Comments on: On Decoding Essay Exam Questions http://blog.writingpower.net/2008/03/20/on-decoding-essay-exam-questions/ write better, live better Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:57:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 By: loren http://blog.writingpower.net/2008/03/20/on-decoding-essay-exam-questions/#comment-159 loren Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:23:25 +0000 http://blog.writingpower.net/2008/03/20/on-decoding-essay-exam-questions/#comment-159 Hi, Charlie -- I think there's a distinction to be made between putting students in a box and giving them tools to structure their ideas. I think it helps students to learn to write within a discipline: many students come to college-level work believing that there is basically one way to write well. When they're confronted with the widely differing expectations across academic disciplines, they often struggle to adapt. It seems to me that you are doing them a great service. Thanks so much for a wonderfully thought-provoking comment. Cheers! Loren Hi, Charlie — I think there’s a distinction to be made between putting students in a box and giving them tools to structure their ideas.

I think it helps students to learn to write within a discipline: many students come to college-level work believing that there is basically one way to write well. When they’re confronted with the widely differing expectations across academic disciplines, they often struggle to adapt. It seems to me that you are doing them a great service.

Thanks so much for a wonderfully thought-provoking comment.

Cheers!
Loren

]]> By: Charlie http://blog.writingpower.net/2008/03/20/on-decoding-essay-exam-questions/#comment-158 Charlie Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:44:35 +0000 http://blog.writingpower.net/2008/03/20/on-decoding-essay-exam-questions/#comment-158 Great post, Loren. I've made making my students better writers the primary focus in the past few semesters, and a lot of what I've been doing is teaching them how to decode what's being asked of them. I've also focused more on writing templates--there's a few "standard" ways to write philosophical essays, and I explain what the templates are, who they generally appeal to, and so forth, and I've noticed that this has really helped them get their ideas in a somewhat manageable structure. As I hone this process, their papers, from an objective point of view, get better and better. This bothers me sometimes, because I generally avoid "5 paragraph" ways of teaching how to write. I don't teach that any template's better than any others, so I stay away from normatizing their use, and the students have commented on how helpful they are, but in the back of my head there's still the worry that I've put them in a box. Great post, Loren. I’ve made making my students better writers the primary focus in the past few semesters, and a lot of what I’ve been doing is teaching them how to decode what’s being asked of them. I’ve also focused more on writing templates–there’s a few “standard” ways to write philosophical essays, and I explain what the templates are, who they generally appeal to, and so forth, and I’ve noticed that this has really helped them get their ideas in a somewhat manageable structure. As I hone this process, their papers, from an objective point of view, get better and better.

This bothers me sometimes, because I generally avoid “5 paragraph” ways of teaching how to write. I don’t teach that any template’s better than any others, so I stay away from normatizing their use, and the students have commented on how helpful they are, but in the back of my head there’s still the worry that I’ve put them in a box.

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