Thursday, October 16, 2014
What is the major drawback to writing good essays?
Your task is to discuss the reasons you believe students in general have difficulty in writing good essays. Do teachers present prompts that students can understand? Are writing rubrics beneficial to how students will be graded? Are teacher expectations higher than students believe is necessary? Are students so accustomed to using the Internet or other sources that they have difficulty thinking for themselves? These are just some of the questions that can be considered for your discussion; however, you are not limited by them. So often, students find that writing is difficult. Are they writing for the grade or are they seriously engaged in the writing process to achieve the goal of the assignment? Are students simply afraid to write? Good Luck
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Students often have a hard time when writing essays. It is not the prompts, for some of them are extremely good and apply to things that are going on in a student's life. It is not a teacher expecting too much because everyone used to write a lot of essays years ago and it was acceptable. Some reasons that students may not be able to write good essays is time restraint and laziness.
ReplyDeleteTeenagers and college students are pressed for time, as it seems everyone else in the world is. There is so much expected from them everyday, and writing does not seem appealing to some people after a busy day. Priorities must be chosen, however, and in order to get a good grade, a student must type an essay. This will at least give the teacher something to grade and it will be better than a zero percent. As this trend continues, essays get worse. Life becomes so busy with all of the things expected of a person that anything that is not enjoyed is pushed aside. If an individual enjoys writing, it most likely comes naturally and they have fun with it. To others, it is a struggle and they will do anything to get it done.
My high school career has been extremely busy. I often go from school to an after-school activity or sport. Once those eight hours of my day are gone, I go home, to work, or to a piano lesson. I also have my home responsibilities to take care of. By this time, I have to start my homework and stress is already taking over. Especially in junior year, National Honor Society, confirmation, SATS, and college searching are added on to the list of things to accomplish. When looking at my options of things to do at midnight, writing a good essay does not seem like a great choice. I wrote one of my class assignments at one o'clock in the morning the other night and woke up to another terrible writing that looked like a first grader's work! There is simply not enough time.
Besides not having the time to write a good essay, students feel a sense of laziness. Social media and texting are getting in the way of school work. Students would rather write an essay good enough to pass a class and go fix their addictions by looking at a screen for the rest of their night than taking action. Students give up if they do not understand an essay prompt and write for completion.
Bad essays are not all a student's fault, however. It is nobody's fault. School is no longer fun for anyone. It used to be fun to learn new things, but school makes learning seem like a jail. It is something that has to be done, so it is no fun. In writing a good essay, a student who wants to write will do much better than one who is being forced. This is how almost everything in life goes.
Essays that are not due the next day tend to turn out better than in-class assignments. This time is not always available though, and people need to learn to process their thoughts faster. This can create better essays with less time involved. As soon as writing is learned, it can take a person very far. The time and effort must be put in to achieve great results.
I agree that a large number of students fail to compose good essays due to laziness. One way that this is presented is through many students' disregard for the use of a rubric in their writing. Almost every teacher gives out a rubric when they assign an essay. Rubrics aid students in determining what to include as well as what to avoid in the composition of an essay. While rubrics are incredibly helpful in determining the contents of a piece of writing, I believe students simply do not refer to the rubric - again, because they are too lazy to take its suggestions into account. If a student really cares about getting an exceptional grade, they carefully plan their essay around the rubric so as to be sure they include all that is expected of them. Unfortunately, many students simply do not care. Referring to a rubric simply presents more work for the student as they attempt to construct an essay, and many students are not willing to put forth that effort.
DeleteLearning is no longer as fun as it used to be. At a young age, the quest for knowledge was exciting, and many young students came home to their parents filled with facts. Did you know this? Did you know that? These questions are all patiently endured by parent as their children relate to them what they learned. The joy of knowing something new was easy to see, and so was the children's eagerness to go back.
DeleteAs students grow, their joy diminishes. High school students do not come home to their parents asking their parents "Did you know?" questions. School is not a place of discovery or joy for them. School at the high school level can be compared to a number of things, but the most prominent are jail, a battle, and even the fiery reaches of the underworld. These labels arise from the feelings of fear and imprisonment that students feel when coming to school. Students feel fear and trepidation, and this is a far cry from the joy they once felt.
The joy of learning is taken from students as they mature. Younger children enjoy school because they are not subject to enormous pressure as they learn. They learn at their own pace, and are rewarded when they do well. High school students do not have these luxuries. High school is all about learning as much as possible before students are thrown out into the real world. Students are forced along at a rapid pace as teachers squeeze as much out of the curriculum as possible. Assignments are piled on their shoulders until they collapse under their weight. Still they carry on, using weekends as a way to alleviate their suffering.
In this setting, is it any surprise that students do not do well, or are not meeting standards? When the most common analogy about homework is drowning in it, why are teachers upset when assignments are not high quality? Learning can bring great joy when one learns because they are curious. When learning is turned into torture, students find their willingness undermined.
I love your points on how the excitement for learning has been lost. We are being crammed with so much work and information that when we think of school all we can think of is stress. We have all lost the excitement that we had for school when we were younger. I really enjoy your likeness of school as a battle, Ashley. I have thought of this often. It seems like we are constantly fighting a battle between our homework, our teachers, and each other. This is not how it should be. We should not have to feel like we are constantly fighting. I personally know that my favorite class is one where we are not pressured with large amounts of work. I also am able to learn a lot in this class and do very well in it. I think that we would be able to learn so much more if our environment and workload was more relaxed.
