With my topic for the
I-search being on the use of the 5 paragraph essay and how to use the formula
as a starting point to develop more creative writing, I was prompter to look up
some of the work of Michel de Montaigne. To give a little background, Montaigne
is considered to be an influential writer of the French Renaissance and is
credited with popularizing the essay as a genre. His essays mainly featured him
analyzing aspects of the world through the lens of his own experiences, something
uncommon at this time.
Montaigne’s essays did something
that no other writer at the time was doing, and wrote about how he felt and not
about other people’s ideas. He would often reference Greek educators such as
Plato, and many great writers such as Shakespeare have referenced Montaigne’s
writing. I have skimmed through a large amount of Montaigne’s essays and some
of the things he wrote about were age, drunkenness, education, there are no
essays about the use of theme in a novel, so why is this the main purpose of
essays in the classroom now.
I think that using
Montaigne could be a starting point when teaching essays to students. Before a
formal essay is introduced to a class, Montaigne’s personal essays could be
introduced. I would probably read one in class, stopping frequently to explain
what is being said because it is very dense. The importance of showing students
these essays would be for them to see that essays don’t have to be these boring
analyses of text but can be connected to their own experience and views of the
world. This is an excellent starting point in essay education.
As I continue to do
more research on the 5 paragraph formula, I myself have come to the conclusion
that it is an extremely valuable tool. The problem that I see with the 5
paragraph essay is that it is over used. At some point the students will
understand and be able to produce the 5 paragraph essay, but that is when it’s
time to scaffold on this knowledge and practice. The purpose of the 5 paragraph
essay should be for students to learn to organize their thoughts and form an
argument.
I think my next step after
teaching about the 5 paragraph essay would be to refer back to my lessons on Montaigne
and work on personal arguments with my students, such as arguing which rapper
or actor is better. This way it will be a solid argument developed by students
about their own personal beliefs. This will benefit students because they will
see that essays don’t have to be structured to create a point and don’t have to
be about abstract themes.
I do not think that the
5 paragraph essay is a perfect form of writing, I believe it serves its purpose
as a tool, and that is how teachers should use it in this classroom. How to
develop this tool to create organized and intelligent writers is what I plan to
figure out throughout this I-search process.
Nate: This is great progress! I think the next place you need to explore is the intersection of narrative and argument writing. How are they different? How are they the same and/or connected to each other? Can arguments contain narratives and vice versa? Do they exist separate from each other in the world?
ReplyDeleteWhat I am thinking is that perhaps Montaigne isn't so far from the "argument" after all. How is personal narrative a form of argument?
There's a book--a textbook for teaching writing--called Everything's An Argument. You might want to check it out to read about the premise of the book, what they authors believe and why they wrote it.
You also might want to explore, as I've said before, the roots of the 5 paragraph essay. Where did it come from and why? Why 5 paragraphs and not 3 or 6? Go all the way back to the origin story of this beast to try and help us, your readers, understand how it came to be the thing we know and love today. You're doing some investigative work to uncover the roots of the essay is all its glory, Nate! Keep going!