Three years after one of his Bunker Hill Community College writing students was murdered, Wick Sloane agreed to testify in the retrial of his alleged killers. The prosecutor wanted the judge and jurors to see 18-year-old Cedirick Steele as a student, a person, not just a statistic, Sloane writes in Inside Higher Ed.
At the time of that meeting in the DA’s office, my College Writing I students were working with the librarian on research and how to find credible facts to use as evidence. My side of the equation was how to use that evidence to create persuasive arguments. All of a sudden, I was evidence.
Sloane asked the assistant district attorney what brought him to this work. “Public service. I’m just trying to give these victims and their families some self-respect in their lives,” he said.
“You know, that’s why I teach basic, expository writing,” I said. “I figure a five-paragraph college essay making an argument is the same as a job letter. I want them to know their voice can count. I want them to have a skill that might help them have some control over their own lives.”
Sloane testified that Steele had earned A’s and B’s, had brought New York Times articles to class for discussions and helped his classmates. He was “unforgettable.”
The first trial had ended in a hung jury. This time, the killers were convicted.