DeleteI agree very much that time is pressed. Personally I am en extremely busy person basically all my life is anymore is school and work. I couldn't tell you the last time I did something with my family. being a teenager isn't all about school. I think that it's a time where we find who we really are. We can't be expected to find ourselves if all we do is homework. I also agree but disagree that learning is no longer appealing. In elementary school learning anything was awesome. Now in high school, some things, not many, are appealing. I don't enjoy learning about certain things. I disagree though because I really enjoy some subjects in school. I believe that writing is a skill not everyone has. I know many people who can write incredibly. I myself, cannot write very well. But I have other skills that some don't.
DeleteThere are many reasons as to why students struggle to write essays, and it varies depending on the student. Many students see writing as a burden, and each time an essay is assigned, moans and groans from the class are almost inevitable. I think that one major reason for this is that many students are not accustomed to a distinct writing process. Each year, more and more essays are assigned, and students use the same process they always have, because they do not know any other way. The teachers proceed to grade the essays, and often give the student a poor grade with no real explanation as to why. The truth is, many students, upon receiving an essay prompt, proceed to write down every thought that comes to mind regarding the subject, until they reach the page requirement. As a result, teachers will deem the students' papers "scattered" and "unorganized" because the students do not understand the general setup of an essay. This is not true for everyone however, as some students have a specific process they use to organize their thoughts into paragraphs. Nonetheless, I believe it would be much more beneficial if a teacher were to explain a suggested process that would aid students in the composition of their essay.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, I believe a major reason as to why students often compose poorly written essays is due to the fact that they simply do not want to. As I stated above, writing an exceptional essay is a process. There is no doubt that it takes a great amount of time to organize one's thoughts, and proceed to execute them in a series of well-written paragraphs. For example, the average amount of time that I personally spend composing an essay is about three hours. Firstly, I need to make sure I understand all that the prompt is asking. I then need to come up with three main points regarding the topic, as well as many details and examples. After all of this, I still need to actually write the essay. This in itself is a whole new process, one that requires a concise execution of the points that I intend to make. Once I have finished typing an essay and realize how much time I have spent so much time on it, I am exhausted and feel as if I never want to write another essay again. Many students, in my opinion, experience this process once, and decide that they do not care enough to do it again. This results in their flippant attitude towards the essay, causing them to spend little time on it and eventually turn in an essay of little effort.
From personal experiences, I know that many students are constantly making up excuses as to why they could not complete an essay. I believe that this in itself shows laziness. Almost every student in the school is busy with sports and extracurricular activities. So why then, are some students able to receive 100% on an essay when they are equally as busy as the students who receive 50%? The answer is simple: some students make it a priority while others do not. Contrary to what many students think, there is always time to complete an assignment. Does this mean one must give up their daily evening tv shows? Probably, yes. Does this mean students must sacrifice a good night's rest. At times, yes. But the fact of the matter is that students do have plenty of time to complete an assignment, it just may take a bit of sacrifice and time management. How many students use extra class time to begin outlining their major points of an essay as opposed to playing games or talking to their friends? From what I've seen, not that many. I believe that the major reason as to why students do not submit good essays is because they simply do not make it a priority, and therefore, do not care.
I think your right. I know that I am not really accustomed to different writing processes. Usually, what I have done has turned out some good essays! But, as you get older the topic gets harder, so you have to change your ways to suit the subject. Because you have to devise a new way to write, it takes some time. So, teachers will deem essays "unorganized" or "scattered." But I think that they forget that we are still students and still figuring writing out for ourselves. We don't get to have all the experience they had not only from teaching, but college! I think that student do the best they do at time, but the more they write and more time goes by, the more experienced they get and the better they do.
DeleteI agree with your points. Many students do tend to get lazy with writing essays. Many also tend to have the right information, but they don't not have it organized in a way the teacher wants it. I also believe that a student can have the paper be organized to his or her own standards but they do not follow the teachers. This could be hard because the student does not know how to make the information better to obtain a high grade. I believe that if a student does bad on an essay but has the right information, the teacher should give them personal helpful comments on how to organize it better.
DeleteMary, I agree that we are always writing to the same common outline of five paragraphs and a three topic thesis statement because we have never leaned any differently. We can be told until the professor is red in the face that out thesis statements are horrible and vague, but if that said professor puts forth the effort of a rock to make progress with teaching us how to write, what says we have to learn? It is a two way street.
DeleteWriting good essays really is a process. The process entails good outlining and planning. One of the most important parts of an essay is the thesis. Many students struggle with this. They simply do not know how to construct a thesis statement even in their Junior year of high school. I don't know why this is. A thesis must have a subject and should definitely show the reader the direction in which the paper is going. A thesis, in other words, should have an attitude. Writing a thesis may differ from a persuasive, argumentative paper to one that is a comparison/contrast; however, the goal is the same. What is the paper about?
ReplyDeleteI have discovered that students who are good readers are the best writers. They tend to have better vocabularies and good methods of expression. This comes from extensive reading through the years. I see that a major problem with students today is that they simply do not read. Even at times when assignments are given, students may skim a novel or an article but not seriously digest the material. This is sad. I often wonder if the use of technology has distracted students from traditional reading of books. But, as I mentioned, writers most often are good readers.
A good writer, in my opinion, is someone who can critically think - someone who is able to develop a thought - someone who is proud of their own ideas that they do not rely on "borrowing" ideas from the Internet. A good writer takes a stand. A good writer will revise and find his/her voice as the process of writing continues.
Ok everyone, I had my say about the subject. Good Luck in your writing!
Students often see the writing of essays as a long, painful, and useless task that teachers force upon them to make their lives miserable. However, the skill of learning to write essays is useful in so many ways, such as when one is applying to college, working on scholarships papers, or writing essays for the SAT's. The task of learning how to write to a professor's standards, though, can be the most difficult part of writing certain essays.
