outlining, to quoting, to forming a good thesis statement,

to proofreading. An effective teacher introduces students to

those tools, gives students ample opportunities to practice

using them, and provides useful corrective feedback that

helps students understand what they are doing right and

what they need to work on."

is just a starting point. An effective teacher goes

beyond that and helps students critically examine those

conventions — as well as the social, political, economic, and

cultural forces that determine how texts are conceptualized

and constructed in the first place — and how texts are

received by readers. An effective teacher is someone

who pushes students to think critically about how texts,

including how the full range of texts that we encounter in

the world, like images, ads, and digital texts, are embedded

in relationships of language and power."

back enough to give students space to experiment and

grow. I can model the process of discovery for them and

share with them my own “journey” as a writer as I rework

drafts and discover what I want to say. But there is not a

one-size-fits-all way to write. Effective teaching often looks

like setting up a workshop with students working on their

own individual writing projects and setting their own

individual goals."

as a set of skills, but rather as a set of social practices that

occur within discourse communities. The teacher can help

students understand the norms and conventions of various

writing communities (including the academic writing

community) and can help students make purposeful

choices when writing. Good writing is not about slavishly

following conventions; it is about knowing what you want

to accomplish with a specific piece of writing, knowing your

audience, and making effective rhetorical choices."

Meticulously organized lessons 
Spontaneous, responsive lessons

Lots of group work 
Lots of individual work

Teacher at the center 
Students at the center

Giving students clear answers 
Making students figure out answers

Focusing heavily on writing 
Focusing heavily on reading

Focusing heavily on skills 
Focusing heavily on critical thinking

Treating all students the same 
Being responsive to individual needs

Creativity in writing 
Conventions in writing

Preparing students for real-world writing

demands

Providing a sheltered environment for students

to experiment and grow

puts an academic paragraph on the overhead projector

and asks students to read and analyze it. She asks them to

identify the topic sentence, then the pieces of evidence in

the paragraph that support the topic sentence, and finally

the explanation or analysis that ties the paragraph together.

She repeats this process several times with paragraphs from

academic and professional writing. She often refers students

to the definition of a good paragraph in the students’

course reader.

She then puts a template on the overhead:

Topic sentence:_________________________________

Supporting evidence:_____________________________

Supporting evidence:_____________________________

Explanation:_ __________________________________

Students create their own paragraphs based on this

template and share them in small groups.

The teacher closes the lesson saying, “When you write

your first draft for the next class, be sure to underline each

topic sentence and put a little check mark beside each piece

of supporting evidence.”

or four. In some groups, a single student reads a paper aloud.

In others, students read quietly, writing comments on one

another’s papers, or casually discuss their topics. In yet other

groups, students work individually, typing on their laptops,

occasionally checking the Web. The teacher has written

some general suggestions on the board:

•  Share what you have so far — it is okay if your draft is not

complete.

•  Push your group mates to give feedback about your

ideas rather than your grammar.

•  Tell them what you, as a writer, want feedback on.

•  When giving feedback, respond as an interested reader;

do not respond as a copy editor!

The teacher checks in with the groups to see whether the

students are getting the kind of feedback they need.

He closes the class by saying, “Continue working on your

drafts, and we will continue the workshops tomorrow. And

start thinking about whether this paper is something you

want to polish for your final portfolio, or if you want to shift

gears and start working on a different piece of writing.”

on the same topic, but from various media outlets. On the

board, the teacher has written three questions:

•  What beliefs and assumptions are shared by the author

and the presumed readership?

•  How does the author’s use of language reveal his or her

worldview?

•  What particular words or terms seem to be “ideologically

charged”?

When finished, each group shares its analysis. The teacher

writes various terms on the board that students have found

to be “ideologically charged.”

The teacher then assigns homework: Choose two

different news articles on the same topic but from different

media outlets, and write a page analyzing and contrasting

the language used in the two articles. She mentions that

this assignment will help students prepare for a longer

assignment later in the semester — a rhetorical analysis of

political discourse.

from various “discourse communities” — business, science,

sports, and entertainment reporting. Each group is trying to

identify the rhetorical, stylistic, and linguistic conventions of

the piece of writing.

Students then give short presentations on the discourse

community and genre they looked at, focusing particularly

on language and audience expectations.

For homework, the teacher asks students to write

about the recent tuition increase in e-mails to two different

discourse communities. Students can choose to write to

legislators, the school administration, the school newspaper,

their parents, their friends, or another audience of their

choice."