Quick Write for Class 3/14

1. Michelle Kenney’s article “The Politics of the Paragraph” discusses the problems with teaching the five-paragraph essay. She disputes one common thought on formulaic writing, that writing formulas are like training wheels, and you need to “know the rules in order to break them.” In your own experience in high school, did you learn the five paragraph formula or other formulaic writing? Did you find that it helped you become a better writer? If you were taught formulaic writing in school, did you have any issues when you started writing on the college level? Or did you find that formulaic writing helped prepared you for college writing?


For me, the formulaic form of writing was introduced and reinforced in middle school. We were taught the particulars of the five paragraph essay, with slight variations if you were writing a persuasive paper vs. an informative paper. I was conditioned to maintain this model until I entered high school, where one particular teacher told us to forget that structure and write more freely. Unfortunately, most of my teachers in high school depended on the basic structure of a essay - present your argument, provide supporting evidence, and present an analysis of the argument - so my paper writing was limited to an adapted version of the five paragraph essay, one with more body paragraphs.

When I entered college, I remember being nervous that I would not be capable of producing the level of writing necessary for a college student. I felt inadequate when it came to constructing a well-written paper. I feel like I was stunted by a dependence on the formula that I didn't have enough practice with working out my words and developing concise writing. The only thing I could produce was a semi-convincing argument clinging to a bare-boned structure.

I realized later on that if I let myself just write, it turned out better than if I became preoccupied with sticking to a formula. I took time to map out my thoughts, organize them logically, and then put them in paragraph form. I learned to trust myself more than a framework. I know I am a good writer. I don't need those training wheels anymore. I think they helped me discover what academic writing looked like, but having them act as blinders to my writing did me a disservice. I hope to avoid this "blinding" of my students. I want to give them the tools they need to succeed, but balance that with an ability to trust in themselves.