ReplyDeleteThe essay being assigned at the current point in time can always be seen as either difficult or easy. It is nearly impossible to have every single student understand the essay on the same level, but it would help if the professor were to help the students and walk them through it. I understand that it will never be that way in college, but by teaching the students methods to help them learn to understand essays that are assigned will help them tremendously to prepare them for the situations where they will not receive help in college. Also, when it comes to rubrics it would help if they were ALWAYS included with the essay being assigned, not just when it is convenient. The rubric serves basically as a checklist that helps the writer know the outline of what is needed. Without it, how will someone know what they are missing? Different teachers attach them, and certain teachers do not. It essentially comes down to who you, as a student, are writing for. The point of students having to learn who to write for also comes down to the way the professor teaches. Students can be told that their sentences are awkward, they have bad grammar skills, and they do not know how to form a proper thesis statement until the professor is blue in the face, but if the professor does not take the time to teach the students in the class HOW to write how does he/she expect the students to learn? We, as students, cannot learn without some form of guidance. It is not necessary to take a college level class in high school if one is not being taught how to write and prepared for college. Sometimes it is a possibility that a professor is viewing their pupils at too high a standard, but at the same time students need to be challenged. Without challenge how does one expect to achieve greatness?
The final question of the blog came down to the question of, "Are students afraid to write?" The answer, out of opinion, is yes. The grading that comes along with our abilities to write is terrifying simply because one person could submit an essay with the absolute optimism and the next day find out that they got a 30 percent on it. How does a professor expect a group of teenagers to passionately write about something that took place thousands of years ago? Students often times try to BS essays to get by because the information the essay is based on has nothing to do with what they care about. If a person doesn't care how are they expected to write a beautiful essay about it. There is so much fear when it comes to writing essays because sometimes it can be compared to playing Russian roulette; there is no idea what the grade of it can end up being or what kind of destruction it can end up doing to the overall grade in the class. It is so difficult to write, simply because we do not know how to write to certain standards and we live in fear of a number that can make or break our GPA.
I think that is it hard to write to a professor's standards too. I am so used to writing in a variety of viewpoints from my last english class! But then, I come to AP Lang, everything is formal and written in the third person. The topics are all about people whom I have never heard of, and now I am expected to write a wonderful essay about them? Its hard! I think once you get into the swing of things, it gets easier, but when a class begins, it takes a lot of trial and error to learn about you professor. The trial and error usually wrecks some havoc on your grade, but I guess you just have to keep the end in mind and think of all the skills you will learn!
DeleteJenna, it is true that students have a hard time writing about something that does not matter to them. Emotion is important in an essay, and where there is no emotion, there is no attraction. People will not like an essay that they cannot connect with. Some of the things students have to read make no sense to them, so they need to do research. Laziness takes over as philosophers from years ago make no difference in a teenager's life today. Maybe comparing and contrasting these types of them go do not matter, but being able to write does. Everything has a point, and teenagers need to be more open-minded before they start to write.
DeleteI think that you are completely correct in saying that it depends on who the student is writing for. It is no secret that some teachers are simply harder on their students than others. Some teachers expect more, and some teachers are satisfied easier. This has become apparent for me personally. Some of the essays I would write for a a certain teacher would receive 100%, but some essays with this same writing style would receive a lower grade from another teacher. It all comes down to how the teacher views the essay. While some teachers disagree with certain word uses, other teachers may disregard that aspect, and instead claim to dislike the structure of a specific sentence. Some teachers simply make corrections to fit the way that they would write the essay, while others are more lenient and accept a variety of writing styles. From the student's viewpoint, this may seem unfair. And perhaps it is, to an extent. However, it is very important that a student take initiative in discovering the grading styles of each teacher, and conform their essays to meet these standards.
DeleteWhen teachers want students to write well, they often give them a set of guidelines and do not actually teach them. They give students a grade and only hint as to what is wrong: "Vary sentence structure." Some students may see this as unfair because they cannot learn if they are not taught. However, most teachers will provide other resources for student use. Not every English class will sit down and do exercises from a workbook. At a higher level course, the extra resources the instructor provides take the place of this elementary form of learning.
DeleteThe most common resource teachers provide is a textbook. Textbooks contain the majority of knowledge that will be found in the course itself. English textbooks give examples as to how essays are formatted, and provide examples too. Other resources are writing handbooks, a vital part of learning basic grammar mistakes. Using all the given resources will help students learn skills outside of class.
A different kind of guideline is a rubric. Rubrics are a student's dream. A rubric is the framework of an essay, just as a study guide is the structure of a test. When teachers supply rubrics, students are given the opportunity to build their essay based on what the teacher will look for. Knowing a teacher wants an interesting title can save someone a few points if they usually only give generic titles. Following a rubric helps students do well.
When teachers do not teach during class, it is often because they have provided students with a way to acquire this knowledge outside of class time. When students do not use their resources, they cheat themselves of points. By stepping up and trying to improve upon what a teacher says needs work, students help themselves understand what they need to fix. Especially in a higher level English course, a teacher does not have time to spell out what students need to fix. The vague hints for improvement should push students into discovering what they need to do on their own time. This effort will expand the students knowledge far beyond anything the teacher could accomplish in class.
I agree with you, Jenna. Even if it is a faster paced course in high school, teachers must realize it is in fact still high school. Students still need more building blocks before their time in college comes. Asking a teacher for one on one help may be embarrassing for some students. It is the teacher's job to teach, therefore there is no reason a bad grade must be repeatedly based on the same thing. The teacher and student should both fix it, but the teacher should try to fix the problem with the student or group of students having the same problem. For example if none of the students awe using something correctly, the teacher should use class time to explain how.
