Academic Writing in English Classes
Comments(1) During the practicum there were many instances where I observed classroom teachers encouraging academic writing development as discussed in this week’s chapter. One of the most effective strategies I found in terms of student understanding and applicability is an essay outline developed by my sponsor English teacher. The structure addresses a typical literary analysis essay, breaking down into one thesis supported by 2-3 premises, each of which is supported by at least 2 proofs which are then linked back to the thesis through explicit explanations and analyses. The premise is defined by the teacher as a literary tool such as character, plot, atmosphere, etc. which form the topics of the body paragraphs of the essay; within each body paragraph, proofs — or textual evidence mostly in the form of direct quotations — are given, explained and analysed with respect to the thesis. The teacher went over this outline with three different classes: IB English 11 as well as regular English 11 and 12.
I felt this outline was effective mostly in how prescribed and methodical it was; the way the teacher presented it was almost scientific. He did stress though that top marks require more than the bare structure given. He gave some examples of where students could show their own creative flair such as in their use of language and sentence variation. In terms of addressing the needs of ELLs, I feel that giving such a solid and detailed structure for the typical English essay is extremely helpful in orienting these students who may be unfamiliar with the English academic writing style.
Lucy Yang
Thank you for sharing your positive experience with us Lucy. I am glad that your school advisor provided such a thorough template for essay writing for his students and that you have found his methods for teaching academic writing to be helpful.
As I read your blog post, I began to consider the ways that academic writing is approached in my content area, which is theatre. Drama classes can vary wildly in the amount of writing that students are encouraged to produce, both creative and academic. Some drama classes include very little academic writing and very little writing in general. Many drama teachers prefer not to include much writing for a number of reasons. For some teachers, there is a persistent worry that if students are asked to write that they will not enjoy the class. This is a concern because students may disengage from the course altogether if they become bored and they may even choose not to take the course in subsequent grades. Also, students who are struggling with writing for any reason may feel demoralized by an emphasis on writing in courses in which they are not expecting to encounter this challenge. Another reason drama teachers may fear asking their students to write is that teachers want to encourage oral and kinesthetic skills more than writing, because theatre is a performance art.
These are all legitimate concerns. However, I believe that it is a disservice to students to not incorporate both creative and academic writing into theatre classes, as these skills are absolutely necessary for the professional world of theatre (not to mention post-secondary theatrical training programs). Also, theatre has its own creative and academic writing genres that students need to know how to identify and use. Therefore, I believe that it is essential that students do both informal and formal writing activities in theatre classes. However, the crucial element to these activities is that they must be engaging and enjoyable for the students. If this is the case, the fears teachers have in relation to writing in their drama courses would no longer be valid, as students would be happy to complete the activities and would not try to avoid them. One of the examples of such activities is writing a short review of a performance. Students love to voice their opinions and this activity gives them a constructive method in which to discuss and critique the work of professionals and/or more experienced practitioners. Other examples are character biographies, favorite actor research projects, production proposals etc. All of these assignments allow the students to study and write about a topic that they are interested in and allows them to express creativity and to voice their own opinions. Also, encouraging students to work in groups to pre-write, write, and/or share their writing makes the activities even more enjoyable and promotes oral language, as well as fostering cooperative skills.
I intend to use assignments such as these in my theater classrooms in order to make enjoyable academic writing part of my curriculum.
Melanie Reich