This unit has exceeded my expectations.
We began by talking about the end point and where we were going and why we were doing it. Then we started examining mentor texts. We read You Are What You Eat by Katie Wood Ray and What I Want to Be... by Randy Bomer and used those to examine how essayists write about ordinary things, but pull out some truth about life or some little insight into what it means to be human. It need not be profound, just true. We talked about how it didn't look like a 5-paragraph essay at all. We talked about how some of the paragraphs only had one sentence. We talked about how they made us feel. We talked about how the author pulled us in and made us care about green beans or think about who we were becoming right now. We used Katherine Bomer's "things to notice" that she explains in The Journey is Everything to try to start noticing things they weren't used to looking for in texts. Then we read Joyas Voladoras by Brian Doyle. We read it one day and kind of marveled. The next day we read it again and started to analyze it. Trying to figure out how he could talk about hummingbirds and make us feel. A boy (did you hear that? A boy!) stayed after class to talk to me about how that essay was awesome, and it was already giving him ideas for his essay.
The next day after Joyas Voladoras each person made lists of anything and everything they knew about or cared about or made them wonder about or they felt about. They picked 3. Then they talked about it with a partner for five minutes. Then we switched for another 5. Then they free wrote on that topic/idea for 10 minutes. The next day we read The Thing About Cats by Vicki Vinton and used that essay to discuss frames and some of the different patterns of development an author can employ. In class we went back to our free writes and had them try one of Vinton's techniques with a snippet of their work.
Homework that night was to write a prospectus paragraph (Ellen Greenblatt, Bellevue ASPI 2016) talking about what they wanted to write about, evidence they were considering to support it or via which they would explore that idea, and the so what truth they were trying to get at in the essay. When they came in, about half the class had them and half didn't. I had said it was pay to play, so we sent the half that showed up empty handed out into the workroom (I have a window I can see them through) in order to finish. The rest of us circled up. Each student took turns reading their paragraph and we gave them feedback. Good idea? Maybe you could consider this. Etc.
It was AWESOME.
As kids finished outside and came in, we expanded the circle and brought them in. Not everyone did it right, but many did. Those who didn't said to the group, "I didn't get it before, but I get it now. I know what I'm going to do." I was beaming. They helped each other. They were generous. They were wonderful. Another boy (a different boy!) stayed after class to talk to me about how this was working for him. He didn't get it before, but now he did. He has an idea that he really likes.
Students are writing about amazing things.
I should make it clear that, though I intend to use this unit with my AP Lang classes, I've been trying it out on my regular English 11 course. Let this sink in. One hundred percent -- 100% -- of my students turned this essay in on time. I've read a handful of them thus far and am very pleased. One student worked hard on the rhythm of his essay and experimented with varying sentence length as a means of doing so. He used syntax for a purpose!!! Another boy did the same as he experimented with a one-sentence paragraph. He came up to me during a class writing session to ask if it was okay to have a paragraph with one sentence like the mentor texts because it would sound better and give more emphasis to that sentence.
YES! Yes, it is all right!
Actually asking students to break free from the sordid chains of the 5-paragraph essay and giving them models and permission to emulate bore fruit. Rather than me teaching grammatical knowledge, they started using grammar to accomplish a purpose. Now, I wouldn't submit any of these for publication, but compared to what I typically get for a first paper from English 11 classes, it's head and shoulders more sophisticated. Many of them took a lot of pride and care in the writing of these. One of my goofballs that I redirect at least once every day agonized about hitting the turn it button in Google Classroom as he wanted to look it over one more time. I couldn't be more pleased.
We spent a ton of time on this. I used about 3 and a half weeks. I won't need near that much with my AP Lang groups, but I used this with English 11 to lay a foundation. At our open house, two parents came up to me to tell me their kids were loving this unit. I bumped into a set of parents in the counseling center as their son is in danger of not graduating. They talked to me about how he'd been talking with them about his essay.
The proof will be if I can build on this to foster greater confidence and voice in their writing as we move in to more conventional argument and analytical pieces.
If you're looking for a bit of fresh air in writing instruction, I encourage you to check out The Journey Is Everything by Katherine Bomer.
Happy writing with your students!
