Essays, what a process!
In tenth grade I had a world history teacher named...oh lets call him Mr. X. Since then I have had very mixed feelings about this man. On one hand I am somewhat grateful I had him as a teacher, and on the other I have sort of a grudge toward him. One part of the grudge comes from the fact that I had inadvertently told the man that he wasn't a very good teacher. Let me explain. As a young, innocent sophomore I never meant to insult him but rather seek his advice. Whlie inquiring about a difficult class I would be taking in next year I may have mentioned that I was a bit too smart for his class, and I definitely needed something more challenging. In return he took this as an insult.
Anyway, (Oops) I have gotten beside the point. The reason I am grateful for Mr. X is because he was the first person that demonstrated an essay to me. He taught my class exactly how to write a five paragraph essay, down to the last detail. Now this lesson was indeed very good, but it was also very bad. If you’ve ever had a high school teacher teach you how to write a five paragraph essay, then you’ll understand what I’m talking about. Mr. X taught us the basics: thesis statement (which I really didn’t know what one was), three supporting sentences, three paragraphs for your supporting sentences, and lastly, as a conclusion, your written, word-for-word introduction. Here’s where the real gudge comes in. This first process that I learned is so mechanical that it took an extraordinary amount of energy to learn how to get out of it.
It wasn’t until twelfth grade that I started to understand how an essay really works. I took Composition and Literature with a Mr. Hansen. Hansen was a wee bit of a weird guy but very intellectual. He taught me how to get out of the mechanics of an essay. He taught me how to incorporate literature, thoughts, and ideas into my own ideas. He taught me what it meant to support an idea! He definitely taught me a lot, but one thing that I was still shaky on before I entered college, and yes I’m going to say it, was the “flow” of an essay. I had my ideas, they were somewhat supported, and my essays weren’t exactly mechanical, but the whole paper really didn’t seem to fit together just right.
This is where my last mentor comes in. For English 2010 I had Dr. Hogge. He’s the one that really pieced everything together for me. He really helped me to understand the whole writing process, including preparation, which I had really never done before. My intro was complete, my body paragraphs, which were now full, concrete paragraphs, connected back and elaborated on my thesis, and my conclusion created a sense of finality, not a door for more information. My essays finally flowed! Also, the citations I made in my essays were there for a purpose: to emphasize, back up, and elaborate my own ideas and create new ideas. At this point I finally felt good about my writing. So, if you see Dr. Hogge in the halls, then give him a pat on the back and tell him thanks for me. But if you ever happen to see Mr. X, um…..nevermind.
Anyway, (Oops) I have gotten beside the point. The reason I am grateful for Mr. X is because he was the first person that demonstrated an essay to me. He taught my class exactly how to write a five paragraph essay, down to the last detail. Now this lesson was indeed very good, but it was also very bad. If you’ve ever had a high school teacher teach you how to write a five paragraph essay, then you’ll understand what I’m talking about. Mr. X taught us the basics: thesis statement (which I really didn’t know what one was), three supporting sentences, three paragraphs for your supporting sentences, and lastly, as a conclusion, your written, word-for-word introduction. Here’s where the real gudge comes in. This first process that I learned is so mechanical that it took an extraordinary amount of energy to learn how to get out of it.
It wasn’t until twelfth grade that I started to understand how an essay really works. I took Composition and Literature with a Mr. Hansen. Hansen was a wee bit of a weird guy but very intellectual. He taught me how to get out of the mechanics of an essay. He taught me how to incorporate literature, thoughts, and ideas into my own ideas. He taught me what it meant to support an idea! He definitely taught me a lot, but one thing that I was still shaky on before I entered college, and yes I’m going to say it, was the “flow” of an essay. I had my ideas, they were somewhat supported, and my essays weren’t exactly mechanical, but the whole paper really didn’t seem to fit together just right.
This is where my last mentor comes in. For English 2010 I had Dr. Hogge. He’s the one that really pieced everything together for me. He really helped me to understand the whole writing process, including preparation, which I had really never done before. My intro was complete, my body paragraphs, which were now full, concrete paragraphs, connected back and elaborated on my thesis, and my conclusion created a sense of finality, not a door for more information. My essays finally flowed! Also, the citations I made in my essays were there for a purpose: to emphasize, back up, and elaborate my own ideas and create new ideas. At this point I finally felt good about my writing. So, if you see Dr. Hogge in the halls, then give him a pat on the back and tell him thanks for me. But if you ever happen to see Mr. X, um…..nevermind.
posted by Anonymous at 3:42 PM
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