunity to build community through story, and it seems to work best when students don’t know each other so that they won’t make assumptions. If there is an odd number, consider being interviewed yourself, invite a colleague to be interviewed, or even consider inviting an administrator to participate.

Day One As the class settles in, seek out a student who is willing to be your partner in an interview demonstration. Show the student the Interview Guide, and ask her to choose a topic she’ll be willing to talk about. Arrange two chairs facing each other in an open space. Sit with your student-partner, and ask the class to gather around. Explain to the class that you are going to interview their classmate for a story that you will write: a biographical sketch. Ask the students if they recall the words “biography” and “autobiography,” which they likely will know but may confuse. Clarify that a biographical sketch is a short story about another person’s life. The first step is the interview. Ask the students to watch closely and be ready to report back what they notice about the interview process. Follow the interview script in the Interview Guide to elicit a story from your student-partner. Ask follow-up questions and respond with sympathy, surprise, humor, or any other natural response that the experience evokes. I am going to ask you some questions about a childhood memory. The first step is to choose a memory that is vivid enough and important enough to you to talk about, knowing that I am going to write your story and eventually ask to publish it on our blog. Here are a few topics: an unusual or memorable place you lived, a snapshot memory of your mother or father from when you were little, a favorite hiding place, a childhood injury or illness, your most beloved object or gift, a best sleepover moment, how you

got your nickname, a moment you wish you could return to as a child, the first time you tried something, a lesson you learned the hard way, a time you realized you were special or different, your first funeral, the best advice you’ve ever received, an embarrassing moment, or a story about your race, culture, or tradition. Do any stories come to mind? (response) Okay, now that you’ve decided, tell me about that moment. Start from the beginning. (response) Now for some follow-up questions (as needed):

How old were you at the time? When or what time of year was it? Weather? What time of day was it? Was it a typical day? Where was this (state, city, town, house, park, store, bedroom)? Can you describe the place? Can we work through some sensory details of this? Colors, objects, textures, smells, sounds, flavors, feelings? Who was there with you? Can you tell me about them? What they looked like? What they said? How they said it? How did you respond to this? What did you say? What did you learn from this experience? How has it changed you? What does it mean for who you are today? Why do you think this has stayed with you? Looking back at it now, and after telling me about it, do you realize anything new? Is there anything else you think I should know about this memory? When you are finished, ask the class what they noticed about the interview. Here are possible noticings: the students selected the memory; the first question was “tell me,” an open-ended question; you took notes; you asked lots of follow-up questions; you expressed your joy or sadness; you asked for words and images; you thanked her. Reiterate that you asked so many questions because you want as much detail as possible to help you recreate not only the event but also capture the mood and meaning for the person.

Explain that everyone will conduct interviews today and have the privilege of writing another person’s story to be published on the blog. Be sure that everyone knows to select a memory or story

that he or she feels comfortable sharing with the class. Explain that you partnered students for a specific reason: to create an opportunity for getting to know each other better. Prepare students for what would be appropriate reactions when they see the partner names. Tell the class that once they see the names (projected), the first person listed should get an Interview Guide, greet the partner, find a place to sit, and get started. Monitor the process, encouraging detailed notes and follow-up questions. Depending on the length of your class period, you may have time to switch roles on day one. Collect the interview guides. Review them to see if you notice any trends in the notes that you can address before drafting. Students will need to conduct follow-up interviews during the writing process.

Day Two Before class, prepare a biographical sketch of your student’s interview using the techniques that you intend to teach or reinforce with your students (e.g., lead, sensory detail, dialogue, flashback, reflective closing). Prepare one copy of the consent form. When class begins, bring the student-partner by your side again and show her your draft. Do not read it aloud, saying you do not yet have her consent. Ask her what is good, needs work, seems accurate, is not quite right, etc. Explain to her that you included dialogue that she hadn’t told you verbatim, but that you inferred and crafted based on the details she gave you about the people and place. Ask her if it sounds about right or what might make it more accurate. Once she is satisfied, hand her the consent form that would allow you to share her story with the class. Read the story to the class and ask students to notice the features of the narrative: the lead, dialogue, sensory language, the events, maybe a flashback, a

closing that reflects on the meaning. Talk about what changes you will make before you publish it to the blog or website. Tell the class that the focus of today is starting the draft. Project your draft and talk through how the lead introduces the context: time, place, people. Talk through some ways they might begin: Description: When Sarah was eleven, she had her first kiss. It was after school, on a her walk home. Fall leaves crunched beneath her Mary Janes with white socks. (Character, time, place.) Dialogue: “Gross!” Sarah said wiping the saliva slime off her mouth. Skip the lead and just tell the story. Get the whole thing down and revise it for the lead later.

Drafting Days and Mini-Lessons Depending on your class, you may draft over several days. Organize a few days of mini-lessons for grammar topics or skills that you’d like students to use in their biographical sketches. Here are a few examples: Start class one day with a mini-lesson on how to punctuate dialogue, and then have students revise their drafts to include dialogue. Students can collaborate with their interview partners to capture not only the possible words, but also the tone, facial expressions, and gestures of the “characters.” You can monitor this and check their drafts for paragraphing and punctuation. Have some mentor texts available. Start class another day with a lesson on complex sentences. Show how the subordinating conjunction can indicate a time change or shift in the story, i.e., When Sarah got home from the ordeal, she brushed her teeth. Support students as they revise sentences, or notice sentences where they used subordinating conjunctions and talk about comma usage.

Make a day to talk about the closing. After spending a few days with the draft and making revisions, the partners should get together to talk about what the memory means to them now. Looking back, what is the significance? How can we end the story without being too cliche or didactic?

Editing/Proofreading Days Before class, make copies of the consent document ahead of time. Reserve or plan for technology so that students can type and publish their biographical sketches in class. Here is a sample consent document: I, ____________________, consent to have my story, written by ______________________, published to the school on the site titled __________________________. If you’d like to have your site available to the public, check with your school about its policy. As students type and revise, walk around with the different standards, skills, and objectives listed on a clipboard, and ask students about what they are doing with their writing. This is a great time to conference, read, give feedback, and assess the knowledge and skills. When students are ready to publish, have them seek consent from their partner using the consent document. Students should also add a note of gratitude on their published document indicating the consent. Examples of Biographical Sketches from seventh-grade writers are printed here with consent. I use pseudonyms, but otherwise have not edited their prose: “Butterflies and Elephants” by Cameron This story is published with the expressed consent from Stella. I thank Stella for allowing me to tell her story. “Huh?” Mrs. Lion shouted, “Next time be more responsible.” “O-Okay,” I cried, “It won’t happen again, I’m sorry.” I was at school during the second week of the school year at Lincoln Elementary. I was excited for this year because it was the first week of third grade! Although I was

excited for third grade, the school year was already off to a bad start. Here’s the story of how I lost my hearing aid. The day seemed normal. My mom woke me up in the morning, and then I walked into our kitchen. The kitchen was your average kitchen, well I mean, we live in an apartment. Kitchens aren’t that pretty in apartments. “Hey,” my mom said, “What do you want for breakfast?” “I’ll just make some cereal,” I said. After I made my cereal, I walked into the dining room and ate my cereal. It was my favorite, Frosted Flakes. I loved how they tasted. I loved how the frosting mixed in with the milk to make a delicious, creamy concoction. I also loved how the brown flakes crunched and blended with the concoction. I finished my delicious cereal and dashed into the restroom. First, I brushed my teeth and rinsed them with mouth wash. I also did all my business and washed my hands. I walked into my room and got dressed. I was wearing a pair of white jeans and a grey sweater. “Bye mom,” I shouted, “See you after school!” “Okay, honey,” my mom replied, “Have fun!” I was walking out of my apartment complex; it was warm outside because it was the beginning of the school. I was excited for school; I always was. There was only one thing that I didn’t like about school: homework. I despised homework. I mean, who likes doing homework? After that, I arrived at school. The day was almost completely normal. We did average first-week-of-third-grade work. We colored, talk about things we’re going to do in third grade, etc. I was enjoying my day. My friend Giselle was in my class. Giselle had the same skin tone as me, and she also had black hair. She was a good friend, a very good friend. Everything looked perfect up until recess. I was talking to my friend, Giselle, for the whole recess. When we heard the whistle, we all ran into our lines. When we were walking inside, I realized something. Everything sounded muffled, sort of like I was underwater. Butterflies started dancing clumsily in my stomach. Ms. Lion, my teacher, put on a Peanuts movie. She was about to turn off the lights when I realized that she was looking into my ear. “Stella,” she whispered, “come to the hall with me.” “Uhh,” I said, “okay.” The butterflies turned into elephants, and my face was burning like a forest fire. I was so nervous I could have fainted right then and there. “Where’s your hearing aid?” she asked. “Um,” I said, “I lost it. It’s probably outside.” We went out searching for it. The elephants grew and grew. The elephants also started dancing ferociously. I was heading back inside with Mrs. Lion; we were in the hall when she started to shout at me: again. “I’m sorry,” I said crying. “Your parents won’t be happy with you, Stella,” Mrs. Lion replied. It wouldn’t be the first time, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.. Stella’s Response: I choose to tell this story because it was the first time I realized that my hearing aid is really important and that was the first time I realized it was expensive. After that I was never the same but in a good way. Now, whenever I climb the stairs or walk for a long time I touch my ear and make sure that it isn’t loose. I became terrified by this memory because it can happen

again and it actually did happen again. The end of fourth grade I lost it. The end of fifth grade I lost it. This is my third hearing aid so far! I think Cameron did an amazing job with my story. I think if I did my own story, Cameron’s might still be better because he adds perspective while capturing mine, too. I want to thank Cameron for taking care of my story, and I want to thank him putting his best effort on my story. Thank you, Cam. I loved this story so bad.

“Because I Am” by Alicia This story is published with the expressed consent from Chris. I thank Chris for allowing me to tell his story. It was a sunny day in Guerrero, Mexico, and Chris who was two years old was playing outside with his brother who is four years old and was always bossing Chris around.Chris and his brother went inside their house which was really small with the walls made out of dirt and bricks and the roof made out of metal, when they got in they notice that their mom and dad were packing up. “ Ma’” Chris said confused,”what is going on,why are you packing everything?” “ Chris,” Chris’s mom said,” your father and I decided to go to California with your aunt,we can’t afford enough food for all of us here.” “But mom,” Chris said now really worried,”what’s going to happen to grandpa and grandma?” “Don’t worry,”Chris mom said,” when we get a job over there we are going to send some money,now go pack all of your stuff and when you’re done come to the table to have our last meal here.” Chris did what her mom said but still was mad and worried that they we’re going to move to another place.Chris starting packing but didn’t know what to pack so he just put everything in black bag including all his toys.when he was done he went to the table and already all his family was there,his mom put a big plate of scramble eggs and some beans in front of him. “Do I have to eat all this,”Chris said,”I can’t finish that.” “Chris,”said his mom,”eat all you can so your full and save all the rest ok,now hurry packing everything we are leaving tomorrow at two in the morning.” “WHAT, we can’t go at two in the morning,” Chris said,”i have to sleep.”he was so angry they had to leave so early,so instead of packing he went to sleep so in the morning he would be able to be wake up. When he woke up it was all dark He heard his parents talking about “coyotes” and that they have to pay them a lot of money.Chris didn’t know what coyotes wore but he didn’t like that name.Chris when outside and his brother was chasing some chickens (like he always does) in the back of his house .It wasn’t a good morning,even though He slept really early he was really tired,but now He heard his mom screaming that it was time to go. His dad lifted him up to the truck and Chris whispered in his ears,”are we going to stay in the truck for the whole trip?” “No son,”his dad said,”we are first going with the truck but then we are walking with the coyotes.” “Ohh,”Chris said,”but what are coyotes?” His dad left and didn’t even hear him.His dad started the car and we were headed to a place where our coyote is suppose to be. All of Chris family got off the truck and started following some people who wore following two men.Still Chris didn’t know who the coyotes were but he guessed it was the two men in front.The two men started walking and everyone else was following.

It was getting dark and still there family was still walking,until finally one of the coyotes said, “Let’s all take a break because we will be walking almost the whole night.” Chris immediately sat down because he was so bored and tired,even though his dad was carrying him most of the time.His dad got out some fruit and shared with his mom and brother;his dad didn’t give any to Chris because he had been eating on the way so he was already full.The coyote started walking, and so did everyone else. “Dad,”Chris’s says,”I don’t want to walk. Can you carry me?” “No,”Chris’s dad said,”we are going to be walking a long time, and i don’t want to get too tired,maybe later.” Chris was mad but understood him so he kept his mouth shut for the rest of the night.He was now tired and cooled because in the night it was cooled as Antarctica and in the day it was hot has fire.It was getting harder to walk and Chris asked his dad to carry him but his dad too was tired,they keep on walking and it only got harder. It was the next day and some people were already giving up and going back,but Chris family kept on going with the coyotes and didn’t give up; Chris was surprised that his brother didn’t bug him a lot on those days. Chris and his family had been walking now for three days and they had one last day to go without getting caught.That night helicopter had flown really close to them and almost found them but they got lucky and survived the whole trip. Chris was finally in the united states but now they have to go to their aunt’s house in California.They didn’t have any money and couldn’t afford anything to eat and couldn’t even afford a ticket for the bus to take them to California so his dad tried to call Chris aunt so she could come and pick them up.His aunt came and was happy they could go home. Chris and his family only stayed there for two weeks and came here to Illinois.Chris gets in a lot of trouble, but Chris was proud of one thing: he was a Mexican. Chris’s Response: Thanks Alicia for a good story and how you imagined what happened. A teacher’s response :Alicia,This was a beautifully captured story. I appreciate Chris’ story because my Mom also had to go through an extensive process to get to the U.S. from the Philippines. In this story, Chris revealed such perseverance that is admirable on so many levels. As a writer, you used dialogue in a way that made me feel like I was there at that moment. Thank you both Alicia and Chris for sharing this amazing story.

Publication Party Before class, make a poster or copies of the three-perspectives feedback guide. Arrange for students to bring snacks to share. Arrange for technology to read the published pieces. Three Perspectives Feedback Guide:

1. Respond as a human being: How does this text affect you emotionally or personally? What connections can you make to the topic personally in your life or in the life you hope to have? “Your essay/poem/critique resonated or spoke to me personally because _____________.” “I appreciate you writing on this topic because in my life _____________.” “This topic/idea hits me in the heart because I really care about _____________.” 2. Respond as a reader: What did you learn? What will you do with this information? How have your beliefs or thinking on this shifted because you’ve read this essay? “I understand you better as a person because you’ve shared this story about ____________.” “I am grateful that you’ve trusted us with this experience about _____________.” “I never knew about this” or “I will try your suggestion because _____________.” “This is a fresh perspective on _____________ because usually people talk about it like _____________.” 3. Respond as a writer: Which line or phrase seemed most vivid or funny or descriptive or unexpected but good? “The line that seemed most powerful/insightful in my view was _____________ because _____________.” “The features of this genre that you did well were _____________. For example, _____________.” “One technique I noticed was _____________; for example, _____________.” “Something unique (fresh or surprising) that you did with your writing was _____________.” “The best example/line/phrase you wrote was _____________ because _____________.” Ask students to read a certain number of stories and respond using the feedback guide, which encourages them to respond with feeling, to the new knowledge, and to the

writing techniques. Be sure students understand that they must use text evidence as they respond. Consider assigning students two required stories and a third optional one so that all students have a comment. You will see that students will not only get to know their classmates and notice writing techniques, but also that their varied experiences will become apparent and will open opportunities for future writing projects. Here are a few responses: I can connect to this story because I have younger cousins that are very annoying and want to play all the time. What I learned about Camila was that she is a very kind and understanding person. I say this because even though she didn’t want to play with her cousin she did because she knew that her cousin would be happy. I could really picture how Camila felt while she was hiding in the bathroom. I really enjoyed reading your story. I love this story! The dialogue, everything! I can connect with this because, at times, hospitals can be extremely creepy, especially the one that I go to all the time. I actually never knew that there were a disease like that, it’s good to learn somethings every once-in-a-while. A technique that I notice is that you start a new line, paragraph, when entering dialogue. :) As a human being I can connect to that because when we go to Wisconsin we always walk a lot because we don’t wanna use the car, and the beach is like 1 mile away. As a reader I never knew that people had to walk all the way to the United States. As a writer I am wondering why they can’t drive there.

Monitor the feedback if possible by looking at the comment section of your website. Confer with students to guide appropriate and meaningful comments, including noticing and providing evidence about the writing techniques and features of the story that elicit our sympathies and connections. At the end of the publication party, debrief on the responsibility of asking for and telling someone else’s story. Consider handing out sticky notes with a general question about what they learned from this experience of writing a biography. Share the responses and try to elicit: the experience of remembering, the ethics of filling in gaps of our memory, community-building. Future Experiences

Invite or require students to repeat this process with a school, family, or community member. Consider developing a podcast of recorded interviews or a category on the class blog or website with stories from beyond the classroom. Make time in class to listen and respond to these stories. We have made this a yearlong story project. Here are some student responses: I want to say how listening to these stories is beneficial and important to me, apart from the students. They are important to hear because I learn a little more on the backgrounds of the students to develop stronger connections. Another reason why they are very important is because if their family members and friends hadn’t made the choices they had, these students could be at another school, but fortunately they are at a great place: Winston! When I listen to these interviews it feels very special because someone is sharing a little bit of a part of their life to me. It’s so amazing to be able to listen to other people’s experiences and thoughts about a topic. I think that the benefit of listening to stories about the people who are most important to the students at Winston is that we get to learn more about them outside of school. Which is important because this gives us a chance to connect on a topic that we both care about and just listen to one another. After all we only have two years left at Winston and we aren’t sure if we will see each other again in high school.

HANDOUTS/LINKS/RESOURCES Donovan, Sarah J. “Three Perspectives Improve Peer-to-Peer Response.” MiddleWeb. 8 Aug. 2015. Felman, Shoshana, and Dori Laub. Testimony: Crises of Witnessing in Literature, Psychoanalysis, and History. New York: Routledge, 1991. Print. Rosenblatt, Louise M. Literature as Exploration. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1995. Print.

WHAT MADE IT MEMORABLE By participating in this process of asking for, rendering, revising, and publishing someone else’s story, students experience the privilege and responsibility of bearing witness to another’s life while recognizing how writers can ethically fill or enhance those fissures of our memories. The process of biographical writing teaches us to sit alongside another person, ask questions, and listen—to bear witness to lives lived, to recognize that every single life matters equally and infinitely.

