We had a good class today – at least it was better than I expected, given that it was the first English class after the holiday break and I figured the students wouldn’t be in the groove yet. I certainly wasn’t.
I thought I’d begin with a persuasive writing exercise, since there’s nothing like a good debate to chase away winter blahs. My biggest challenge was making sure that I had a pocketful of topics the students could choose from in case they themselves gave me blank stares and said, “I can’t think of anything.” Most topics I came up with were pretty dull (the old “should students be required to wear uniforms” or “do teachers assign too much homework.” But then I had the brilliant notion of contacting teacher friend Linda Aragoni. This is some of what she wrote me:
“You basically have your entire curriculum to draw on. Your students don’t have to write on something you taught, only about something related to reading, writing, listening, speaking. I think all you need is a way to start students thinking about topics that people really discuss. You can throw in some odd topics that people are not discussing but should just to make things interesting.”
What I gleaned from her response was the wise reminder to use the students’ own energy to elicit prompts and arguments. As any martial arts teacher will tell you, the trick is to use your opponents’ energy to throw them over your shoulder. Teens love debating. They love to argue. They’re opinionated, sweet, confused, purposeful, and have a strong desire to learn, to be better at something, to impress, to be inwardly quiet, to be socially connected. I love these kids, and admire them enormously. Sometimes I think there is no harder time in their whole lives than this strange process of growing up.
I presented the persuasive writing process, and showed them a bit about how to organize the essay – and then we moved onto prompts. As students suggested topics, I wrote them on the board. Interestingly, in the beginning, the strongest voices advocated for debates on pro-choice, assisted suicide, and illegal immigrants. They began debating even before we’d broken into teams, and tempers began to flare. Fascinating.
Loved it.
Eventually, we began to get more personal. Using Linda’s guides, I suggested my favorite: “Will texting destroy civilization?” They had quite an argument around that one, and it was definitely a favorite for a while. Then, of course, definitions came into play: What do we mean by texting? What do we mean by civilization? What do we mean by destroy?
In the end the most votes were cast in favor of the simplest prompt of all: “Should students be allowed to wear pajama bottoms to school?”
I asked them to draw a line and to write ‘no’ at one end and ‘yes’ at the other. They could be somewhat in the middle if they wished. I then separated the nos and the yeses into two groups and they gathered in opposite corners of the room to come up three arguments to support their position.
When they were done, I pointed out that no one can ever win an argument by simply stating their opinion, no matter how many supporting arguments, facts, policies, values, or statistics they have to back them up. They also have to refute their opponents’ arguments. This we did next; taking turns as best we could, so that each side could hear the opposing viewpoints and supporting arguments, and refuting them with arguments of their own. I can’t say that it was a mellow class, but it sure was fun to watch these kids go at it. You’d think that wearing pajama bottoms – or not – was as vital an issue as global warming or peace in the Middle East.
Only when those arguments subsided did the students return to their seats and write their straightforward essay:
1. topic sentence
2. supporting argument
3. more supporting arguments
4. refutation of opposing view(s)
5. conclusion by restating the opinion/topic sentence.
I strongly recommend Linda Aragoni’s site for writing teachers: You Can Teach Writing. She has been an amazing help to me. Also, I recommend our school’s practice of having double periods for English class, if at all possible! There’s no way we could have squeezed so much into a 45 or 50 minute period. It took a good one hour and forty-five minutes to accomplish it all, and we didn’t even have time to read their essays out loud, which I find one of the most valuable teaching tools of all.
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Writing Practice
Are you frustrated by something in your life – something personal? Something you wish was different, better, more interesting?
Do you find yourself having silent, made-up conversations in the car with someone you can’t seem to ‘get through’ to?
Figure out the root of that frustration – whether it’s the lack of sharing housework or an employee who always comes to work late – and distill the frustration into one sentence. Then write your argument out as though it really is the most important discussion in the world. Be logical, clear, unemotional. “The dishes need to be washed, because if they are not rats and insects will take over the house.” Be logical. Be reasonable. Be detached – do not use “I” or “me.” Then think up your opponent’s view and address it. “It’s true some people say they are too busy to wash the dishes, but eventually if the dishes aren’t clean there won’t be any to use, so the time will have to be spent in any case…” something like that.
You’ll find an amazing clearing of your head in addressing something annoying or even heart-breaking in this detached, clear way – and who knows! You might even be able to quietly and reasonably argue your way into a better relationship around the topic.