DeleteI think that most of the time students write for the grade, and are not really absorbed in the topic or interested in it. After all, most students don't write for fun on their own time. All of the writing done by students is usually done for school. Because their grade relies on how they do, I think that they write the essay to write it. They figure, "I will write the paper to the best of my ability, and get it over with." I know I am guilty of this sometimes. I just want to get a good grade on the paper. If we are writing about a topic that I am passionate about, I put more work into it because its something I enjoy talking about. I believe that most people do that too. If you enjoy doing something, then you want to spend more time doing it. If you don't, then you will want to get it done.
ReplyDeleteI think that is is partly due to the topics given to the students by the teachers. Of course students do not want to write about philosophers from thousands of years ago or talk about the history of the American Government! They are certainly not the most interesting topics in the world! They are hard to relate to. It makes feelings toward them even worse when you have to continue writing about them. I know I experienced this when writing about Machiavelli. My last paper was not as good as it could be, not because I couldn't do it, but I was tired of writing about philosophers! When you have to keep writing about the same person or group of people, you run out of ideas. Even when your prompts are similar or you are writing the same kind of essay, you struggle to figure out new ideas to help augment your topic. And, you know you still have to write about it to keep your GPA up!
So, students turn to the internet and to other people for new ideas and help to write their essay. And then, you teacher's idea of what the essay should sound like not might be what you write! So even though you have tried to write on your own as well as enlist some help from others, your teacher still doesn't think its good enough! It frustrates students. You never know what to expect or what to write. Because of this, it makes writing a pain. I could be harming myself, or helping myself. Does my teacher like my essay today, or does she think it is not as good as it could be? How is my style? How is my grammar? I just want to get this over with and just turn it in! All of a sudden, you don't even want to write anymore. For some students, it gets to the point where they mind as well just throw in the towel and write whatever. but I don't believe in that.
You do need to know how to write. It is used for the SATs, in your career, and in your life! Will I have to write another essay about Machiavelli in college? Probably not. But can I used the skills I learned about writing and apply them to other papers? Absolutely! Many times when students are in the thick of it, they forget about why they are writing. But I think that when people step back and look at why they are writing, they can rationalize it and realize that is not as bad as they thought.
Anything that is not fun is a chore and a hard task to complete. Writing is not fun for people today because there are better things to do that students are more interested in. It is true that even though a student does not want to write a paper, it is necessary. I liked the point that you made when saying Machiavelli might not be important later on, but writing will be. Sometimes I am under the impression that nothing we are learning about matters. I then have to take a step back and look at the work ethics that I am obtaining. Ideas are being overloaded into our heads that make us better writers. The only way to write a good essay is to practice and until this year, that has not been done but a couple of times a year. We never had to worry about writing essays every week and that is why most people are struggling. You have to start somewhere. Right?
DeleteOlivia, I agree with you on the idea that students only write for a letter grade. Students tend not care about the topic being written. They tend to only care of the out come of the grade. They simply write to complete a homework assignment. It is quite a shame however because writing is a wonderful skill. The more we write by concentrating on what we are writing, the more improved our skills will be. If we write essays upon essays without trying we are not benefiting. We must all try to write to understand a topic instead of just trying to finish a for a grade.
DeleteWriting an essay is considered one of the hardest homework assignments by many students. There is no perfect way to write, and each student has a different way to express themselves with their words. Many students struggle to write due to inexperience. A lack of familiarity with the writing process damages a student's ability to write properly; however, the writing process itself is only a small part of why students cannot write well. More prominent factors are found when one considers the other obligations involved when writing an essay.
ReplyDeleteFinding the time to write can be a struggle. Students are involved in a variety of extracurricular activities that fill their afternoons. Sports, clubs, and jobs all require a commitment of time on the part of a student. Many of these activities take place after school, leaving only the evening open. Thus, evenings become filled with homework as a student desperately tries to complete their work and fall into bed. Time is an essential factor when writing an essay. In order to write a good essay, a student must plan it, write it, and revise it. Often the revision and writing are repeated several times in order to finalize the student's ideas. These steps add up, and many students do not follow them so that their essay requires less time from them. Why spend extra time on something when there is not enough time for everything in and of itself? Writing takes time that students simply do not have.
Abandoning the writing process to reduce the necessary time for writing greatly affects how well an essay is written. The writing process is a toolbox filled with skills that are used to build a great essay. Ordering thoughts on paper, fulfilling the prompt, and using correct grammar are all important tools found in the writing process. These skills are developed through practice, and when they are not practiced, they crumble to pieces. Using the writing process every time an essay is written allows a student's writing skills to stay sharp. In order for an essay to be well written, the writing process must be followed each time.
Technological shortcuts also prove detrimental to writing ability. When students write, they rely on tools such as spellcheckers and the Internet to correct their mistakes. These tools can be helpful, but are also fallible. Single-minded trust of a machine does not help a student learn to write. The prevalence of written work found within the Internet also provides a more immoral shortcut. Plagiarism is a common problem in today's classrooms, and contributes to the degradation of writing skills. When writing, students should utilize their own skills before they turn to other resources.
