Reading for Writing: Modeling the Modern Essay

Introduction

In this unit we will use the memoir “It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime” by Trevor Noah as a mentor text to teach personal essay writing. Memoirs and personal essays are closely related genres of writing. Memoirs are collections of personal essays written by an author, interwoven together through specific themes. Noah’s memoir uses dynamic storytelling to share stories of his childhood in South Africa. Noah was a mixed raced child who grew up with his mother. Because interracial couples were not allowed, his mere existence was illegal during apartheid. Weaving through a collection of comedic and sometimes traumatic childhood memories, Noah takes readers through the perils of living in South Africa during apartheid.

While Noah’s memoir will be the main text in this unit, other notable South African writings are featured. Students will read and study excerpts of Nelson Mandela’s memoir “Long Walk to Freedom” and essays written by Nadine Gordimer. By studying writings by Mandela and Gordimer, students will learn other styles of writing as well as gain deeper knowledge in the recent history of South Africa. Nelson Mandela was one of the world’s greatest leaders and most prolific writers as the first black president of South Africa. Nadine Gordimer was a South African author and anti-apartheid political activist. Gordimer was a recipient of the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature. Students will read “Mandela, My Countryman” an essay by Gordimer that was published in The New Yorker in 2013. Also, students will read “A South African Childhood: Allusions in a Landscape”, another essay written by Gordimer published in The New Yorker in 1954.

Noah, Mandela, and Gordimer each have vastly different writing styles and perspectives, but their writings are interconnected in this unit. Noah was born in the early 1980s and currently hosts the American political satire show, The Daily Show. He was a child when apartheid was dismantled. Nelson Mandela, born in 1918 served 27 years in prison for fighting against apartheid before becoming president. And Nadine Gordimer was a white, middle class South African whose parents who were immigrants. She was an anti-apartheid political activist. The atrocities and disparities caused by apartheid as well as the spirit of the South African people are evident in all pieces of writings studied in this unit. The power of the written word to reach and connect people is an inspiration gained from reading and analyzing these works together.

The unit will highlight the style of storytelling Noah uses in his memoir. Students will analyze the stages of his stories and use this as a model to structure their own essays. After reading essays and excerpts from Mandela and Gordimer, students will focus on specific sentences from their works. The sentences will exemplify various uses of metaphors, style, and sentence structure. By the culmination of the unit students will complete their own personal essays.

Background Environment

A common thread between the writings in this unit will be the authors’ childhood memories. In my own childhood memories, I remember loving to read and write. I grew up in the same school district in which I teach, Tulsa Public Schools. Needless to say our district and community have changed tremendously since I was in elementary school over twenty years ago. I vividly remember writing all the time. We had a substantial amount of time to write freely in our journals without fear. I also remember the “hamburger paragraph” which was a strategy that was taught to us to organize a paragraph. The two buns were our topic and closing sentences. The lettuce, tomato, and meat represented our details.  

This image of organization stuck with me. While I don’t need a picture of a clip art hamburger to brainstorm writing anymore, the ability to structure and organize my thoughts on paper was instilled in me at a young age. As an adult I recognize how those two strategies were integral into developing me as a writer. Journaling built stamina and confidence in us. The hamburger template gave us structure and organization. I aim to give my students the same opportunity to write extensively and learn how to structure their thoughts on paper.

Because of the pressure on public schools to perform well on standardized tests, many US school districts prioritize reading comprehension at the expense of writing. Consequently, writing is taught separately from reading in many classrooms.¹ In other words, it is not taught at all. Our district is not immune to these gaps in writing instruction. About four years ago our district implemented a curriculum that contains rich content and complex texts. Although writing is embedded into the program, most of the writing focuses on answering comprehension questions and providing evidence from the text. While this is an important skill, teachers still need to broaden writing instruction to teach students to write creatively. This unit aims to provide students with rich content as well as writing instruction that fill gaps missing in US writing curriculums.

Who the Unit Serves

The fifth grade students in my classes have a wide range of reading ability. Typically, more than half of my students are proficient in reading. While some score in the top 20^th percentile nationally, others score in the bottom 20^th percentile. Generally, students score pretty well on assessments comparatively to other students in our district. My concern as the 5^th grade reading teacher is that regardless of reading ability, the vast majority of students begin the school year lacking basic organizational and foundational skills in writing. Some students who are highly proficient in answering multiple choice questions overwhelmingly struggle to write coherent sentences, paragraphs, and essays. Our school reflects the national trends of teaching writing. Teachers struggle to give ample time and attention to effective writing instruction.² Reading and writing should be intrinsically linked together. This unit will be an opportunity to shrink the gap between the two subjects for our students and strengthen their writing skills.