This project was unfamiliar territory for me. I was nervous about how my students would treat each other (needlessly, as it turned out). On revision days, I would see students get up from their seats, rush over to their partners, kneel beside them, and inquire about details of the story. I would hear students complementing one another about how vivid a scene had become and gently pointing out errors or places where the story got lost between the interview and the draft. It was beautiful. Authors of the Common Core State Standards recognize the need to cultivate writing skills for college and the workplace, but the standards do not consider ethics and justice in our content and methods. While debate and argument are important, we don’t want to lose sight of the human beings with and about whom we are arguing. Biographical writing is the practice of compassion and responsibility that our diverse world desperately needs.

AUTHOR BIO Sarah J. Donovan

is junior high ELA teacher in Illinois. She earned a PhD in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago, specializing in young adult genocide literature and English education. She is an adjunct professor at DePaul University where she teaches graduate courses in adolescent development. She is currently working on three projects with her seventh graders: a No-Grades Classroom, Bearing Witness: Documenting the Stories of Our Community, and the Inclusive Literature Workshop. She has a book titled Genocide Literature in Middle and Secondary Classrooms: Rhetoric, Witnessing, and Social Action in a Time of Standards and Accountability.

Teaching the Writing Workshop Through Playlists: A Blended Approach By Tracy Enos “You can make anything by writing.” — C.S. Lewis

The Story Behind the Lesson I remember spending hours creating the perfect lesson when I was in college, a lesson to engage all students and inspire each of the young writers in front of me. In my head, I had the power to create the perfect lesson, to deliver it at the perfect time, and everyone in the room would benefit from it. That was what I was thinking when I was in college before I even stepped foot in front of a classroom, before I realized that no matter how many hours I worked to find the perfect mentor text or the perfect activity, the best laid plans could go awry. I desired to reach my students with the perfect lesson before I realized that it’s never that simple. When you stand in front a classroom, you’re faced with vastly different individuals. You quickly realize that what one student needs is different from the one sitting next to them. As a teacher, we are asked to meet those individual needs every day. It seems like an unattainable goal. So we struggle to find ways to meet our students where they are. To flow ahead with the ones who are leaping toward their goal and to help the ones who are struggling to find their momentum, to encourage their creativity or strengthen their foundation. The realization that I needed to give my writers the chance to work at their own pace and structure my lessons to meet their individual needs brought me to the writer’s workshop. The writer’s workshop is a wonderful model; however, I often found it hard to manage successfully. There were times I felt that I still could never truly meet the individual needs of the students for whom I was responsible in each class. I was overwhelmed. There just wasn’t enough of me to go around. Two years ago, however, everything changed. Our district decided to go 1:1 with Chromebooks. I finally found my answer about how to individualize instruction and give my

students control over pace, space, and goals. That’s where blended learning comes in. By combining technology with face-to-face instruction, each writer can meet his or her own specific needs. No two writers on this journey complete the same tasks. They work at their own pace. They work on what is needed at that moment. Everyone has the ability to get to an end product, but the journey looks different. That’s the power of blended learning. It gives me more time with students, ultimately creating 27 different lesson plans for my writers. Blending a writing workshop is one of the best examples of the power of technology in our classroom. There are many types of blended instruction, but the method that I use the most is called a playlist. A playlist is a series of activities distributed to individual students. Students work through their playlist at their own pace, including various check-ins with me. Students who are excited and ready to dive into an assignment can go further, and students who need a bit more time to get started will never be left behind. Control over pace ensures that all students feel comfortable before moving on to the next step. With a combination of instant formative assessment tools, I can check in with students along the way, guiding them on their journey. I seamlessly assign groups and tasks based on progress. Blended learning allows my writing workshop to run, in real life, how I always imagined it would, giving students control over pace and goals, and giving me the power to split into 27 different teachers and give my writers the attention each one needs.

Teaching the Writing Workshop Through Playlists: A Blended Approach LEARNING GOALS BROAD IMPLICATIONS Students will understand that: There are various ways of approaching and developing a writing piece; Collaboration can strengthen writing and help writers grow; A written piece is developed over time with focused revision and attention to detail; All writers have individualized strengths and areas for growth; They have the power of taking ownership for one’s own learning.

KNOWLEDGE GAINED Students will know: How to produce a narrative piece of writing; How to work in an independent setting, manage one’s time, ask questions, set goals, and self-advocate; How to work collaboratively with peers to strengthen writing; How to write in a digital platform.

SKILLS ACQUIRED Students will be able to: Write a short story; Use and collaborate with Google Docs and various digital resources; Strengthen individualized areas of need, identified for each student by both instructor and writer;

Punctuate dialogue correctly.

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING Students will: Conduct formative digital check-ins; Participate in face-to-face conferences with the teacher; Complete and submit a rough draft and final writing piece; Complete a student self-reflection.

LEARNING PLAN This unit plan was originally designed and implemented in my eighthgrade ELA classes, but it can certainly be adapted and used in any grade level or topic. Although our focus was to write short stories, a playlist can be beneficial for a wide variety of writing. The idea of a playlist is more of a way of thinking, a means of organizing and distributing information to students organically. There are very few hard deadlines and scheduled days because students work on the process at their own pace. All activities must be interesting, individualized, and engaging—especially when you’re working with a full class of 13-year-olds! I adapt my ideas as I go depending on need. Playlist Format: Here is an example of the beginning of a playlist for a short story writing unit.

I create my playlists using Google Docs and distribute them using Google Classroom. By using live documents, I am able to go in and adjust or add to an individual student’s playlist as need be. Since students will be working at their own pace, it is crucial that you make the directions on your playlist as specific as possible. Don’t be afraid to really spell it out. The students will learn to pay attention to detail as they go. The step-by-step design also helps students who are just “afraid of the process.” They don’t know where to start. By focusing on each step and writing the date each is completed, they develop a sense of accomplishment as they progress. It’s a brick-by-brick model of writing that may seem less intimidating because it gives them structure inside this individualized writing journey. I always include the name of the activity, a step-by-step description, a spot for students to add notes for their records, and a spot to indicate when a step is completed. It is the responsibility of the students to update their playlists when each step is finished. I use live links whenever possible for easy maneuvering between websites. Digital Tools: Simple, live, flexible formative assessment tools are crucial when blending instruction. A teacher in any class juggles lots of balls in the air, but a writing teacher is particularly pulled into many different directions by young writers anxious for feedback or in need of a nudge back in a productive direction. Quick formative check-ins are a must. Luckily, there are great digital tools out there. Here are a few of my favorites. Google Forms: I love using the entire GAFE suite! Google Forms is one of the bestkept secrets out there. From anticipation guides, to polls and quizzes, Google Forms is a simple, speedy way to get information from students. For my Short Story Writing Workshop Playlist, I use three different forms. To begin with, while the students are working on their first draft, I use a Daily Check-In Form to see how I can help them best. When the draft is finished, I use a draft Submission Form for students to let me know what area of focus they would like to work on to strengthen their writing pieces. This partnership between teacher and writer is crucial and helps build ownership and authenticity. When students finish the process, I like to have them reflect on it as a whole. I use a Writing Self-Reflection Form to help my students consider their specific journeys and to offer feedback that I can use to individualize future activities. EDPuzzle: For anyone creating or using videos to help instruct students, I strongly suggest checking out the website EDPuzzle.com. EDPuzzle lets you upload pre-made videos found online or videos that you create (through tools like Screencastify or Snagit). Once the video is uploaded to your account, you can crop the video, add voice-overs, and assign it to specific classes that you create. My favorite feature of EDpuzzle is that you can embed questions directly in the video, and students answer

these questions as they watch the lesson. This ensures that they’re engaged with what they’re watching and not just passively sitting back. This resource also allows you to access real-time feedback of student responses and their progress through the lesson. As you can see from this snapshot, teachers can view all progress, responses, and the number of times a video was viewed.

I use EDPuzzle videos in a number of different ways in my playlist, including grammar lessons that I’ve created, writing lessons from TED-Ed, or even just to hold a digital writing conference between a group of students. Video lessons are very helpful by allowing students to watch them at their own pace, rewinding and rewatching when needed. They can also be useful when students are working at home and have been absent, or just can’t remember exactly what was said in a traditional mini-lesson. It’s as if students have access directly to the teacher even when school is not in session. GoFormative: My last must-have suggestion for simple, timely, formative assessment is the website goformative.com. GoFormative allows you to create formative assessments of many different types. In addition to multiple choice, true/false, and written text, you can also use a drawing space and upload images and even videos. This flexibility makes it very useful in an organic blended environment. The feedback each teacher receives is organized by class or student and can be quickly reviewed to guide the student in the right direction. This is particularly helpful for me to check the understanding for grammar lessons. For example, in narrative writing my eighth graders needed help punctuating dialogue correctly. After having them watch a grammar lesson on EDPuzzle, I had them complete an activity on GoFormative. I was then able to watch the live feedback coming in and instantly meet with them to give them more assistance or congratulate them and let them know they could move to the next step. Another fantastic feature of GoFormative is that it allows you to upload a PDF onto the site and very easily create a digital formative assessment from a previously used activity. You do not need to create from scratch. The goal of formative assessment in a blended writing workshop is to create a fluid experience, a combination of face-to-face and digital instruction. Using live assessment tools allows teachers to offer immediate feedback and direction as well as

the chance to actively engage all students while personally conferencing with others. In the past, my problem with formative assessment was that it took too long to read through and assess. Assessment that does not truly affect lesson design or navigate students is not forming anything. Technology gives us that edge.

Step 1: Prewriting Gathering ideas in a number of different ways helps writers to start exploring possibilities and finding direction for a piece. I like to have students start writing short stories by mapping out main characters and plot points. Here’s what the start of one of my playlists might look like. Remember, it’s very flexible to meet the needs of your individual students and assignments. I start my students off with a mini-lesson about showing versus telling. I am particularly fond of Jeff Anderson’s recommendations in his book 10 Things A Writer Needs to Know. His mentor texts were the basis for this video lesson. Once the students watch the lesson, I have them practice writing descriptively on their own. Since they work with a Google Doc, it is very easy for me to jump on the document to see how they are doing. To start thinking about character development, I like having students work on a character questionnaire to answer questions imagining that they are the main character. Another step that is helpful during prewriting is to think about what the plot might look like. With the understanding that nothing is set in stone, imagining the direction the story will go helps young writers focus on where they are heading. I generally have students work on a short story planning sheet, but since we started using more technology I also recommend the website padlet.com to develop ideas. Padlet allows you to create and organize digital sticky notes. Many writers, especially visual students, enjoy the fluidity of arranging and rearranging index cards containing information or plot points. Padlet is a great way to organize that information digitally. You can even add images and links to the notes. Students can then insert a link to their padlet right on their playlist. Whatever prewriting method students choose, it is very important to check in with the teacher before drafting. I like to talk details out with students before they start writing. Some students need more time prewriting and generating ideas; some just dive in and are ready to

roll. The beauty of the playlist is that they can move at their own pace and start drafting when they are ready. Step 2: First Draft Generally, when students finish prewriting, they are excited to start drafting. I try not to squelch their excitement and let them go. Developing a first draft of a short story may take a few days. I find it particularly helpful during these first few days to take the last five minutes or so in class to have them fill out my check-in form. This way, I know how I can help my writers and check in on their progress. Of course, I can also view their drafts any time on their Google Doc. The following is what the first draft portion of my playlist might look like. After they have a decent draft developed, I would probably focus on a skill pertinent to the specific writing task. This would vary depending on the goals of the unit. For narrative writing, eighth graders generally have a tough time punctuating dialogue, regardless of writing ability. I start with a grammar lesson for the whole class using EDPuzzle and GoFormative. When they are ready, my students view an interactive video minilesson on EDPuzzle and take notes. After they view the lesson, I have them complete a formative assessment to check for understanding. It allows me to view the results instantly and review the rules for punctuating dialogue in person with any student who needs it. After completing the lesson and activity on punctuating dialogue, it is now time to submit their first draft. I have the students tell me what they would like to focus on for their revision by filling out a submission form. I use their ideas and also identify needs to choose two individualized revision areas for each student to focus on. This is one of the times in the playlist where there is a deadline. I will accept rough drafts after the deadline; however, I usually choose a deadline on a Friday, so that I can have the weekend to review them and offer feedback. Step 3: Revision/Focus Groups Revision is truly when the writing workshop playlist starts performing miracles. Imagine that there are 26 eighth graders in each class. Each student turns in a rough draft; therefore, each student

receives two individualized focus points to work on during their revision. Even though multiple students may have the same areas to strengthen in their writing, it could, theoretically, still mean teaching 25 different mini lessons in one class. Let the digital tools help you and your writers. Here is what the revision portion of my playlists look like. As you can see, it’s basically blank. I leave it completely open so that writers can add to it at just the moment they need it. As a class progresses through the process, I may have students meet in groups, meet with me, or work individually. Remember, some may still be working on their first drafts. When I do decide to assign a personalized activity, I add the directions and any links or resources directly on their individual playlists. To make it easier to manage so many different activities at once, I keep a Google Doc with a list of the frequent revision activities I use. Some activities are digital, some are on paper. One of my favorite paper revision activities, the Sentence Observation Sheet, helps writers vary sentences or verb choice (or any other specialized focus). It’s easy, it’s eye-opening, and it helps the students identify areas of need in a piece rather than waiting for the teacher to tell them. I wish I could remember where I first heard about this sheet so that I could credit the creator, but unfortunately, I just feel like it’s always been a part of my teaching life. Check it out! The key to choosing revision focus areas is to determine what’s best for each student at that particular time. Maybe some need to work on writing complete sentences. Others can move on to more sophisticated narrative techniques. Choose activities that will benefit them. Eighth graders are also very social beings, so I encourage collaboration whenever possible. Step 4: Final Copy and Reflection The final stages of the writing process are exhilarating. It’s one of my favorite moments in a classroom. As my young writers approach the summit and can see the end goal, they can also look back at all their hard work and see how far they’ve come in the journey. From prewriting to polished piece, their growth is evident. To wrap up our writing workshop, I have my students use an editing sheet to help with proofreading. By this time, writers have had multiple forms of

feedback from me or other students in the class, but I feel like one more set of eyes to help with proofreading is valuable. Once the piece has been proofread, they are ready to submit their final copy. This due date and the rough draft due date are the only “set in stone” deadlines in the process. I would certainly still encourage revisions even after the due date. After the piece has been submitted, it is incredibly helpful to have students reflect on the writing process as a whole. I use another Google Form for that assignment. The Writing Self-Reflection Form not only provides feedback concerning this specific writing piece, but the responses can also guide my instruction and direct individualized activities for future writing assignments. By digitizing much of the writing workshop process, students also capture a digital set of trailblazers, marking their journey. Capturing those footprints could be very helpful if students are required to show growth in a portfolio assignment.

HANDOUTS/LINKS/RESOURCES Short Story Writing Workshop Playlist Daily Check-In Form Submission Form Writing Self-Reflection form Character Questionnaire Short Story Planning Sheet Sentence Observation Sheet

WHAT MADE IT MEMORABLE What makes this unit so memorable is the sense of ownership students develop over their learning and how seamless individualized instruction can occur. Students have control over where, when, and how writing/learning takes place. They choose how fast they move through the process. If a student needs more time with a concept, they can have it without holding back the class or having attention drawn to them. The use of technology in the classroom gives our students the chance to use and manage digital tools to create, collaborate, and communicate. When our students ultimately finish school and are on their own, they must learn to manage their own time, tasks, and resources. Often, our school system is set up so that students are told when to do something, how to do it, and what it

should look like. Autonomy and individualization are scarce. For a variety of reasons, need doesn’t always dictate direction. The activities in this unit are not earth-shattering. The lessons are not extraordinary. The power of blending writing instruction can be seen when a teacher is able to meet the individual needs of all students in front of them, when eighth-grade students choose to complete activities at home when they are not necessarily told to, when writers share documents to give each other live feedback well after the bell rings, when a teacher can respond immediately to a student who needs clarification about a misconception. That is power.

AUTHOR BIO Tracy Enos is

lucky enough to spend her days surrounded by energetic eighth graders. She is in her seventh year of teaching in West Warwick, RI and is currently at Deering Middle School. Lucky enough to be teaching in the district she grew up in, she is forever a Wizard. Tracy is passionate about opening doors for her students to create, collaborate, and communicate with one another and the world around them. She is driven to help her students develop their passions, reach their goals, and cultivate a spirit of excellence. As a lover of stories and the power they hold, she happily spends way too much money and time at used bookstores in search of just the right book for just the right student. She is hungry to grow and constantly striving to be the best teacher she can possibly be. Although she has a lot to learn, she believes that blended instruction is a key to a student-centered learning environment. In addition to teaching, Tracy has a love for her family, her identical twin sister, gardening, knitting, and making ice cream. You can follow Tracy on Twitter at @taenos99.

The Mini-Multi-Genre Research Project By Todd Finley “Two non-negotiables of [Tom Romano’s] teaching are these:He reads a poem at the beginning of every class meeting.Students in his classes will write in different genres, not only expository essays.” —Katherine E. McKinnon

The Story Behind the Lesson The 20-page research paper—that miserable initiation into creative plagiarism—died for me after I observed the light dim in too many students’ eyes the moment I assigned it. Despite the benefits of teaching students inquiry, the depressive effect of that brutal assignment on learners weighed on me. A few years later, I happened upon a good alternative to the traditional research paper. Elaine, a colleague of mine who had actually worked with composition expert Tom Romano in graduate school, raved that she’d implemented Romano’s composition innovation, the Multi-Genre Research Paper (MGRP), with her own students. When I asked her to show me samples of student work, Elaine took me to her office. Displayed on her shelf, a student’s Star Wars MGRP project caught my eye. It featured a movie poster, a transcript of an interview with George Lucas, a character map, and an analysis of how the “Hero’s Journey” archetype was used in The Empire Strikes Back. Looking at these genres displayed in a Star Wars “Theme Park” (long before the real theme park was constructed), I forgot to breathe. The quality, inventiveness, and critical thinking represented in that project and others lit up my brain like an electrical storm. Here, finally, was a rigorous and engaging alternative to the traditional research paper. What is an MGRP? Because students are usually not familiar with MGRPs, figuring out what is required can be challenging. Here is how Tom Romano defines it: A multigenre paper arises from research, experience, and imagination. It is not an uninterrupted, expository monolog nor a seamless narrative. A multigenre paper is composed of many genres and subgenres, each piece self-contained, making a point

of its own, yet connected to other pieces by theme and content and sometimes by repeated language, images, and genres. A multigenre paper may also contain many voices, not just the author’s. The craft then—the challenge for the writer—is to make such a paper hang together as one unified whole. (1)

Several years after learning about MGRPs from Elaine, I spotted Tom Romano wearing a Hawaiin shirt at a technology conference in Philadelphia. He received my praise for his MGRP idea graciously and, in the spirit of Aloha, agreed to a photo with me. Despite my excitement over his books about teaching multigenre papers— Blending Genre, Altering Style; Fearless Writing: Multigenre to Motivate and Inspire; and Writing with Passion—Romano’s social awkwardness was palpable, that psychic tension you can feel around introverted writers when they aren’t practicing their craft. So I quickly excused myself. By that time, I’d taught the MGRP process for several years and had a better understanding about how much instructional support the assignment required. I’d corrected several naive instructional failures, which included: Assigning the MGRP without providing examples; Neglecting to provide an MGRP roadmap; Giving students too much time (which caused anxiety); Failing to explain what an MGRP is and isn’t; Neglecting to demonstrate how two different genres on the same topic can provide profound insight about a subject. Had I offered these types of support, there would certainly have been fewer classroom freakouts—though, to be fair, students were deferential and patient the first year I experimented with the multigenre assignment, probably because I fractured the O-ring of my first vertebrae while surfing and taught from a lying-down position on the classroom floor wearing a Miami-J cervical collar. Despite my hazy memory of those early MGRP years, it is unforgettable how invested students were in their projects. At one point, I told a student, “Look, you have other classes. You’re spending way too much time on your Hemingway MGRP.”

