For February 5

I enjoyed the readings for this week's class and although I haven't finished the Romano text (tomorrow after work, I promise), I'm glad people are writing critical pieces that aren't just shouting (as some authors do in academic papers) about the horrors of the Five Paragraph Essay (FPE), but providing some evidence and personal testimony. Wesley recognizes that “the principles of unity, coherence and development that the five paragraph theme purports to teach” (Wesley 60) are good concepts to use in a classroom but realizes that there are better ways to do it. As a student taking a timed exam, organization was something that I know I lacked and having the good ole five paragraph essay format on stand-by was truly helpful in getting my words out on paper. The FPE shouldn’t have to be the stand by for organization, there has got to be another way to teach essay organization that doesn’t entirely squish student ideas into three paragraphs. I like the multigenre approach, but I don’t feel that standardized test graders would; it seems far too opened ended.
Wesley addressed the question of “how do I create writing assignments that encourage risk-taking and mental growth without letting good organizational strategies go by the wayside” (Wesley 59) and it is something that I also am struggling to get past. I want my students to explore their creativity and to express themselves in different ways, to (as the cliché says) think outside of the box. I feel that sometimes too much creativity leads to chaos and disorganization; it also has the potential to miss the main point of an assignment. I’m an outliner, a list maker and post-it note user and too much chaos drives me crazy; I think that letting go and allowing the students to do their own thing is something I will struggle with. It’s so much easier to give an objective test and have a certain expectation of class grades than spend all the time grading a special project. But, I feel like the students get so much more out of the unique projects.
Sherri Larson’s contribution (I don’t know if it’s necessarily an academic article as it is an actual account of what happened in her classroom) is outstanding. It showed to me that the inspiring idea of multigenre writing can be done in Minnesota and fulfill the state standards! I liked that she was willing to share her students’ journal entries; to me the students’ opinions and enthusiasm about the project means more than an academic article about it. One of the students is quoted as saying “some days, this project doesn’t even feel like work. I love my topic....I wonder if she’ll say no to any ideas I suggest for this project!” (Larson 187) Having student choice is crucial! Without it, I think that the joy and creativity of the project would be lost and “when students begin to make decisions about their own writing they being to define themselves as writers” (Larson 187)

Other interesting quotes:
“...critiquing these essays effectively helps students to see themselves as critical readers and to understand that the criteria for good writing are subjective and contextual” (Wesley 60).

“Teaching the rules of ‘intellectual property’ are critical elements of the multigenre project” (Larson 184)


Link:
After teaching the five-paragraph essay early in her career, Glenda Moss now describes how it locks students into thinking it is the only way to write. http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/405 I found it another look at the rigidity of the five-paragraph form.