Alice R. Smee
The current essays the students are creating are uninspiring, repetitive, and lack creativity; however these essays do answer what the state asks students to complete in the objectives. When students reach seventh grade, the state asks them to write a persuasive essay that shows that they are capable of writing a clear and convincing argument. They are scored based on their ability to write a "well-developed response that takes a clear and thoughtful position and provides persuasive support."
6
In order for students to get a top score, they must show that they have "fully elaborated reasons with specific details; exhibited strong organization; are fluent and used sophisticated transitional language; and that they may show a heightened awareness of audience."
7
I believe students can still write a convincing essay, which meets the above requirements, without writing a dry and uncreative one.
Currently the middle-school students I teach are taught to write in a fool proof way in order to gain a passing score on the CMTs. The no-fail formula consists of five paragraphs, and an outline of what to include in each paragraph. In the first paragraph the students are asked to state the issue of the essay, along with their position on the issue, and then to give three reasons why they chose their position. The next three paragraphs ask the students to elaborate on each reason; they must state the reason and explain why they feel the way they do. In their concluding paragraphs the students are told to restate the topic, remind the audience of their positions and reasons, and encourage them to agree. If I were to ask my students to write an essay convincing me that they should have no homework, their response would look something like this:
-
I think we should not get homework because it is not fair. We have other things
-
We could be doing. The reasons I believe we should not have homework are
-
because we have a lot of other work to do when we get home. The next reason
-
is because we learn everything already in school. The last reason is because
-
we should be able to relax when we get home from the long day at school. These
-
are the reasons I think we should not get homework.
-
The first reason why we should not get homework is because we have a lot of
-
other things to do when we get home like;.
-
The second reason I think we should not get homework is because we learn
-
everything we need to in school like;..
-
The third reason I think we should not get homework is because we are sup
-
posed to relax when we get home from a long day at school. We do things like;
-
These are the reasons that I think we should not get homework and now that
-
you have seen why we should get no homework, we should pass a new rule;
This way of writing allows students to receive a passing score, but it does not work with anything else, and they end up using this formula for any kind of writing. When these students go to high school and college they will not be able to write using the no-fail formula, so one of the goals of this unit is to allow students to get their points across and express all of their ideas without writing in a way that is uninspiring to them or their readers.
Unlike Math or Science, writing is not black and white, or right and wrong. There are no formulas (or at least there should not be any formulas) to memorize in order to make sure that students get the answer right. Due to this, students who may be straight A students in other subjects sometimes do not do well in writing, and often do not like to write. I often hear that writing is stupid and that there is no point to it. A majority of these statements come from the fear of doing it. The no-fail formula that they are given for persuasive writing eases the minds of those students, and gives them a way to write and get it right. Hopefully with the introduction of visual stimuli to their writing, the students will see enjoyment and a point to writing.