Maria P. Rey's, Letter to West Port High School's English Department, was written for an assignment in her English Composition course at the University of Florida in late October of 2009. In Rey’s letter, she tries to entice her former teachers to re-evaluate how and what they are teaching to their students. Rey explains that her former instructors are not teaching their students a standard format, but that she actually received conflicting guidelines from different teachers. Rey continues with describing to professors the four rules that obstructed her ability to be a good writer. The first of these are the five paragraph essay model that is taught in most schools. Rey believes this method can inadvertently cause issues for a writer. One being
It is essential to understand that classes taken in grade school do not give students a full understanding of each subject. With the topic of writing, there will always be a new lesson to learn, an aspect to improve, or a differing way to explain. Author Craig Vetter states in Bonehead Writing, “This is your enemy: a perfectly empty sheet of paper. Nothing will ever happen here except what you make happen.” Each story, essay, or response comes from a writer’s experiences. With each attempt at a new piece comes an underlying story of emotions the writer is facing. Each person’s writing is unique and the ideas people have are related to their past experiences and what they believe to be familiar with when deciding which writing style to use. As a high school student, I have learned many things about writing that helped me become the improved writer I am today, but the most essential advice I have received is practice makes perfect. Although there is no actual perfect way of writing, I have discovered that each essay I write, my writing improves. It is easier to spot mistakes, find areas to improve, and ponder elevated word choice to use.
Unteaching The Five- Paragraph essay by Marie Foley is a light hearted but argumentive piece focusing on the way most school aged children are taught to write. Foley's main point comes down to the very first words in the essay; “The five-paragraph formula confuses and alienates students and undermines our most basic goals as writing instructors." Foley believes that by teaching children to write in a formulated manner we are not letting them explore and learn through their own writing. We are instead giving them the freedom to discontinue the thought process once they feel that the essay they have produced meets the formula standards they have been kept to, and refuse to part with.
Simply spoken, the aging youth are facing a very large dilemma when it comes to making the transition from high school to college level courses. As many have been taught in the past, just as many will be taught in the future, the commonly known 5-paragraph essay is quickly becoming an eyesore in the writer’s community. John Warner published an article in which he deploys a full on assault to persuade others to do away with this type of essay format all together. In his article “Kill the 5-paragraph Essay” Warner establishes his credibility, paints an imaginary picture of the 5-paragraph essay and uses logical and emotional
The article “The Writing Revolution” by Peg Tyre is a piece which aims to address the problems in school systems often associated with the way in which writing is taught to students. Tyre’s article conveys the different arguments presented in the course of teaching writing to students, which have been shown to be on opposite sides of the creative and analytical spectrum. These different perspectives of how to build the foundation of writing for the children of America as well as other countries are backed similarly on both sides, though the debate still continues. “The Writing Revolution” instead of focusing on all aspects of writing, highlights the effectiveness of analytical fundamentals over that of creative writing in helping to
Teaching the process of a five-paragraph essay seems to be a popular strategy when it comes to teaching new writers; however, not everyone agrees that five-paragraph essays are the best way to go about introducing the writing process. John Warner, author of “Kill the 5-Paragraph Essay” believes the process gives writers little freedom and is a “tool for the worst of teachers to hide amongst the good.” On the other hand, Kerri Smith, author of “In the Defense of the Five-Paragraph Essay” claims “students who know the five-paragraph essay intimately are more prepared to take on the challenge of college-level writing.” Both first-year composition professors make great arguments; however, Warner’s article seems to argue his point effectively.
The art of writing is a complex and difficult process. Proper writing requires careful planning, revision, and proofreading. Throughout the past semester, the quality of my writing has evolved significantly. At first, I struggled with the separation of different types of paragraphs, and I found writing them laborious. Constant practice, however, has eliminated many of my original difficulties, and helped to inspire confidence in my skills. As a collegiate writer, my strength lies in my clear understanding of the fundamentals of writing, while my primary weakness is proofreading my own work.