Since then, I’ve learned to introduce the MGRP more gradually, first by walking students through an in-class model, then by assigning a mini-MGRP so that students could experiment with multigenre composing without fear of failing a major assignment. The following lesson describes how I introduce those two activities.

The Mini-Multi-Genre Research Project LEARNING GOALS BROAD IMPLICATIONS Students will understand that: The MGRP composing process is supported by research showing that students benefit when a writing project is: conceived of in stages that are logically sequenced, and that gradually increase conceptual difficulty. Further research studies assert the benefit of giving students several shorter papers—like those included in an MGRP collection—rather than longer pieces.

KNOWLEDGE GAINED Students will know: How to use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole. How to “use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products . . . ” How to “conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.”

SKILLS ACQUIRED Students will be able to:

Strengthen their writing by “planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.” “Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.” “Introduce a topic; organize complex ideas, concepts, and information to make important connections and distinctions; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., figures, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.” “Use appropriate and varied transitions to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships among complex ideas and concepts.” “Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.”

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING The student will produce a coherently constructed set of composition artifacts that demonstrate the following: Effective use of all the language arts: reading, writing, speaking, listening, visually representing, and using technology; Synthesis of research; Creativity, originality, and imagination; Strategic use of genres to express concepts; Knowledge of language conventions and structures specific to a variety of media, as well as written, oral, and visual texts. The MGRP leads to the acquisition of skills and knowledge that the learner would gain from writing a traditional research paper, and more. In other words, the MGRP is no mere replacement of the traditional research paper. It’s additive.

LEARNING PLAN Introduction of Important Terms: What is Rhetoric? Rhetorical Analysis? Genre? An MGRP? Tell students that the next class or two will be devoted to helping them understand what a multigenre research paper is and how to create one. Caution them that the project can be confusing initially. But also note that the assignment will become clearer as the class develops a collaborative MGRP. Introduce the word “rhetoric” by explaining that rhetoric is the study of writing or speaking as a means of communication or persuasion. Also project the following “Goal of Rhetorical Analysis” slide (http://bit.ly/GoalRhetAnalysis) with an LCD projector and discuss: Then tell students that they will be engaging in rhetorical analysis, which will involve defining, classifying, analyzing, and interpreting different genres. Say: “What is a genre? In composition, a genre is a type of writing. A poem is a genre. A traditional research paper is a genre. A newspaper editorial is a genre. There are loads of genres. Can you guess what kind this is?” Write the following sentence on the white/chalkboard: Houston, We Have a Problem

by J. Matthew Zoss Say: “It’s Flash Fiction, a condensed genre that conveys a narrative in few words. Its power comes from brevity, but at the cost of context. Can you think of other genres?” Students name some. Then distribute this “Genre Handout” (http://bit.ly/GenrePlus): Say: “Which of those genres are effective for in-depth information? For giving a quick impression? Providing a big picture? Each genre has strengths and weaknesses and is effective to the extent that it meets readers’ expectations given a specific context.” Ask students if they can think of other genres that are not listed on the handout. Writing in a Specific Genre Tell students that genres can be quite specific, such as a narrated introduction to a TV show, like Rod Serling’s introduction for The Twilight Zone (handout: http://bit.ly/do_Do_do_Do):

Ask students to invent an introduction for an imaginary zone that parodies (exaggerates for comic effect) the structure of The Twilight Zone. Ideas might be “The Teen Zone,” “The Student Zone,” “The Athlete Zone.” Here is a model called, The Sub Zone: There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as delicious as Jersey Mike‘s and as affordable as Subway. It is the difference between poorly made deli sandwiches and sandwiches of art, between not enough lettuce and a lettuce submarine, and it lies between the peppered ham of the Italian sub, and the Baked Lays of your choice. This is the dimension of the sandwich connoisseur’s dreams. It is an area which we call . . . The Sub Zone.

Give students approximately 12 minute to complete their parodies, then ask for volunteers to share them. Explain that one of the ways that we can successfully align our writing with genre features is by studying exemplary models and imitating them carefully. Optional Component of the Lesson: Comparing Two Genres Tom Romano recommends that teachers facilitate an exercise in which students compare an encyclopedia entry on Thelonious Monk with a poem on the same subject. The exercise is designed to help learners see that different genres possess distinctive communicative strengths and drawbacks. First, have your students read the following Wikipedia entry on Thelonious Monk: http://bit.ly/MGRPmonk—but just the first three paragraphs. Second, have them read “Well, You Needn’t”—a poem by William Matthews about Monk: http://bit.ly/MGRPmonkpoem. Then direct students to complete the following Monk T-Chart (a downloadable and printable version is located here: http://bit.ly/MonkT_Chart): As a class, discussion their answers. Project an Example of a Multigenre Paper from Garrison’s Book Banning MGRP: http://bit.ly/GarrisonMGRP. The online work features key MGRP elements: Title page; Introduction; Repetends;

Different genres: research essay, timeline, book jacket, short story; Work cited page; Reflective essay. As students study the example, have them note key features of the MGRP as a whole, as well as its parts. Ask the following questions when they have finished reading: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Based on your quick reading of a sample, what is an MGRP? What features of the MGRP are unlike formal research papers? What features of the MGRP are like formal research papers? What features of the MGRP do you have questions about? How is the MGRP truthful? Not truthful? What questions do you still have about the MGRP?

Teacher Summarizes Say: “To summarize, an MGRP is a composition that uses different genres to provide information and multiple perspectives about a subject that you have researched. You get to choose what genres you’ll use based on your knowledge of the topic and on your understanding of what genres will work best to communicate important information about the topic. All genres included in your final project must work together to express a coherent set of ideas. Also your final MGRP must represent that you know how to successfully master each genre’s rhetorical conventions. So if you’re going to create a magazine article, it has to look and read like a magazine.” Say: “Don’t approach the MGRP as if you were on a scavenger hunt to find information to spit back in an ‘academic’ paper, because you’re not. Instead, you’ll need to think about what you want to do, for whom, and how best to do that.” (6) Review As a review, have students collaborate with shoulder partners and write seven generalizations about MGRPs on a piece of scratch paper. Call on a two-person team to report on their list and write their

contributions on the chalk/white board. Make corrections if necessary. Ask if other teams came up with any other generalizations that were not yet discussed. Mini-MGRP Explain that the entire class will be collaborating in order to develop a mini-MGRP, a short model of the MGRP process that they can use as a guide later when they individually write their entire MGRP. Project the following image of “Research Topics” (http://bit.ly/MGRPtopics). Ask students in small groups to brainstorm possible research topics within the following categories, taking care not to make their topic too broad—like “WWII” for example. Have students identify, as a class, one topic that they are most intrigued by—and know something about. Next, have them brainstorm with you a list of things that they know about the topic. List them on the whiteboard. Then direct students to identify the richest subtopics related to the main research topic and have them fill out the following “Blank MGRP Subtopic Handout” (http://bit.ly/MGRPSubTopics) as you walk them through possible answers as a class. Here is an example of a completed “Subtopic MGRP Map” for Marilyn Monroe that you may want to use as an example: (http://bit.ly/MGRPSubMap): Next, walk students through the process of identifying five creative genres that might best communicate important ideas about the subtopics identified as a class. Here is what that might look like for a Marilyn Monroe MGRP (“Completed MGRP Subtopic Handout with Possible Genres”—http://bit.ly/MGRP_Marilyn): Finally, as a class, identify what might be used as a repetend, the term for something that occurs between each genre to create a division between each piece. A repetend also gives a sense of coherence as it contributes to the MGRP’s theme. The repetend could be: 1. Images (avoid overused clip art); 2. Quotations;

3. Running commentary from the author. Project a “Repetend Handout” (http://bit.ly/MGRP_Repetend) to visually represent where they occur: Group Work: Write the Rough Draft of a MGRP Genre Count students off by five and create five groups. Each group should follow these projected Rough Draft Expectations: (http://bit.ly/R_DraftExpect): After students read their genres, see if anyone has questions about the MGRP process. At this point in the MGRP process, don’t assign a major MGRP project. Instead, ask students to complete a mini-MGRP on a topic of their choice. Provide students with a copy of this “Mini-MGRP Expectations” (http://bit.ly/MGRP_Expect) handout and discuss what is expected: Provide class time or give this assignment as homework. To integrate the mini-MGRP with the class literature, have students develop MGRPs on a class text or literary period: Renaissance Literature, Romanticism, Victorian Literature, or the Beat Generation, for example. The mini-MGRP ensures that students will be more confident and prepared for a longer multigenre paper.

HANDOUTS/SLIDES/LINKS/RESOURCES Here is a link to all the slides in Google Slides: http://bit.ly/MGRPslides. The following are downloadable links to each slide and handout. Goal of Rhetorical Analysis Slide: http://bit.ly/GoalRhetAnalysis Twilight Zone Introduction: http://bit.ly/do_Do_do_Do Genre Handout: http://bit.ly/GenrePlus “Basic Basie” by Kamau Brathwaite: http://bit.ly/TWT_Basie Count Basie Biography: http://bit.ly/Basie_Ency Garrison’s Book Banning MGRP: http://bit.ly/GarrisonMGRP Wikipedia entry on Thelonious Monk: http://bit.ly/MGRPmonk “Well, You Needn’t” by William Matthews: http://bit.ly/MGRPmonkpoem Monk T-Chart: http://bit.ly/MonkT_Chart

Blank MGRP Subtopic Handout: http://bit.ly/MGRPSubTopics Subtopic MGRP Map: http://bit.ly/MGRPSubMap: Completed MGRP Subtopic Handout with Possible Genres: http://bit.ly/MGRP_Marilyn. Repetend: http://bit.ly/MGRP_Repetend Research Topics: http://bit.ly/MGRPtopics Sample Newsletter Genre written by Adison Gregory for her MGRP Project, “Death of the Compact Disk”: http://bit.ly/1Ug6asc Rough Draft Expectations: http://bit.ly/R_DraftExpect Mini-MGRP Expectations Handout: http://bit.ly/MGRP_Expect Other Materials Needed The internet; Notebook computers or tablets for each student; Padlet: https://padlet.com/; LCD projector. Sample Genre The following newspaper genre was written by Adison Gregory for her MGRP Project, “Death of the Compact Disk.” It is followed by a Nora Jones quote, used as a repetend (http://bit.ly/1Ug6asc). THE DAILY TECH NEWS VOL. 49 NO. 15 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2005 COMPACT DISC FOUND DEAD IN BACKSEAT OF CAR Compact Disc, age 34, died on Tuesday, February 9, 2016 in the disc player of an old, beat up, red Lincoln Town Car found in a junkyard. From his birth in Terre Haute, Indiana in September of 1984 to its death on Tuesday, he supplied millions of people with entertainment and laughter through the various melodies. Born in Indiana to a Bruce Springsteen tune, the CD’s parents, Vinyl and Cassette, CD was the only child, living in the shadows of his parent’s previous success—but not for long. CD would soon outshine his parents by becoming the “fastest growing home entertainment product in history.” The music industry was hit by storm—this young, fresh product would have people raving for years to come. CD was on a high by the

age of 12, thinking he was invincible—who would ever try and compete with his technologies? However, digital music revenues would soon surpass the CD leaving him standing in the rubble of his success. CD was destructible, unlike its successor, the iPod. MP3 would soon come into play. Tech-savvy teens ruined the reputation of the CD, no longer wanting to pay—but rather copying illegally. CD knew things were getting bad when this began to happen, along with the tune of a slow dial-up connection, CD’s were now an inferior good. Unfortunately, CD was not strong enough to hold on for much longer, leaving us at the young age of 34. Those who remember CD think fondly of him and the memories shared on the warm summer nights of ’95, listening to Selena make history as the 1st Hispanic singer to have an album debut and peak at number 1 on the United States Billboard 200 chart. Music won’t sound the same without the occasional skip of a beat due to a 5-yearold getting their grimy hands on the disc. Family and friends of CD are invited to Music Technology Funeral Home to come and reminisce, grieve, and support one another in the wake of this terrible loss. “I think it’s important for people who love music to retain physical CDs or even vinyl, because it sounds so great and so much warmer than music over the Internet.” NORAH JONES

WHAT MADE IT MEMORABLE There are few lessons that can match the MGRP for completely engaging students while simultaneously encouraging robust critical thinking. Indeed, the MGRP is a crowd-pleaser when successfully scaffolded. After I began to implement the lesson described in this chapter, I noticed students’ stress levels lower and their work improve, even learners who were typically labeled as low-achievers. One semester, I remember pleasure-reading two books on Andy Kaufman. That same semester, a student named Kerri Bright chose alt-comedian Andy Kaufman as one her multigenre topics. Kerri’s MGRP included a formal research paper, an interview with Kaufman, and a letter from a Transcendental Meditation official explaining why

the TM Center no longer wanted him to participate in retreats. Her MGRP also explored how Kaufman disoriented observers by merging his personal and professional life with fantasy, thereby critiquing human existence as a playful performance. Ultimately, Kerri successfully depicted a dark and misogynistic side to Kaufman and implicitly suggested that the performer was not conscious of his own act. Therefore, posited my student, Kaufman’s life was more an expression of pathology than art. Reading Kerri’s project, I felt the underlying darkness of the comedian’s life more acutely than I had when reading his biographies. That’s the emotive power of the MGRP. Antiseptic traditional research papers simply can’t match the texture of a wellexecuted MGRP. Because of that potential, I take care to articulate an important criterion of the assignment: “It’s got to blow my hair back. If you’re writing about the 1968 Tet Offensive, make me bleed. If you’re writing about JFK, make me soar.” I also protect my psyche from the MGRP’s power with ground rules. Reading a project about Jeffrey Dahmer’s cannibalism one semester nauseated me for hours. It was even worse the next semester when I read about Ted Bundy, David Berkowitz (“Son of Sam”), and Jack the Ripper in a single afternoon. The antidote: watching the Disney Channel for a few hours to counteract the depressive impact of those dark pieces. From then on, I set forth new MGRP rules: No MGRPs about serial killers, Princess Diana (I can’t bring myself to care), or dead relatives (just try to critique the development of a paragraph describing a baby brother’s drowning). Those raw experiences are a small price to pay for such a compelling assignment. When students engage with a subject and commit to representing it fully and multi-dimensionally, they learn the satisfaction of writing something with visceral and intellectual heft. They learn that words can literally be unforgettable.

AUTHOR BIO Todd Finley, PhD,

is an Associate Professor of English Education at East Carolina University. He has written two books, Rethinking Classroom Design (Rowan & Littlefield) and Dinkytown

Braves. He is an on-staff blogger and assistant editor for Edutopia, and blogs weekly at Todd’s Brain: www.todd-finley.com. He was chosen as one of the Top 12 Global Teacher Bloggers for 2014 and 2015 by Cathy Rubin for Huffington Post. You can follow Todd on Twitter at @finleyt. Endnotes 1. Romano, Tom (2013). Fearless Writing: Multigenre to Motivate and Inspire. Heinemann. 2. Handling the Workload. (n.d.). Manoa Writing Program, University of Hawai’i. Retrieved March 09, 2016, from http://manoa.hawaii.edu/mwp/faculty/teaching-tips/handling-workload. 3. Hughs, Brad, (2015) Helping Your Students Improve Their Writing and Their Learning. Writing Across the Curriculum at UW-Madison. Retrieved March 09, 2016, from https://writing.wisc.edu/wac/node/67. 4. What in the World is a Rhetorical Analysis? (2016) University Tutorial Center. North Carolina State University. 5. The Twilight Zone by Rod Serling. Quotes. (n.d.). IMDb Retrieved March 09, 2016, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052520/quotes. 6. Wollersheim, Ruth & Hogue, Dawn (2002). Your Multigenre Web. S. Hogue’s CyberEnglish9 Web. Retrieved March 09, 2016, from http://www.mshogue.com/ce9/multi_genre/multigenre.htm.

What Counts Cannot Always Be Counted: Examining Our Assumptions About Evidence in Argument Writing By Troy Hicks “... not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” —William Bruce Cameron

The Story Behind the Lesson “So, I can count a blog as a source,” my student both declared and asked simultaneously with upspeak. “Yes,” I nodded, “in this context, for this audience, it makes a good deal of sense to cite a blogger and what he has written. He is, after all, a physical therapist.” We were midway through second-semester composition, the college course that, ostensibly, is designed to help students learn how to do argumentative writing, or how to write arguments. Of course, even with the best instructors, with the best feedback, completing this course at any college or university does not guarantee that students leave really knowing how to argue; that is, having a firm grasp of all it means to develop an arguable thesis, employing appropriate evidence, and warranting that evidence based on one’s audience. Put another way, as my mentor and colleague Jeff Grabill—a distinguished researcher in composition studies at Michigan State University—has often reminded me, there is no such thing as argumentative (adj) writing; there are authors who argue (verb) through writing, and they do so in a variety of situations, for a variety of purposes. My student, James, repeated his high school teacher’s mantra again: “Never use a blog. Never use Wikipedia. Only use online sources if they are journal articles from a .org or .edu.” James had found a blog written by a practicing physical therapist, and this blogger had created a thorough description of how to prevent overuse injuries.

