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Theories of teaching writing skills
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As a writer throughout my public education, every year I was taught something different that by the end of the day I will come out of the class room all confused. Not being a perfect writer like many others has showed me that I can slowly improve in my writing. In writing there are many concepts known but each one is taught differently by each person. Not only are the taught different but they are also learned differently because it also depends on the learner. Since both reading and writing have never been that easy for me I can say that as a Senior in High School my english teacher taught me a variety of ways to be better at both. Not having the best knowledge in academic writing has put me in many different types of struggles because being …show more content…
Being a person that writes paper but repeats themselves somewhere in their paper is a challenge when wanting a paper to be clear so the reader can understand what is being said or going on. Entering a conversation has been difficult knowing that both readers and writers can start off with saying one thing but later in the text taking about something completely different knowing that the reader may want to know what is happening even if they started reading in the middle of the text. Leading that the use of the five paragraph essay may not be helpful to readers and writers or even ourselves, can make us only focus on simple and quick details which will not give the reader a better understand of what is happening. As writers dislike the five paragraph essay, they rather have more and explain the main details of the text, but also give a good conclusion. As I learned in the writing center, sometimes writers like to give a brief write and not start with the introduction but also give a good and useful conclusion at the end with about one or two paragraphs to give the readers an idea of what will happen next or how things finish out. Although, since many people have different points of views it makes a conversation difficult because there are a lot of different sides to that one
In an excerpt of Unteaching the Five-Paragraph Essay," Marie Foley reveals how the Five-Paragraph Essay formula contradicts writing instructor's most basic goals. Foley shows that the formula deters from generating individual thinking. In today's society, essays are used by millions of people in order to express their different ideas. The Five-Paragraph Essay formula was originally developed to help retain the efficiency and clarity of the essay. Foley, however, believes that this process eventually separates the student from his or her written expression and should be used only as a first step tool for beginning student writers. Foley insists that the formula blocks discovery, squelches authenticity and undermines the reader's need for coherence. Foley shows that patterns of organization and more natural thinking can benefit the student.
“Unteaching the Five Paragraph Essay” by Marie Foley demonstrates how a five paragraph essay formula disturbs the thought process of the students and limits what they can write. A five paragraph essay is an introduction with the main idea, with three supporting topics showing the relationship to the main idea, and a conclusion summarizing the entire essay. Foley argues that this formula forces students to fill in the blank and meet a certain a word limit. She noted that this formula was intended for teachers in the education system to teach an overcrowded class how to write. While it is beneficial for the first-time students learning how to write. In the long run, this standard destroys any free style writing, new connections between a topic,
However, though John Warner’s argument is strong, Kerri smith’s argument is stronger. In Kerri Smith’s article “In Defense of the Five-Paragraph Essay,” She claims that the five-paragraph essay should stay taught in schools as a guideline for a well-structured essay. She explains the five-paragraph essay as an “introduce-develop-conclude structure” that even great expository writing follows this structure (Smith 16). She purposefully communicates to her audience this idea to show that this structure gives students the knowledge and capability to write a professional essay. The five-paragraph essay includes the three key points to have a well-structured and organized essay. By mentioning that other great writers use this form of structure, she creates a stronger argument as to why the five-paragraph essay is important to education. She continues her article by explaining her early stages of writing and how she was taught; over time, her teachers would show her new ways to improve her writing which, in the end, she was told to think “of those five paragraphs simply as a mode of organization” (Smith
My writing used to contain many errors. I was not good in spellings and vocabulary. I could study a lot but I did not find myself confident in paraphrasing the sentences properly and thus there used to be many technical issues in my papers. During this course I was guided throughout by my mentors and peers which helped me develop the skill of writing. I learnt slowly because it took me a lot of time in understanding the technical aspects of writing and following a certain format but I am now a confident academic writer and I still aspire to grow in terms of writing
Several people have trouble writing college level essays and believe that they are unable to improve their writing skills. In “the Inspired Writer vs. The Real Writer,” Sarah Allen argues how no one is born naturally good at writing. Sarah Allen also states how even professional writers have trouble with the task of writing. Others, such as Lennie Irvin, agree. In Irvin’s article “What is ‘Academic’ Writing?” states how there are misconceptions about writing. Furthermore, Mike Bunn’s article “How to Read Like a Writer” shows ways on how one can improve their writing skills. Allen, Bunn, and Irvin are correct to say how no one is born naturally good writers. Now that we know this, we should find ways to help improve our writing skills, and
I found that learning by example helped my writing greatly. One of the books we read, “The Sixth Extinction” by Elizabeth Kolbert, influenced my writing. The book is well written in an academic style that engages the reader. Her writing also flows nicely throughout every passage. I tried to
Especially with the help of my professor Ms. Piper. I was still having trouble on material on writing, but she helped me by teaching us the writing process, how to revise our drafts, and how to use outlines to help us. She has also taught us ways of breaking down paragraphs in piece of writing to help us understand what we are reading about. I feel with this new approach it opened my eyes on a way to help me excel on my writing, and reading. I am an excellent writer and reader than I was before. I am not the greatest, but I know if I just keep practicing on what I learned, and also learning I will become better.