Despite these underlying issues, one must consider the individuality of each student. Any teacher can read an essay and pick out grammatical errors. These imperfections are easily judged as bad, and contribute to the label of a "bad essay." How are teachers to judge the style of a student? Because each student writes in their own style, every essay about a given topic sounds incredibly different from one another. What makes one style "better" than another? A teacher cannot grade the voice of an assignment. The voice is what gives an essay life and truth. Voice lends an insight into the writer's mind, showing how they think and reason. One cannot think improperly, and voice is a materialization of thought. Voice is different, not wrong or bad. When many students try to express themselves, they lose their voice. They focus too much on what the teacher wants from them, and express their ideas in a different way. This leads to unclear and inconsistent expression. Students should not have to tailor their thoughts to what they believe someone else likes. They should be able to express themselves as they are, and without fear. A student's individual voice shows their inner beliefs, and gives an essay character.
ReplyDeleteMany students struggle to write good essays for a variety of reasons. Small issues like the writing process and reliance on imperfect technology hinder their ability to think for themselves and organize their thoughts. Larger issues such as time also add weight to their burden. One of the biggest issues in writing comes from a student's voice. Voice is a mode of individual expression that is often lost under the pressure of teachers. In order to write a good essay, students need to express themselves freely. The major problems that come with writing are all easily fixed. A student just needs to tell the truth. If they use true words, true thoughts, and true beliefs, their essay will be truly good.
I do not believe that students write bad essays. I also do not believe that laziness does not contribute to the quality of an essay. Frustration is one of the main factors that plays a part in how an essay turns out. I also strongly believe that teachers expect perfection from us in our essays. However, this is unrealistic. I think that students are of capable of writing “good” essays because no matter how long or what they write, it is always wrong.
ReplyDeleteWhen given an assignment, students generally go through the same process. This includes brainstorming, acquiring information, creating an outline, making a rough draft, and then producing a final copy. I have spent several hours going through the process of writing and producing an essay that I was truly proud of. After the assignment was returned, I found that I received a horrible grade. I know that other students have gone through the same situation. We send so much time and effort on the material we submit, only to find that our best is simply not good enough. Why is this not good enough? This is when we start to become frustrated. Less and less time is spent on essays because we spent hours writing several good essays that have been returned with atrocious grades. We begin to write only what we expect the teacher to want of us. Is this really learning? I think that frustration is a key factor in writing essays because no matter what we do, it is never good enough.
I do not think that school is a learning environment at this stage of our life. We are not encouraged to be creative anymore. If we do not think or feel the same way as our teachers, we will receive a bad grade. Many teachers say that they encourage disagreements and debates but this is simply not true. If an individual expresses different ideals or viewpoints than a professor, you will not receive the type of grade that another individual who agrees with the professor would receive. As students receive poor grades they begin to write only to please their professor. This is not learning or enhancing our educational processes. However, what else is a student to do? If you write what you feel, you fail but if you write towards the professors views, you are not truly learning. This is a sad reality that we cannot even count on our teachers to grade our papers without bias and with fairness.
I believe that our writing process is completely rushed. It takes many hours to put together a well written essay. How are we expected to write a several page essay overnight when have so much going on in our life. Between sports, band, school activities, and other school work how are we expected to turn in a perfect essay the next day. I know many students in this class have stayed up into the very early hours of the morning to make sure they have an essay to turn in the next day. Also, many times we are not even given practice with writing before we are expected to turn in an essay. Why are we given a grade on an essay that uses a new style we are not accustomed to? This is like someone who has never played baseball before and giving them a bat and expecting them to hit a home run. It is unrealistic to think that students can just be given a new genre of essay and write perfectly. This also plays into the frustration factor because students become frustrated very easily when they are expected to be perfect without practice. I simply believe that professor expect too much out of students. This becomes very frustrating because no matter what we write or think, it is wrong. This is a sad reality but it becomes truer every day.
Abbey I agree with all of your points. They can be summed into one thing, thinking like the teacher. I often second guess my thoughts and ask my self, will the teacher agree with me? Then I have to change my personal opinions in order to make them acceptable to the teacher I am writing the essay for. It is very sad that we have to do that and cannot continue our creativity in the essay. I believe that our own opinions make the essay ours, and no one else's. No one has the same exact opinion, it sad that we do have to make our opinions the same as the teacher. Then is it our own essay? Our own opinions? I don't believe so.
DeleteAbbey, I appreciate your comments - as you are entitled in a blog to offer your perspective on the topic at hand. I do have to disagree with some of your points though. Let me explain, from a professional teacher's perspective, why teachers do not expect perfection from student writing as you claim. Let's be realistic now. I can honestly say that I know a school in the northwest part of Pennsylvania where three of their five English teachers give only 2-3 writing assignments the entire school year. Those three teachers also give 90% or higher on the majority of the student papers. When the students graduate and move on to university, they are lost and shocked to discover that the 90% papers they did in high school are now failing papers at university. I would love to name the school but as part of my promise to them (when doing my research a few years back), I cannot use their name. Since then, they have overhauled their English Department for the purpose of addressing inefficiencies in their curriculum.
DeleteWIth that said, students may not realize that grammar and writing are instructed at high levels in Middle School. The High School curriculum does not focus on that (across the USA). The focus is on reading, writing analytically, and thinking critically. Therefore, when students assume that teachers in high school are not being creative in their writing assignments anymore it is because the focus is now on critical thinking. The AP English Language course is based on non-fiction, using and identifying rhetorical strategies in persuasive/argumentative speeches and documents, and in being able to detect logical fallacies that often show a writer's lack of logic when trying to convince the audience of his/her position. These are all skills that take time. High School, and more specifically, AP English Language is a course that students in some highly academic schools, beg to get into but often cannot due to a restriction on how many students can be in one AP class (15 students is standard). If students want to work on creative writing, that is an entire different course. Here, we write analytically and most students have not been exposed to this before. If students are really sincere about wanting to be educated, they have to take a more mature outlook about their own skill development. Anything worth achieving is worth working for. All of you students are important to me. I will not cheat any of you in order to gain popularity as a teacher. Many students never appreciate the hard work and many hours of preparation that I invest in student success. You are all worth it to me whether you appreciate it now or several years later when you are dealing with university expectations. It is not fair to say that "if you write what you feel, you fail". This is very far from the truth although you and others may believe it. I believe most teachers are thrilled when students write what they feel. If the grade turns out less than a student expects, the rubric should show where the points are lacking.
