For many years, the college essay has been a useful, if somewhat limited genre: while it helps students develop critical skills in argumentation, organization, and clarity, as a form it rarely moves beyond the college classroom, and thus sits stagnant as a missive between student and teacher. Our goal as teachers of writing is to help students develop the skills they need to reach larger audiences beyond the classroom–both to help them in future career paths, and to give them a sense of the power and relevance of their own ideas and opinions in the world around us.
As teachers of writing-intensive courses, we can begin this process by making assignments that produce public discourse, and giving our students the opportunity to practice placing their texts in a public forum. In doing so, we provide students the tools to contribute to a well-informed public discourse grounded in scholarly work.
Throughout any of these assignments, we must be cognizant of the tone and voice of our students’ pieces, helping them to predict audience reaction and anticipate counterargument or problems with appropriateness of voice or subject. We should also help them with both the technical and writerly requirements of the particular genre they choose–so, for instance, a student writing an Instagram post should be given a short tutorial on how Instagram works, along with some writer’s advice about the length of their post, the voice they use, and how their language interacts with the visual they post.
The following modules will help get you started in a variety of different genres and online platforms. If you have any questions, or would like help constructing an assignment using one of these modules (or a platform/genre not represented here), please contact the Jacobson Center. We’ll be happy to help!