I grinned and grimaced at the same time. Countless educators have perpetuated this urban myth of citation ever since we hit the on ramp of the information superhighway. In fact, I suspect that many readers of this volume may still subscribe to these ideas about online resources, noting that students can only use peer-reviewed journal articles, can never cite anything from a .com, and must always, always be sure that the content is current. While some individual teachers and, perhaps, even entire departments have shifted their stance on these “rules” for what counts as evidence coming from online sources, most of my students come to college writing with firmly inscribed beliefs not only about the form of arguments (typically, five or six paragraph forms), but also about what “counts” as evidence. For instance, admonitions like the ones my student shared above often blanket a number of teaching resource websites. And, they are only the tip of the iceberg. Additional resources may push just a bit deeper, asking, for instance, why it is a good idea to only use “peer reviewed” sources. However, there is a deeper, unasked question here: “Who cares if it is peer reviewed?” Put a bit more politely, what makes peer review valuable within the scientific community and, therefore, a worthwhile criterion on which we should (or should not) force our students to use such sources in academic writing? A recent example from National Public Radio’s On the Media brings this issue into sharper focus. In December 2015, reporter Brooke Gladstone interviewed a contributing correspondent from Science, John Bohannon, who set out to see if he could get a dubious study of the effects of chocolate published in a scientific journal and released in the news media. His approach: Let’s do a real study, with real people, to test the health benefits of chocolate. We’re going to do a really bad job on the statistics and the design of the experiment. and get a bad paper published, and build a global multimedia campaign around it. And, see how far it goes. (Gladstone, 2015, Online)

And, indeed, it went far. The results “proved” that we should eat more chocolate in order to lose weight, and the results went all the way through a pay-to-publish journal and into the news media. He documented the entire process in an article for i09, concluding that: We journalists have to feed the daily news beast, and diet science is our horn of plenty. Readers just can’t get enough stories about the benefits of red wine or the dangers of

fructose . . . We don’t even have to leave home to do any reporting. We just dip our cups into the daily stream of scientific press releases flowing through our inboxes. (Bohannon, 2015, Online)

Building on the universal idea that scientific studies only represent objective results because they have undergone peer review, Bohannon’s ruse led multiple news outlets to count the evidence presented in the journal article as “true,” and then to report on it. Indeed, no blogger was reporting on some sham; this was Science (with a capital S) because it was peer reviewed. And the media report was inscribed in our collective diet consciousness. At the core, I see James’s question (and the dozens of others from his classmates here at my own university) as a question that strikes the heart of our epistemology, the study—according to the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy—of “the nature, sources and limits of knowledge” (Klein, 2005, Online). Put another way, what “counts” as evidence —across time, across contexts, and across audiences— changes a great deal depending on who is writing, who is reading that writing, and what the writing is designed to do in the world. Thus, it is not enough to simply tell our students to gather evidence. We need to teach them about what kinds of evidence counts, for whom, and in what contexts. That, in short, is the purpose of this lesson.

What Counts Cannot Always Be Counted: Examining Our Assumptions About Evidence in Argument Writing LEARNING GOALS BROAD IMPLICATIONS Students will understand that: Different disciplines ranging from biology to anthropology to literary studies all place different values on what “counts” as evidence; The ways in which evidence is gathered, measured, and presented have an effect on the ways in which that evidence can be warranted in an academic argument; The quality of an academic argument is built, in large part, on the ways in which an author strategically employs various forms of evidence.

KNOWLEDGE GAINED Students will know: The differences between four broad perspectives on research strategies for knowledge-making in different disciplines: randomized controlled trials, surveys, interviews, and case studies; How the evidence gathered from these types of studies can and should be used in support of an argument; Strategies for integrating evidence in rhetorically useful ways.

SKILLS ACQUIRED Students will be able to:

Identify various kinds of evidence (scientific data, survey results, case studies, interviews); Determine appropriate uses of that evidence when writing arguments; Integrate evidence into their writing.

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING Students will: Choose and accurately cite various forms of evidence; Create an enhanced essay by employing different genres of writing and digital design choices; Include appropriate transitions, acknowledgements, and qualifiers (words and phrases that hedge an argument) when introducing evidence.

LEARNING PLAN This learning plan assumes that students have some working knowledge of Toulmin’s model of argument writing and terminology such as “claim,” “evidence,” and “warrant.” Use the slides available here as a resource for structuring the activities (https://goo.gl/h1zK2m). Toulmin’s Model of Argumentation (Image in the Public Domain from Wikimedia Commons)

Day 1 Examining the Nature of Evidence BEFORE: Prepare the “Research Methods Jigsaw Discussion” cards based on the number of students in your class (https://goo.gl/ILinZo). There are four definitions—randomized controlled trials, surveys, interviews, and case studies—so create enough cards to evenly divide your students. Begin the lesson by sharing the “Why examine evidence?” slide, and invite students to think about the times and places where they see evidence used to support an argument. You may ask

them to write about the ways that evidence is used in academic writing, news stories, or in their personal lives. Share the “Quantitative and Qualitative Evidence” slide. Ask students to think about when and if they have heard of these types of research designs. If they have a written response, ask them to add more details about the times and places where they see this specific kind of evidence used to support an argument. Distribute the discussion cards and have students get into groups. As they prepare to talk, share the “Research Methods Discussion” slide. Ask them to complete the tasks and then share small group results with the class. Finally, through discussion or as a writing prompt, ask students to consider the following: Imagine that you are either a doctor, a newspaper reporter, a political pollster, or a lawyer. What types of evidence do you think you would rely on most? What other types of evidence would be useful to you? What evidence would probably not be useful to you?

Day 2 What Counts as Evidence? For Whom? In What Context? BEFORE: Prepare the “Examining Claims, Warrants, and Qualifiers: Unpacking an Argument” handout. (https://goo.gl/OKlcEe) Review the types of evidence from yesterday and discuss who each type of evidence would be most likely to convince. Have students discuss or write about why, for instance, might a doctor be convinced by a randomized control trial with hundreds of patients whereas a journalist would rely on an interview with one person? Introduce a sample essay from the New York Times “Room for Debate” site that uses at least three kinds of evidence. Have students read through the document once, annotating it as they would any nonfiction text.

Introduce the “Examining Claims, Warrants, and Qualifiers: Unpacking an Argument” handout. Model for students how they can identify the main claim and look at a specific example of evidence, noting the warrants (implied or explicit) and any hedges/qualifiers the author might use. Ask students to reread the article to identify two more examples on their own. Have students read the Writing Commons’ “Consider Your Audience,” and then have them identify an additional essay on the “Room for Debate” site and ask them to identify the main audience. What is the evidence that is being used? Why does this kind of evidence “count” in this writing context? Who is the audience that the author assumes in this piece? What assumptions did the writer make about his/her audience? What have you learned about this audience? If you were a member of this audience, would the author’s argument be compelling to you? End by asking students to review the website ProCon.org to get a sense of the many topics that they could choose from.

Day 3 Jumpstarting Your Own Argument BEFORE: Prepare the “Building a Claim/Thesis” handout (https://goo.gl/yNWI75) Students will now begin crafting their own beginnings to an argument, being mindful of audience and what “counts” as evidence in a given context. Using one of the topics from ProCon.org, model your own writing of the first three steps (from The Craft of Research) of the “Building a Claim/Thesis” handout. I am trying to learn about (working on, studying) . . . because I want to find out who / what / when / where / whether / why / how . . . in order to help my reader understand how, why, or whether . ..

Ask students to now complete the first three steps based on the general knowledge that they have of their topic and audience. Check for understanding. Then, model the next four steps (from They Say/I Say) on the handout, and integrating one element of data from ProCon.org: When it comes to the topic of ____________________, most of us will readily agree that . . . Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of . . . While some are convinced that . . . Others believe that . . . Ask students to now complete the second four steps based on the general knowledge that they have of their topic and audience. Check for understanding. Then, based on their initial thinking on this handout, students can begin to craft the opening paragraph(s) of their essay.

Day 4 and Beyond Continue writing, peer response, revising, editing, and publishing.

HANDOUTS/LINKS/RESOURCES Audience Analysis from Writing Commons http://writingcommons.org/index.php/open-text/writingprocesses/think-rhetorically/712-consider-your-audience or http://goo.gl/aQZAU8 ProCon.org: http://www.procon.org/ Purdue OWL’s “Transitional Devices”: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/574/02/ Room for Debate (The New York Times): http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate They Say/I Say Templates: http://bit.ly/TheySayTemplates

WHAT MADE IT MEMORABLE Often, when we as teachers introduce the process of doing research in order to build an argument, we suggest that students rely strictly on the knowledge that others have produced; this knowledge, most

often, is the kind of research that has been vetted by outside sources and, if it is peer reviewed, it is truth. The old adage held that, if knowledge is in a book, it is truth. If knowledge is on the web, we need to make sure that it comes from a reputable source. These absolutes don’t hold true anymore. For instance, as this volume demonstrates, a committed group of teachers can self-publish a book that has gone through no editorial review cycle from an established publishing house. Does that make the book any less valuable, the ideas any less useful for you in your classroom? Does it mean that we are not speaking “the truth?” Well, that depends on your epistemology. And, as a reader of this book, my guess is that you are generally buying into what it is we have to say. This lesson invite students to critically question the nature of knowledge. In that sense, they are dipping into a conversation about epistemology and how certain audiences will respond in particular ways when presented with various forms of data. Taking this rhetorical approach, I see my students moving well beyond surfacelevel conversations about the classic rhetorical triangle of ethos, pathos, and logos and, instead, into much deeper conversations about how they choose to engage in research and represent their own ideas through writing. James, ultimately, created a 1900-word, six-page newsletter about overuse injuries, targeted at an audience of college students who might be participating in intramural sports or taking up exercise on their own after playing sports in high school. He could have, easily, taken additional steps to share that newsletter with other students through his blog or other social media, distributed it through the campus IM program, or shared it with a physical therapist to see if the document could be useful to her patients. James used a total of over two dozen sources for his essay, showing how multiple experts in the field—whether blogging or sharing their ideas more formally in an academic journal—could express the same ideas in many ways. But he did not choose sources just to make me, as his teacher, happy. In short, James’s story reminds me that—when it comes to what kinds of evidence “counts” as reliable and useful—we can turn to the quote often misattributed to Albert Einstein, but in fact written first by

the sociologist, William Bruce Cameron, presented here in its original context: It would be nice if all of the data which sociologists require could be enumerated because then we could run them through IBM machines and draw charts as the economists do. However, not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. (Cameron, 1963, 13; cited by O’Toole, Online)

Indeed, rather than just counting “reliable” sources, it would be nice if we, too, could help our students figure out exactly what counts, for whom, and in what context. References Bohannon, J. (n.d.). I Fooled Millions Into Thinking Chocolate Helps Weight Loss. Here’s How. Retrieved February 2, 2016, from http://io9.gizmodo.com/i-fooled-millions-into-thinking-chocolate-helpsweight-1707251800 Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (2008). The Craft of Research, Third Edition (3rd ed.). University Of Chicago Press. Cameron, W. B. (1963). Informal sociology: a casual introduction to sociological thinking. Random House. Gladstone, B. (2015). Breaking News Consumer’s Handbook: Health News Edition. Retrieved from http://www.onthemedia.org/story/breaking-news-consumershandbook-health-news-edition/ Graff, H. J., & Birkenstein, C. (2014). “They Say / I Say”: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing (Third Edition). New York: W. W. Norton & Company. Klein, P. D. (2005). Epistemology. Retrieved February 26, 2016, from https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/epistemology/v-2 O’Toole, G. (2010, May 26). Not Everything That Counts Can Be Counted | Quote Investigator. Retrieved from http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/26/everything-counts-einstein/ Toulmin, S. E. (2003). The Uses of Argument. Cambridge University Press.

AUTHOR BIO Dr. Troy Hicks

is a professor of English at Central Michigan University and focuses his work on the teaching of writing, literacy

and technology, and teacher education and professional development. A former middle school teacher, he collaborates with K–12 colleagues and explores how they implement newer literacies in their classrooms. Hicks directs CMU’s Chippewa River Writing Project, a site of the National Writing Project, and he frequently conducts professional development workshops related to writing and technology. Hicks has authored or co-authored seven books and over 30 journal articles and book chapters related to the teaching of reading, writing, and digital literacy. You can follow Troy on Twitter at @hickstro.

Let Form Follow Function By Carol Jago “It takes more energy to shift your attention from task to task. It takes less energy to focus. That means that people who organize their time in a way that allows them to focus are not only going to get more done, but they’ll be less tired and less neurochemically depleted after doing it.” —Daniel J. Levitin

The Story Behind the Lesson When out in public, I am often asked, “So, what are kids like today?” Of course the assumption behind this query is that kids today are going to hell in a handbasket. That is not my experience. Teenagers have always been wacky. They’ve always been wonderful. They regularly make me tear my hair out. They often make me laugh. And apart from the rare few, they are pretty disorganized— in thought, word, and deed. In response to this natural state of disorder, many teachers impose a template on student writing, insisting their students conform to strict rules of organization. Many young writers don’t mind composing in this manner because following clearly defined guidelines eliminates a lot of decision-making. There’s no need to guess what your teacher wants because you already know: introduction, three points of proof, conclusion. Frustrated by sprawling, undisciplined, stream-of-consciousness writing and having no better plan, I too taught a generation of students to write five-paragraph essays . . . until I could no longer stand to read one more of them. Something had to give. If kids weren’t going to change, I needed to. I decided that instead of mandating a structure on students for their written responses, I would impose a structure on myself. Rather than relying upon prompt-driven writing lessons, I would craft integrated reading, writing, listening, speaking, and viewing lessons that included a collection of texts from various genres, and invite students to interrogate an issue in order to construct an argument of their own. Responsibility for focusing the sequence of instructional moves was

mine. Responsibility for organizing the written response would be theirs. In the lesson described on the following pages, I ask students to reflect on the increasing influence of automation on society and its impact on human life. Ultimately charged with writing an essay to explain their own views on the subject, students read and discuss a bouquet of texts. I also encourage students to pursue further research to support their emerging claims. As they progress through the project, students garner additional information regarding the ways in which robots and other automated systems perform tasks that were formerly accomplished by humans. Perhaps even more importantly, at every step of the way students also consider the methods that the creators of these poems, essays, videos, and articles employ to persuade us to think as they do. By examining how others have organized arguments, students begin to see the shortcomings of any template. In the words of Frank Lloyd Wright’s mentor, the architect Louis Sullivan, “Form follows function.” The purpose of a building should determine its structure. The same is true in writing. For too long we have been asking students to fit what they have to say into a mold of our making. If we hope to encourage more authentic student products, we need to allow young writers greater latitude. Their purpose should determine their essay’s shape. My goal for this lesson is much larger than collecting a set of organized, well-crafted papers. I want to spark students’ interest in learning about their world, to make them hungry to know more, and to begin pushing against both conventional wisdom and the claims of ad men. Most of all, I want students to possess the rhetorical skills to be able to make their own views heard.

Let Form Follow Function LEARNING GOALS BROAD IMPLICATIONS Students will understand that: Organization is essential for clear communication; Reading and research are integral to the writing process; Argumentation is more than simply debating for or against a position; Carefully wielded rhetorical devices contribute to an essay’s effectiveness; All good writing requires revision; Research will help students discover personally interesting and useful information.

KNOWLEDGE GAINED Students will know: Various methods for organizing an argument; How to recognize the tools of argument in other writers’ essays; How rhetorical devices affect a reader’s response; How to elicit useful, actionable feedback from others.

SKILLS ACQUIRED Students will be able to: Organize evidence to support a claim; Order evidence purposefully; Employ rhetorical devices consciously and effectively; Focus their writing around a clearly defined purpose.

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING Students will: Write well-organized essays, making a claim that is supported with carefully-chosen evidence; Analyze and evaluate texts, including essays and videos, for their rhetorical effectiveness; Offer one another descriptive feedback on drafts in order to assist their peers through the revision process; Reflect upon their own work, drawing from it considerations for future writing.

LEARNING PLAN Warm students up to the issue of automation by showing a short video of Valkyrie, NASA’s latest humanoid robot. Ask students to write for five minutes about what the video made them think about. Then invite students to share their thinking with a partner. Have students share any questions the video brought to mind. Read aloud Kyle Dargon’s poem “The Robots Are Coming.” Hand out copies of the poem and ask students to read it silently, choosing a line or phrase that strikes them for whatever reason. Have them jot down what it was about this line that stood out for them. Let students know that it is permissible to select a line they don’t understand. Then put students into small groups and have one person read the poem aloud before they go around the circle sharing the lines they chose and explaining what those lines did or didn’t say to them. Finally, bring the thinking that is going on in small groups to the class as a whole. Begin with their comments, but if the conversation lags you might push students’ thinking with the following questions: Let’s look again at the title, “The Robots Are Coming.” What does it suggest about the speaker’s attitude towards robots?

Did anybody else besides me think Gary was a boy’s name the first time through the poem? What were the clues that the poet was referring to Gary, Indiana? What does our misunderstanding suggest about the importance of rereading for understanding poetry? I don’t know about you, but I had to look up the word siderophilic. It means “iron-loving.” What is the speaker in the poem saying in that line, do you think? Can you think of other texts or movies that offer a similar take on robots? How would you describe the poem’s tone? Hand out copies of Nicholas Carr’s essay, “Why Robots Will Always Need Us.” Ask students to read and annotate the text, noting the evidence Carr presents to support his claim that computer-driven machines should be our partners rather than our replacements. On the board, chart the evidence students offer, and then have them read the essay again, this time playing the disbelieving game. The goal here is two-fold: 1) to give students a reason, a purpose for their rereading, and 2) to practice reading “against the grain” of an argument. I sometimes encourage students to cross their arms against their chests while rereading to foster this stance. Post the following questions for students to consider as they read against the grain: Does the writer say anything that bothers me? Are any of the writer’s claims unsupported? Does the writer draw any dubious conclusions? Does the writer contradict himself or herself? Do I disagree with any of the writer’s claims or assumptions? Are there any reasons not to trust this writer? Does the writer leave anything out? After a whole-class discussion about “Why Robots Will Always Need Us,” show students a short video produced by Wired magazine, called “The Window: Robot Economy,” that offers an exceedingly favorable portrait of KIVA robots in the workplace. Students find it very difficult to take notes while watching a video

for the first time. Either show the video a second time for the purpose of having students repeat the process that they used with the Nicholas Carr essay, or provide students with a link to the video and have them view it again for homework, first to note the evidence that the makers of this video employ to support their claims, and then to view it “against the grain.” At this point in the lesson, I introduce students to the writing task: Write an argumentative essay that explains your views on automation in society and its impact on human life. Support your claim with evidence from the sources you have read and viewed. You do not need to use all the sources, only the ones that most effectively and credibly support your position and your consideration of the opposing point of view. Together we discuss their emerging views on the subject as well as what additional information they might need in order to support their views. In an effort to encourage more nuanced responses than simply pro or con arguments, I offer students additional readings. This time I ask them to use their second readings to take notes on how the essayists have constructed their arguments and how they have organized the evidence. “How to Beat the Bots” by Thomas Friedman. The New York Times, June 10, 2015. “Robot Locus Can Traverse Rocky Terrain, Assist in Search and Rescue” Science Daily, December 17, 2015. “As Aging Population Grows, So Do Robotic Health Aides” by John Markoff, The New York Times, December 4, 2015. “Space Bots & Android Waste Collectors: What’s Ahead for Robotics” by Elizabeth Palermo, Live Science, December 31, 2015. “The End of Work?” by Ji Shisan, The New York Times, December 10, 2015. Divide the class into small groups and assign an article to each one. Task groups with becoming experts on the organizational structure of the article and teaching the rest of the class what

they have discovered about how the structure of the article served its purpose. Invite students to do further research for evidence to support the claims they intend to make in their essays. Demonstrate how they might go about their inquiry, including a mini-lesson on the credibility of sources. I almost always have students begin their drafts in class so that I can circulate among them to troubleshoot and assist. Sometimes I write along with them, modeling how I would grapple with constructing an argument. Here is a sample of what I wrote in a 15-minute burst while students were working: Why We Need Automation & Why Automatons Need Us Today’s society is in a mad dash to automatize. Why do anything, remember anything, lift anything, if a machine can do it for us? Good question. But what is lost? In his essay “Why Robots Will Always Need Us” Nicholas Carr comes down on the side of collaboration. It’s a comforting view but most likely out of sync with the direction most businesses—from the KIVA bots to dating services—are heading. As the narrator in the video claims, “Robotic technologies make our jobs and our lives easier.” But is easier always a worthwhile goal? Is this the telos we should be pursuing? The KIVA bot video offers compelling evidence of the efficiency of these automatons. They save steps. They make the company more profitable. Keen to assure viewers that there are human beings in the distribution center, the question I asked myself was, “For how long?” When bots do it better, jobs will inevitably be lost.

