Submitted by Lesley Yalen
At the beginning of Unit 3, after exploring with my class the concept of a “conversation” and explaining the overall task of the unit, I go through a sample conversation with them and try to—quickly—do as a group what I would like them to do individually for their essays. (Note: I usually do this after students have made an initial list of conversations that they might like to explore).
I start by choosing a sample conversation that is—in its specificity, its uniqueness, and its relevance to their lives—something like what I would like them to choose for their own essays. (Last semester I did “how should the campus police have reacted to the Red Sox-related “riots” in the dorms?” This semester, I did “should college freshman be required to take a composition course?”) I pose these as questions, which is what I want them to do with their own conversation.
After having a general, open discussion about the issue with the class in order to get the various perspectives and sub-issues out on the table, I pass out a few short sources that I have brought in that speak to the matter. For the latter conversation mentioned above, for example, I brought in: part of a journal article that had some stats about how many and what kinds of universities have required writing courses for freshman; an article from the Chronicle of Higher Ed about various universities revamping their writing programs after finding them to have poor results; and pieces of the UMass and Hampshire websites that pertain to the issue of requirements for students. The point is, to get a variety of sources, as you would want them to do for their topics.
We examine, read, and review the sources, continue our discussion of the issue, and then ask the following questions:
- What seems to be the main issues and sub-issues of this conversation?
- What are some of the perspectives we have heard?
- Who is having this conversation?
- Where are they having it (in what kinds of sources)?
- How long has it been going on?
- What further research would you need to do to contribute to the conversation?
I put the answers to these questions on the board. While doing this, I keep referring to the fact that this is a sample and that I am going to ask them to do the very same kind of thinking about the conversations they choose to focus on for their essays. I also emphasize that they have something at stake in the sample conversation I have chosen, that it relates to their everyday lives. I encourage them to choose a topic that is similarly relevant to their lives.
