I think I might be one of the only GAs that finds The Presence of Others to be immensely helpful in teaching freshman composition. Unlike other rhetorics and readers, this anthology has comprehensive sections on critical reading and writing. It works very well with the Hacker manual in discussions about prewriting, drafting, critical reading, thesis statements, and arguments. I thought that the articles pre-chosen for us last semester were awful for the most part, but there are some very nice readings that I'm having my students look at this semester.
I personally find the science section of the book a great resource for articles with strong arguments. "Cuddling Up to Cyborg Babies" and "Biotech Century" are two of my favorites, and my students last semester enjoyed breaking these articles down for the textual analysis and position paper assignments. Other great articles (I think) from this book are the selections by Pinker, Sedaris, Ivins, Hurston, Dubus, and Atwood. I think the editors did a great job of collecting articles that have an immediate effect on our world and culture, although many of my colleagues disagree with me there.
I honestly don't think there is any book that is better than The Presence of Others--every anthology of essays or writing is hit and miss. I have looked over a few, including 50 Essays, Identities, and Making Sense. Although I discovered several articles that I will be using this semester, I found that many of the pieces included in these books were also included in The Presence of Others. So I would have to rally against bashing this book--I think there is a lot of value in it for freshmen.
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I would have to agree with Casey that _Presence of Others_ has been quite helpful for me. Granted, I mostly use it in the first half of the semester. But the essays are really good! I have used two or three readings from it for the memoir section because they give good examples that the students can try to emulate. And besides the essays I pull from it for the textual analysis, I use a few others to practice analyzing. In the position paper section, I have used a few pairs of essays with contrasting views.
At the same time, I think Kara's point is good--besides these quality essays, it would be helpful to have actual explanation of different writing assignments and processes. I also like writing prompts.
Casey, you mentioned using the sections on writing and revising from the Presence of Others, as well as the corresponding sections in A Writer's Reference. I'm curious, how on earth did you get your students to enjoy that stuff?! Mine hated those sections last semester. Hats off to you!
The critical reading section was greatly helpful for my students both last semester and this semester. I have them use it as a reference for writing their textual analysis pieces. Hacker has some good sections on analyzing arguments and annotating texts.
Okay, I'll admit that The Presence of Others has some really good pieces, but they could have included some more essays that are relevant to student's lives. My students absolutely love Dubus'"Witness" and Sedaris "Cyclops" among a few others, but there is really a lot of boring reading in Presence. This semester I'm using more outside reading.
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