I was initially drawn to this weeks book simply by the title. Admittedly, I am a victim of the 5 paragraph essay. When I first came to college, I truly struggled with writing anything more than a few pages because I had been raised on 5 paragraphs, and I felt trapped to that model. Even now, sometimes, I find myself thinking in a 3-point kind of essay, and that simply does not cut it for the thinking or writing asked of you in college.
Warner points to issues, like the 5 paragraph essay, that are leading our students astray in today’s English classroom. Though we’ve talked about some of the practices that aren’t great to use because they are actually quite limiting to writers, I never actually thought about those practices much in terms of standardization. It’s interesting that in a subject where supposedly you are able to think for yourself and asked to have original ideas we have created structures that students must follow. Even thesis statements, for example, are narrowed down to a science.
What I appreciate most about Warner’s book is that he offers his teaching experience and what he has seen in the classroom as a guide for moving away from such practices. In many ways, I think in our program we have encountered solutions that move away from standardization and assessment, and we have discussed the ways that we do assess writing.
Going into the classroom next year, I am interested to see what kinds of shifts I can make with my students’ writing. In some ways, it seems tempting to “un-teach” the 5 paragraph essay, but on the other hand, will that be setting students up for failure in their final two years of high school? Is there a happy compromise between what standardization wants and what real life wants? I’m hoping to see how the use of projects (like MGP, podcasts, etc.) can shift the way that students think about organizing thoughts.
Emily's Blog 
In your last paragraph, you really think deeply about how you might teach writing, both the pros and cons of shifting students away from the five-paragraph essay, and I feel like we need more of that. I’m guilty of this too, but perhaps we have too many “yes men” for these texts. Pushing back and asking questions is something I want to teach my students, so I think it is appropriate that it’s happening in this class. I also want to provide a little tidbit of information. In Louisana, instead of Milestones, we have LEAP tests (middle school) and the GEE (Graduate Exit Examination). The English GEE is taken as a tenth grader, so how and when what skills are taught would be a bit different. In theory, writing that moves away from the 5-paragraph essay could be learned as an 11th grader and not affect their standardized testing scores that would benefit more from a five-paragraph essay. But then again, Lousiana schools are failing, so this probably isn’t the way to go…
Just something to think about!
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Hey Emily!
I really liked what you had to say about this week’s reading. It truly is wild that “in a subject where supposedly you are able to think for yourself and asked to have original ideas we have created structures that students must follow.” I could not have said that better myself I partially feel drawn to teaching English over any other subject (Social Studies was my second choice) because of the variety of voices that we engage with, whether that be in books, in student writings, or in a class discussion. Teaching such a set formula really takes this freedom of expression away from our students.
I am also so grateful for the many ways that our program has shown us to work within these forces and create creative spaces of our own. I truly believe that we can subtlely rebel in ways that serve our students well. We just now have to get out there and do it!
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