Book Reviews

Although written for college teachers and although containing some material too complex for younger students, Thirteen Weeks may interest all writing teachers. Many of Hashimoto's ideas apply in any classroom, in part because the author envisions his book as "not about particular 'methods' . . . but about thinking about methods and thinking about why we want to do things in the classroom in the first place."

Part One, "Plans and Assumptions," contains three chapters, whose titles suggest their contents: "Things We'd Like to Do But Can't Always Do," "Simple Things," "Issues in Course Design." Hashimoto doubts that we can teach students such virtues as honesty, integrity, and interdisciplinary thinking; and he finds fashionable emphasis on matters such as issue trees, Alexander Bain, tagmemics, generative grammar as impractical and misguided as traditional practices such as five-paragraph themes and comparison/contrast essays.

Because Hashimoto focuses on academic writing (as opposed to personal narrative, for example), he emphasizes prose dealing with other people's ideas, with simple data, and with argument. But whatever we emphasize, Hashimoto insists, we should consider exactly how much teaching time we have, should select realistic goals for students, and should recognize how each classroom activity furthers our goals. If we neglect any of these areas, Hashimoto contends, we don't know what we're doing.

Part Two deals with "Assignments and Evaluation." Hashimoto recommends many short assignments supplemented by only a few long ones. Well-constructed and open-ended short assignments help simplify writing problems for students and allow them better mastery of concepts such as a thesis sentence. Students also need detailed explanations, he argues, of the exact criteria we will use to grade each paper (minus 5 points for each error in following directions, for example).

Part Three, "Essentials," begins with a description of a workshop on parallel constructions, an illustration of how Hashimoto applies his principles in his own classes. The remaining chapters in "Essentials" discuss techniques and assignments on some of the "simple things" Hashimoto teaches freshmen: "Labeling, Sorting, and Displaying Information," "Thesis Statements," "Introductions and Conclusions," "Highlighting Information," "Introducing and Interpreting Other People's Ideas," "Controlling Quotations," and "Teaching Documentation." Here again Hashimoto reminds us that students may be bewildered by conventions that seem simple to us (ways of introducing quotations, for example).

Part Four consists of chapters on style and grammar, an essay entitled "Some Final Comments," and four appendices (including a sample syllabus and sample assignments).

A refreshing and innovative guide, Thirteen Weeks will challenge every teacher who reads it. When the author cites his numerous teaching awards, we may question his modesty, but never his competence. When he dismisses the importance of teaching revision, we may feel annoyed but will reexamine our purposes and techniques. When he ignores personal narratives, we may believe he is wresting students' writing from them, but we will muster further support for our own pedagogy.

Unlike many composition texts and teaching guides, Thirteen Weeks is a unique creation rather than an ingenuous clone. Filled with wit, good sense, and practicality, this book provides a useful and valuable addition to the field.

Carroll Viera
Tennessee Technological Univ.