Have students take home their drafts to work on overnight or during the next few days. Schedule a class period for peer response. Offer students a quick lesson on giving one another descriptive— rather than evaluative—feedback. The late Grant Wiggins has a marvelous article on this subject called “Seven Keys to Effective Feedback,” Educational Leadership, September 2012, Volume 70, Number 1, pages 10-16. You’ll want to keep his advice in mind when you go to comment on students’ final drafts. If you want to extend this lesson to include Readers’ Circle books, there are many rich and wonderful science fiction novels from which to choose. Alas, they are mostly dystopian in tone. Here are a few of my favorites: Feed by M.T. Anderson

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick I, Robot by Isaac Asimov 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke Neuromancer by William Gibson R.U.R. by Karel Capek The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

HANDOUTS/RESOURCES Carr, N. “Why Robots Will Always Need Us.” The New York Times, May 20, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/20/opinion/whyrobots-will-always-need-us.html Dargon, K. “The Robots Are Coming” from Honest Engine. Atlanta: University of Georgia Press. 2015. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/250556 Friedman, T. “How to Beat the Bots.” The New York Times, June 10, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/10/opinion/thomas-friedmanhow-to-beat-the-bots.html Kramer, M. “Meet Valkyrie: NASA’s Superhero-Like Walking Robot Unmasked. http://www.space.com/23929-nasa-valkyrie-humanoidrobot.html Levitin, D. The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload. New York: The Penguin Group. 2014. Markoff, J. “As Aging Population Grows, So Do Robotic Health Aides.” The New York Times, December 4, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/08/science/as-aging-populationgrows-so-do-robotic-health-aides.html Science Daily, “Robot Locus Can Traverse Rocky Terrain, Assist in Search and Rescue.” December 17, 2015. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151217143544.htm Shisan, J. “The End of Work?” The New York Times, December 10, 2015. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/10/opinion/the-end-ofwork.html “High Speed Robots, Part 2: KIVA Robots in the Workplace & in Our E-commerce Economy. The Window: Robot Economy, Wired. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU4YMDJNzpg

WHAT MADE IT MEMORABLE In The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload, Daniel Levitin explains that, “It takes more energy to shift your attention from task to task. It takes less energy to focus. That means that people who organize their time in a way that allows them to focus are not only going to get more done, but they’ll be less tired and less neurochemically depleted after doing it.” Most English teachers that I know live in a permanent state of neurochemical depletion from September to June. We need to focus. One way to bring more focus into your teaching life is to integrate the various strands of instruction around a compelling issue. Rather than taking a patchwork approach to teaching standards one by one, the lesson described here offers a vehicle for helping students master standards as they work toward a meaningful goal: the coherent expression of their own thinking. They have a reason to master standards that is quite different from—though not necessarily at odds with—better test scores. In the course of working through this unit, students will have had practice with most of the standards determined to be necessary for college and career readiness. While I have no argument with preparing students to be college and career ready, I also want them to be ready for life in a world where accelerating change unfortunately often fosters a lack of focus. The lesson described here is only one example of what is possible. I look forward to seeing where you take it next.

AUTHOR BIO Carol Jago has

taught English in middle and high school for 32 years and is associate director of the California Reading and Literature Project at UCLA. She served as president of the National Council of Teachers of English and as chair of the College Board’s English Academic Advisory committee. She has published many books with Heinemann, including With Rigor for All: Meeting Common Core Standards for Reading Literature and Cohesive Writing: Why Concept Is Not Enough. She has also published books on contemporary multicultural authors for NCTE. Carol wrote an education column for the Los Angeles Times, and her essays

continue to appear in educational journals and online forums. In 2015 she was awarded the International Literacy Association’s Adolescent Literacy Thought Leader Award and has been named by the U.S. Department of Education to serve on the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB). YOu can follow Carol on Twitter at @CarolJago.

The Bad Ad Analysis: Teaching Critical Thinking and Rhetorical Analysis Through Advertisements By Jori Krulder “Media literacy is not just important, it is absolutely critical. It’s going to make a difference between whether kids are a toll of the mass media or whether the mass media isa tool for kids to use.” — Lina Ellerbee

The Story Behind the Lesson Remember teen magazines? I do. My pre-adolescent bedroom walls were almost completely decorated with fold-out posters of Andy Gibb and Erik Estrada torn carefully from the center pages of Teen Beat and Tiger Beat, and I devoured the articles on how to apply my Lip Smackers bubble gum lip gloss and the best tools to use to feather my hair. As I entered the echoing halls of middle school, I graduated to more mature fare like Seventeen magazine, becoming informed on the coolest back-to-school fashions and how I should wear Love’s Baby Soft perfume, “Because innocence is sexier than you think.” In high school, Glamour and Vogue were there to take up the important job of telling me how I should dress, smell, look, and act. As a high school teacher and mother of a 14-year-old girl, I am very aware of the barrage of advertisements our young people withstand every day. A few years ago, when I had students bring old magazines into the classroom to cut up for a collage project, I had a chance to look at these publications with new eyes, and I realized that the influence of the media as a whole and advertisements in particular is even more pervasive than I had realized, and is exerting a huge influence on a particularly vulnerable audience: our children. Rhetoric was already a part of my tenth-grade English curriculum, and I realized that advertisements present a perfect opportunity to bring ethos, pathos, and logos into my students’ daily lives and to take our study of rhetoric out of the classroom and into the wider world. When I discovered the New Mexico Literacy Project’s website and their Bad Ad Essay Contest (https://medialiteracyproject.org/), I discovered a wealth of resources to help me with this project. Although the project has since been discontinued, I have adapted

some of its resources to use in my lessons over the years, and it’s a unit my students refer back to as one of the most valuable things we do sophomore year.

The Bad Ad Analysis: Teaching Critical Thinking and Rhetorical Analysis Through Advertisements LEARNING GOALS BROAD IMPLICATIONS Students will understand that: Rhetoric is a part of our daily lives; Specific rhetorical techniques are used regularly to persuade us, sometimes to detrimental effect; Being able to recognize and think critically about these persuasive techniques shifts the power away from those who may not have our best interests in mind, giving us the opportunity to make better informed decisions.

KNOWLEDGE GAINED Students will know: The definitions of ethos, pathos, and logos.

SKILLS ACQUIRED Students will be able to: Recognize rhetorical techniques in various forms of media, including print, online, and television advertisements; Articulate an opinion about the use of rhetorical techniques in an advertisement, providing specific and relevant evidence from the advertisement to support their claims.

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING Students will:

Discuss what they notice and think about rhetorical techniques in the world around them; Write an analysis of a print advertisement.

LEARNING PLAN Step 1: Connecting with prior experience One crucial tool that I use in my classroom is the quickwrite. A quickwrite is an exercise of usually 3-5 minutes in which students’ goal is simply write about their thoughts on a topic. I instruct them not to worry about grammar or spelling or even being particularly articulate. The only rule is that they write down what they think. Quickwrites’ effectiveness stem, in part, from the fact that students have a wide range of response time when it comes to answering a question. In my early years of teaching, when I simply asked questions and called on the students who raised their hands, I found, as most teachers do, that it would always be the same handful of students. This led to very limited engagement, as well as a discussion that really didn’t accomplish what I wanted it to. When I hit on the idea of having students write briefly about a topic, along with calling on them anonymously, not only did the amount of willing participants go up, the depth of thought in their responses increased. Quickwrite: Have students write for 3-5 minutes on the following prompt: Are you a persuasive person? Why or why not? What are your usual methods of persuasion? How well do they work?

Have students discuss their responses and talk about various methods of and purposes for persuasion. This will lead into the discussion of Aristotle’s Three Modes of Persuasion. Step 2: Notetaking Students take notes on the Aristotle’s Three Modes of Persuasion: ethos, pathos, and logos, with plenty of time for examples and discussion in between. I use the following explanations for my tenthgrade English classes; you may wish to adapt them to the level of your students. Ethos, or the ethical appeal, means to convince an audience of the author’s credibility or character. Here, the author is trying to convince the audience that he is a credible source and worth listening to by employing such tools as appropriate language, showing expertise in the topic, and sounding unbiased.

Pathos, or the emotional appeal, means to persuade an audience by appealing to their emotions. Using pathos, the author is trying to convince the audience by eliciting a particular emotion, such as anger or pity, using such tools as provocative language, tone, stories, and examples. Logos, or the appeal to logic, means to convince an audience by use of logic or reason. The author tries to convince the audience through using tools such as statistics or facts, analogies, and citing authorities on the subject.

As my students copy down the explanation of each mode of persuasion, we watch and discuss examples of each mode in commercials old and new. YouTube is, of course, an excellent source for these, and the newer commercials tend to be more compelling for my students, so I recommend updating your examples each year, but here are a few of my favorites. For ethos, look for ads for politicians, celebrity endorsements, or “experts” such as doctors. Here’s one for Wesley Meredith, running for state senate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBni6yDVko&index=9&list=PLUt_PBZQzj_D7wPfnSX-m9Ho1pfcq_CgG Clint Eastwood has ethos for many people: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=IRtvpMPLQ8o&list=PLZYAuFOuS8p9KA9wYiTOc_DV2wWrbHgN&index=8 Here are some for logos. An ad for “healthy” Campbell’s soup: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=PplMjgh_QlM&list=PLUt_PBZQzj_D7wPfnSXm9Ho1pfcq_CgG&index=3 AT&T promoting an app to prevent texting and driving: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=sMNGCHRIjTs&index=3&list=PLrzG4zv3U8ihnGsKbuINkZ01D9MZR5r0 And, as you might imagine, the pathos ones are the easiest to find. Quit Smoking PSA: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=SfAxUpeVhCg&list=PLUt_PBZQzj_D7wPfnSX-m9Ho1pfcq_CgG Here’s the classic Sarah McLachlan ASPCA commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=6eXfvRcllV8&index=6&list=PLUt_PBZQzj_D7wPfnSX-

m9Ho1pfcq_CgG As you are watching these commercials, students will most likely notice that they employ more than one persuasive mode or appeal. I’ve found it useful to have students take notes on what they notice the first time watching each commercial, discuss their findings, and then have them watch once more, followed by another discussion. I also bring up the question of which mode of persuasion they notice the most of (usually pathos) and why they think that particular one is used so much. We then extend the conversation to include other examples they can think of, in commercials or other media, that include any of the persuasive modes. Discussions have touched upon the ethics of persuasion—whether it is wrong to manipulate people’s opinions and if some advertisements are more irresponsible than others. Often, students come to the conclusion that the ethics of persuasion depends on the motive of the persuader. Step 3: Analyzing print ads for ethos, pathos, and logos I instruct students to bring in their own print ads to analyze for ethos, pathos, and logos. They can pull these out of magazines or print them off the Internet. I assign this for homework the previous night, but I also have several old magazines available for students who are not able to access them at home. My school and local county libraries have been good sources for donations of old magazines. I tell students to look for a “bad” ad, one that is deceptive, unhealthy, and/or irresponsible in some way. Although these really aren’t too hard to find, particularly in teen magazines, students may need some help because most of them will be new to critically analyzing the media that they deal with every day. Before giving students time to analyze their chosen ads, we analyze one together as a class, looking for examples of ethos, pathos, and logos. First, I post the picture on the SmartBoard, although a projector will work as well. Students write for a few minute on what they notice in the ad, and we discuss it. Although some will struggle at first, students quickly begin to notice details. Some initial responses to the Fin cigarette ad have been: “What rules is she trying to rewrite?” “That dress is cute, it looks old-fashioned, like from the ‘40s or ‘50s. I like the shoes, too” “The airplane looks old-fashioned, too. Is she

supposed to be a pilot?” “Those are e-cigarettes; aren’t they supposed to be safer than regular cigarettes?” “She looks like she’s going on an adventure.” After our initial discussion, I direct students to look for ethos, pathos, and logos, if they haven’t yet. They often notice the emotional appeal of fun, adventure, freedom from rules, and being found attractive. Ethos, as usual, is a little tougher for them, but they do recognize that attractive people tend to hold more sway in our society and if the girl does, indeed, fly a plane, that definitely ups her cool factor. For logos, the ease of the QR code and the promise of a $5 discount can be seen as logical reasons to give the product a try. After our practice as a whole class, I give students some time to analyze their own print ads. As they’re analyzing their ads, they keep a page of notes divided into Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, under which they’ll write elements of each appeal that they find in their ad. This is followed by a quick share-out, first with seat partners and then with the whole class. Step 4: Introduce specific persuasive techniques and practice using them in analysis Tell students that in addition to the wider persuasive appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos, there are more specific techniques used to persuade people. Give them Handout #1: Persuasive Techniques: The Language of Persuasion, letting them know that this small handout is a veritable toolbox of ways to persuade people. Have them look over the handout for a few minutes, making notes directly on the handout of what they notice. They can include questions, comments, and examples of the various techniques. Discuss their findings with them. Then, bring them back to the “Fin” advertisement and see what specific techniques they can find, discussing these as a whole class. Now they will find such techniques as the plane symbolizing adventure, the charisma of the bold, beautiful, young pilot, the bribery involved in the $5 coupon, the nostalgia of the ‘50s style outfit the model is wearing, among others. Next, direct students to the ads that they have chosen for themselves, having them take notes on the different specific techniques they find. Sometimes, depending on the motivation level

of the class, I make it an informal contest, having students pair up and work together to see who can find the most techniques in their ads. The key here is that they’re applying their new knowledge. If students need additional reinforcement of the specific techniques on the handout, you can use more videos of commercials or print ads to practice analysis as a whole class. Step 5: Deconstruction Questions Up to this point, students have been taking informal notes on the persuasive techniques they’ve noticed in whole-class examples and their own chosen advertisement. It is now time to begin crystallizing their thoughts on how they will communicate to an audience the problems with this ad. The deconstruction questions in Handout #2: The Bad Ad Analysis Directions help them explore various aspects of what their ad is doing persuasively. By thinking about and discussing ideas such as message, values, target audience, and empowerment, students formulate their argument and begin to collect evidence to support their claim. A particularly important part of this conversation is the idea of text and subtext. Beginning with the whole-class ad we’ve been practicing with, we talk about the “story” of the ad. What can we see, with as few judgement words thrown in as possible? We describe the ad in detail, from the cloudy gray sky behind the shiny silver plane to the bold font of the brand name, all the way down to the tiny white polka dots on the model’s high heeled pumps. Students are surprised by how many details they originally missed and, later, how significant these details prove to be. Then, we dig into the subtext. Because this is so subjective, it is always an interesting discussion, but the students often share surprisingly similar impressions. Before we talk, I have them quickwrite about their impressions of subtext. Students often characterize the model’s attitude, with the expression on her face, the way her head is turned and her foot kicked up in the air, as not just sexy, but defiant. The subtext here is that if you smoke these cigarettes, you will have the courage and the power to be bold, to challenge authority. The old fashioned outfit the model is wearing harkens back to a better time, a time when we were freer, more

adventurous. Adding to this adventurous spirit is the airplane, a blatant symbol of freedom and escape from responsibility. After practicing as a class, students once again work on answering the deconstruction questions for their own chosen advertisement. This pre-writing gives students the time to think through their ideas about what the ad is doing rhetorically and to begin formulating their argument about how it is deceptive, unhealthy, or irresponsible. Step 6: Drafting the Bad Ad Argument Once students have explored the various ways that they can look at the message of their article, it is time to organize their argument. For this we discuss the following questions: What is the purpose of your writing in the Bad Ad Analysis? How can you organize your argument to best to accomplish this purpose? It’s true that it would be easier to give students an outline for how to organize their argument, but I’ve noticed in the past that this has led to stilted, cookie-cutter responses that are frankly a bore to read. Leading them through a discussion on the various ways they might present their argument adds about a day to the project, but the reward is better student writing because they understand why they’re doing it, they own the process, and the writing is much more thoughtful and authentic. The conversation goes something like this: First, we talk about the purpose for this paper. Students understand that what they are trying to accomplish with their analysis is to help the reader understand why a certain advertisement is unhealthy, deceptive, and/or irresponsible. Next, we discuss various ways to accomplish this purpose. I have students individually write a plan for how they would convince someone that their advertisement is unhealthy, deceptive, and/or irresponsible. This is not an easy task for many of them because they’re not accustomed to analyzing their own rhetorical techniques, but as I have them share their ideas with the people sitting next to them and then the whole class, certain ideas emerge. Here are some of them: We should use ethos, pathos, and logos to convince our readers.

We should describe the ad in detail—maybe have this in the first part of our paper. We should state in the introduction what we’re going to show about the ad—that it is unhealthy, deceptive, and/or irresponsible. We should explain how the ad uses ethos, pathos, and logos in a deceptive, unhealthy, and/or irresponsible way. We should explain what specific persuasive techniques the ad uses. We should end with the main reason why this ad is deceptive, unhealthy, and/or irresponsible—the negative effect this ad may be having. Students go through the process of sorting through the information they’ve gathered during the analysis of their advertisement and deciding what to use in their argument of how this ad is deceptive, unhealthy, and/or irresponsible. Then, after setting up an outline of how they will organize this information to the best effect, they launch into writing their paper. We go through a process of drafting, revision, and editing, using a checklist for an effective argument when giving peer and teacher feedback. This checklist is also student generated, and I have included a recent one put together by my sophomores in handout #3. How long you spend on the revision process will depend on the time you have available. In my classes, we generally spend 2 ½-3 weeks on this lesson, start to finish.

