Robynne M. Graffam
Upper School English
English IV Writing Handbook
When I first had the idea to write a text for the English IV program, my intentions were decidedly modest. All I hoped to do, honestly, was to compile the multitude of writing lessons and exercises I had developed over the years into one convenient and compact manuscript. I intended only to make things clearer for my students and more convenient for myself.
As I began collecting materials and trying to plan this project, it became clear almost immediately that I had several important factors to consider.
1. I have no time during the school year to tackle such a project, no matter how modest it sounded to me initially.
2. I am not the only person who teaches English IV, and therefore something of this nature might be of interest to the other English IV teachers as well.
3. Peter Drewniany's interest in "vertical teams" reminded me that having some documentation of our writing program in English IV might help the English III teachers in their planning, knowing more clearly what kinds of work the students will face in the following year. Similarly, such a text might help the elective teachers to see what they could reasonably expect a student to know by the time they reach the 11th grade.
Suddenly my desire for convenience and clarity took on new dimensions, and I realized I would need more time and focus to make this project as worthwhile as possible.
I began in the spring, meeting with David Leshan and Peter Drewniany, who were English Department Chair and English IV Coordinator respectively, to discuss the idea and solicit their suggestions. We also discussed the project with the other English IV teachers, both to see if they had any interest in having such a text available to them, and to request any suggestions they might have as to its content. All involved seemed enthusiastic about the idea, and a few offered me ideas about what might be helpful to include in the final document. With these discussions in mind, once the summer began I started writing in earnest.
Since the draft as it currently exists is nearly 50 pages long, I have included only the Table of Contents. This gives a sense of the types of writing addressed in the text, as well as a flavor for the approach I took in trying to make these various types of writing accessible and clear to students learning to use them. As it stands, I consider what I have written to be a preliminary draft. Over the summer in conversations about my progress with Peter Drewniany, we concluded that rather than trying to implement this into the curriculum this year, it would make more sense to look through a draft with the other English IV teachers first. That way they could become familiar with what I have written, and they could also offer their suggestions on anything I might have overlooked or sections they would like to see expanded or modified. Then, after this collaborative process, I can make whatever changes seem necessary or desirable, and we will all be prepared to make the best use of the text for the following fall. To this end, a discussion of the "English IV Writing Handbook" is on the agenda for the December English Department meeting.
I feel this has been a tremendously successful project, and I am looking forward to the discussions to follow. I know I will be able to use the handbook I have created to enhance my teaching of writing, and I hope the other teachers will also find it useful. I did learn a few things in the process of this effort, too. Most obvious to me is that academic writing, although it comes more easily to me than fiction, is not nearly as much fun. Nonetheless, this was also a good exercise in self-discipline. I also learned that explaining how to write well is extremely challenging. Pointing out good writing is easy, but showing someone how to produce good writing is another thing altogether. I hope I have done a reasonable job of this; if not, I hope our discussions this year will help move my explanations in the right direction.
Many thanks, again, for this opportunity. Despite my preference for writing fiction, I still very much enjoyed the challenge of this project, and I feel I have made a useful contribution to the English program. I genuinely hope that this handbook will be a step towards, as Peter would put it, "greater verticality," and will help us all work together to teach writing as effectively as possible.
English IV Table of Contents.
Robynne Graffam (copyright 2000)
Germantown Academy 2000 Kast
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