Combining classical rhetoric with a reading and writing curriculum in a high school English classroom

Contemporary approaches to teaching writing at the secondary level are only successful in preparing students for college approximately fifty percent of the time (Stemglass 154). This statistic is disconcerting. If high schools are to meet students’ writing needs, educators must evaluate their methods of teaching composition and develop a more effective approach — one that allows high schools to graduate writers who are prepared to meet the writing demands of higher education. However, this is not to say that current, popular approaches to teaching writing should be abandoned. Rather, today’s English teachers need to examine modem approaches, identify their deficiencies, and determine how to improve their effectiveness. This thesis first explores the elements that make up a well-balanced “ideal” approach to teaching writing, thus creating a benchmark for composition studies. Next, an analysis of the Reading and Writing approach to teaching composition is presented to highlight the weaknesses and limitations of this method. Following the analysis is a discussion of how classical rhetoric can be used in the classroom to “fill the gaps” of the Reading and Writing approach, thus creating a hybrid method of teaching writing that is comprehensive and well-balanced. Additionally, two appendices are included. Appendix A is a traditional Reading and Writing syllabus. Appendix B presents the same syllabus, enhanced with elements of classical rhetoric to provide a comprehensive method of teaching writing