SJCS Writing Handbook

Introduction

Writing is a critical skill needed to eectively communicate on a personal, professional and academic level Moreover, it is a key method for developing and clarifying one’s own thoughts. To that end, writing instruction is a key responsibility of all educators, not just those who formally teach English. This guide is intended to articulate the sequence and philosophy of writing instruction at St Joseph’s Catholic School It seeks to establish a common vocabulary for talking about writing while laying out predictable expectations for academic compositions. It is fundamentally aimed at helping to ensure that our students graduate from St. Joseph’s as competent, confident writers who can both compose and appreciate good writing, who can clearly express themselves, and who know their own minds.

The Philosophy of Writing Instruction at St. Joseph’s Catholic School

A Portuguese proverb maintains that “God writes straight with our crooked lines.” The members of the faculty at St Joseph’s are masters of crooked lines We are writers ourselves, pilgrims on a path, and we have the privileged opportunity to share our journey with the students in our charge. Our first step, then, must be in meeting the students where they are. The teenage years are filled with tremendous growth and passion. They greet us with their questioning; they greet us with their longing. It is the job of the writing instructor, then, to channel these natural predilections into the written word, for at St. Joseph’s, writing is more than a process of conveying information; it is a means of transformation. We use the open spaces in our student’s hearts and minds to cultivate a genuine desire for expression, and we rely heavily upon our student’s individual experiences and reality itself, for we have found that these are the most eective tools that a teacher has for opening students up to their need for God. Our writing practices are both formative and summative, for our goal is to accompany and to guide them on their path: to create encounters, to supply the necessary tools and techniques for powerful and persuasive expression, and to provide platforms and audiences for their signature voices. Ultimately, we rely upon the four pillars of the St. Joseph’s Way: Infinite Worth, Positivity of Reality, Fulfillment in Christ, and Personal Accompaniment as the foundation and the inspiration of our method of writing instruction.

Infinite Worth

The St. Joseph’s Way arms the infinite worth and innate religiosity of each member of the school community. This manifests in an extraordinary commitment on the part of the writing community to create the most innovative and evocative program possible. Beginning in the middle school and evolving through the high school, our course in writing is a course in eective communication, one that highlights thoughtful listening, respectful dialogue, and courageous self-reflection. Beginning with the narrative mode, we allow our students to be experts on the one thing that they know the best – themselves The art of storytelling builds the skills of careful observation, concrete representation, and creative expression, while the act of listening to each individual story engenders community, empathy, and awareness. Personal narrative that highlights each students’ distinct gifts and capacities showcases and celebrates the infinite and remarkable worth of every individual in the classroom; it creates a space where everyone feels welcome and acknowledged – it makes room for the living God.

Positivity of Reality

Once the terrain of the self has been explored, mapped, imagined, and expressed, a program in reading and writing from dierent points of view and perspectives begins The St Joseph’s Way embraces all of reality, believing that it comes from God and therefore reveals signs of His presence in the world today. We are intensely interested and curious about everything, and this desire encourages us to curate engaging texts for our students, literature that compels us to look deeper, to take a stand, and to defend our view with significant evidence and with compelling rhetorical and analytical techniques. Through thoughtful informative and argumentative essays, students come to know that they are writing not only to convince, but also to understand their own thinking When given the freedom of curiosity-driven research and interest-driven choices in expression, our student writers do not merely meet an institutional standard; they surpass it. Engaging in mysteries, our students celebrate truth, goodness, justice, and beauty wherever it is found.

Fulfillment in Christ

This finding, this sense of discovery and invention – this wrestling with the mysterious, is at the very heart of the St Joseph’s way of writing We believe that our students come to us with an innate desire for God as expressed in their relentless pursuit of love, belonging, significance, truth, beauty, goodness, justice, and ultimately happiness. Our writing platform, then, contains copious opportunities for writers to channel this desire We delve deeply into the chosen texts, exploring the moral, ethical, and aesthetic dilemmas inherent in each one. Every classroom discussion, journal reflection, and dialectical notebook entry becomes a step on the path to an ultimate truth that finds its completion in a final peer reviewed, polished, and powerful written expression Whether it is a formal essay, a poem, a dramatic monologue, or a debate outline, there is a sense of fulfillment in their writing, for we do not merely ask our students to write a paper and then compare their output to a standard rubric Yes, there are standards, and certainly there are rubrics, but at St Joseph’s, we create an environment where we put them in pursuit of something greater than this, something greater than themselves. The writing becomes an answer to a call, a light cast into darkened places, a reflection of their own sacred hearts.

Personal Accompaniment

It is a privilege, as a teacher of writing at St. Joseph’s, to accompany our students on this journey of discovery The opportunity to create a classroom space where they can wrestle with the big ideas, where they can test their newfound prowess in persuasion, and where they can celebrate and encourage each other is a daunting one, yet it is satisfying beyond all measure. We take courage from our students, for they are our courage teachers, and we risk writing along with them. In doing so, we not only reveal our own passions and vulnerabilities, but also model the grace, mercy, and empathy that is at the heart of our Christian discipleship. God can and does write straight through our crooked lines – the lines of our students and our own And the place where all these lines intersect is the St Joseph’s writing classroom, a sacred space indeed.