Reflections on the Way

I set up a conference at the University of Minnesota Center for Writing to go over a draft of the learner profile for my academic writing course. It was the first time I had ever made use of such a service. Going in, I was not really sure what my role as the writer was, how much I should guide and direct the session versus how much I should let the consultant tell me what was wrong. That last part is, perhaps, something I should think about when asking students to conference with me: is the only purpose to point out errors? In the end I settled on asking my consultant to read the essay to make sure that the structure felt cohesive, and to make sure I was answering the question. When I first met with the consultant, she greeted me and asked if I would like a run-down of how the writing center worked. She would read through the paper and talk it over with me, but she would not simply make edits or changes to my writing. I explained the assignment, showed her the guidelin...

From the moment I learned to write it, I remember seeking to subvert the strictures of the five paragraph essay. I would slip in extra paragraphs, or not list three components in my thesis statement, whatever I could get away with to break free from those five-walled confines. I wonder, sometimes, if my writing is better or worse off from never giving myself time to master what seems to be seen as such a fundamental component of academic writing. My tendency is to lean more towards the former. The five paragraph essay, while useful as a dialogic tool, is a flawed pedagogical tool when used beyond the early scaffolding of nascent writers as it stifles creative output, limits linguistic experimentation, and does not prepare students adequately for the more complex writing required later in life. First, the limiting form both of the essay itself and the construction of the argument limits the degree of creative input available to the writer. Not only must the argument consist of three ea...