Again, thank you for your post. I think this is a wonderful avenue for students to express themselves. I do hope you appreciate my input also.
I completely agree with you, Abbey. Many teachers do not realize students have many more obligations than just school. Also along with this, is opinion. What is inadequate to one teacher may be extraordinary to another. Each person views each aspect differently. I also agree that atrocious grades is a huge holdback. Getting bad grades when I try really hard makes me not want to try as hard, because what is the point if I fail anyways. If a teacher wants a certain skill developed, then it would make sense for them to sit the students down and explain how it should be done. Repeated failure should be confronted.
DeleteAbbey, I cannot agree with you more. Every time we write essays for a professor and we feel as though we poured our hearts and souls into it, it always seems as though we get poor grades. This not only hurts our grade, but our self-confidence as writers as well. That is truly why we struggle so badly. We get so defeated after so many failed essays that we just give up and say "I don't care anymore." It gets to a certain point that it is ridiculous.
DeleteThis is my favorite blog. I have turned in papers that I was truly proud of and I got a failing or close to failing grade on. This is so frustrating and disappointing. When students get frustrated and disappointed, they start to not care because they realize that their best isn't good enough. Thinking like the teacher is a lot of what it boils down to. I don't think that we learn when we write essays.
DeleteStudents tend to be overwhelmed with essay at times. They are not usually nervous with the assignment. I believe they get overwhelmed with what information the teacher wants, how to get the information a crossed clearly and whether the essay is good enough or not.
ReplyDeleteThe prompt is almost always clear to the student and makes it easier for the students to compose the essay. Sometimes the prompt may be open for many different thoughts and ways a student could go about writing it. This is when the student may get nervous about what information the teacher is looking for. It is almost like the students mind has to think like the teachers in order to have the right points to the essay.
Another difficult part is how to get the information a crossed in a clear way. The student could have the right information but they way they represent it could make the information terrible. Students then get worried about their sentence structure and second guess themselves. This could be a major part in having a hard time writing an essay. The information could make or break your grade. I think that psyches out the student.
A student could read over their essay many times and fund mistakes every time. They might not even be mistakes at all because the student second guesses them self. The look at the essay and think is this good enough? Does it have all the requirements? Is it long enough? Many of these questions like, is it long enough? Make the student overwhelmed with getting all their information in the page requirements. I believe that if a student has all the good information they should not have to worry about the page length. Many students suffer from these problems. They might also suffer from having laziness, procrastination, and just not wanting to do it. Others might not think that they are able to write the essay to meet the teachers requirements. There are many possibilities in why students cannot write a good essay at times.
I agree with our statement that it is not the essay but the information the teacher wants in the essay. Many times the student understands what the prompt is asking, but they cannot think of a way to bring about the information the teacher would like to have inside the essay. The student may tend to stress over the idea causing them to have a mind block in their thoughts. One of the worst feeling a student can have is the feeling of not being able to accomplish a task to the likings of a teacher. I believe this is why many students do not like composing essays.
DeleteMadison, I agree with you on this one. I find myself getting frustrated a lot when I have to write an essay. And I always ask myself those exact same questions. I want to write the best essay of all time, but I feel my frustration with fitting in all the requirements just kills me. I find myself wanting to just punch someone when maybe my concluding paragraph comes up two lines short of a complete page. Since I cannot punch someone, I settle for chucking my laptop across my bedroom. I also find myself to be really lazy. So that slows me down in my writing process. But I guess that is just how it is
DeleteI agree with you, Maddie. I sometimes find it harder to follow a rubric. I feel like I am not able to fit in all the information that is required. I become more focused on that than writing a good essay. I also become very frustrated when writing an essay because I do tend to second guess myself a lot when writing an essay. I never know if I am making a mistake or not. The essay writing process is a very hard task for students to do.
DeleteWhy is it so hard for students to write good essays? Well... this is a difficult question to answer. A lot of kids just do not care. I think that lots of kids would rather just not write an essay. It is difficult to write essays, so I do not blame these kids that despise writing them. I, personally, hate writing essays. My relaxed style of writing clashes with formal style of writing required in this class. Last year, with Mr. Scutella, I loved writing because he loved all of my essays. The essay I wrote for my midterm is laminated in his room. I recognize though that it is important to be able to write a formal paper.
ReplyDeleteThat is enough about me, I guess this prompt is about what other kids think. I believe that the prompts teachers make students write...are...well...to put it bluntly, unengaging and boring. Students do not care what the difference between Socrate's ideas, Cicero's ideas, and Dekinawadah's ideas are. They also do not care about the Equal Rights Amendment. They do not care about the gravitational pull of dark matter. (I find that interesting, but ignore me because what I think does not matter) The point is though, if students wrote about something interesting, they may be more inclined to write better. They would actually care about what they were writing. For me, I like math, science, and physics. I would write a very interesting paper about string theory and the demise of the universe. Other kids would write very interesting papers about video games. Still, others would write interesting papers about artwork and artists. The list of things people are interested in goes on forever. But these papers about interesting things would be so much better then essays on unengaging topics.