WHAT MADE IT MEMORABLE This lesson resonates with my students for several reasons, and the process has implications that ripple far beyond this one paper. Yes, students enjoy watching commercials in class and talking about images that appear in their “real” lives outside school. But even more, they relish the power in their new perception. I’ve had students tell me that they can’t watch TV or surf the Internet any more without seeing the rhetorical techniques that are being used on them. “I used to be able to just sit back and enjoy things and now there’s this whole other layer I never even knew was there!” they complain. This never ceases to thrill me, because this is the beginning of awareness.

Not only do students notice the subtext of advertisements, but also of friends’ texts on Instagram, politicians’ sound bites, and all of the other messages they’re barraged with daily. And they don’t just notice this new layer, they think about it, and this is what makes me come back to this lesson year after year, because being able to think critically about the world around them and express these thoughts clearly is one of the most useful tools I can ever hope to add to my students’ toolboxes. I know I can’t shield my students from the daily flood of an ever-more-pervasive media, but I can help them learn to swim. Handout #1 PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES: THE LANGUAGE OF PERSUASION Media makers—particularly advertisers—use a number of identifiable techniques to inform and persuade media consumers. We can use our understanding of these techniques as specific tools for decoding media messages. 1. Symbols can be words, designs, places, ideas, music, etc., symbolizing tradition, nationalism, power, religion, sex, family, or any concept with emotional content. In media, people and things often symbolize some larger concept. 2. Hyperbole is exaggeration or “hype.” For example, “The greatest automobile advance of the century!” Ads often use “glittering generalities”—impressive sounding language that is nonetheless vague and meaningless. This technique seeks to impress the target and make him/her more susceptible to the sales pitch. 3. Fear: Media often try to make us afraid that if we don’t do or buy something, something bad could happen to us, our families and friends, or our country. 4. Scapegoating is a powerful technique that blames many problems on one person, group, race, religion, etc. 5. Humor is a powerful tool of persuasion. If you can make people laugh, you can persuade them. 6. The Big Lie: Most people want to believe what they see and hear. Lies work—on cereal boxes, in ads and on television news. According to Adolf Hitler, one of the 20th century’s most dangerous

propagandists, people are more suspicious of a small lie than a big one. 7. Testimonials use famous people or respected institutions to sell a person, idea, or product. They need have nothing in common. 8. Repetition drives the message home many times. Even unpleasant ads work if they are repeated enough to pound their message into our skulls. 9. Leadership or charisma: Be firm, bold, and strong; have dramatic confidence; and frequently combine this appeal with the “plain folks” technique. It’s amazingly effective. 10. Name calling or ad hominem is frequently used in media. It can be direct or delicately indirect. Audiences love it. Violent, aggressive, sexualized media teaches us from an early age to love to hear dirt. (Just tune in to daytime talk radio or TV!) 11. Flattery is based on the idea that if you make people feel good, they are more likely to buy your product. We like people who like us, and we tend to believe people we like. (We’re sure that someone as brilliant as yourself will easily understand this technique!) 12. Bribery seems to give us something desirable: “Buy one, get one free.” This technique plays on people’s acquisitiveness and greed. Unfortunately, there is no free lunch. 13. Diversion seems to tackle a problem or issue, but then throws in an emotional non sequitur or distraction. 14. Straw man builds up an illogical (or deliberately damaged) idea and presents it as something that one’s opponent supports or represents. Knocking down the straw man reduces the opponent and builds up the attacker. 15. Denial is used to escape responsibility for saying something unpopular. It can be either direct or indirect. A politician who says, “I won’t bring up my opponent’s problems with the IRS,” has just brought up the issue. 16. Card stacking provides a false context, telling only part of the story, to give a misleading impression. Read the critics’ quotations in any movie ad; not surprisingly, only the compliments are included. 17. Bandwagon; insists that “everyone is doing it.” It plays upon feelings of loneliness and isolation. In the United States, with our

incredible addiction to sports, this technique is often accompanied by the concept of “being on the winning team.” 18. Plain folks: Many advertisers and politicians promote themselves or their products as being of humble origins, common, one of the gals/guys. Unfortunately, this technique reinforces anti-intellectualism, implying that to be “common” is unquestionably good. 19. Nostalgia: People tend to forget the bad parts of the past, and remember the good. A nostalgic setting usually gives a product a better image. 20. Warm & fuzzy: Using sentimental images (especially families, kids and animals) to sell products or ideas. 21. Beautiful people: Using good-looking models in ads to suggest we’ll look like the models if we buy the product. (How many times have you seen this one used?) 22. Simple solutions; Avoid complexities, unless you’re talking to intellectuals. Attach many problems to one simple solution. 23. Scientific evidence uses the paraphernalia of science (charts, graphs, lab coats, etc.) to “prove” something that’s often bogus. 24. Maybe: Exaggerated or outrageous claims are commonly preceded by “maybe,” “might,” or “could.” You could win a million dollars! 25. Group dynamics replaces the weakness of the individual with the strength of the group. The atmosphere of live audiences, rallies, or other gatherings often carries people away. 26. Rhetorical questions get the target to say “yes” to preliminary questions, in order to build agreement and trust before the sales pitch. 27. Timing can be as simple as planning your sell for a time when your target is tired. In sophisticated propaganda, timing is the organization of multiple techniques in a pattern or “strategy” which increases the emotional impact of the sell. Handout #2 THE BAD AD ANALYSIS DIRECTIONS Corporate advertising dominates our world. In our media, in our schools, in our communities, the values of commercial advertising

seem to reign supreme. It is high time, however, that concerned students, teachers, and citizens begin to talk back to advertisers. Find a bad ad and then deconstruct it by writing your thoughts about each of the ten questions below: Media deconstruction questions 1. Whose message is this? Who created or paid for it? Why? 2. Who is the “target audience”? What is their age, ethnicity, class, profession, interests, etc.? What words, images, or sounds suggest this? 3. What is the “text” of the message? (What we actually see and/or hear: written or spoken words, photos, drawings, logos, design, music, sounds, etc.) 4. What is the “subtext” of the message? (What do you think is the hidden or unstated meaning?) 5. What kind of lifestyle is presented? Is it glamorized? How? 6. What values are expressed? 7. What “tools of persuasion” are used? 8. What positive messages are presented? What negative messages are presented? 9. What groups of people does this message empower? What groups does it disempower? How does this serve the media maker’s interests? 10. What part of the story is not being told? How and where could you get more information about the untold stories? Directions: Once you have thought and written about the different aspects of the ad written above, organize your ideas into an essay that explains the problems with your chosen “bad ad.” Handout #3 STUDENT-GENERATED REVISION CHECKLIST FOR BAD AD ANALYSIS Directions: After reading your partner’s paper, write down some thoughts on the questions below. Be sure to include suggestions to help improve the paper’s effectiveness.

1. Does the paper begin with a focused thesis statement that states why the message of the advertisement is “bad” (unhealthy, deceptive, and/or irresponsible)? What is the thesis? 2. Does the paper describe the text of the advertisement in detail? What important details could the writer add? 3. Does the paper describe how the advertisement uses ethos, pathos, and logos in a unhealthy, deceptive, and/or irresponsible way? 4. Does the paper provide sufficient evidence from the advertisement that creates the subtext/message (values represented, target audience, lifestyle, untold story, groups empowered/disempowered)? 5. Does the paper end with a take away message that tells the audience what action the writer would encourage them to take? 6. Is the paper organized in a clear, effective way to communicate the thesis?

AUTHOR BIO Jori Krulder is

heading into her 17th year of teaching English, having entered the field fueled by a passion for books and having continued because of her endlessly fascinating students. She taught English and reading for four years in urban San Diego before moving to Northern, CA to teach at a rural high school and to complete her MA in Education from Chico State University. In addition to reading and talking about literature, she’s fueled by treasure hunting at yard sales, cycling, and some serious caffeine. Her students read a lot, write a lot, and discuss, discuss, discuss. They have scored well above the international average in all areas of the AP Literature and Composition exam. She has led workshops in discussion techniques that work across the curriculum and has published articles about teaching critical thinking skills through poetry on the Talks With Teachers website AP Lit Help. Her ultimate goal is to build students’ independence in their ability to understand and make themselves understood in this world. Follow her on Twitter @JoriKrulder.

Big Things Come in Small Packages By Rebecca Mieliwocki “Very few writers truly know what they are doing until they’ve done it.” —Anne Lamott

“The one thing you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live only as you can.” —Neil Gaiman

The Story Behind the Lesson Fitzgerald once remarked that the things we are ashamed of typically make for great stories, which is why I’m about to admit something truly shameful. I feel like I am the only teacher in America who gets a wild hair every year and tosses out my binders of lessons and the bins of carefully collected, curated teaching resources. I am possessed by this bizarre one-year itch that arrives every single summer like clockwork and compels me to throw out the old in favor of the new. And I know what you’re thinking. You do that, too. We all do. After you’ve taught something, you sit back, you reflect, you make notes on what worked and what didn’t, and you file it away for next year’s improved, repeat performance. If only I were that sane. Nope. I toss it all and start anew. It’s crazy, I know. I can see you shaking your head at me. I can see ME shaking my head at me. It certainly makes teaching, an already difficult endeavor, ten times harder. But what it also does is keep things more than a little interesting for both my 12year-old students and me, their teacher. There was the year when I crafted every single unit for my seventh graders around popular movies and songs. If I never hear the songs “Friday” and “What Does the Fox Say?” again, it will be too soon. There was the year I was determined to do a better job syncing up with my science and social studies colleagues and so created new lessons on cell anatomy, the Islamic empire, skeletons, and Hammurabi’s code. When we read about a disabled Vietnam Vet in “Zebra,” by Chaim Potok, and engineered prosthetic limbs out of wire,

tape, and plastic, well that was pretty cool. A keeper, you ask? Noooooo sirree. Out it went in favor of what came next: The Year of Thinking Big! Following the tenets of Grant Wiggins’ wonderful Understanding by Design, I focused a year of learning around the essential and big questions that life throws our way. What is happiness, and are we entitled to it? Do our personalities, our circumstances, or fate determine what happens to us? When and how does our character emerge, and what it the purpose of having it? How will we know if we’ve lived a good and decent life? Are those qualities necessary to live and succeed? And so on and so forth. I loved that year best, not only for the profoundly deep and interesting discussions that sprung from the minds and hearts of my seventh graders, but also due to my deceptively simple summative assessment at the end of our unit on short stories that delivered beautiful, powerful, creative writing. Because I enjoy dreaming up a twist to each lesson or assignment to keep my students on their intellectual toes, my not-so-secret driving principle during that year was to Think Big, Work Small. For every concept we read about or discussed, I charged my students with translating that knowledge into some small, meaningful product that would impact their lives and local communities. At the end of my short story unit, I meant the word small literally. Four inches. Maybe shorter. Twelve words max. Maybe fewer. Yep. That’s all the space they had to show me they understood the essential elements of a fictional narrative and that they could craft an engaging, original story of their own with so little space and so few ingredients. This brings me to my second shameful admission. Our esteemed editor asked us to provide our best writing lesson, and here I am going rogue again and sharing an assessment, not a lesson. I’m starting to detect a trend in my practice where bucking the system is more common than toeing the line. Perhaps this kind of creative mischief is how teachers stay fresh, impassioned, and alive within the confines of a profession that seeks to standardize kids, their thinking, and my teaching. I resist; therefore, I am.

Big Things Come in Small Packages LEARNING GOALS BROAD IMPLICATIONS Students will understand that: All great stories, both true and imagined, contain essential elements; Understanding how the elements of fiction shape the stories we read is important; Effective storytelling requires authors to develop an awareness of how the elements of fiction can inform, surprise, move, and delight readers; Words and pictures often work together to advance a storyline; Simple tales can be as meaningful as longer stories; Everyone has a story to tell; Sharing our writing makes us better writers and better people.

KNOWLEDGE GAINED Students will know: Stories have a beginning, middle, and end, although some creative liberties may be taken in crafting those parts; Stories typically follow a classic plotline with exposition, rising action, a climax, falling action, and a resolution; Stories are made more rich by the settings and characters in them; Most stories seek to entertain or inform the reader in pleasurable ways.

SKILLS ACQUIRED Students will be able to:

Invent and write an imaginative short story; Craft their narrative to fit within the word count confines of the assignment; Carefully employ the key elements of fiction in their narrative; Produce artwork to compliment the plot points; Convey their story clearly, correctly, and creatively; Present their story in miniature book form.

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING Students will: Write, create, and produce a fictional narrative; Incorporate the key elements of fiction: setting, characters (major/minor), exposition, rising action, a conflict, a climax, falling action, resolution, and theme; Present their work in miniature storybook format; Share their stories with classmates, younger grades, and families; Read, reflect, and critique one another’s stories.

LEARNING PLAN This assignment acts as one of several summative assessments that I give at the end of the short story unit. I’m not including the entire unit of instruction here, but I will share the stories and literary focus points that precede the assignment. So many teachers share their love for the craft of storytelling and teach units on short stories that there are million avenues to arrive at an assessment such as this. All are worthy paths. I, too, walk students through a variety of texts engaging them in whole-class readings, independent reading, close reading, and readers’ workshop activities. I prefer to let students lead the way, building their understanding from the ground up while I hover and ask them to contemplate a question, a key line, or a story point that bears noticing.

Each time we read, we discuss not just the nuts and bolts that help a story’s structure maintain its integrity, but we also delve into the intangibles: character motivations, how the mood and tone affect your understanding of the story, how conflict reveals character and shapes the outcomes, and everyone’s favorite: themes. By the time we have finished reading our selections, students have seen and analyzed a variety of narrative texts, both long and quite short. They’ve seen how stories come together, they’ve felt the impact of a tale well told, and they are prepared to write their own. The Opener I begin by asking students how short a story can be. They ask if I mean chapters or pages. I tell them they can use whatever measure they like. Most agree that the smallest stories are at least several paragraphs long, and tell me that’s how much space you’d need to tell it all. Then I place Hemingway’s brilliant six-word story on the screen: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Off we go on a discussion of what’s happening, who the author might be, the setting, what might have occurred to result in this ad. Together, we flesh out the larger context that a sentence like this could be summoned from. Kids can’t believe a whole world might exist in a sentence, and this piece proves to them the power of words well chosen. Next I bring out the book The World’s Shortest Stories and share with them several selections in their reading groups. Together they must identify the essential elements present in each 55-word tale: characters, plot, conflict, climax, resolution, and potential theme. Then they attempt to answer this question: what makes this story work, or if it doesn’t, why not? In groups, they tackle the foundational tasks of learning and understanding the key structures of fictional narrative. Using abbreviated examples from everyday writers helps them grasp the elements quickly and easily. This sets them up to read longer, more complex and sophisticated works in the days ahead. Readings for analysis The following collection of short stories are read and discussed in class, and each serves a unique purpose in building my students’ capacity to identify how the parts of a story work to illuminate the whole in ways that are compelling.

“Rikki Tikki Tavi” by Rudyard Kipling is a fantastic example of the genre. From characters to conflict, setting to climax and theme, this story’s features allow students to access the genre, appreciate Rikki’s struggle to restore balance and security to the garden, and enjoy discussing whether he’s brave or overly arrogant. “Amigo Brothers” by Piri Thomas is perhaps the first time they’ve read a short story with a cliffhanger ending. We discuss how twists in plot structure can impact our appreciation and understanding of the story. It’s also a terrific example of dialect and how an author chooses language to create personality in the characters. “Zebra” by Chaim Potok helps students learn about internal versus external character struggles, metaphorical language, flashbacks, and dynamic versus static characters. “Thank You, M’am” by Langston Hughes is a widely-read classic. From the colloquialisms to the conflict, from the resolution to the themes, this story is more complex than it seems, and I enjoy working through it with my students. We discuss where the climax may be, how we know Mrs. Jones, and whether or not Roger is ultimately a changed soul due to her influence. “The War of the Wall” and “Raymond’s Run” by Toni Cade Bambara are wonderful tributes to the ideas of family and neighborhood, the folks who raise us, and the ones who push us to be great, and there are surprising endings that are deeply satisfying. “The School” by Donald Barthelme is delicious and dark. Kids love seeing so much grim reality piled on, and it feels decadent knowing that a teacher is putting her seal of approval on such a story. They find themselves mortified at their enjoyment of the piece and get their first taste of written black comedy, especially in the last line. This story helps us understand that all experience makes for great and funny stories, even death. “A Sunrise on the Veld” by Doris Lessing shares a teen boy’s coming of age on the African plain as he grapples with the thrill of being alive and the inevitability of death. The plotline is purely the internal monologue of the boy narrator. Students appreciate seeing that stories can be told in so unique a way and that some stories ask more questions of us than provide answers.

A brother’s pride and its devastating effect is the centerpiece of the tragic, beautiful story “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst. Told via flashbacks and with the stunning natural South as the backdrop, students see another example of creative plot structure, careful characterizations, setting as symbol, and a powerful thematic line that travels through the piece. The Assessment Once students have read the collection of stories, it’s time for them to try their own hand at story writing. Since my students are older, they’ve undoubtedly written many a story for school and perhaps for pleasure, so it’s not unusual to have them do this. In my own class, prior to this assignment, they have worked in teams to write suspenseful short stories for Halloween and parables on how to survive middle school. For this assignment, though, I want them to focus their narratives tightly around the building blocks and strip everything else away. Their task is to create a mini-book with complimentary illustrations that holds an original short story. Theirs must feature every element necessary to build one: setting, characters, a conflict, a plotline that includes rising action, a climax, falling action, and a resolution. Finally, a theme must be inferable from the storyline. Sounds simple enough, right? That’s when I make it alternately more simple and more complex. The Twist They’ll have a limited number of words to use to tell their tale. I give each student a giant set of rubber dice. They roll to reveal two numbers. If the numbers they roll add up to six or higher, they’re set. If not, they keep rolling until they get higher than a six. Once they do, that number is the number of words they can use for the first and the last page of their stories. Each successive page of their book contains one less word until they have a page with zero words on it. On the wordless page, only the illustration is allowed, and it must advance the storyline in some way. Then on the next page, just after the zero word page, they begin adding words again, one first, then two, then three, until they are back to the original number they rolled. That is the final page of their story.

