Our freshmen have their writing measured by a basic skills writing examination every spring. I've taught several sections of the class in the past. Usually narratives will do allow the students to pass the test. We stress to them show and support, show and support. Unfortunately, the traditional format of the five paragraph essay is often the format that students choose or are taught to pass the test. The test itself encourages this. If you look at the sample packet, the sample tests that pass with the average score are usually five paragraph essays.
The higher scoring essays are all personal narratives that are full of dialogue, twists, humor, and voice. But those are difficult to teach (especially in a nine week course) and risky. What happens if a student goes out on a limb and tries a complex personal narrative format and blows it? Could you just imagine what the judges at the state would do if they saw a freshman submit a multi-genre paper for their basic skills test? (I could only imagine. I have, though, received a couple emails from college professors who have received them from former college comp students. Those students have blown away the professors with their skill, voice, and style. So I'll fight for those things to the death.)
I used to track the highest scoring themes. I cannot recall one five paragraph theme that was in the 5 range. They were all personal narratives. But it's tough to pull those off.
So many teachers aim for the five paragraph theme because it's safe and the student has a great chance of passing the test. I don't blame them for this. Indeed, in my upper levels I even teach the five paragraph essay (but I do it after all of the fun writing first and I teach it for what it is - a very basic form of writing that some professors will want to see because it is wonderfully easy to grade).
I had a wonderful college comp writer whose work oozed voice and style. When she got her writing test score back, her family was shocked to see the average score of a 3 on her results (this was when the test was in the 10th grade. So she had taken the test in the spring of her sophomore year and was taking college comp in the fall as a sophomore). Her mother called and wanted me to look into it since she had done so well in my writing classes. When I saw her essay, I knew immediately what went wrong.
She had put all of her wonderful voice and style and originality on the shelf and played it safe with a generic five paragraph theme. And the result was a very lifeless, but functional essay. And the score of a 3.
Now this recent blog post, gets at the problem that teaching a very safe essay format has on the writing abilities of students when they get to college. Of course, playing it safe on writing assignments is only compounded by the fact that schools and teachers spend far more time than every before prepping for tests and focusing their curriculum to just what is on the tests.
Here is one professor's take on the situation -
First, college professors like myself should realize that their teaching is being changed for the worse by standardized testing. The brains in our classrooms are shaped by the SOLs [mandated standards & testing] just as much as they are shaped by Google, and we have to clean up the mess. Many more students come in unprepared for writing at a college level, but also unprepared to focus and apply their own interests to a topic. Naturally, I believe the best place to realize their interests and gain that preparation is a small liberal arts college, where people like me have a passion for teaching as well as the time and support to focus on a lower number of students, and follow them for 3-4 years.
Second, I would remind those educational "conservatives" like those at the Fordham Institute who championed Core Knowledge when E.D. Hirsch was derided for his traditionalism, and now rise to the defense of the research paper that I appreciate that your right hand is fighting hard to preserve valuable aspects of the "industrial model" of education: broad factual knowledge, rigorous arguments based on legitimate scholarly authorities. Unfortunately, you don't realize that the true enemy of these cherished elements of education is ... your left hand, which is pursuing awful test-based accountability. The research paper was in hiding and on life support long before Cathy Davidson came along, and it was not driven mortally wounded from K-12 education by blog cheerleaders like Heffernan and Davidson, but by the very Reformy Idols that you celebrate.
The two things that I love about this: first, "apply their own interests to a topic." That is wonderful and the basis for true research. The second, a return to the old rigorous research paper. Now, this is often in the thesis/support format which is indicative of the five paragraph theme. I never said that the five paragraph theme was totally wrong. I just want teachers to know it is one format of MANY we can teach our students. I love the idea that we can still encourage students to apply their own interests and passions to a topic and also push them to work their way through the traditional research process, which they will have to do time and again at the university level.
And a third bonus from those two paragraphs, even though the author is writing about stuffy old expository stuff, there is still voice and style flowing in every sentence of that piece.
Excellent stuff.
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