The readings for this week offer some good debate both for and against the five paragraph essay, as well as offering more insight into the realm of multigenre writing. Interestingly, I recently finished an interview with my cooperative teacher, Eric Holsen,regarding teaching philosophy, theory, and so on. In one part of my interview, I queried him about the five paragraph essay and the whole “teaching to the test” debate. Eric, a 17 year veteran of teaching language arts, thought the five paragraph essay was a necessary component of the curriculum, “It’s just something we have to do,” he stated. “I know a lot of teachers get annoyed with the standardized tests, but it’s not like we need to do them every day. There are really only a few a year, and if I need to take a few days / weeks to go over concepts like the five paragraph essay, then so be it. In my opinion, the students are still learning valuable tools and I am still teaching them writing. And really, the five paragraph essay does not have to be stale and boring like many assume, I have read many that are quite elegant.” This perception would match the view of Tracy Novick as she wrote, “Taught with creativity and variety, it gives our students a useful tool with which to face business meetings, testimonies before public officials, and letters to the editor” (Novick 12).
After listening to Holsen’s reply and reading Novick’s opinion, my perception of the five paragraph essay changed. Prior to the experience of this reading and my interview / observation of a veteran teacher, I would have been inclined to think more along the lines of Kimberly Wesley, although my opinion was never as harsh as her statements of the five paragraph essay “stunt[ing] the growth of human minds” (57), or that it “encourages writers to produce ‘bland but planned essays’” (58), or that the “primary objection to the five paragraph theme is its tendency to stunt students’ critical thinking abilities” (59). In my opinion, the five paragraph essay is just another genre of writing, no more or no less important to learn than say, free verse. Could I argue that poetry directs the writer away from the given point of a novel, reading, or research and that the writers of poetry are simply writing “fluff” and not understanding or expressing what they have learned? Perhaps, but I, as well as most language arts teachers, I think would tend to disagree. I think most of us agree that poetry, when written well, expresses an understanding on a deeper level, articulating the writer’s thoughts and emotions.
I think this argument over the five paragraph essay ties well into both the Romano and the Dornan text. I really like how Dornan structures chapter 5; going into depth the definition and process of the essay, including how to generate topics, collect data, how to shape the structure, how to cite resources, and how to write effective conclusions. I also like how Dornan approaches the assessment of the essay, stating that “students should be rewarded handsomely for participating in the process of research and writing” (145). Personally, I think if the process is done well, the final product should reflect that. As I begin teaching, I’ll need to decide how I weight the value of the process with the value of the product. Reverting back to the argument, Dornan makes an interesting statement, “Although we consider the essay the bread and butter of writing in the English classroom, we soon realize that it is only one of the many forms of written expression, and not necessarily the best assignment for teaching writing” (147). I would tend to agree, however, I do still feel it’s a form that should be taught.
Finally, I think the argument against the five paragraph essay is biased by Romano’s multigenre approach to writing. Why, you may ask? For the simple reason that I, as well as many other readers of Romano’s, get excited over the idea of a multigenre paper. This excitement is because we can envision a personal, interesting, humanistic driven product. Let’s face it, reading a multigenre paper where a student expresses opinion, offers insight, and perhaps even shares a personal moment with the reader is touching… romantic even. It offers a “story”, one of the most beautiful parts of literature… we all like a good story. This is why are book shelves are crammed with Whitman, Austen, and Dickens, because we love the human side of literature, the raw emotion… the “story”.This style contrasts the more “write-to-learn” (to steal from Dornan) style of the essay. Romano boasts the multigenre paper by stating; “Bright, indelible moments exists in our multigenre topics, too. When we render them, we show that our subject values, we show what lasts, what has positive meaning that buoys those characters through life” (123). Even the verbiage describing multigenre writing has an elegant appeal. My rambling, I guess does have a point. What I’m trying to say is, although essay writing tends to be drier, and less favorable to read, I think it still has an importance to be taught. Similarly, every spring I dread filling out tax forms and to be honest, I’m not looking forward to articulating cover letters and resumes, but these are components of writing that I need to use in life, much like the essay form we need to teach to students.
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