Writing for the Greater Good
By Sarah Guhl '06

It’s an essential education class that nearly everyone has to take at some point. But how many actually think about the differences between the sections for English 112?

This year, Dr. Anna Bartel and Professor Jennifer Randonis started two sections that differ from the typical Intermediate Composition class, which is centered on “argumentation, research,” and  “essentials of good writing,” according to the 2004-2006 academic catalog.

What makes their sections different is that the two have added a service element that most Intermediate Composition sections don’t have.

Bartel’s section includes a service element that partners students with community partners to learn about writing in the real world, not just the academic community.

“I match them…depending on what their issues seem to be,” Bartel said. “The final project is to write something with and for their community.”

Bartel thinks that having students work out in the community serves to motivate them, in addition to teaching them how to frame arguments in a real-world context. It also helps to show them how their writing can make a difference.

Bartel, whose section was taught during Fall Term, paired students with numerous organizations, including the NE Iowa Food Bank and the Wartburg Pathways Center.

First-year Kayla Becker worked with the NE Iowa Food Bank, researching “the effectiveness of food donations versus. monetary donations,” and wrote a thank-you letter geared toward continuing food donors for her final project. Becker enjoyed the experiences that the class gave her.

“I enjoyed working with the NE IA Food Bank,” she said. “Papers three and four were probably my best papers…because I was genuinely interested in what I was writing about and I learned a lot in the writing process.”

Junior Melinda Paulsen worked with the Pathways Center to research depression and college students. She created fliers announcing a workshop on suicide prevention for students and faculty for her final project.

Paulsen was reluctant because she hadn’t done much like the project in the past, but discovered that her writing and design abilities were constructive and was even offered a job after completing the project.

While both classes use the same textbook, A Service Learning Rhetoric with Readings by Thomas Deans, Randonis took a different approach with her section.

Randonis, because she hadn’t taught a class like this previously and was still structuring the basic class, did not require her students to serve in the community, but would like to add such a requirement during future terms.

“Up until this point I have been letting students find their own areas of interest and participate as a choice they make, and many do,” she said. “All students have been required to do community research, such as interviews, surveys, and so on.”

For the final project in Randonis’ section, students work together to create proposals based on research that they have done in the class.

Randonis enjoyed teaching the course and will teach it again next school year.

“I am discovering that more students are finding topics that relate to their majors and their own lives,” she said. “They write more effectively.”

Randonis hopes that students gain more from an essential education class.

“Many students have become engaged in very exciting work,” she said, “including ones in which they are writing with or for a community partner, which also demonstrates their level of motivation.”

First-year Brodie Overton is working with at-risk students and researching after- school programs.

“I feel I have accomplished something when I am done helping them,” he said. “I am looking forward to this summer to go back to my school to help the students (and) prepare them for the future.”

First-year Sarah Holm thinks that while the class has been challenging, she has benefited from her research on hunger and homelessness.

“Serving others is one of God's ultimate priorities for his people because all humans should feel content and loved,” Holm said.  “Without food or shelter, it is difficult to feel these things to their full potential.”

Randonis and Bartel hope that other sections of different classes adapt some kind of service element based on their success with Intermediate Composition.

“I think the main thing I would like to see in the future is some more sustained partnerships,” Bartel said. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see it in more sections. I would be surprised to see it in all sections.”

Randonis would like to see the concept spread “to those classes that can benefit from service elements.” She finds that it has been challenging, but rewarding.

Bartel encourages students to take a class like this and get involved in the community.

“This course strives to help students explore what is a community; how language functions in a community. You need to know how to write if you are going to function as a citizen in a democratic society.”

Sarah Guhl '06 is a communication arts major at Wartburg College.