Finally, I tell them that limiting the number of words will surely be a unique challenge for them, but I know they can be creatively pushed even further. I tell them that their stories must be contained in paper mini-book no larger than four inches wide by four inches tall. It may be smaller, but it cannot be larger. At first, kids are excited to jump in, feeling that this will be the easiest assignment ever. Enjoy this moment. I even ask them to make some predictions about the kinds of stories we might see. I’ll usually jot these down and compare their guesses with the eventual finished products. As they chatter with one another about the possibilities, I seize upon their sense of excitement and share the organizer we will use to help them brainstorm ideas for their stories. I’ve included that here as a resource. It takes a good part of the period for kids to talk about possible story ideas, conflicts, characters or themes they’d like to explore. I encourage them to pull out their reader’s notebooks and peruse their annotations and reflections on the short stories they’ve read and liked for further inspiration. Once they’ve established a starting point, it’s time to begin writing. This is where my students see the complexity involved in making sure their story contains all of the elements. I give them another organizer, akin to a storyboard directors frequently use to block out locations and scenes, to assist them in matching their text with possible illustration ideas. After a day or two on their own, several kids are done with a rough draft and ready to share. Others tend to be stuck on one page or another and could benefit from feedback. This is the perfect time for writer’s workshop groups to meet. My students are teamed in groups of four to workshop ideas, share drafts, suggest feedback and edit one another’s work. For this project, where every single word and every line of the story has a specific function, kids drill down and help each other ensure they have so many of the elements in so few of their available words. I see new things in writer’s workshop with this project that delight me. First, students are open to suggesting whole new directions for the plot and for discussing how one small change early on might impact the climax in a way that’s more satisfying or that gets the reader to the theme more clearly. Second, I enjoy listening to them engage in the

vocabulary and conventions gymnastics that this task requires as they search for the perfect word, or contraction, or phrase that conveys exactly what they need it to: be it conflict, resolution or climax. Third, students come through this task with a strong sense of ownership about the ideas behind their stories. They tend to have a big idea that they want to use for the book, and no matter how convincing their workshop partners may be, I love watching them argue for their ideas while listening to the constructive feedback and trying to serve both their own creative desires and their partners’ great advice. The final result is a living, breathing testament to their own inspiration and teamwork, too. It takes about two weeks for the mini-books to come in. I employ due date spans and give my over-achievers a chance to get their work in first, and my perseverating perfectionists or strugglers more time to make theirs the best they know it can be. When they all come in, it’s a sight to behold. There have been books about pirates, spies, bugs, and the four seasons. We’ve read tales about stranded polar bears, young couples in love, a zombie-infested middle school, and endangered dolphins of Taji. My students never cease to amaze me with their creativity, attention to story structure, good humor, and hard work. In addition to a whole-class read-around, I host two events to help my students understand that one of the greatest joys of writing is sharing your work with the world. To that end, we invite the sixthgrade students from two rooms over to come share cookies, milk, a gallery walk of the books, and finally a read-along. On their way back to their own class, we have them pause and rate each story they heard as a way of discovering fan favorites. I share these results with students at the end of the week. Before the fan favorites are revealed, there’s one last moment in the sun for my authors and their stories. We travel on a walking field trip down to the elementary school about three blocks away. My students dress up as an author might, and we visit with a classroom of third grade students who are in the process of writing their own fictional narratives. My colleague and I pair students up and structure the half hour so that my seventh-grade student and her third-grader talk for about ten minutes on story structure and the ingredient that

make up a great tale. The younger student will share a draft of his or her story, and get gentle feedback from my students. Then we place them into groups of eight, and my students read their stories to the younger kids. In this larger setting, the little ones get a chance to give praise, suggestions, and comments to my authors. My authors learn to accept feedback from another source that is, we hope, non-threatening. Finally, we share milk and cookies again and then we head back, each of my students brimming with new confidence over having their stories heard and appreciated by people in their community. My ultimate goal is to make sure my students understand how all of the parts of a story work together to form a unified whole literary piece that can move and entertain a reader. By working so small and with such a narrow focus, they are able to grasp this quite well. I see them applying this new hyper-awareness to our conversations about writing and literature that deepens and expands those talks. I also see an emerging pride in my students as authors of “a perfect story” who worked hard to create something memorable and unique. That is perhaps the best outcome of all—learning that they have stories to tell and are capable of writing them so well. Student Story: Leaf Fall Cover The title expresses what the story is literally about, a fall leaf. It is also about the journey the leaf must travel to fulfill his destiny: he must fall. Finally, Leaf Fall is an evocative phrase that sounds possibly negative, but the reader must read to see if that is the case.

Leaf Fall Page 1: 8 Words Establishes main and minor character, setting, and conflict.

Leaf Fall Page 2: 7 Words Establishes a challenge for the main character (rising action).

Leaf Fall Center Page: Zero Words Graphic shows the leaf has fallen and is experiencing a series of adventures on the way to landing on the ground, eventually decomposing, and allowing new trees, plants, and flowers to grow to repeat the cycle.

HANDOUTS/LINKS/RESOURCES: Bromer, A. and Julian I. Edison. Miniature Books: 4,000 Years of Tiny Treasures. New York: Harry Abrams, Inc. 2007. McCafferty, Kathleen. Making Mini-Books: Big Ideas for 30+ Little Projects. New York: Lark Crafts, A Division of Sterling Publishing, 2011. Moss, Steve, ed. The World’s Shortest Stories. Philadelphia: Running Press, 1998. Pinterest is a phenomenal treasure trove of resources for teachers, including this page, which features a beautiful visual variety of minibook designs and prototypes, and also links to sites that have tutorials, mini-book histories, and examples to use for inspiration. Here’s a page I referenced while dreaming up this assignment for my students: https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/? q=mini%20books&rs=typed&0=mini%7Ctyped&1=books%7Ctyped Professor Judith Maginnis Kuster from Minnesota State University has compiled dozens of helpful sites and resources for teachers

thinking about using mini-books in https://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster4/part93.html

their

classes.

WHAT MADE IT MEMORABLE Whenever I teach something for the first time, I know there will be many takeaways and for the most part I can anticipate what those will be. I was certain that all of my students would be able to craft a story and create a book. I knew that some might struggle with the limited word count or with making sure they included each of the required elements of the narrative. However, what was unique about this particular way of assessing my students’ understanding was that it supercharged the entire learning process in ways I had not expected. First and most obvious, the works themselves were spectacular. Every single book was crafted with the utmost care, attention to detail, and imbued mightily with the author’s personality. Each book, each story was a beauty and a treasure to behold. I have never seen students show more pride about something they have created for my class. Ever. This was one of the only times that when I asked students if I could keep a few of theirs as examples for future classes, I was turned down. Second, 100% of my students completed this assignment. As seemingly simple as it was, it truly is a challenging task. And yet, the miniaturization of the format, the word cap, and the apparent accessibility of the task meant that every student felt confident attempting it. With the writer’s workshop supports embedded in the process, students who struggled received enough help to soldier on and produce a gorgeous final product. It’s rare for every single student to turn in their work, no matter how much I hound them for it. I didn’t need to hound anyone for these books. It was instead quite the opposite. They couldn’t wait to finish and show me their creations. Third, my writer’s workshops were suddenly the most effective they’d ever been. The combination of the task, the eventual audience of younger children, and the limited number of words that students could use focused the conversations so carefully that each member of the workshop group felt supremely useful in helping their classmate edit, reimagine, revise, and perfect their narratives.

Collaboration was somehow less difficult and non-threatening, and I noticed that the group conversations were substantively more imaginative as they talked about where a storyline could go, or what kind of character could be introduced, or how the conflict was changing the trajectory of the storyline to the resolution. In the past, when my student writers were working with larger, more complex pieces, they would often get bogged down and be unable to visualize the totality of a piece and how the parts were relating to the whole. With this assignment, it was the opposite. They could easily see the entire story and help their counterparts tweak and craft the tales. I loved watching them blossom and grow as critics, editors, and artists in these moments. Fourth, this was the first time that my students truly understood the power of revision to improve writing. Because they had a limited number of words, they had to focus, sometimes obsessively, on sentence structures and their vocabulary. This reminded me of a wonderful conference workshop I attended many years ago, where I learned that a writer’s voice emerges from two elements: vocabulary and sentence construction. As my students struggled to tell their stories with the few words they’d been allowed, they had to make ruthless choices. They had to forage for just the right word. They had to convey something powerful to advance the plot in perhaps one or two words, or with a picture alone. In the past, my students had treated revision as something nice that other people did. It was uncommon to see my students believe in the power of edits, adjustments, or crossing out an entire line and starting over. This assignment made those acts unavoidable. As students shaped their lines into a tight narrative, they truly began to see magic of revision. Fifth and finally, I always encourage my students to make public their writing. Of course there is a wall of fame in my room where student work is displayed. Of course we read each other’s work. Yes, I send student work out into the world, to parents, to Teen Ink or Spotlight or my local newspaper. Yes, we host open mic nights in the library where students are encouraged to share their original work. And yet it’s often a struggle to find kids who are brave enough and willing enough to let their work be seen and heard.

This assignment changed that. While they were eager to finish their books and share them with me, they were just as excited to participate in our read-around with the elementary school kids down the street. They couldn’t wait to read their work for others and witness the reactions of the audience. The children’s laughter, their expectant wide eyes, and their questions all injected an element of immediacy and thrill into the process of writing and publishing their work, an element that almost none of them had experienced before. In this moment, I knew I was watching my writers being born.

AUTHOR BIO Rebecca Mieliwocki

is the 2012 California and National Teacher of the Year. She was chosen to represent America’s 3.2 million public school teachers during a year of travel, speaking, and advocacy that took her to 30 U.S. states and ten nations. She is a seventh-grade English teacher at Luther Burbank Middle School in Burbank, California, who has been teaching for 20 years. She has taught every grade from seventh to college level composition classes to graduate level education classes with Cal State Northridge. Mrs. Mieliwocki is a dynamic, enthusiastic, proud member of the education community who set out to restore admiration to the profession of teaching and to remind fellow Americans of just how much is going right in classrooms across the country. She is a contributor to several texts on teaching and learning, including What Really Works in Secondary Education and The Cage-Busting Teacher, as well as a blogger for EdWeek Teacher. Currently on special assignment for the Burbank Unified School District, Rebecca now works to develop the professional potential of new and veteran teachers as coordinator of secondary induction and professional development. She believes that it’s just as important that educators have excellent teachers to help guide their growth as it is for the children we teach. You can follow Rebecca on Twitter at @MrsMieliwocki.

Final Exam Reflection Essay: Seeing Ourselves Grow as Writers By Renee Moore “We must aim for assessment to serve, not harm, each and every student.” —National Council of Teachers of English, Standards for the Assessment of Reading and Writing, Standard 1

The Story Behind the Lesson Like most teachers of writing, I have worked in school systems that demand I produce a grade or average as the indicator of each student’s accomplishment as a writer. The English Division at my current school requires that each student in Freshman Composition write a final essay exam. The faculty took almost two years to develop and agree on a comprehensive set of student learning outcomes for our writing program, yet final averages are recorded on the official transcript as a single letter grade. Making those decisions at the end of a semester or year used to be the most excruciating part of my professional work. Most of the time, I could justify the grades to myself in some way, but those grades were baffling to students and parents. I struggled to explain the quality of my students’ learning to them or to others. I could see the tremendous progress many of them made as writers, often while trying to handle incredible outside pressures. I could see their spiraling journey from being terrified of a blank screen, through awkward attempts at new genres, to achieving a definite (if still uneven) fluency with academic writing. That was precisely the problem: I could see these things, but I wanted the students to see them. I wanted student writers to realize that they had more control over their processes of writing and learning to write than I did. Using portfolios seemed the best way to reach those goals, and that was a partial solution. Still, there had to be that end-of-course essay and that one grade. I am not a fan of averages, for many reasons, but in a writing course, computing an average runs against the very processes I work so hard to model and teach. Averaging scores on writing tasks across the course actually discourages

students from trying new things or taking on more challenging topics or techniques. Skill and learning acquired later in the course often cannot compensate for mistakes and false starts in the beginning. What students have helped me develop over the years is an evaluation process that puts most of the responsibility for documenting and assessing learning on the student writers. This process culminates with the final exam reflective essay. Due to access issues at our school, these essays were almost always written by hand in the classroom over a two-hour exam period. Many are in the form of letters to me, and they are hands-down my favorite pieces to read. Using examples from their own work as evidence, the students celebrate and lament their growth as writers. They also provide me with the richest possible evaluations of my teaching and course design.

Final Exam Reflection Essay: Seeing Ourselves Grow as Writers LEARNING GOALS BROAD IMPLICATIONS Students will understand that: Writing is a process during which the writer makes a series of decisions that impact the quality of the work; Writing is a skill that can be improved over time; Quality writing requires both technical skills and habits of mind; Collecting, revisiting, and evaluating one’s own work over time is a critical part of the learning process.

KNOWLEDGE GAINED Students will know: The established student learning outcomes for the composition course; How to construct a sound academic argument supported by appropriate and sufficient evidence; Accurate and appropriate terminology to describe various aspects and modes of writing; How to apply standard writing evaluation tools (e.g., departmental writing rubric).

SKILLS ACQUIRED Students will be able to: Select and use an appropriate prewriting strategy for the reflective essay;

Select appropriate and sufficient examples from their writing portfolios to support their claims and conclusions; Use effective and appropriate rhetorical techniques to achieve coherence and clarity; Demonstrate proficient-to-advanced use of standard English and conventions of academic writing.

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING Students will: Produce a well-written, well-supported reflective essay based on evidence from his/her course portfolio; Accurately document the student’s strengths and weaknesses as a writer, including evidence of student obtaining and using feedback as tool for revision (not just for editing); Show evidence of use of writing processes learned/practiced during the course.

LEARNING PLAN 1. Students write an introductory letter on first day of class with minimal directions in which they share their views of writing and of themselves as writers. The letter itself is also used as an initial example of their level of writing ability. 2. The teacher introduces students to writing as process, and gives multiple opportunities to practice various aspects of those processes, for different audiences and purposes. 3. The students keep, organize, and reflect on their written work for the duration of the course. 4. Throughout the course, students evaluate their own writing and that of peers using criteria established by the English Division for academic writing. 5. Students choose examples of their own writing/processes that represent the challenges, successes, and changes in their

development as academic writers. 6. Using their first-day letters (see A) as starting point, and examples from their own course portfolios, students develop a reflective essay explaining how their skills as writers and their attitudes about writing have changed since the beginning of the course, and what they believe has contributed to those changes.

HANDOUTS/LINKS/RESOURCES Introductory letter instructions Instructions for the final exam essay MDCC Writing Rubric MDCC Composition Program Student Learning Outcomes WPA Standards Formative Assessment That Truly Informs Instruction (NCTE) NCTE Standards for Assessment of Reading and Writing

WHAT MADE IT MEMORABLE For most students that I teach, learning to write well in order to pass Comp I is a critical gateway out of poverty to a better life for them and their families, since most are first-generation college students. Too many students have bought the lie that some folks are born smart enough to be good writers, but the rest of us just aren’t and can’t ever be. Even my dual enrollment high school students, who are among the honor students at their schools, approach writing as either a fearful mystery or a lifeless exercise (a.k.a. the five-paragraph essay). How rewarding to watch these tentative new writers evolve into confident, competent communicators. Sometimes, it’s amusing how surprised students are by how much they’ve learned. Likewise, even those who do poorly are able to identify their missteps as they reflect. Some of the students are stunned to acquire simple yet powerful writing techniques. Like recent high school graduate Mary, who found: “The thing that helped me the most was learning how to write an outline.” Or Meia, who’s working two jobs while going to school, discovering prewriting: “I was so used to thinking and writing off the top of my head that I did not even realize how helpful [making] a chart could be.”

Others, like James, grow in different ways: “I would say the most challenging part of the course to me would have to be just getting out of my comfort zone as the writer I used to be. Simply understanding how to write and see things in a different way than I did before.” One young woman, LL, was attempting college for the second time following some traumatic life experiences. After citing examples of how she had learned to give and use feedback, she concludes: “It is evident that I have made exceptional progress. Although grammar will definitely be an area that I will continue to work on improving, I have learned to trust in myself and my ability to convey my ideas on paper.” For this assessment process to be truly effective, students must reflect on their writing and learning throughout the course, not just for the final exam. I know we have succeeded when, by the end of the course, it’s not just me assigning a grade, it’s us reaching conclusions about the teaching and the learning, based on evidence that the students themselves have evaluated and presented.

AUTHOR BIO Renee Moore, NBCT,

teaches English at Mississippi Delta Community College. 2001 Mississippi Teacher of the Year and a Milken Education Award winner, Moore also works with the Center for Teaching Quality, where she has co-authored the book Teaching 2030 (2011) and writes an education blog at TeachMoore. Her work as a teacher/leader is profiled in the book Teacherpreneurs: Innovative Teachers Who Lead But Don’t Leave (2013). She currently serves as co-chair of the Certification Council of the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). You can follow Renee on Twitter at @TeachMoore.

Believing and Doubting as Peer Critique By Jodi Rice “We argue eagerly for our own opinions; we listen to opposing arguments mainly to find flaws and, when we do, interrupt and attack them. We are more interested in proving ourselves right, in winning the argument, than in considering seriously another viewpoint, in continuing to think.” —Alan Shapiro

The Story Behind the Lesson How do most students write a researched argument paper? If your students are anything like mine, their first instinct is probably to strike out on Google, punching in a few hopeful search terms, and grabbing the first few links that come up. Likely you’ve taught them how to improve their Google searches and to evaluate what pops up; you’ve probably also pushed them to access databases like EBSCO, JSTOR, and Questia to find peer-reviewed journals. In principle, most students, once they get the point of finding reliable, relevant sources, are quite good at using them to shore up their arguments. But the more insidious fact is that most students embark on research with an eye to finding only those sources that do shore up their arguments. Writing a high school essay is the ultimate example of confirmation bias at play: students are elated to discover that so many sources out there provide opinions and information that agree with their own arguments. How quick are students to incorporate materials that disagree with their theses? And yet, the ability to disagree productively in voicing one’s opinion is an important feature of responsible public discourse. That’s why we teach students the art of concession and refutation, and why incorporating materials that present another position should be an integral part of students’ research process. But whenever I had previously instructed them to include a concession or refutation section in their pieces, that section ended up being an exercise in tokenism: they’d half-heartedly present a half-baked assertion that was easy to brush away, one that was certainly not supported with the same kind of credible evidence that characterized their support of

their own side. So I started wondering what might get them to research against the grain—to see another side of the argument when they have invested so much energy into putting together their reasoning for their own side. A colleague introduced me to Peter Elbow’s “Believing and Doubting Game,” which I then adapted to the work that my students were doing as they were critiquing and revising their final assignments for my AP English Language course. My goal was to reinforce the idea in my students that a thoughtful approach to researching and writing about a topic requires an ongoing assessment of their theses (in fact, an ability to see them as working hypotheses rather than as fixed assertions); an ongoing gap analysis of the research that informs their arguments and their counterarguments; and an ongoing search for better, more authoritative, and deeper engagement with their supporting materials. We had already been using Graff and Birkenstein’s They Say / I Say as a core text, and this activity worked well in conjunction the chapters on “planting a naysayer in your text,” “saying why it matters,” and “the art of metacommentary.”

