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A Genre Study on Newspaper Column Writing By Joyce Hansen Rationale “If a thick piece of paper is placed under my windshield wiper in New York City, it’s either a parking ticket or a flyer for a 900 number.” -Randy Bomer, A Time For Meaning We English Language Arts teachers are in the business of social integration. Yes, we teach books. We teach vocabulary and grammar and the five-paragraph essay. More deeply, though, we teach schemas for categorizing and processing the world. Our students come to us in our educational settings with the expectations of learning. They are already aware of the nature of the classroom project when they arrive. Already, they have been classified; they are young, they are inexperienced, most are still dependent upon parents or guardians for the basic necessities of life. They classify themselves: in garment and posture, in slang and in preference for music and brand name, and in hobby and habit and in use of time. Genre is nothing new to our students. By using a genre study as a medium for teaching skill sets, we are simply integrating what is already apparent to our students socially into intellectual pursuit. We’re helping to extend categorical assumptions into insight. As teachers, we are in the business of turning insight into expression. We want our students to learn, but also to communicate that learning. They need to be able to read, listen and view, when we present them with opportunities for enlightenment. However, without the ability to then speak and write about that learning, they are in no better position to socially participate than they were before they began. And in order to speak and write, we must help each student to find her voice. This is not a very easy thing to do, but once it is achieved the results will be lasting. It will not only benefit a student’s writing, but also her thinking. Often, by learning how to express one’s thoughts in writing, one is able to achieve greater depths in logical thinking.