(This is a continuation of my first part)
DeleteI guess unengaging topics will continue to be handed out school-wide, not just in our class. Teacher expectations, though, are way too high. They give a topic that is not very interesting or engaging, and then expect students to pour their heart and soul into that paper. I know some students manage to do this. I cannot pour my heart and soul into a paper unless I actually feel I have a real reason to write it, other then I will fail if I do not write it. I personally, will only write papers for the grade. Other students only write papers for the grade, too, so I have no shame in saying that. But if students feel that it is like going to hell and back to write a good essay, why should teachers expect students to write an essay for anything more than the grade? So now students submit their papers, and teachers grade them. Teachers expect students to pour their heart and soul into a paper, but on at least 50% of the papers this did not happen, and it is obvious from reading it. Teachers expect students to write the next The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, but that is just not going to happen. I cannot write a paper that will be considered, "the best ever." I am sure 99% of the people in our school cannot write a paper that could be considered "the best ever." Yet it seems like anything less then perfection is ridiculed.
Probably, and I hope I am right, teachers do not mean to ridicule students. But because this ridiculing seems inevitable, I think a lot of students are afraid to write. Is not the purpose of writing papers to inspire the mind? A lot of students do not get inspired, because they are too busy worrying about what their grade will be. I think this needs to stop. It is fine to write an "okay" essay. It does not have to be the greatest literary work ever written. But teachers grade it as such. If it is not the greatest literary work of all time, it is a failure. These are my thoughts on the matter. Probably I am wrong, because I usually am. But these are my personal thoughts, and thoughts can be changed. So let's send the English teachers a message, writing prompts need to be interesting and engaging. Back in like 5th grade, I remember that there were free writes, where we could write about anything we wanted. They were so much fun. Why is it that now, our creativity is being limited on writing prompts? So I guess what I would like is more interesting writing prompts, and more "free writing days."
Why is writing one of the hardest assignments to accomplish? Writing involves thought and creativity. The more creativity a person has, the greater writing they have. However, this is not true for all writers. I personally can think of ideas and plans for a paper, but I find great difficulty in finding ways to write it down. This especially occurs when I am writing a paper I know little knowledge about. I have ideas in my head of what I could write about, but I have a rough time writing it down.
DeleteI believe students sometimes have a rough time writing because they are unsure of their own personal style. No writing style is the same, everyone has different ways and techniques to get their point across to the reader. Not knowing the style of writing that best suits the writer can cause confusion. The confusion is trying to write a certain way, but not being able to follow through because the writing makes no sense. The best example is someone who can write but has difficulty in the use of vocabulary. Everyone wants to sound intelligent, but when the writer is trying to hard, the paper becomes more confusing. Students may feel forced to write a certain way because that is how they teacher recommends or prefers. The key to improve writing is by practice.
Practice makes perfect, this especially when it comes down to writing a quality essay. Unfortunately, this is very difficult because students tend not to write unless the writing is for an assignment. When asking students whether or not they are writing for the grade or to have better understanding and finding the purpose of the topic, most students will answer by saying they complete the assignment for the grade. Students tend not to write as much because the have little time especially if they are involved with extra circular activities. These activities cause students to push back their assignment on to the last minuet, causing their writing to be rushed and not written to their full potential. This is truly a shame because writing is the key for many success in the future. When the students do not take the time to write, they miss many of the important parts in constructing a quality essay.
Writing can be beautiful if done correctly. Students all have the potential for near perfect papers, it just has to do with the amount of effort and the amount of writing the student does. Students should take writing seriously because it is a way to express your beliefs or discover unknown information.
Everyday students are challenged to push their mental abilities throughout many diverse tasks. One of the most common is to put their thoughts and knowledge into an essay. There are many different forms of essays, but there is an even more diverse set of setbacks. Since every person is ultimately different, there is a plethora of reasons students cannot articulate their thoughts well for an essay.
ReplyDeleteOne of the drawbacks many students may experience while attempting to write an essay may be a lack of knowledge. Every student has their strong abilities and weak abilities. It would be more difficult for a student to write in depth about a subject they do not have much knowledge or understanding on. Another factor could be lack of experience. For example, if a student is asked to write a paper on homelessness, a student who has lived a sheltered life and knows no one or nothing about homelessness may struggle. Another student in that class however may have lived a period of their life without having a home or basic necessities, this experience would make their essay much more personal, in depth, and contain much more information. Another example is the Leaders of Democracy essay. A student who has veteran relatives has a source of information and is more likely to feel more pride than someone who does not have any relatives to share if information with. This can cause a difference of beliefs. A person with family in the army may believe veterans and servicemen are the most important people in society, where as somebody who does not have any in their life may not share that same view.
Another drawback to writing a good essay may be a difference of views. If a teacher in a Catholic school asks their students to write an essay on how God helps people, the students who have a strong belief in God have a higher chance of excelling. Other students may not share these religious views and therefore not have an opinion on the topic. They may be atheists, who do not believe in god, agnostic, which is skepticism about the existence of a god, or the student could believe in a different religion such as Buddhism. The absence of this core belief may cause the student to struggle in conjuring up a good essay with strong key points, where as the kids with a strong belief in a God would excel. Another example would be an essay about our city of St. Mary's, perhaps a teacher asks students to write about the best things in our city, a student who loves Saint Marys will have an easy time embracing this place, while a student who is resentful in being in the town of Saint Marys will have no desire to write the essay or have anything they believe would be good in Saint Marys.