We began by talking about the end point and where we were going and why we were doing it. Then we started examining mentor texts. We read You Are What You Eat by Katie Wood Ray and What I Want to Be... by Randy Bomer and used those to examine how essayists write about ordinary things, but pull out some truth about life or some little insight into what it means to be human. It need not be profound, just true. We talked about how it didn't look like a 5-paragraph essay at all. We talked about how some of the paragraphs only had one sentence. We talked about how they made us feel. We talked about how the author pulled us in and made us care about green beans or think about who we were becoming right now. We used Katherine Bomer's "things to notice" that she explains in The Journey is Everything to try to start noticing things they weren't used to looking for in texts. Then we read Joyas Voladoras by Brian Doyle. We read it one day and kind of marveled. The next day we read it again and started to analyze it. Trying to figure out how he could talk about hummingbirds and make us feel. A boy (did you hear that? A boy!) stayed after class to talk to me about how that essay was awesome, and it was already giving him ideas for his essay.
The next day after Joyas Voladoras each person made lists of anything and everything they knew about or cared about or made them wonder about or they felt about. They picked 3. Then they talked about it with a partner for five minutes. Then we switched for another 5. Then they free wrote on that topic/idea for 10 minutes. The next day we read The Thing About Cats by Vicki Vinton and used that essay to discuss frames and some of the different patterns of development an author can employ. In class we went back to our free writes and had them try one of Vinton's techniques with a snippet of their work.
Homework that night was to write a prospectus paragraph (Ellen Greenblatt, Bellevue ASPI 2016) talking about what they wanted to write about, evidence they were considering to support it or via which they would explore that idea, and the so what truth they were trying to get at in the essay. When they came in, about half the class had them and half didn't. I had said it was pay to play, so we sent the half that showed up empty handed out into the workroom (I have a window I can see them through) in order to finish. The rest of us circled up. Each student took turns reading their paragraph and we gave them feedback. Good idea? Maybe you could consider this. Etc.
It was AWESOME.
As kids finished outside and came in, we expanded the circle and brought them in. Not everyone did it right, but many did. Those who didn't said to the group, "I didn't get it before, but I get it now. I know what I'm going to do." I was beaming. They helped each other. They were generous. They were wonderful. Another boy (a different boy!) stayed after class to talk to me about how this was working for him. He didn't get it before, but now he did. He has an idea that he really likes.
Students are writing about amazing things.
- Our relationship with the dark
- What lying does to us
- How social media affects our perception of reality
- How photography can reveal the truth, or hide it
- Why people can be so devoted to sports when so few ever go pro or make it to the Olympics, how the journey is everything
I should make it clear that, though I intend to use this unit with my AP Lang classes, I've been trying it out on my regular English 11 course. Let this sink in. One hundred percent -- 100% -- of my students turned this essay in on time. I've read a handful of them thus far and am very pleased. One student worked hard on the rhythm of his essay and experimented with varying sentence length as a means of doing so. He used syntax for a purpose!!! Another boy did the same as he experimented with a one-sentence paragraph. He came up to me during a class writing session to ask if it was okay to have a paragraph with one sentence like the mentor texts because it would sound better and give more emphasis to that sentence.
YES! Yes, it is all right!
Actually asking students to break free from the sordid chains of the 5-paragraph essay and giving them models and permission to emulate bore fruit. Rather than me teaching grammatical knowledge, they started using grammar to accomplish a purpose. Now, I wouldn't submit any of these for publication, but compared to what I typically get for a first paper from English 11 classes, it's head and shoulders more sophisticated. Many of them took a lot of pride and care in the writing of these. One of my goofballs that I redirect at least once every day agonized about hitting the turn it button in Google Classroom as he wanted to look it over one more time. I couldn't be more pleased.
We spent a ton of time on this. I used about 3 and a half weeks. I won't need near that much with my AP Lang groups, but I used this with English 11 to lay a foundation. At our open house, two parents came up to me to tell me their kids were loving this unit. I bumped into a set of parents in the counseling center as their son is in danger of not graduating. They talked to me about how he'd been talking with them about his essay.
The proof will be if I can build on this to foster greater confidence and voice in their writing as we move in to more conventional argument and analytical pieces.
If you're looking for a bit of fresh air in writing instruction, I encourage you to check out The Journey Is Everything by Katherine Bomer.
Happy writing with your students!
Great examples of how this works in practice. Thanks, Andy.
ReplyDeleteOh boy. This is spectacular Andrew! The Journey is Everything. Absolutely. Love it and thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThis is outstanding. I am stealing this!
ReplyDeleteThis is outstanding! I am stealing.
ReplyDelete