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Writing That Matters:
A Rhetoric for the New Classroom
First Edition
by W. T. Pfefferle, Ph.D.
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TO THE INSTRUCTOR
I'm one of you. I've been doing this job for almost fifteen years. It's a job that is equal parts joy and misery. Sometimes I feel like I'm moving through a class easily, like a drop of water slipping down the side of a glass. Other times the glass breaks and the water spills all over my new pants. Teaching comp is a lot like being married. It takes plenty of love and even more imagination!
To be a teacher of writing often means staying out of the way. I've taught remedial students, traditional students, adult students, honors students, foreign language students, and so on, and I've never met anyone who didn't have something to say. Let them find their voices and their messages. They need our help, but they have their own brains, and sometimes theirs are more lively than ours!
Don't allow the "keeping of the grade" to be your sole duty in class. You and I both know that grades are necessary. We have to fill in some piece of paper at the end of each semester (and sometimes at midterm). So we know someone somewhere wants it. But remember that if you're going to play the role of "helper" to your writers, removing yourself from the "gradekeeper" role sometimes is imperative.
I've wrestled with the role of grades all of my career. When I started teaching I let grades protect me from students. Because I was young and insecure about my abilities in the classroom, I allowed grades to be my hammer. When I wanted to punish a student, I did it with a bad grade. When I wanted to assert my authority, I did it with grades. It's silly to me now. Grades are rather unimportant as they relate to our writers improving as communicators. Of course grades are important to them as students - as they move through college, earn scholarships, maintain academic viability - but grades should mean nothing whatsoever to them as writers. Try to see your role as an instructor of writing and communication. Interact with your writers. Show them some things you know. Help them find their own areas of interest. Encourage them to write and to keep writing. The grades are something else entirely, important in one way, but sometimes intrusive.
Many of the concepts that I hold dear (especially workshopping and conferencing) can only really work if you are open to them. The Support Group (Chapter 13), in fact, discusses step by step how these very important and useful tools can help us with our writers.
My ideas are good. But so are yours. If you see a better way to set up the assignments in the book, do it. Sometimes personalizing the tasks to your special needs can make a great deal of difference to your writers. I had a teacher in college who always talked about Maria Callas, Dwight Eisenhower, Elvis Presley, and communism. For him, those examples were timely. But each year he used them, they got more and more out of date and less and less useful for his writers. So, make this book something of your own whenever and however you can.
I don't think anything matters more than helping your writers communicate better. Be their partner. Be there for them. Hold workshops and conferences and office hours. Make it pleasant and enjoyable to visit with you. Don't "summon" students to a conference. Invite them. Try not to "make" them do so much. "Let" them. Give them the opportunity.
Obviously, some of our writers will need more encouragement, and maybe your "gradekeeper" status will come in handy. But I believe most of our developing writers will come along just fine without threats. Many of them want to write better; they just may not know it yet.
They're the horses. The work is in the water. Show them the way to the river.
-- W. T. Pfefferle
TO THE WRITERS
I call you writers because the word "student" just doesn't cover enough territory. You will be learning about writing, but most of what you'll do this semester is write. Here are some things I want you to know at the beginning.
Writing is great. It can be fun, beautiful, thrilling, and it's one of the best tools to have when living on this planet. And, whether you like it or not, there is no way to avoid it.
If you want a simple reason to become a better writer, ask some other students who have been in college for a while how many essays they've written. Over the course of a four-year college career, you may write as many as 50-75 essays. Essays don't just happen in English classes. Think about tests and assignments: Many are essay questions. Over the next few years you will be asked to discuss and argue and make points in a more and more mature manner - most of them through writing.
In this class, we're going to explore ways to write. We're going to develop a language of mature and intelligent prose. We're going to discover ways to uncover the neat and fascinating ideas within your brain. And we'll help you find a way to explain your thoughts and ideas to others, so they can understand them, too.
Next, let's talk a little about that person up at the front of the room. Your instructor wants to help you. That person up there doesn't do this job for money. Ask for help when you need it, or when you're unclear. I'm an instructor, too, and I'm not perfect. I can't tell when my writers need help. Sometimes I can see their faces "squinch" up, or their heads shake. But, usually, if my writers don't say anything, I just keep going. I like to know when my students need help, and I bet your instructor does, too.
Your instructor has a lot of folks to take care of, so you'll likely be given a great deal of responsibility. Take advantage of this. Listen. Get your assignments. Do them on time. Work hard. It's not a joke. Somebody is paying for you to be here: you, your folks, a rich uncle, the state, someone! Get your money's worth. Be involved. Ask questions. Offer help when you can. There are always ways to get "around" work and just "get by." If that's your style, then I really can't do anything for you. I hope that your instructor and I and this book will energize you and that you'll be eager to play the game that is set up in the pages of this text.
Your success in this class is up to you. Your instructor has all the tools necessary to help you do your work, but in the end, it's you who's sitting there pecking away at that computer late at night.
If I could, I'd come to your class, wherever you are, and tell you how amazing your time in college can be. I would tell you that what I learned in college was that first-year comp (this class) is the best, most important, most useful, and coolest class there is.
