Why They Can't Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities

by John Warner

What does it do?

I like this better than "what problem does it solve"

Self-assessment is a key to self-regulation: it should be built into every writing experience,

What do you know now that you didn’t know before? What can you do now that you couldn’t do before? How did you learn these things?

This is specifically about writing, but its worth separating it into both about writing and the content topic

You are helping them make the right decision for themselves, which makes for an interesting challenge. On the one hand, you’re going to need to be opinionated. On the other hand, you’re going to also have to be informative and persuasive, telling them what they need to know about your subject in order to make a decision for themselves, while also arguing your point of view about your experience with your subject.

In some ways this is very similar to teaching - we are not teaching them to write this one essay, but how to judge their writing for themselves in all other essays

is leading them to believe that their writing—academic or otherwise—should strive for “objectivity.”

Or even that there is a "correct" scope. What bring up an idea about saying essays are not incorrect, just insufficiently justified. Although, a lesson abbut the differences between the two is probaby necessary; it's also not the case that everything is justifiable

while they don’t need to be objective in their reviews, they had better be convincing.

students practice employing the ethos, pathos, and logos

To what degree are these domain dependent? Studennts don't know what constitutes a "good" design critique. It come down to not reading enough, both in the genre and more generally.

So you’re telling me I can say what I think?

I suspect this is part of thee disconnect - students are focused on the content level of whather they are saying the right things, when i care more about how theyy are saying it. This also means that my rubric is misleading at best.

you may or may not burst into tears.

Yep

but more worrisome is that many students cannot express how, where, or why it fell short.

The essay should create knowledge, rather than merely report what others have said. This kind of essay requires the author’s argument to take center stage,

we underestimate the complexity of what we’re asking them to do.

This is a difficult task, highly dependent on not just writing skill, but existing subject knowledge and expertise.

research should be properly viewed as “an activity,”

Which is support for writing being designed as a process instead of as a product

The resulting research paper is a demonstration of having done those activities, as opposed to utilizing the tool of research as part of a robust and genuine analytical process.

I don't fully agree with this. I do think the resulting paper should be graded as a product - but a lot more support for the process is necessary. Again, compare to writing code in CS1.

“I hate it when students who have hit on a novel and interesting way of looking at an issue tell me they have to change their topic because they can’t find sources that say exactly what they plan to say.

When that is exactly the point. I should survey students about their attitudes on writing at the beginning of every semester.

The “research paper” is simply another example of education folklore. I used to assign one because that’s what you’re supposed to assign.

Ie. Playing the role of a teacher, instead of actually teaching

I needed to unbundle the kinds of skills, and more importantly, the type of thinking that underpins academic work.

I would consider an assignment where the outline was the final product, but there are still things to learn in writing. But it does serve to separate the thinking/argumentation from composition.

Students should understand the role of citation in communicating argument and persuading audiences through the use of evidence.

come to college with a distorted concept of the essay as a form

As opposed to the goal of communication, persuasion, etc.

Is a hot dog a sandwich?

I like this.

But what if you could persuade those that do have power to make a change to that thing you hate?

That's the hidden nugget of motivation for students: that writing is not the goal, but the means to somethng else

The reflective practice that steers students away from waiting for an instructor to tell them how they’ve done will make them much more careful crafters of their own work. Grading standards rooted in reflection and process also increase this effect.

How do we do this?

In fact, this is where the oversaturation of close reading in their primary and secondary educations can come in handy.

I don't agree. Close reading tries too hard to be literary, whn i think for academic writing its a lot more mundane. But point taken about this exercisse.

They recognize that choosing “flesh” over “skin” makes for a significant difference.

I’ve come to realize that my “editor” self works better at helping writers meet their goals and improve as writers than my “teacher” self.

Which is almost paradoxical

“What were you thinking with this? What are you trying to do?,”

I like tht

my grading contract

Of all the text not to quote verbatim!

fewer and fewer students have the benefit of being allowed to explore their own minds,

Although I also wonder if students lose interest in exploring their own minds

As institutions have evolved, first-year writing (composition) has become, in many cases, its own entity,

Learning to write is a process, not a product.

Need to make students see this