When I was a graduate student in Vanderbilt University’s English department, we usually taught one composition class every semester in addition to our coursework or research. Classes focusing on fiction, drama, poetry, and literary theory were all offered under the composition rubric, and they each required “twenty original pages of student work,” most of which was revised through an intensive process that required two sets of student conferences as well as in-class writing workshops and peer review sessions.
Our goal, we were told, was to elicit critical thinking from our students, most of whom were first-year college students. In a workshop about grade inflation, we were told that a grade of C indicates that an essay is average, a standard every student in the class ought to be able to meet. A grade of C means that the student completed the assignment competently and mostly without errors that disrupt the reading process. A grade of B indicates an above-average execution of the assignment, with fewer errors. An A indicates that the student has done a superior job of responding to and extending the assignment by adding some new twist.
Now, as simple as this may sound in theory, it is often nothing more than abstract nonsense to students who want to write better and earn higher grades. However, a model proposed by Professor Linda Flowers breaks writing into only two phases--writer-based writing and reader-based writing. Its simplicity makes it as accessible to middle school students as it is to college students (Revising Writer-based Prose).
According to Flowers, first drafts consist primarily of writer-based writing. The introduction paragraph narrates how the writer arrived at the essay’s thesis, and the body paragraphs often consist primarily of summaries and quotes that are presented as though their connection to the writer’s argument were self-evident. This draft makes sense to the writer, but not to anyone else. The argument must still be introduced, contextualized, and supported in order to qualify as reader-based writing.
Reader-based writing contains all of the background information that is necessary for the reader to follow the writer’s argument. It connects the dots between the claim and its supporting evidence, places the argument in a larger context, and explains why readers should care about it.
However, since Flowers’ theory is abstract, as theories tend to be, my next blog will offer a short set of guidelines that break the abstract goal of reader-based writing into actionable steps. In the meantime, I’d love to hear about the methods other teachers use to elicit critical thinking from their students.
Elizabeth Breau, Ph.D. (she/her), is an award-winning writing coach and private English tutor. Her book, History According to SAT: A Content Guide to SAT Reading and Writing, won a silver medal in the teen category from the Nonfiction Authors Association. You can reach her at www.elizabethbreau.net.
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