How might faculty teaching WR courses use the essay, \u201cFirst Responders: The Evolution of Presidential Roles and Rhetoric in the Era of School Shootings\u201d? This essay can be used in a number of ways as a student model of writing. The essay is by no means perfect, but those imperfections coupled with its strengths make it a useful tool for discussion about writing. Here are some features of the essay that you might consider highlighting for your students:<\/p>\n
1. Structuring a long essay that involves multiple sources – note that the writer:<\/span><\/p>\n – historical and political context(s) 2. Using multiple genres of exhibit sources in one essay: in this essay, the writer uses:<\/span><\/p>\n 3. Using a theory source:<\/span> Novice writers have a tendency, when using a theory source as a lens for analyzing one or more exhibits, to apply the lens in an uncritical manner. These writers, typically, introduce and summarize a theory source. Their use of the theory source is essentially saying, \u201cSee, the exhibit demonstrates what the lens or theory source predicted. Finished.\u201d<\/p>\n In this essay, however, the writer argues (and demonstrates) that the exhibit sources depart in interesting ways from the expectations of the theory source; nonetheless, the writer argues that the theory source still applies, despite this new kind of activity that the theorists had not anticipated. Note, for example, how the student writer argues that Clinton\u2019s speech \u201cstands apart from the national eulogies that preceded it\u201d (5) and that Clinton \u201cstrengthens and alters this [Campbell and Jamieson] rubric\u201d (6).<\/p>\n 4. Developing a comparison between exhibits (in this case, texts by Clinton, Obama, and Trump): Below are some particular ways that the writer establishes and sustains a comparison of the three presidents and their responses to school shootings:<\/p>\n – Obama\u2019s \u201cattention to policy diverges from \u2026 Clinton\u2019s response to Columbine\u201d (p. 6); 5. Writing a conclusion that signifies a \u201cso what?\u201d or why this issue matters<\/span> \u2014\u00a0DAVID SHAWN<\/strong> How might faculty teaching WR courses use the essay, \u201cFirst Responders: The Evolution of Presidential Roles and Rhetoric in the Era of School Shootings\u201d? This essay can be used in a number of ways as a student model of writing. The essay is by no means perfect, but those imperfections coupled with its strengths make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16503,"featured_media":0,"parent":13784,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13851"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16503"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13851"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14195,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13851\/revisions\/14195"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/writingprogram\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n– theoretical text, which serves as a lens; and then the
\n– application of the theory source to three presidents and their responses (exhibits) to school shootings<\/p>\n\n
\nEncourage your students to explore the places in the essay where the writer refers to the theory source (Campbell and Jamieson). Note that the writer explains\/summarizes the theory source early in the essay; later, the writer notes at various points how the exhibits illustrate the theory source\u2019s ideas; but also help students to see that the writer finds the theory source fails in certain ways to predict what happens in the exhibits. In a way, the writer is making an argument about the theory source and its continued relevance for our own era.<\/p>\n
\n<\/span>An exercise you might use with students would involve having them identify as many places in the essay where the writer makes explicit comparisons. Ask students about (1) the way in which the essay overall structures the comparison and (2) at the sentence level how comparisons are made (using verbs, subordinate clauses, particular words that highlight contrasts, etc.) Finally, you could ask students (3) if there are missed opportunities to build in comparisons and, if so, where in the essay might they occur, why, and what sentences the students would construct to reinforce the comparison.<\/p>\n\n
\n– \u201cWhile Clinton aimed \u2026 to garner support \u2026, Obama struggles \u2026\u201d (p8);
\n– \u201cLike Clinton, Obama addresses \u2026\u201d p7;<\/p>\n\n
\nThe essay concludes by first pointing out a rather obvious point that is made toward the end of the body of the essay: that \u201cpresidential responses to these [school shooting] tragedies have grown increasingly cynical\u201d (p. 11). But, the writer is not content to merely end here. Instead, the writer expands on this point about political cynicism, pointing out that the real problem concerns American democracy, political polarization and a failure to adequately represent the will of the people. These examples highlight the failure of democracy. The essay, therefore, does not simply restate the writer\u2019s main points about the various exhibits, but instead tells us that these events require a re-examination of this cherished ideal of American democracy.<\/p>\n
\nWR 151: Writing, Research, & Inquiry with Oral and\/or Signed Expression<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"