Over the past year I have grown as both a person and a writer. My writing has improved
Over the course of this class I feel like I have become a much better writer. When I go back and look at some of my Journal entries and assignments that I did at the beginning of the semester, I can’t help but tense up at some of the things I wrote. Sometimes the things I was writing didn’t flow well, or I might have even have missed glaring grammar mistakes.
In our modern society, we have forgotten the art of writing. When we write, we think to ourselves, the longer the sentence, the more intelligent I will sound. Many may say it is by writing long sentences. But is it all that true? In this piece of writing I would like to focus on an essay written by Verlyn Klinkenborg, Several Short Sentences About Writing. In this essay he explains how and why when we write, we should keep our sentences short. he also explains why students should be assigned essays that are not determinate on other sources as evidence. I will also be comparing this to a piece written by Sarah Manguso, Ongoingness. I will be comparing these two pieces on their writing style, and their essayistic ideas. My belief is that we need
As a second language learner I have never expected myself to be a perfect writer throughout the semester. Even If English was my first language still, I would not be a perfect writer. It is not about first or second language, it is about how well I understand the learning objectives. Then organizing and writing with my own ideas and putting them in my paper. I am going to be honest, I am not good at English subject and English subject is my strongest weakness than the other subjects. In this paper I will discuss and analyze my own writing, reflecting on the ways that my writing has improved throughout the semester.
One skill that I wish I had time to improve on is citing sources in MLA style. Through the course, I refused to seek help from my professor until week seven, one thing I regret doing. that could have allayed the fear and doubt I had about this course. Any questions I had could be cleared up as the course progressed. My essays through the subsequent weeks have demonstrated my strength and weaknesses. I do not have many strengths when it comes writing, but still I consider my greatest strength in writing to be being able to clearly understand the prompt and answer it correctly, especially with the analysis essays. I think this is just because I spend most of the scarce time on hand just to think about the prompt, for example, when I was preparing for my rhetorical analysis essay on globalization I thoroughly read both article on globalization by both Kwame Anthony Appiah and franklin Foer .An obvious struggle I have as a writer is organization and transitions. I tend to jump from one topic to another and sometimes cover. I should have used more transitional words in between sentences and paragraphs to make my reader understand the logic of my paper. I have not had enough writing experience and the writing process is difficult for me. I do sometimes admit that it takes days to complete one assignment, but it will be worth it when I become a proficient
Writing is an important part of everyone’s life, whether we use it in school, in the workplace, as a hobby or in personal communication. It is important to have this skill because it helps us as writers to express feelings and thoughts to other people in a reasonably permanent form. Formal writing forms like essays, research papers, and articles stimulates critically thinking. This helps the writer to learn how to interpret the world around him/her in a meaningful way. In college, professors motivate students to write in a formal, coherent manner, without losing their own voice in the process. Improving your writing skills is important, in every English class that’s the main teaching point; to help students improve their writing skills. Throughout my college experience I have acknowledge that
As a writer, I think that I am not as good as I thought I was back in high school. I see myself as a student who tries their best, but makes “B” average work. I have never really taken the time to relate to my papers. I always just wrote what the teacher wanted and handed it in. In my mind, I never really liked trying to explain in full detail what something meant. Back in high school, my teachers always wanted me to explain my writing in such depth that a kindergartener would understand why Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy. Trying to explain my writing was always very tiring. I often would get bored trying to explain and just stop writing and do something else for a while. Most of the time in high school I didn’t like writing. Mainly because I thought my writing wasn’t good enough to see the light of day.
February 11th, 1996, in the localized town of Spencer, West Virginia, a baby girl was brought into this world. Unaware of how cruel and vindictive the world truly is, she started her journey. Twenty-years later, here I am still trying to apprehend where I fit into this life. My family is of ample size, and most would consider us in the lower class. Throughout my adolescent years, my family relocated quite frequently. Over several years, I finally got interested in our history and government; Only then was I able to review the events in my short time here and genuinely materialize the effects they had on me.