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2001 Annual Grant Issue
Robynne Graffam: Kast Grant Report
English IV Writing Handbook
This year my Kast Grant encompassed three key phases:
1) Complete the revisions to the English IV Writing Handbook in preparation for its use in the tenth grade English course.
2) Research and compile appropriate online writing resources to be included as an appendix to the writing handbook.
3) Research and pursue opportunities for publishing the handbook for commercial sale and distribution.
As with the initial project I started two summers ago, these steps ballooned into much larger endeavors than I originally anticipated. I have, however, successfully completed the first two phases of the project, and I have made significant progress on the third.
Over the summer I worked on completing the poetry writing section of the handbook, adding the formatting and reference section and revising the book in its entirety. In revising I focused primarily on clarifying explanations, expanding the examples, and generally on making the book as readable and accessible as possible. I tried to keep the language straightforward and to make the examples entertaining. I feel I have been reasonably successful in these goals, and I am generally pleased with the final version of the text.
I also spent time searching for and evaluating writing related websites that might prove useful for students who need help when their teacher is not available. I found more bad sites than good ones, but I feel the ones I included in the handbook cover valuable topics in a clear, meaningful way. These sites can be trusted to address key questions about writing in a manner consistent with our teaching at GA.
For the commercial publishing aspect of my project, I discovered that I needed to do substantial research into textbook publishing before I could begin to approach publishers. Although I knew something about the process of marketing fiction to publishers, I discovered that the process for textbooks is completely different. Fortunately I eventually discovered two publishers who handle books like mine who have websites outlining their requirements for book proposals. These proposals require the writer to explore various aspects of marketing the finished book, including identifying competing texts, writing a detailed explanation of how and in what courses the book could be used, giving pedagogical justifications for the text's content and format, and various others. I am currently writing the proposal as specified by McGraw-Hill, but I have further research to do to find competing texts before I can finish. I hope to market this text to Freshman Composition courses on the college level, but I need to gather more information on what specific texts are currently used in these courses and how they compare to the work I have done. I plan on soliciting the help of several of my colleagues in the English department who have taught on the college level. I hope to benefit from their expertise on composition courses and how they are run, and to consult with them on how to present my book most effectively to the teachers of such courses. I plan to finish this process in the fall, and I hope to have a proposal to the publisher before the end of the year.
The majority of my report is actually the book itself. Copies are now available in the GA Bookstore, and English IV students are using them in their English classes already. I have found the book useful in my teaching of English IV; I sincerely hope my colleagues have as well. I think this text will prove beneficial in our development of "Vertical Teams" in the English program at GA, and I hope it will give the students a valuable tool to help sharpen their writing skills that they can take with them even when they leave GA. So far this project has been a tremendously rewarding one, and I am very pleased to see the work I have done finally benefiting the students in some tangible way.
Thanks again to Germantown Academy and the Kast Grant fund for supporting me in this project. This truly is an extraordinary program, and I am grateful to work for a school with such a strong commitment to helping its faculty pursue these invaluable experiences.
