While reading “The Politics of the Paragraph”, one of Michelle Kenney’s sentences from her anecdote at the bringing of the article real stood out to me. After having a conversation with a student frustrated by the traditionally taught five paragraphs essay format Kenney self questions:
“Seriously? How could one of the brightest and most talented kids I had ever met question her right to have more than three ideas about immigration?”
This statement really struck me because it made me question how many student ideas are being cut short or left out simply because it doesn't fit into a three main point body paragraph format. Certainly this could not have been the only student in the room who eliminated, combined or stopped their though process to follow a format.
Although I do thinking teaching students how to write a five paragraph essay is important for certain situations and reasons, it should never be binding. Five paragraph essays have their place and purpose. They are an effective way to efficiently write an essay and guide thinking. Many time when I have been in a time crunch or even on timed exams knowing how to follow the five paragraph format can make writing easier and faster.
At the same time a five paragraph essay is not the be all end all of student writing, nor should it be valued as highly as it is in classrooms today. being a teacher of writing you should encourage students to create ideas and writing they take ownership in. If a student has two or four main points who is to say that they must make it three to fit into a format. Student ideas and voice should come before paragraph numbers and writing formats.
Thinking of my classroom in the future I want to encourage students to use writing formats as a helpful guide but to think creatively about their writing. Student writing should be defined by its content and stye not its format and paragraph numbers. As teacher I do see the place for formatted writing in the classroom I aim to teach it in a way that has students using it critically to produce and create strong ideas and writing.
Through Kenney’s self question, I turned to question myself and the impact I can have on students. Hopefully if I am ever in a situation like Kenney I can inspire my students to think outside the five paragraph box and express themselves as writers.
I agree with you that the five paragraph essay can be a useful tool. I think that it should be taught as a good way to respond to open answer questions and to organize short concise arguments; there is a lot of power in the three-point-punch. Your definitely right that it should be used, however, alongside and not instead of the more thoughtful and original forms of writing that creative students might utilize. We shouldn't constrain the ways that our students argue, analyze, and express themselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you! I too use the five paragraph model when preparing for a test or planning out an essay. I think that the problem stems from teacher explanation. In my experience, I have never seen teachers reprimand students for using more than five paragraphs in a piece of writing. I think this road block for students occurs because teachers fail to tell students that it is only a starting point. Thinking about my own classroom, I will make a point to tell students that the five paragraph essay is just a starting point and teach them strategies to enhance their ideas and grow their ideas on a text more fully. This way, they will not need to focus on the five paragraph essay because they will have confidence in their skills as writers.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the five paragraph essay does have some value. There are going to be students who do not like to write and have an extremely hard time putting their thoughts on paper. For these students, a guideline for how their essay should look is extremely helpful, and even necessary, to get them on track with their writing. However, there will also be students with more ideas than they can even get down on paper. For them, a guideline would be nothing but frustrating. I think its important to shift the focus from number of paragraphs to number of ideas. I think that it would be more helpful to ask students to articulate their ideas and then see which ideas they can develop entire paragraphs out of.
ReplyDeleteI did not realize that I chosen this same quote for my response until I looked just now and that we are on the same page in terms of important parts of Kenney's article. I agree that kids are being limited in their ideas for writing with five paragraph essays. I like how you said that critical formats should be used as a guide in students' writing. It is important for students to use these formats but not all the time and for every type of writing. Formats help to push kids in the right direction with their writing but using these formats as a crutch will hinder creativity and new ideas from students.
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