First of all, thanks for reading and thanks in advance for your help!
Now, I am torn about how to go about this workshop for a number of reasons, but tentatively, this is what I have in mind. The workshop is open to all students in the program I work for, a retention and support program for low-income, disabled, or first generation students. The workshop will accommodate up to 35 students (I expect maybe 10, ha.) and will run an hour and forty-five minutes.
I thought about starting with a paragraph-level discussion, emphasizing the power of topic sentences to keep a paragraph (and an essay!) structured and focused. I want to touch on detail sentences, and how to use the last sentence in your paragraph to conclude or transition. Then I thought I'd take up characteristics of a good thesis statement (an assertion; specific; supportable; etc.) and how an intro paragraph is similar to an expanded topic sentence with regards to its overall function in a paper. I thought then I'd look at how a "traditional, academic, 5-paragraph essay" is structured, and explain that this is a framework, a convention, but a starting point for students at a complete loss with essay writing. I also want to tie in how seeing the structure/organization of the essay in this light might help you get started with organizing your next essay because being aware of how an argument might play out and progress in a paper may offer you a starting point.
So, like I said earlier, I'm not convinced of this plan for a few reasons. One: this is a whole lot of material and I would rather do one, focused thing that keeps students interested and will be able to sink in than throw a bunch of stuff at them in tidal-wave form. However, all students have different needs and I think offering a whole slew of tips might be useful because a student can then choose to remember what made most sense or seemed most helpful to him/herself. Also, if I choose just one topic, which would be most beneficial and most universal? Two: I know the five-paragraph essay has a bad, bad rap in the comp circle, and while I understand that it might be limiting and reductive and the facilitator of bad writing and lazy thinking, I know that a lot of the students I work with are so terrified of writing that they have no idea where to start. If I can demystify bits and pieces of academic writing conventions, they may feel more agent-y in their essays.
I know a lot of my students also struggle with grammar, but I am incredibly hesitant to do an hour and forty-five minute grammar workshop. While I think knowing how to use commas and correct fragments and run-ons and be aware of tense shifts would benefit many of these students, I don't think these are the "higher order concerns" I'd like to try to touch on in the workshop space.
That is all. Help! :o)
(You guys are the best!)
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Well, I can certainly commiserate with your predicament - how do we teach structure to a post-structural audience?! We can't go "full expressivist" and just let them wander around until they think they've found their "authentic voice," but we also can't be too directive and squander their agency... I tried the following exercise with both my 10th and 12th graders, and they seemed to like it (although I can't say it immediately had any impact on their writing, but then again, what does?) - it's from a piece by Kristie S. Fleckenstein (who we briefly looked at in 660 last quarter.
ReplyDeleteStart by showing the following set of sentences, and perhaps even reading it aloud:
"Sally first tried setting loose a team of gophers. The plan backfired when a dog chased them away. She then entertained a group of teenagers and was delighted when they brought their motorcycles. Unfortunately, she failed to find a Peeping Tom listed in the Yellow Pages. Furthermore, her stereo system was not loud enough. The crab grass might have worked, but she didn’t have a fan that was sufficiently powerful. The obscene phone calls gave her hope until the number was changed. She thought about calling a door-to-door salesman but decided to hang up a clothesline instead. It was the installation of blinking neon lights across the street that did the trick. She eventually framed the ad from the classified section."
Confused yet? You should be - only one out of my 150 students was able to figure out what this meant, and there was a bit of fun trying to fathom what meaning we could make out of the seemingly disjointed statements. After everyone has had some time to think about it, reveal the rosetta stone as the "missing first sentence":
“Sally disliked her neighbors and wanted them to leave the area.”
There should be a palpable "A-ha" moment as the students suddenly recognize that the events described all follow from one central conflict, which provides the necessary context to make sense of the writing. And there you have the magical "definitionless definition" of a "Topic Sentence" without having to get all Jane Schaffer (*ptui*).
To further the lesson, you might have them describe in their own words what effect the initial sentence has on the writing, and try to pull out ways that the students can begin to describe the "rhetorical move" that a topic sentence provides to the writer, as well as the overall structural elements of the writing (sequence, ordinal words, signal phrases that let you know you're at the end of the piece (e.g., "did the trick"), etc.). It could even be expanded upon by discussing where, in a larger piece, this paragraph would fit, and what kind of writing you would expect to see it in (thus addressing the idea of genre and audience).
Anyway, hope this might help as part of your workshop; talking about this aspect of composition is certainly the hardest part of writing instruction, but it's also among the most important - so kudos to you! Good luck; be sure to tweet about how it went :)...
Hi Jasmine,
ReplyDeleteI loved Tom's suggestion. It certainly points out the necessity for the first sentence of the paper!
I think you need to keep it simple and give in and do the five paragraph format just to give your students a starting point. Let them practice sorting out topic sentences, et al, with simple pre-written sentences, and then have them try it on their own. If you see that they're getting it, then you can add on to the lesson.
Hope that helps.