Another impediment for students to write a good essay may be failing to manage time efficiently. America is a country full of students doing extracurricular activities varying from jobs to athletics to musical instruments. Yes, grades should be a top priority for college, but in today's society colleges are not only looking at grades, but extracurricular activities, therefore it is imperative for students to have a list of activities and volunteer work. The trouble comes from not knowing how to manage one's time. Different people have different needs based on their needed amount of sleep. Some students can stay up until one in the morning and function fully find the next day, while another student may pass out at 10 o'clock at night before finishing all of their needed work because they could not stay awake any longer.
One last main hindrance for students who do not excel in writing good essays is being lazy. These are typically the students that just don't care. There may be various reasons why they do not care, some people don't find school to be important, some don't find the assignment to have any importance, and some people don't have any aspirations of going to college or getting a competitive career. Whatever the reason, these students tend to blow off essays without a care.
ReplyDeleteOf course, there are many more reasons as to why a good essay may not be achievable for different students, but these are what I believe to be the main reasons. Everyone was born different and unique to make this world an interesting place. Setting the same standard on everybody may just be wrong. Wrong or right, these essays are required all throughout education on all levels. Therefore, everyone should try to overcome their challenges.
Students today are having trouble writing good essays, unlike the generation before them, for many reasons. Some students simply do not understand the task that is given to them. Sometimes, the teachers's expectations are simply set too high. There are also some students that rely on other people to do their work for them, so when the time comes to write their own essay, they do poorly on it. There are plenty of reasons why students today are having trouble with their essays.
ReplyDeleteSome concepts are very hard for students to grasp. Students all learn in different ways, and at different speeds, but some teachers refuse to speed up for the smarter ones or slow down for the less intelligent ones. Not every teacher realizes the struggle that their students go through in order to understand the subject at hand so therefore they call the students lazy because they do not want to have to deal with the fact that their students are struggling. Not one student is the same. Some aspects come easier to some students that it does to other students. For example, one student might be excellent in an advanced math course while they are failing in an English course. Does this mean that since they are good at math that they will presumably be good at English? Does it mean that if a student is excelling in one class that they will excel in all of their classes? Perhaps teachers are looking at students in the wrong way.
Even though that some students are struggling to understand the topic for the essays, sometimes, the teachers expectations are just too high. Teachers in general all want their students to succeed, but most teachers set a certain standard for their students in which, most students cannot reach. Teachers think that every student is intelligent in every subject, but some students are more intelligent in some subjects than other subjects. When teachers see students excel in one class they automatically assume that they are going to do well in every class. This theory, however is not the case. When students try to live up to the expectations that the teachers put on them, they feel horrible that they cannot actually do what the teacher thinks they can do.
Some students rely on other people and other things, such as technology, to do their work for them. This is another reason why some essays are not as good as they should be. Some students do not do their homework when they are given it, instead they ask other people for answers or find the answers on the Internet. Since they rely on so many different sources to do their work for them, they have trouble writing an essay when the time comes. They spend all their time looking for the answers on the Internet when they could just be doing the work and saving them the trouble later.
There are many different scenarios to which students could be having trouble writing good essays. Students could be having trouble understanding the material that the essay is about, or they could simply not understand the question that the essay is suppose to answer. Another reason that students are failing to do well on essays is because the teachers could have too high of expectations for the students. Finally, the students could also be relying on other people to do their work for them so when the time comes, they are not able to do the work for themselves. Students are struggling to write essays for many reasons.
When one considers what makes a good essay they must look for what they want. Different people look for one of two things, length or quality. I personally like quality over quantity. I think most teachers like this which is why the give us so many tools such as rubrics. I think that some teachers have a good expectation for their students which I think makes the students strive for a good grade yet they still feel comfortable at the same time. I think that when a teacher sets their expectations too high students panic and look towards alternate means of information gathering. I believe to make a good essay you need to know what you want to see.
ReplyDeleteI personally find that a lot of times when a teacher gives a set page limit, it requires the student to fit quality in side a small quantity. I find that this makes a good information rich paper that does not bore the reader. The struggle is when a teacher sets a lengthy minimum of pages. I personally find myself struggling to think of what to fill my pages with. This habit leads towards a bad paper that does not keep the reader interested and does not have a good structure. I think that students these days work towards a grade not a discussion.
I find that a good essay should put up a argumentative discussion. If every paper you read was what you wanted to hear, they would get very boring very fast. To have a good essay you need to write a paper That the reader can argue or use to support their own argument. Too many students these days work towards an "A" or what ever their teacher uses to grade. I find this makes rather redundant stories. Just plain old boring, the same thing from every student. I think that kids should actually utilize this opportunity to put their two cents in on the topic at hand. Granted not every student is an expert on every topic, which is how it feels like teachers expect.
I think that some teachers expect too much and if a kid does not know the answer they use the Internet. The Internet could be used for good and for bad in this situation. It could be used for research, but on the other hand it could be used to copy and paste. Does this make the Internet bad? I think not. Does this mean we always go to the Internet for help, to the point of dependency? Maybe sometimes, but that does not make it bad. When utilized correctly it is an amazing tool. I personally use it for some papers but not all of them. I think that students could write a paper on a simple topic just fine with out Internet.
Elric, I completely agree with you. Quality should be a priority over quantity. I know that when I have to write a 10 page essay, I just end up repeating the same things over over again. I believe that page limits should be small and page maximums should be large. I think that a two page paper can be just as good as a 6 page paper. But it is annoying that some teachers place quantity over the actual quality of a paper. They will say that as long as it is 5 pages, you will at least get a B. It is...just...well...stupid. I also believe that the Internet should not be overused. I can write papers just fine without the internet.
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