A “Guiding Text”: Using The Arak Anthology within the Classroom

When planning my E110 course for next semester, one text I have been attempting to incorporate is the Arak Anthology. Since the students are required to purchase this text, it would feel wasteful not to use it, yet I have not been sure how to actually incorporate it to its fullest potential. Doug Downs’s move/philosophy when using models, viewing them as a “guiding text” rather than the perfect text, offers an insightful way to consider how to incorporate the Arak within my own teaching.

Doug Downs rightly notes that “[w]riters need ‘goal texts’ –they’ve got to be able to visualize an image of what they’re trying to create” (287). I know as a student I always appreciate, when asked to write in a new genre, some form of direction. While the amount of direction needed has varied over the years, as a first year in college I remember wanting a model of college writing. I wanted to know if my writing was at “college-level” standards. When teaching a course predominantly made out of first year students, using the Arak as a “guiding text” would be beneficial because it shows them what other college writers have done and what work has been considered successful. Having this as a resource may ease some worries within the students.

Despite this benefit, when working with the Arak in my shadow course I have encountered two main problems when using this text. Certain moves that writers make, or don’t’ make, are troublesome and I wouldn’t want students to replicate these problems. Also, I do not want these model essays, even if they were exemplary, to become a formula that students would then use. Despite the need for a guiding text, I fear providing a model would limit the avenues my students would take when writing their own essays. The way Doug Downs’s discusses these guiding texts within this classroom is an essential move to make that reduces my concerns over using the Arak. When teaching:

Never, ever, in my [Downs] classrooms do we work with a model without me saying, “Remember, this is not what you are supposed to do. This is a way this has been done.” Saying this lets us talk about the difference. For this reason, I also shy away from the “best” possible models I’ve seen or can imagine—I usually show pieces that can be improved, and then help students figure out how. (288 emphasis in original)

Making this move before discussing the Arak with the class would hopefully prevent the essays from becoming models that the students would use. This discussion would also allow them to fully engage in analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the essays. Framing the Arak essays with the idea that despite being published they can be improved allows students the opportunity to better engage with the texts. They can see the strengths and weaknesses within the essays that they can then apply, or avoid, when writing/revising their own work.