Chapter 32 Preparing for Tests:
Lesson 3 Answering Essay Questions:
1. Deconstruct the Prompt:
According to Language Network, “Essay questions test your ability to think logically, write persuasively, and communicate your ideas in an organized fashion” (p. 588). The text also suggests that essay questions test one’s “recall of facts and details, since you need to support your statements and opinions” (p. 588). The text seems to be suggesting that essay questions on tests are usually mimetic. Essays typically place great emphasis on using supporting details to back up one’s answer.
2. Plan and Write Your Essay:
This section of the textbook provides tips on how to successfully plan and write an essay on a timed test. The text suggests that students plan their essay by “using notes, an outline, or a graphic organizer” (p. 589). The text then provides a student model of a “planned” essay. Theorists such as Nancy Sommers would not approve of Language Network's emphasis on planning an essay because it is presenting the writing process as if it is linear. In Sommers’ essay, “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers” she discusses how the linear model taught in schools focuses on the “first..then..finally” structure. Sommers would not agree with the texts suggestion for students to plan beforehand because she would argue that students could not possibly know everything they want to talk about before they even begin writing. Similar to Nancy Sommers, theorist, Fan Shen would also argue against this claim that students should plan before actually composing. Shen (1989) states in his essay, “The Classroom and the Wider Culture,” “In Chinese composition, from “surface to core” is an essential rule, a rule which means that one ought to reach a topic gradually and “systematically” instead of “abruptly” (p. 5). Shen would view the text’s emphasis on planning before writing as practically useless for writers because he was taught by his Chinese culture that one could not simply know what he was going to talk about prior to writing it down. According to Shen (1989), finding a topic to write about should be a slow process that really involves one’s consideration upon selecting, whereas in America, he views the search for topic sentences and pre-planning as, “symbolic of the values of busy people in an industrialized society, rushing to get things done, hoping to attract and satisfy the busy reader very quickly.” (p.4) Shen finds the Chinese process of writing more logical because then the writer is actually writing about a topic for which they truly care.
3. Evaluate Your Work:
The text suggests that as a student reads back over their writing that they, "recall the six traits of effective writing---ideas and content, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions"(pg. 589). We liked the text's emphasis on evaluation because it is such an important aspect of the writing process. Students need to become familiar with evaluation because it allows them to identify certain areas of their writing that may need revision. By asking students to consider the "six traits of effective writing" when evaluating one's work, students will be able to pick out exactly what it is that they are looking for throughout their writing. It encourages students to questions whether or not a certain aspect of their writing is strong, or needs to be strengthened. Hopefully students will become so used to evaluating their work that it will become natural to them throughout their own writing process.
Lesson 3 Answering Essay Questions:
1. Deconstruct the Prompt:
According to Language Network, “Essay questions test your ability to think logically, write persuasively, and communicate your ideas in an organized fashion” (p. 588). The text also suggests that essay questions test one’s “recall of facts and details, since you need to support your statements and opinions” (p. 588). The text seems to be suggesting that essay questions on tests are usually mimetic. Essays typically place great emphasis on using supporting details to back up one’s answer.
2. Plan and Write Your Essay:
This section of the textbook provides tips on how to successfully plan and write an essay on a timed test. The text suggests that students plan their essay by “using notes, an outline, or a graphic organizer” (p. 589). The text then provides a student model of a “planned” essay. Theorists such as Nancy Sommers would not approve of Language Network's emphasis on planning an essay because it is presenting the writing process as if it is linear. In Sommers’ essay, “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers” she discusses how the linear model taught in schools focuses on the “first..then..finally” structure. Sommers would not agree with the texts suggestion for students to plan beforehand because she would argue that students could not possibly know everything they want to talk about before they even begin writing. Similar to Nancy Sommers, theorist, Fan Shen would also argue against this claim that students should plan before actually composing. Shen (1989) states in his essay, “The Classroom and the Wider Culture,” “In Chinese composition, from “surface to core” is an essential rule, a rule which means that one ought to reach a topic gradually and “systematically” instead of “abruptly” (p. 5). Shen would view the text’s emphasis on planning before writing as practically useless for writers because he was taught by his Chinese culture that one could not simply know what he was going to talk about prior to writing it down. According to Shen (1989), finding a topic to write about should be a slow process that really involves one’s consideration upon selecting, whereas in America, he views the search for topic sentences and pre-planning as, “symbolic of the values of busy people in an industrialized society, rushing to get things done, hoping to attract and satisfy the busy reader very quickly.” (p.4) Shen finds the Chinese process of writing more logical because then the writer is actually writing about a topic for which they truly care.
3. Evaluate Your Work:
The text suggests that as a student reads back over their writing that they, "recall the six traits of effective writing---ideas and content, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions"(pg. 589). We liked the text's emphasis on evaluation because it is such an important aspect of the writing process. Students need to become familiar with evaluation because it allows them to identify certain areas of their writing that may need revision. By asking students to consider the "six traits of effective writing" when evaluating one's work, students will be able to pick out exactly what it is that they are looking for throughout their writing. It encourages students to questions whether or not a certain aspect of their writing is strong, or needs to be strengthened. Hopefully students will become so used to evaluating their work that it will become natural to them throughout their own writing process.