While reading the Dornan text and the chapter on essays as well as the articles discussing the pros and cons of the five paragraph essay (a more formal essay/research paper), I immediately found myself arguing both sides of the merits/disadvantages of research papers. Like the text says, essays have “instructional payoff” (119) in the sense that they can expand vocabulary, require higher order thinking, and build organizational and critical analysis skills. However, it is quick to argue (and I agree quite strongly) that essays and research papers are some thing “few students write enthusiastically and almost no teacher[s] grade them with glee” (119). When I got to the section on I-search papers, I pulled from our conversation in class last week as well as my own memory of writing a research paper in AP English 11 in high school.
The reason I am on the fence with essay papers, much like Dornan shows both pros and cons, is because I do not believe that any structure of writing (or reading for that matter) is appropriate in all classroom settings for all students. I remembered our conversations from class last week and recalled when Jack shared that he would like to teach a unit surrounding a multi-genre paper because it would be fun for him to read and grade. Further, students seem more invested when they are writing a paper that they choose the subject and are personally invested in; further, students are still learning the important fundamental elements of writing and organization that are important. These would be examples of essay papers in which all parties (teachers and students) walked away with positive effects and results. However, I also recalled when Tara shared her bad memory of writing in school being an essay assignment in which the teacher gave the students the freedom to write what they want, but gave them a full 10 weeks with little instruction or timing implemented in the assignment. I had a similar memory (that I totally forgot about until I read Dornan this week) with an I-search.
In AP-English in 11th grade, we were given the assignment to do an I-search paper. It could be on anything we wanted. At first, me and several other classmates had overzealous, extremely ambitious ideas. I remember that I wanted to do a research paper on whether monkeys could really learn sign language. Our teacher reminded us that it had to be something practical that we could actually research on a personal level. I instead chose “what it is like to work as a radio broadcaster”. Over the course of many many weeks, we “worked” on these projects. Even though I was a good student (good meaning had self-direction and motivation) and enjoyed the writing process, I found I lost my way with how much freedom I had over the paper. In the end, I think I made up an entire interview with one radio broadcaster (so maybe I lied, but at least it was a good experiment in creative writing!)
In the end, the experience was probably more good than bad. As Dornan points out, the paper is in the form of “story telling”, which I think is a better format than a more formal, traditional research paper. However, the chapter also insists the importance of the teacher periodically checking in on the students (which my teacher did not). Like any writing process, a more personal essay or research paper has the ability to really involve the student while still allowing for invention, discovery, and narrative.
When thinking of it in terms of my own students currently at NE Middle School, I feel that a shorter writing prompt with several well-defined steps would work more effectively and eliminate “dead time” where nothing is being accomplished. When mentioning well-defined steps, I do not only mean a five-paragraph essay, either. Teaching 6th grade, I am sure bringing up the format of five-paragraph essay is important. In my opinion, a student needs to know this format if they are to go on in higher education. However, I agree with Kimberly Wesley in her article when she states that the five-paragraph essay can “stunt students’ critical thinking abilities”. I feel that something that structured is better left for students who have a better attitude towards writing. It would be hard to make my students write an extremely structured research paper where I am telling them exactly what the subject they are writing is when they do not even like writing in the first place. I feel, as of now, my main goal currently at NE with my students is to get them excited and interested in writing - I feel I can do this by making the essays and writing prompts more personal to them. From there, I can introduce things like the five-paragraph essay and papers about texts we analyze together.
One idea I had (which I actually remembered from reading Gallagher last semester) was to have students write letters to me and I write them back. I have decided to do this (despite how much time commitment that will be on my weekends, haha) with my sixth graders at NE. I really feel that I need to get to know them, and this is a great way to hear all of their voices without having each one express it outloud in class (which would never work). Plus, they’re writing! I am hoping we can periodically do this throughout the rest of the eyar. They are resistant, at the moment, to even write a sentence; therefore, I’m hoping by writing about themselves in an “informal” way, they will focus more on sharing things with me and less about the actual, phsycial act of writing (which they LOATHE!). Here are two links I found about having students do letter writing activities/units. I am starting to look from different sources and pull out the bits and pieces I like best to make my own ideas that relate to my specific students. Here are two such links!
Letter Writing Unit
Letter Writing Tips
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ReplyDeleteLeigh,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you on so many levels. Like I said in my post, I think it is extremely important for middle schoolers to have some sort of structure for writing. However, I would never want to inhibit their interests like your teacher did when you wanted to research monkeys and sign language. I think when we shut down a student's enthusiasm towards something that they want to write, we turn them off to writing at all. We should look at this format from both standpoints because there are times when it is appropriate to allow for students to deviate from the structure. Can't we just teach it as another means to express ourselves? There are times when you certainly do need to use the five paragraph form but others when students should be able to make a choice that best fits their purpose.
I absolutely LOVE your letter writing idea. What a great way to make connections with your students I also think that students may feel awkward (especially at that age) to come talk to you face to face, but may be more inclined to write to you in a letter. Even though the responses may be time consuming, I think that it is so important to write back to they feel as if they can come to you. I can't wait to hear about your experience with this and I may even steal it myself!!