Popsicle Stick Method

The first time I learned how to write an essay was in seventh grade. I vividly remember my teacher placing a ziploc bag on each student’s desk. The transparent plastic revealed a combination of colorful popsicle sticks. Listening to my teacher, I dumped the sticks onto my desk. I began to sort the sticks by the different colors. I put the yellow sticks in the upper left hand corner of my desk, the red in the upper right, the blue in the middle, and finally I put the green sticks near the bottom. The different colored sticks represented the introduction statement, thesis, supporting ideas, conclusion, and other tools used in an essay. My teacher would tell the class what color of stick needed to go where to make a correct essay. Throughout my junior high years this method was brought up multiple times. I believe this was a successful teaching tool, but from this way of learning I always believed an essay had only five paragraphs. This was frustrating when I was assigned research papers that were required to be at least five pages. It seems like I had one huge paragraph, that could have been cut into three distinct paragraphs, on each page. Along with formatting the essay I also was taught to brainstorm, create outlines, and revise.

One might think that as soon as I entered college I was corrected of my former wrong doings in essay writing. This wasn’t necessarily the case. My English 1010 class was different from most 1010 classes. Throughout the fifteen-week semester I was required to write four papers. My professor was very vague in the requirements of the paper. Basically, they just wanted us to write our feelings about the things we had discussed in class. I enjoyed the fact that I could write about whatever I wanted to, but this didn’t help me become a better writing. My professor didn’t grade on global or local issues, just whether or not they liked the subject matter. To top it off, during class my professor never taught how to write a college essay, which should be a fundamental concept in a 1010 class.

In my case, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. One of the most dreaded classes on campus is English 2010, but this class helped me in multiple ways. My professor was very blunt in how a college essay is supposed to be written and I learned what weaknesses and strengths I have when it comes to writing. Most important, I learned that writing is a process.