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Following a discussion of form-first instruction and CCSS assessments, this article provides concrete suggestions for teaching authentic writing processes.
Formula does not equal form-one is static, the other dynamic.
-Thomas Newkirk, Minds Made for Stories: How We Really Read and Write Informational and Persuasive Texts
How many of you," I asked my students, "were taught to write the five-paragraph essay in high school?" Every student in the class raised a hand.
I'm teaching the English Methods class in our credential program, and I knew from entries in my students' Writer's Reader's Notebooks (Rief) that they were struggling with the articles I assigned about the five-paragraph essay. Some were shocked to learn of the long-term instructional damage that focusing on form before attending to the interplay among purpose, audience, and content has on developing writers (Durst; Pirie; Tremmel). Such a formfirst instructional focus is not "scaffolding" as many claim, but a leftover from the current-traditional rhetoric of the mid-nineteenth century. Form-first instruction severely misrepresents composing's complex, messy, recursive nature (Hillocks). This oversimplification by form-first instruction gets in the way of enabling students to develop considerations of audience and purpose that drive authentic content choices and arrangements. Form-first instruction gets in the way of teaching students how to write.
In her wonderful monster cartoon, Sandra Boynton perfectly captures and parodies the fiveparagraph theme, characterizing its parts as having "lots of teeth but no bite" or being "somewhat limp and drawn out." Its development contains "some minor points" that are "mostly bulk." This is a monster in which form dominates, and content is considered only marginally. Indeed, form's imposing dominance makes this monster particularly dangerous and especially difficult to vanquish.
"And how many of you are struggling to accept the advice to not teach the five-paragraph essay?" Again, every student raised a hand. I've seen this response before. I understand students' difficulty changing a belief that is counter to years of explicit instruction in high school, often from teachers they cherished. Many students credit this instruction with teaching them to write. Many credit these teachers with inspiring them to become English teachers. However, as a writer, as a National Writing Project Teacher Consultant since 1980, and as director of a California Writing Project site, I am passionate...