In his book, The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge writes,

Our ”mental models” determine not only how we make sense of the world, but [also] how we take action . . . .But what is most important to grasp is that mental models are active—they shape how we act. (175)

In the context of writing, the most prevalent mental model in the minds of first-year college students seems to be the five-paragraph theme. Alas, that model will not take them very far.

As a conceptual model, Thirteen Challenges is not grounded in a particular form of writing (e.g., five-paragraph theme). Instead, Thirteen Challenges is grounded in a type of writing, writing-to-others (more about this deeper in the website), and a metaphor—to write is to journey.

When writing-to-others, students write to bring about specific-and-observable changes in the world. Through writing-to-others,

• students become emotionally invested in their writing,
• students begin to realize a larger role for their audience,
• students have a means to assess the success (or failure) of a particular text to bring about a specific change, and
• students come to recognize when a legacy mental model (of writing) is no longer sufficient.

So, the ambition of Thirteen Challenges is to help students develop a mental model of writing that goes beyond one particular form of writing (e.g., five-paragraph theme, business memo, resumé, lab report, or college essay).