Believing and Doubting as Peer Critique LEARNING GOALS BROAD IMPLICATIONS Students will understand that: Research and the writing based on it are parts of a recursive process; Any argument has a counter-argument that should be assessed and addressed; It is important to approach texts critically: to question motives, reliability, and purpose of the pieces that we read and write.

KNOWLEDGE GAINED Students will know: How another’s perception of their argument differs from their own; What a counter-argument can contribute to their understanding of their own arguments; How constructive critique helps deepen argument.

SKILLS ACQUIRED Students will be able to: Critique arguments from different perspectives; Spot gaps or weak points in their arguments and address them; Develop more complex arguments that use more substantial concessions and refutations.

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING Students will:

Provide written critique of one another’s draft arguments from a variety of perspectives; Write reflections on the critiques provided by their peers and how they contributed to new thinking/new directions for their research and revision; Establish a revised research plan to address weaknesses and/or gaps in their arguments.

LEARNING PLAN NOTE: Because we are a 1:1 laptop school, we did this activity using Google Docs; however, it can just as easily be accomplished using paper-and-pen techniques. Students can write on individual papers that they pass along to their group members for comments, or they can use Post-It Notes to add their comments on chart paper as they move around the room. If you are working on paper, make sure that you structure the templates so that students will leave class with access to all the comments that pertain to their own work. The assignment was a researched argument in which the students took on the roles of stakeholders in a currently contested local issue, drafting proposals to be forwarded to City Council. At this stage, having chosen their topics and their stakeholder roles, they had outlined their positions and their reasons for them, and had completed their preliminary research, evaluating their sources for reliability and relevance, and taking their notes from them. Obviously, you can use any assignment that requires students to argue a position, especially if it involves using research to better understand that position. This exercise works best once students feel they have consolidated the main points of their argument. Introduce the students to the concept of critiquing arguments from both the position of suspending disbelief and the position of the Devil’s Advocate. Excerpts from Alan Shapiro’s article “Teaching Critical Thinking” can be useful points for discussion.

You can also show the TED Talk “For argument’s sake” by Daniel H. Cohen. Divide the students into small groups of about 3-5 and have them work through the activities below. I have found that it’s best if you provide concrete time guidelines for each step, showing a slide of each step as you progress. Post or provide copies of the “Believing” template for students to work on, in whatever format you choose (Google Doc, handouts, chart paper, etc.); later, provide them with the “Doubting” template. I usually have students do the “Believing” exercise during one class for about 40-50 minutes, and the “Doubting” exercise during the next class for about 40-50 minutes, with about 10-15 minutes for the reflection component at the end of each exercise (or completed for homework). You may want to review the examples of what constitutes “believing” and “doubting” responses and questions in each section below before you have students go through each process, discussing the ways in which questions might be deceptively or leadingly phrased, or brainstorming ways in which you can think like a constructive Devil’s Advocate (see the example I use in the DOUBTING section, in Step 2). The “Believing Game” is actually harder for many students, who are more familiar with the role of Devil’s Advocate in assessing the validity of another’s argument. BELIEVING (instructions for students): 1. At the top of your own research Google Doc, take a moment to articulate an important research question that you have used to pursue your initial research. If you have more than one question, record them as long as they are reasonably distinct from one another. 2. From the position of your stakeholder, begin to answer the question in a concise belief statement: What does your stakeholder believe about this question?

3. Go to the shared Google Doc for your group and enter your own name into a row on the chart. In the next column, post the identity of your stakeholder and his or her BELIEF STATEMENT. 4. Once everyone in the group has posted his or her belief statement, read through each one. In the RESPONSES column, add only statements that support the belief. It might help to think: “What’s interesting or helpful about this view? What would you notice if you believed this view? If it were true? In what sense or under what conditions might this idea be true?” Do not make any negative or even challenging statements or statements that somehow question the belief. 5. Once everyone has posted, post another round of replies to each other’s rows in your group, this time under the QUESTIONS column. In this posting, now work at formulating questions in the believing mode. These must aim at clarification and invite fuller understanding and acceptance. They must not be loaded, rhetorical questions. Example of acceptable question: “Can you give me an example of...?” “Under what conditions would...?” “I’m not sure what is meant by... can you clarify?” Example of loaded question: “Don’t you think instead that...(presents opposing viewpoint)?” FOLLOW-UP / REFLECTION: Each group member should now go back to his or her own row and read the replies and questions. Where possible, respond to them with new thoughts, answers, further questions, etc., posting your new thoughts to the FURTHER THINKING column. Copy/paste your FURTHER THINKING comments into your own research Google Doc and use them as a foundation for fleshing out your argument as you go forward. You may not decide or be able to tackle all the points that were brought up or suggested; however, consider which ones will be most important or useful to making your case a compelling one. DOUBTING (instructions for students):

1. Go back to your stakeholder’s belief statement in the “Believing game” postings. Read through the comments and questions again. Do they prompt you to refine your belief statement in any way? Post the most current version of your belief statement to the “Doubting” chart. 2. Your group members now have the opportunity to play Devil’s Advocate in commenting on and questioning the stakeholder’s belief. In this role, what can you offer in the way of: Counter-arguments or alternative ways of looking at the situation; Examples that illustrate weaknesses or exceptions to the “rule” being proposed by the belief statement; Probing questions, etc? It may help to take up a position as a stakeholder with very different interests, and to outline the differences between your potential view and theirs. It also helps to try identifying any underlying assumptions that the stakeholder seems to be making which might reflect his or her belief without being objective truths. e.g.: In a Canadian society, there is strong support for a government-supported universal health care system because our underlying assumption is that the government has a duty to provide a “social safety net” for its people. Many Americans do not support a government-supported universal healthcare system because their underlying assumption is that individuals are self-made and stand or fall by their own efforts, and that social safety nets are the realm of direct community interaction (e.g. family, church groups, community organizations), rather than of government edict.

3. Original poster: read and respond to the “doubting” posts as much as possible based on your first instinct. FOLLOW-UP / REFLECTION: In the final column, consider as many of the following questions as you can: Do any of the doubting contributions cause you to rethink parts of your stakeholder’s position?

Does rethinking change your view, or does it help you to strengthen how you articulate your original view? Can any of the doubting contributions be incorporated into your position as part of a concession? When you respond to the doubting posts, are you simply responding to an example, or are you responding to the reasoning behind a counter-claim? Did any part of your stakeholder’s position stand out as being most vulnerable to attack? What would you have to find out in order to strengthen your position against possible doubting positions such as the ones mentioned here or any other possible positions? What sources might contribute to that strengthening? On your research Google Doc, use your answers to the questions above and your observations from the Believing activity to list the types of research sources that you think might help you address weaknesses and/or gaps in your argument, and where you might find them. Be prepared to conference with me about your updated research plan.

HANDOUTS/RESOURCES Cohen, Daniel H. “For Argument’s Sake.” TED. TED.com, Feb. 2013. Web. 23 Feb. 2016. . Elbow, Peter. “The Believing Game and How to Make Conflicting Opinions More Fruitful.” Nurturing the Peacemakers in Our Students: A Guide to Teaching Peace, Empathy, and Understanding (2006): 1325. ProCon.org. ProCon.org. Web. 23 Feb. 2016. . Elbow, Peter, “The Believing Game—Methodological Believing.” English Department Faculty Publication Series, Paper 5. 2008. Web. 23 Feb. 2016. . Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say / I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. Print.

Shapiro, Alan. “Teaching Critical Thinking: The Believing Game & the Doubting Game.” Teachable Moment. Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2016. . Basic templates for the believing and doubting activities: BELIEVING NAME Stakeholder ID and BELIEF STATEMENT RESPONSES from other group members QUESTIONS from other group members FURTHER THINKING from original stakeholder DOUBTING NAME UPDATED / REVISED Belief statement “Devil’s Advocate” comments and questions Stakeholder responses Final reflection

WHAT MADE IT MEMORABLE Since my goal was to change the way students think about their own arguments, I think the best moment for me was reading their reflections. Time after time, I found myself grinning and executing a variety of little “YESSS!!!” moments at my computer as I scrolled through their Google Docs and saw confirmation that, without my pointing them out, they had come to their own conclusions about the overlooked potential angles and gaps in their thinking, and had determined their next steps with great insight and clarity. I’ll let them speak for themselves with these excerpts from their reflections on their peers’ doubting feedback: “These make me want to make sure I explain everything that I’ve researched fully because some of these questions and statements I actually have the answers to. This is making my opinion stronger, because now I know how to answer other people’s possible disagreements.”

“These doubting contributions are important as they have opened my eyes to some gaps in my research. I can now strengthen my argument by searching for the answers to some of these questions and argue against the doubting opinions.” “I need to do more research on the possible futures that could face the city when the problem is at its peak (right before and a little after the economic bubbles burst), and the priorities of the city when considering budgets.” “This process has helped me to fill in gaps in my stakeholder’s perspective and has given me different perspectives to consider. Finding ways to express my stakeholder’s position in the midst of these different perspectives has allowed me to strengthen my articulation of the viewpoint.” “I think that they helped me realize that I need to actually respond to the actions of ‘doubters’ in a way that will show them the importance of the actual issue.” “My argument relies on the assumption that the reader/listener believes that government involvement in improving lives of citizens is important. Being reminded of the opposing viewpoint filled in some gaps for me, because I know I must point-blank address that certain people don’t feel this way, and point out the flaws in their logic.” “After reading and responding to these doubts, I believe my argument has been strengthened. However, it has become very clear that my belief statement was not clear enough.” “One of the doubting comments, about religion impeding rights, can be a concession but can be refuted strongly as not being a big enough issue to derail the entire argument.” “Earlier I did not consider a scenario where energy was required immediately from a biogas plant. I will research the rate at which biogas plants can convert the waste into energy.” “I think many of the doubting contributions raised could be used in concession. In many cases, I won’t be able to prove the points of the opposition wrong, but I can make my points overpower these.”

“This activity made me realize that my beginning belief seemed to contradict my updated belief. By evaluating both I was able to explain to myself how they related and give myself a more solid position.” “They have not caused me to rethink my position, but they have caused me to adjust how radical my view is.”

AUTHOR’S BIO Jodi Rice has taught

at the Bishop Strachan School in Toronto, Canada since 1999, and started teaching AP English Language in 2004. She has also taught Media Studies, Speech and Presentation Skills, Drama, Co-operative Education, and online Social Sciences, and she coaches students in public speaking and debate. From 2009 to 2012, she contributed to the Bedford High School Bits blog, writing about topics and teaching strategies for AP Language. In various projects for the College Board, she has reviewed AP Language textbooks and has contributed to the AP English Language Special Focus Edition Reading and Writing Analytically and to the development of a resource bank for the College Board’s AP English Online Teacher Community. Locally, she has presented at the St. Clement’s School AP Summer Institute, as well as individual sessions on AP Language in the Ontario curriculum, student-led discussion techniques, and technology in the classroom; she has also presented on AP Language at the British Columbia Annual AP Conference in Vancouver, and on understanding and teaching rhetorical analysis at the National Council of Teachers of English annual conference. She is a Reader and Table Leader for AP Language, and in July 2014, she joined the AP English Language Development Committee. You can follow Jodi on Twitter at @jriceTO.

Write Like a P.O.E.T. By Brian Sztabnik “That’s been one of my mantras—focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex; you have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” —Steve Jobs

The Story Behind the Lesson Clarity is what we long for when we travel through our students’ essays. Yet our struggling writers make us wander through a cluttered maze of thoughts, leading to dead ends. We want an awareness of purpose. We want ideas to progress in logical order. We want sentences to be fluid and confident, not stuffed with words desperate to impress. We want so much because good writing is multidimensional. So how to encourage this? Rubrics are uninspiring and often contain too much information for students to digest. The question remains: how do we give students guidelines without glutting their minds with a 50-item checklist? A few years ago, I had a Steve Jobs infatuation. I had my first iPhone, I was typing away on my Macbook Pro, and I was reading Walter Issacson’s biography of Jobs. One passage resonated with me because it encapsulated what I admired about him. When developing the first iPod, Jobs wanted users to hold 1,000 songs in their pocket. He challenged his engineers to get everyone to a song in four clicks. Any more, he felt, would be too much. Only when you consider where we were can you appreciate this accomplishment. Before the iPod, we were carrying Discmen. We were limited to one CD at a time. And carrying 1,000 songs would require us to lug a massive album of CDs, equivalent to the heftiest of college textbooks. The iPod changed it all. It got me thinking about a theory of four. Could I boil down the many facets of writing to four essential steps? To achieve this, I went through ten years worth of AP exams and high-level models looking for common threads. I wanted to isolate the things that good writers do repeatedly.

I came up with P.O.E.T, a simple and effective prewriting strategy for your students.

Write Like a P.O.E.T. LEARNING GOALS BROAD IMPLICATIONS Students will understand that: 5-10 minutes of planning can focus their thinking; They can save time if they take those few minutes to plan properly; Well-written essays are insightful, organized, focused, and offer ample evidence.

KNOWLEDGE GAINED Students will know: The difference between a thesis that repeats the prompt and one that has insight; The ways in which they can organize their body paragraphs; How to use evidence to substantiate an insight.

SKILLS ACQUIRED Students will be able to: Write a detailed essay plan in 5-7 minutes; Write a thesis with insight; Use the P.O.E.T. essay map to write effective compositions; Maintain focus and clarity throughout their essay.

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING Students will:

Produce multiple P.O.E.T. essay maps; Share their insightful thesis statements on Socrative; Write stronger essays.

LEARNING PLAN Beginning I always start this lesson with a sales pitch. Using the dictionary, I ask my students to define the word tool. Tool: a device that aids in accomplishing a task; a means to an end. The sales pitch comes when I tell them that I have a tool that will improve their writing, and it only takes four simple steps. It will keep their writing focused. They will produce stronger body paragraphs. They will have organized thoughts. I then share the story of how I combed through essay scores of strong essays, looking for commonalities. I tell them that I have distilled those commonalities into a four-step process—and that’s the tool that I’m about to give them. Middle Introduce P.O.E.T. by providing the infographic. P = Purpose Every strong essay had an unwavering commitment to the purpose. Weak essays deviated from purpose, often veering down the path of plot summary. I now have students underline and record the verbs of the prompt (analyze the relationship, connect the devices, distinguish between) to fully grasp their purpose. Every sentence written must relate to it. O = Organization The best essays have a system of organization. They possess a deliberate and pre-ordained plan of progress. Their body paragraphs develop in one of the following ways:

Chronologically: from the beginning of the piece to the end; Cause and effect: showing the techniques an author used and the effects they created; General to specific: look broadly through a telescope, then focus under a microscope, noticing the small details contributing to the big picture; Compare and contrast: start with what unites works and move to appreciating differences between them. E = Evidence Weak essays make claims—and that’s it. They leave the reader unfulfilled because they neglect the evidence needed to substantiate those claims. Well-written essays have an abundance of evidence in their body paragraphs. Have students list all evidence before they write. T = Thesis (with insight) Repeating the prompt is the refuge of students that lack either originality or confidence. They are afraid that their opinion is wrong, so they just state what’s given. To avoid this, I challenge students to answer the question “with insight.” My challenge is asking them what they infer, what they perceive. Modeling is essential, and here’s a good example of the difference: Prompt: In the following poem by Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), the speaker addresses the subject of desire. Write a welldeveloped essay in which you analyze how poetic devices help to convey the speaker’s complex attitude toward desire (from the 2012 AP exam). Weak thesis: The speaker of “Thou Blind Man’s Mark” uses a myriad of poetic devices such as diction, repetition, and periodic structure to express its complex attitude toward desire. This thesis offers a laundry list of devices and fails to state what is complex as well as the speaker’s attitude toward desire. It fails to answer the prompt with insight and, unsurprisingly, it scored a 4 out of 9.

Strong thesis: The speaker’s contempt for desire is clearly portrayed in his harsh description and the effect it has on him, as well as his declaration that he will no longer yield to its power. This thesis is insightful because it understands desire (contempt for it), tone (harsh description), and addresses complexity (his declaration that he will no longer yield to its power). This essay scored a 9 of 9. Closure I hand out a sample AP Literature and Composition Q1 prompt with a sample high-level essay from AP Central. Each student gets four colored highlighters as well. We read the essay as a class and highlight the thesis in blue if it is insightful. Together, we highlight the textual evidence in green. We highlight clear instances of organization such as effective transitions, signal words, or topic sentences in pink. We also highlight moments in which the essay fails to stay focused or fully achieve the purpose of the prompt in yellow. We do the same for a mid-range essay and a lower-level essay. Strong essays have lots of blue, pink, and green and no yellow.. Weak essays have a lot more yellow, providing the visual realization necessary to see just how important it is to achieve the purpose of the prompt.

WHAT MADE IT MEMORABLE When I first implemented this method of prewriting, scores improved drastically. There was a 17 percent spike in students earning a 3 or better on the AP exam because I repeatedly asked them to “be POETs” before they wrote. In all, scores rose 30% over a five-year period. Is it all a result of this one strategy? Probably not. But I like how this is a manageable approach for getting students to consistently do four essential elements of effective writing. Sure, there are things that this outline leaves out. It says nothing of vocabulary precision and it overlooks sentence variety. But if students do these four things well, they will be in good shape.

What makes it memorable, though, is that students realize if they complete these four steps, the heavy lifting of the essay is already complete. Their essay is nearly written before they commit their first word to paper, and that is something they find reassuring, even comforting. Understanding and following P.O.E.T. gives them confidence.

AUTHOR BIO Brian Sztabnik

teaches at Miller Place High School in Miller Place, NY. He is the College Board advisor for AP Literature and Composition, an Edutopia blogger, and the creator of Talks with Teachers, a podcast and blog that connects and inspires teachers. You can follow Brian on Twitter @TalkswTeachers.

Table of Contents Acknowledgements About This Book Editor’s Note Table of Contents Teaching Social Justice Through Literary Analysis “Essayer” Means “To Try”: Ending the Plague of Plagiarism The Art of Persuasion Using Mentor Texts For Autobiographical Essays Talking Back to the Culture of Silence: Unpacking Community Violence through Essay Writing Bearing Witness Through Biographical Narrative Teaching the Writing Workshop Through Playlists: A Blended Approach The Mini-Multi-Genre Research Project What Counts Cannot Always Be Counted: Examining Our Assumptions About Evidence in Argument Writing Let Form Follow Function The Bad Ad Analysis: Teaching Critical Thinking and Rhetorical Analysis Through Advertisements Big Things Come in Small Packages Final Exam Reflection Essay: Seeing Ourselves Grow as Writers Believing and Doubting as Peer Critique Write Like a P.O.E.T.