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I've been glancing through my writing coursebooks for tweens and teens, doing a bit of reminiscing -- about the years of writing instruction experience that preceded making the books, then the actual process of planning and writing them, and then the classroom experience actually using the coursebooks with learners.
Of all the strands I wrote for the Boost! Integrated Skills Series, I think the writing coursebooks were the ones I put the most thought, planning and passion into. They were also the books that -- for me personally -- were most called for in classroom settings (because writing is a genuine skill that needs work and some sort of incremental approach) and were actually really effective and popular with almost all the students I saw exposed to them.
But -- and I'm sure I'm certainly not the first coursebook writer to find him/herself pausing and scratching his/her head about this -- I've always wondered how much teachers realise about the planning, sequencing and delivery of skills in the books. I'm usually only called on to answer enquiries about specific skills or activities here or there, and almost never about the books' wider and integrated objectives.
So I'm going to toss out a bit of a challenge to my blog readers here...
Let's see, just based on the sort of "scope and sequence" information, how much teachers can immediately recognise or pick up about a writing coursebook's approach and overall objectives.
What follows is a list of the units and their basic skills foci across four levels. Let's see what you can observe about them (and how they relate to my intentions and objectives as the course designer and writer).
Level 1
Unit 1: Sentences: Writing clearly with basic punctuation
Unit 2: Paragraphs: Grouping text together around single topics
Unit 3: Practical Texts: Writing simple letters and emails to friends
Unit 4: Academic Texts: Brainstorming simple topical/opinion essays
Unit 5: Sentences: Using titles and headings
Unit 6: Paragraphs: Writing simple topic sentences for paragraphs
Unit 7: Practical Texts: Making lists
Unit 8: Academic Texts: Making a writing plan
Unit 9: Sentences: Combining similar sentences
Unit 10: Paragraphs: Joining ideas together with formal and informal connections
Unit 11: Practical Texts: Responding to an email or letter
Unit 12: Academic Texts: Simple opinion essays responding to topics
Level 2
Unit 1: Sentences: Using pronouns effectively
Unit 2: Paragraphs: Writing an introductory paragraph
Unit 3: Practical Texts: Making cards for special events
Unit 4: Academic Texts: Brainstorming and planning a response to a topic
Unit 5: Sentences: Writing descriptive sentences
Unit 6: Paragraphs: Writing body paragraphs
Unit 7: Practical Texts: Simple advertising texts
Unit 8: Academic Texts: Writing simple descriptive essays
Unit 9: Sentences: Writing facts and opinions
Unit 10: Paragraphs: Writing a conclusion
Unit 11: Practical Texts: Responding to articles or stories
Unit 12: Academic Texts: Editing simple 4-paragraph essays
Level 3
Unit 1: Sentences: Accurate tenses to indicate time
Unit 2: Paragraphs: Writing interesting introductions
Unit 3: Practical Texts: Writing a journal entry
Unit 4: Academic Texts: Writing essays about personal experience
Unit 5: Sentences: Comparing and contrasting
Unit 6: Paragraphs: Writing paragraphs with main ideas and supporting details
Unit 7: Practical Texts: Writing advertising notices
Unit 8: Academic Texts: Writing simple compare and contrast essays
Unit 9: Sentences: Writing simple instructions or advice
Unit 10: Paragraphs: Writing effective conclusions
Unit 11: Practical Texts: Writing a set of instructions
Unit 12: Academic Texts: Writing a simple How-to essay
Level 4
Unit 1: Sentences: Writing sentences to show cause/effect
Unit 2: Paragraphs: Introducing new products or information
Unit 3: Practical Texts: Writing explanatory letters or emails
Unit 4: Academic Texts: Writing a 4-paragraph expository essay
Unit 5: Sentences: Writing using the passive voice
Unit 6: Paragraphs: Using synonyms and referents effectively
Unit 7: Practical Texts: Making puzzles
Unit 8: Academic Texts: Writing a 5-paragraph expository essay
Unit 9: Sentences: Using set phrases and signpost language
Unit 10: Paragraphs: Using topics, details and effective examples
Unit 11: Practical Texts: Writing formal letters of application
Unit 12: Academic Texts: Writing 5-paragraph argumentative essays
I've deliberately avoided showing units and pages here, because I'm most interested, just in terms of the overall "syllabus," what this represents to teachers and what they can see in the methodology involved.
It's not a test, by the way!
But this will be helpful to me personally in answering two questions that rather constantly keep coming back to me:
1. Do teachers really see/understand the planning and objectives and broader methodology underlying a coursebook approach?
2. Do teachers accept the "authority" and "credibility" of a coursebook too willingly or even blindly -- without putting a lot of critical thought into it?
Anyway, let's see what you come up with!
:-D