Most of all, I'd just tell you to live it up. Life is short. Writing is great. To really communicate with the world is the greatest thrill we can expect on this planet, and I don't want you to miss out. This book was not written because I wanted the cash, or because I had to do it to keep my job. I wrote it because I wanted you to have a blast with the stuff that's inside. Keep an open mind. Have fun.
The Steps in this Book
Each essay we will work on during the semester has its own chapter. You'll discover each of the following sections in a chapter.
Something to Think About
I talk about things at the opening of each chapter. Think of it as a lecture. I'm a firm believer in getting our minds together before starting off on a new journey. If I came by your house and told you we were going on a car trip, I'd also tell you how far we were going. I wouldn't just expect you to know we were going to drive to Portland, Oregon, and be gone for seventeen days. You might get in the car thinking we're going to the 7-Eleven down the street. To be fair to you, I'd try to get you thinking about Portland, Oregon, first. "Nice trees. Lots of coffee shops. It's in the Northwest!" That way when we get in the car (or when we start our essay), you've got an idea about what's coming.
Getting Started
As I read, the question I ask most often is "so what?" When students write me essays, I'm always asking myself "Why am I reading this? Why is this worth my time?" Well, now that I'm about to ask you to work for me, I believe I owe you the same kind of consideration. I will try to show you different ways in which each essay's construction is beneficial to you, not just in this semester, but in your future.
Warmups
If you've never been swimming before, I wouldn't throw you in a lake. Instead, I'd start you in a pool, in the shallow end. I'd let you swim a bunch. Short swims, long swims. Likewise, I think it's a great idea to try some ideas out. So I've given you some small writing assignments inside each chapter that will allow you to try out these essay ideas before you write the real essay. (The real essay is a pretty big grade, usually, so these little warmup exercises are perfect for getting ready.)
This book is as small as I could make it. I only ask you to do things that I've seen help other writers. Your instructor won't be assigning work just for the sake of "giving you something to do." Everything we do in this book is valuable, and the warmups are essential parts of preparing you for the bigger writing to come next.
The Essay Assignment
This is the real thing. This is the essay assignment that the entire chapter leads up to. Your instructor will probably be involved here in helping you narrow the assignment down to something to write about. My assignment is good as it is, but your instructor may have some valuable and helpful ideas. He or she is trying to help you and is working hard to make this essay assignment one that will help you get better as a writer and meet the needs of your particular course.
Sample Essays
Most of the essays (usually two or three in every chapter) are written by people I've taught. They aren't fancy or famous writers, just nice people who have worked hard in my classes. These aren't the "best" essays I've ever seen, but in virtually every case they represent a very good approach to the assignment. I'd suggest that reading these samples is a great idea, because in all cases the writers have successfully grasped the lesson I'm trying to teach. However, you are your own writer, with your own mind. I'm sure your instructor will warn you not to simply imitate these essays. That would be a terrible idea. The essays in this book are genuine, original pieces that were sweated over by their authors. I want you to write your own, in your own style. There are many right ways in which to take on these essay assignments. The samples are merely a couple of examples that have worked. You should definitely read them (and my comments about them, and do the questions I assign after each), but you should always keep in mind that at some point you'll be writing your own essay.
You'll also find an occasional "professional" essay. Each was written by a writer out in the real world, and I've included them not so much as models but as "jumping-off" or starting points. When your instructor asks you to read these professional pieces, he or she is most likely trying to get you to start thinking, reacting to text, and formulating your own ideas in "response" to the text you're reading.
One of the tricky things about reading professional essays is in not becoming intimidated by them. Those writers have been writing for many years. They've been through this class and others like it; they've written in the real world, worked with a wide variety of other writers and editors, and for the most part are working at the height of their powers. The good news is that they've likely sat at their desks, in front of their computers or blank sheets of paper, and gone through a writing process very similar to the one you're going to be introduced to this semester.
I love to read a really great professional essay like the ones I've included in this book. But sometimes I feel discouraged because the writing is often so much better, more complicated, and more sure of itself than my own essays. You'll likely feel that way, too, but fight against it. Imagine how one day you'll be able to write as well, as persuasively, and as beautifully as those more advanced writers, and then those essays will be a goal to reach for in your thinking and communicating.
Questions
These are questions specifically about the sample essays. Just like the earlier section of "warmups," these are often writing tasks or assignments that you're asked to do.
The questions will often refer you back to the essay you've just read and ask you to comment on some of the essential essay elements our writer has worked on. Sometimes you'll be asked to rewrite a bad section of text or to explain what you think this sample essay writer should do next.
While you're writing/workshop questions
This is a section of hints and ideas for you to consider as you're actually working on your essay. Your instructor will have you on some kind of schedule, and some or all of these steps should be very helpful in managing your time as you work through the assignment.
Think of it as two checklists: one that you can use as you work on your essay, the other a help when it's time for the class to meet in workshop and share a peer-reading of essays in progress.
-- W. T. Pfefferle
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