For this essay first consider what you have learned this semester in your reading and writing about the ideas from The Good Ancestor. Do you think these ideas should taught in school, and if so, how and when? Your task for this essay is to write a proposal that addresses the question: Should learning about how to become a good ancestor be part of your local elementary school curriculum? Your audience for this proposal is your local school board. To appeal to such an audience and to strengthen your argument, you will need to support your ideas with some research from appropriately professional sources (they need not all be peer-reviewed; one of them may be The Good Ancestor itself).

Brainstorm. Look over the google doc linked to on the course blog for some suggestions about what reasons each side might use to support their position.

(Feel free to add to it!) You may also look at the sources listed there for some ideas, and while you’re there, add at least a couple sources you find in your research (see below). Note that it is possible to support the main principles from the book without believing they should be taught in elementary school. If you’re familiar with the current debate about “teaching critical race theory,” you may want to consider how this topic is similar or different from that one (as well as other debates over what is appropriate to be taught in public school).

Find some sources. Look for information you could use to support your proposal (or to get ideas for what proposal you wish to offer, if you’re not quite sure the best way to address the issue). In addition to taking a stance on teaching how to be a good ancestor, your essay should explain how such lessons could or should be incorporated (if your answer is yes), or why it does not belong in the curriculum (if your answer is no).Your sources may do the following:

• Give evidence to support (or not) the value of “teaching” long-term thinking
• Discuss the importance of values-based education (or why it does not belong in school)
• Provide some suggestions about how this topic might be addressed at elementary level

Remembering to rely not just on search engines but also the library’s databases and book collection. You will need at least three credible sources; at least two of these must either be in print or have originally appeared in print. (You cannot use three websites, no matter how credible they appear. Note that Wikipedia is not an acceptable source for college-level research.)

Compile a tentative Works Cited page. List your sources in MLA format. Be sure to consider the credibility of the sources you choose to use. How can you tell it’s reliable info? Look at where and when the source was published, the credentials of the author, the objectivity of the organization involved. Look for sources that are “meaty,” with lots of useful information.

Organize your proposal. The core of this project will be your proposal essay. Once you’ve digested the information in your sources, decide on your position on the issue. Free-write or bullet point the reasons you hold this position. What details could you use to support or develop or explain those reasons? Write a tentative thesis statement that gives your claim along with the strongest several reasons you have come up with.

Your first paragraph will probably need to explain and describe what being a good ancestor means, probably with reference to your reading of the book. This paragraph will end with a thesis statement that answers the question posed above and includes the main reasons for your position. Body paragraphs will give evidence and explaantion to support and develop these reasons. You may weave into these paragraphs suggestions for appropriate lessons and activities, or you may include lesson suggestions as a separate paragraph near the end. In your conclusion you might want to speculate about how your proposal with change students’ hearts and minds, or how keeping such discussions out of the classroom will protect students and allow development of more important learning.

Draft. The target length of your essay should be about three pages (or 1000 words). Focus on a clear structure, and make sure your reasons are supported by evidence from your sources, cited according to MLA guidelines.

Criteria for grading.

• a strong thesis statement makes an arguable claim
• focused, unified, and coherent paragraphs that give a logical framework for your argument
• use of specific details to provide evidence for your reasons
• proper MLA documentation