Mark Koyama

One of the strategies I have used to subvert the dreaded "5 paragraph essay" and introduce a new paradigm for understanding writing, is to introduce the "toolbox" idea.   This idea just appeared one day when I was introducing the students to the class and I said:

"This is not a 'one-size-fits-all' class.  This is more of a 'tools-of-the-trade' class."

This idiomatic language articulates the underlying pedagogical philosophy of 112 in a manner that students can get.  Each essay, I say, is a "situation" that introduces new tools that students can then choose to use in future writing situations.  

The toolbox itself, is a handout that I give out during the first week of class.  The handout includes brief instructions, and a table that provides numerous keywords that I want them to keep an ear out for, and define as the semester progresses.  The idea here, is that they know, up front, the significant conceptual vocabulary of the class, and they will need to keep their wits about them in order to pick up on them and define them for themselves.  I make it clear that I am happy to clarify and discuss the terms at length (its not meant to be a mystery), but it will be up to them to articulate in their own words, the meanings of these key concepts.  The important distinction (for you as a teacher) being that you are neither spoon feeding, nor trying to be obscure.  Here are the instructions that prefaced my version of the handout:

Throughout the semester you will be introduced to key ideas that, taken together, will provide you with a versatile set of tools that will be available to you to choose from anytime you write.  Keep your ears open and listen up when these tools come up in discussion.  It will be up to you to define and understand each tool, though you are free to engage me, or any of your classmates in discussion about anything taught in this class.  Since the tools are so useful and important, they will come up a lot, and it will be in your interest to keep track of them. They will figure significantly in the culmination of the class.

By "figure prominently in the culmination of the class" I mean that the students will be called upon to define or utilize a number of these concepts as part of their final reflection.  If you use this method, of course, you will have to be sure to actually use these words (and be explicit about their function and meaning) in your teaching.

Keywords that I have identified are (in no particular order) as follows.  You, of course, may have others:

Context,  Purpose,  Rhetoric,  Ethos,  Generative Writing,  Pathos, Revision,  Balance,  Analysis,  Rhetorical Situation,    Research,  Reflective Writing,  Text,  Logos,  Audience,  Citation,  Show/Tell,  Topic,  Anecdote,  Recursive process,  Focus,  Genre