"THE WRITING REVOLUTION"
By Peg Tyre
Summary
In the article written by Peg Tyre, “The Writing Revolution,” published in The Atlantic Magazine, Tyre discusses how New Dorp High School had a major percentage of its students underperforming in writing and further describes the program implemented by the school to improve this. Tyre explains to the readers why schools should implement a school-wide program focused specifically on enabling students to become skilled, well-rounded analytical writers. In specific, the text focuses on Deirdre DeAngelis, principal of New Dorp, which had been academically struggling for years. DeAngelis implemented the program providing students with after-school writing workshops along with more focus on writing in all subjects. DeAngelis completely revamped the process by which teachers approached teaching low-level writing students. Tyre went on to explain that although the implemented program had drawbacks, such as teachers needing to completely changing their teaching methods, questioning of significance, and some teachers disagreeing with the strategy, the New Dorp Writing Revolution produced extraordinary results, improving students' success rates in english as well as all other subjects.
Reflection
Before I began this class, I lacked confidence in my writing and felt intimidated by the expectations of college students. Now, as I write this reflection, I can say that has changed.
For this project, my first task was to read and annotate a lengthy article written by Peg Tyre. That was very interesting because I had the opportunity to really test what I had learned in the semester so far by analyzing a real article. I thought that was the most interesting part of the project because I like to apply my knowledge and ensure I understand it. I read the source multiple times and wrote the ‘says and does’ notes for each paragraph. Next, as a group, we were required to write a summary about our source. In my opinion, this was the most challenging portion. I began by writing the introduction sentences and my group members were able to utilize the notes we had all written to create the rest of the summary. After the summary was completed, I reviewed it from a fresh perspective to make sure it was ready. The next step was to make a presentation on everything we learned. Seeing as it was my favorite part, I eagerly created the Google slides document and began choosing a theme and a designing a cover page. I also allocated the sections for each of my group members to work on. I worked on the summary and rhetorical analysis.
I think this project was the best way to learn to analyze anything I read correctly. In the weeks leading up to the project, I learned about the topics in Unit 1, however, I was able to apply it to this source and my confidence in the subject increased as my confidence in my writing grew. I felt like I understood what I was reading and could write about it. Then I realized that I could do that because I was taught very well and was given writing instruction in my classes. That was the main purpose of the article and I had just experienced it. Similarly, as I was writing the rhetorical analysis, I identified the source I was reading as an academic article and the intended audiences are students and teachers.
Furthermore, as a student, I related to Monica Dibella’s experiences and struggles. That is how the article appeals to pathos. The authors appeal to logos and ethos are connected for this particular article. The article is not about Tyre or her experiences so there weren’t many hints to her character however, I saw that Tyre was thorough and had strong points with statistical data to support it. Tyre’s ethos was defined by her appeal to logos in that her professionalism and knowledge on the topic shone through her ability to discuss a point and show evidence to support it.
