Who doesn’t love a self-help top ten list? Me! But “ten expert habits to improve your writing processes” in A&B’s Chapter 16 did catch my eye. And I think there’s some connection between number one on the list—using exploratory writing and talking to discover and clarify ideas—and Elbow’s article.
I’ve spent the last week grading first drafts of my second formal essay assignment—a film essay, so please don’t try to discuss the nature of evil in The Dark Knight with me this week. I’m all talked out. The level of analysis in the essays was a happy surprise, but even my best writers fell victim to densely fancy, probably attempting to sound film-y, language. When I sat down for individual conferences with students and we talked through their films, they had no problem discussing in clear language their favorite scenes, the themes they saw at work, etc). I’m trying to teach them to write more the way that they think and talk—what Elbow calls the rhythm and energy of voice, and what chapter 16 points toward with expert tip number one: talk through what you want to write.
I feel like so much of what I’m teaching this semester is unlearning high school writing habits. Moving away from rigid five paragraph thesis-driven essay structure and opening the mind to more natural, energetic, even rhythmic formal writing. I wonder if students were taught more of Elbow’s free writing in high school, and formal writing in college, maybe the teaching process wouldn’t feel so backward. I love a classically organized, closed form thesis-driven formal essay as much as anyone, but when students are taught how to organize their essays before they’re really taught how to write with clarity and movement, I think the value of formal writing gets lost.
I think you make a great point here, Beth. It does seem like students do enter writing from the premise of organization. Part of me finds it hard to blame, in that you are striving to teach students to develop fluid ideas that build and create a cohesive point or argument. Without a sense of how to order the material, it would seem natural that students would get lost. However, as you so clearly state, what effect does this method have on the issue of clarity, particularly at the level of the sentence. This definitely seems like a good point that we might want to consider more closely as we enter the composition classroom.
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