Guiding Principles and Assumptions
In order to arrive at some practical answers teachers can apply in their classrooms, we need to ensure we have a set of guiding principles.
While the creation, implementation, and assessment of the Common Core standards might be controversial, what these standards ask teachers to do is not.
In “Five Things Every Teacher Should Be Doing to Meet the Common Core State Standards,” the first action step Lauren Davis outlines is “Lead High-Level, Text-Based Discussions.” Before we ask students for their opinions and personal reactions, Davis stresses the research that discourages using that as an entry point to conversations about texts.
Another action step Davis outlines is “Increase Text Complexity.” Appendix A of the Common Core State Standards advises that “material should be difficult enough that students are learning something new, but not so hard that they give up.”
This, of course, requires some responsible risk taking with text selection on the teacher’s part and an awareness of students (not impossible for any socially conscious, dedicated teacher).
As a result, this unit aims to reach teachers who demonstrate competence with engaging students at the comprehension level of reading complex texts (when in doubt, reflecting on past evaluations and instructional approaches or student artifacts can help a teacher self-assess). This unit also assumes an open-minded, socically and politically progressive outlook on the teacher’s part, which will be encouraged by the selection of texts that can serve as guides to students to mirror in style and structure.
Most importantly, however, this unit fights against the outdated ideas of writing formulas such as the rudimentary, unengaging five-paragraph essay with three reasons, the self-centered diary entry disguised and accepted as a public document, the personal essay that presents predictable resolutions to trite topics. Students should not feel pressured to feel that all personal essays must be something unique and ground breaking. As our professor explained, personal essays must consist of something “surprising and important.” In my classroom, I’ve also posted this idea by French artist Eugene Delacroix: “What moves those of genius, what inspires their work is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough.” Students must, therefore, assume an audience-centered approach (I use our high-school community, teens and adults, as the default audience for most of our writing assignments) as they determine how to enter a conversation with this personal essay.
I learned the idea of entering a conversation from They Say, I Say: Moves that Matter in Academic Writing. There, the authors explain to students that “the underlying structure of effective academic writing--and of responsible public discourse--resides not just in stating our own ideas but in listening closely to others around us, summarizing their views in a way that they will recognize, and responding with our own ideas in kind” (3). While personal essays remain distict from the academic writing first-year college students produce (in purpose, style, format), the idea we should take away from this philosophy is that personal essays gain more meaning when the writer connects his or her or their experiences to something bigger--the “public point.” Therefore, in the pre-writing stages, accomplished writing teachers emphasize the importance of and need for information gathering that includes an awareness of the personal, social, and cultural context in which the essay is written and published. Another assumption is that teachers using this unit demostrate competence with guiding students through the writing process--which includes reading. For teachers who need assistance guiding students to engage with texts individually, in small groups, and in whole-class settings, Deeper Reading and Beyond Literary Analysis prove to be valuable resources.
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