In my search for information on my topic, I first
wanted to find articles that showed a positive side of the five paragraph
essay. I do not think that this type of essay is worthless, but rather a great
way to teach students to organize their thoughts. This formulaic essay can be
used as a spring board to more creative writing. One argument that I found
agrees with this idea, but says that college professors are the ones that will
help build on top of this. This goes against my personal experience, but I
still find value in some of the opinions in this article.
The
title is “In Defense of the Five Paragraph Essay”, and it was written by Kerri
Smith, a professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. Smith
addresses how the 5 paragraph essay may not be the best writing but it is a
good start to getting students to organize their thoughts. She mentions
students that she has that she wishes would write this formulaic way. Smith
goes on to explain that this is because she wants to help them develop their
writing away from the formula and structure.
This
article definitely is a great starting point for my research on how to make the
5 paragraph essay a starting point for students. But I’m going to have to dig
around more to find effective ways to teach away from the formulaic essay
building on top of the knowledge students have developed. Probably the most
appealing element of this article is that it is an extremely effective 5
paragraph essay, proving the point that the 5 paragraph formula is not
necessarily an enemy of creativity or style.
Nathan,
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that you found an article that plays to the creative ways the five-paragraph essay works. Blurring the rigid lines of the assumed formula will help the students to become more jazzed about doing the essays!
Good start, Nate. I think your goal here with this project should be to blow this "debate" wide open by presenting as many points as you can for and against the form. A few things to add to your discourse and to consider as you move forward:
ReplyDelete1. Where did the essay form come from? (A French dude named Montaigne is credited with popularizing the essay form in writing. So, a place to begin would be to go read some Michel Montaigne, the first popular essayists. What are his essays like? This is similar to watching old Bird/Johnson or Michael Jordan/Scottie Pippen or LeBron James/Dwayne Wade highlight reels if you want to get yourself pumped up to play basketball. So, please go explore some Montaigne, and then you can share that smartypants factoid and a little sampler with your future students. It pays to check out the originals...the Chuck Taylors of the essay world.
2. Consider the ways in which you position the five paragraph essay with the language you use to discuss it, even within this very blog (!). You call it "formulaic" and "springboard." You also say it helps to "organize" but is "not necessarily an enemy of creativity or style." So, cool. These words help to shape how I, your reader, imagines your own position in regard to this form. And, your language points to the fact that you yourself are conflicted. It helps...but, does it? But, if it does, what does it do? For how long? Where do you go from there? Can you go anywhere from there? Is it stunting or developmental or necessary or optional or made up by the man for testing corporations or invented by Harvard for ease of grading entrance exams.
Where does this form come from?
It came from someone, somewhere, for a specific reason. Find out!
Keep going! Riveted and engaged reader ovah heah.