Writing varies from a text message to a novel. Writers often have a difficult task in creating a piece of work that truly identifies the meaning of good writing. Every good writer usually starts with the basics such as genre, audience, rhetorical situation, and reflection of the piece. Throughout this semester, we have gone through all of these key terms in great detail with each new assignment that has come our way. In doing this, not only as students but also as writers, we have come to create our own theory of writing. Every writer has a different theory of writing though most are very similar. Now, at this point in the semester after doing countless journals, in-class exercises, and final assignments, I think I have figured out my own
In an excerpt of Unteaching the Five-Paragraph Essay," Marie Foley reveals how the Five-Paragraph Essay formula contradicts writing instructor's most basic goals. Foley shows that the formula deters from generating individual thinking. In today's society, essays are used by millions of people in order to express their different ideas. The Five-Paragraph Essay formula was originally developed to help retain the efficiency and clarity of the essay. Foley, however, believes that this process eventually separates the student from his or her written expression and should be used only as a first step tool for beginning student writers. Foley insists that the formula blocks discovery, squelches authenticity and undermines the reader's need for
While attending writing class, I learned about the 4 steps in writing, bases for revising, organizing, and connecting specific information, and I also learned about the different types of essays such as descriptive, narrative, process, cause and effect and argumentative essay. I have been a student at Milwaukee Area Technical College for 1 semester, and over the course of my enrollment I have grown and learned more that I knew prior to attending this writing course. Participating in this writing class has taught me so much more than stuff about literature and language, it has taught me another way of expressing myself. I have learned here how to write and express myself, how to think for myself, and how to find the answers to the things that I don 't know. Most importantly I have learned how important technique, outlines and organization are. My goal in this paper is to inform writers about how my writing skills have improved.
My name is Ayanna Cole- Hector, and I am in your urban government class POS 323 on Tuesday and Thursday at 11:45pm. This email is in regards to the small group assignment email that you sent out. I can not seem to find where you listed the members in my group. If you can assist me on where I would be able to find this information, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you in advance for your assistance.
In the article “Unteaching the Five Paragraph Essay”, Marie Foley intere that the five paragraph essay format is blameworthy of high school graduate unpreparedness for college coursework and the need of remedial classes. Foley stated that “Many college freshman enter composition course alienated from writing”(P.2) Foley also claim that “teaching the five paragraph formula this harms student in some fundamental ways….i'll-preparing them for academic and real world writing”(P.3) This paper is going to analyse Marie foley article by brake down the reason and problem behind the Five paragraph essay.
Instead of focusing on the different types of writing styles they will encounter in college and the workforce, most of the writing instruction students receive in their underclassman English courses at Carrizo Springs High School is primarily focused on preparation for the English Language Arts Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills Written Composition test, which has standards that are different than the outcomes they will be expected to accomplish in their dual credit English class and future college writing courses. Therefore, there must be a method implemented at Carrizo Springs High School and Southwest Texas Junior College to help students become more successful in dual credit English before they even step foot in that class. Students must understand that how they perform in that class will have an effect on their
I know you are thinking why I've picked you, a friend of mine her middle name is Judith and I miss her because she got married and moved to live in LA.
This letter is to inform you on the behalf of Amauri Torres Sanchez. I have known Amauri since 2011. Since I have known him, he has always been hard working and family oriented. On July 4, 2015 I attended his wedding where he married Karla Panfilo-Lira. On July 13, 2016 they became parents of their little girl, Ava. His entire life is here in the United States; his family, friends, and job. Having this opportunity would not only include a better life for him, but also a better life for his wife and child. Being granted DACA would allow him to pursue a fulfilling career in turn benefiting society. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me
If I had a time travel machine, I would love to go back to our class’s first meeting. It was such a memorable day. I was so nervous that my first piece of writing seemed less than mediocre as I reflected on what I had written that day. While being happy that my name was randomly chosen to be added to the class, I was very scared of this class. The last time I wrote an essay was two years ago, and before this class I had forgotten how to write one. I believe good writing requires lots of practice, and I have not practiced my writing for a long time. In addition, my reading was not even up to par since I only read books required for my classes. I did not