We have spent the last several weeks reviewing the essay. In many ways we have evolved our definition of this often misunderstood format for high school. Many of you have asked wonderful questions in our 3/2/1 closures and in class, which leads me to believe you have many more.
In this installment of our blog, I would like two posts.
In the first post:
Tell me at least one powerful lesson you have taken away from our writer's workshop, something that you perhaps did not know before or now understand better. Feel free to name as many lessons as apply. I would like to know how this has affected your understandings about the essay and, more importantly, your feelings about writing essays in the future.
In the second post:
Questions, questions, questions. I want to know what is left to curiosity here. What is still bothering you about features of the essay (S/M/M and its friends)? What is still unclear or needs more clarification? Do you just want to make a comment about this squirrely format? Go for it.
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These last two weeks really taught me how to write an essay that was not going to cause the reader to fall asleep right away. I also learned how to support my quotes by explaining their not- so- obvious significance to my thesis. Before, I just threw them in there, wrote the obvious expalnation, and moved on. But now, I can introduce, explain, and connect my quotes to the thesis with everything still making sense.
ReplyDeletei was wondering why we need to make a whole new page "Works Cited" if our quotes just come from one source. It just seems like a waste of time, money, and some unnessisary slaghter of trees. Plus, it just seems easier to place that one source on the same page as the end of the essay. I mean, I know that it seems proffessional, but I just feel like the excess paper is just unnessisary.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I would like to know why we need to include our last name with the page number on everypage. I am just saying that some last names, (especially long ones), just don't look as good as "Smith 1".
I have learned to use quotes as my evidence in an essay. I never knew to use quotes and this was my first time using them in an essay. I find it easier writing an essay when you have quotes because the quotes make up your paragraph. I also learned to not use first and second person in an essay and that was kind of hard to get use too. All of this in writer's workshop made myself feel like my essay made sense and I put some work into it.
ReplyDeleteDo all of our essay you require us to do need to have quotes in them? I think it is way easier with quotes because they were evidence that showed you weren't making anything up that you were talking about. I like how we did a couple of drafts so people could edit my paper and make it better, instead of doing a final draft essay in one night. With a couple of drafts and and peer editing essays will not be so stressful at all. Unless we have essays all the time then it might get a little too much.
ReplyDeleteI gained new and important information from the say, mean, matter. I did not know the say, mean, matter material very well until we went showed details and evidence in class. The homework assignment was extremely hard, but the next day it became much easier to understand.
ReplyDeleteDo you need to put two or three quotes in every essay that we are going to write this year? Will we have an essay often? It was very hard to do the final draft in just one night after we got our second drafts back. Why do we have to put our last names on every page? It is not a very big thing, so will you lose points?
ReplyDeleteThese past few weeks have taught me a lot about writing essays. I think that one of the most helpful things that we have done so far is the say/ mean/ matter. The say has helped me be able to have a lead in to my quote/evidence. The mean helped me analyze the quote and not just summarize what was going on. And the matter helped me relate everything that I was saying back to the book. I think that everything that we have done so far will help me with every essay that I write from now on.
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ReplyDeleteDo you always have to have at least two quotes in each paragraph? Are thesis statements always going to be universal? Will we be writing essays where we will be able to use I or you?
ReplyDeleteIn the past few week, I have learned not to fear heck, as the essay is far worse. Ever changing and never perfect, the essay is a mile stone to every aspiring writer. To better my paragraphed paper, I have learned that the essay is like a court case. Like a trial, the reader plays the jury and like an attourney at law, the writer must persuade the jury to believe his or her point of view. Following that is what I believe is the most important thing I have learned about an essay: the interpretation of quotes. I have learned that just having the facts accounts for nothing, that unless there is an explaination, the jury will not believe you. While this may not make essay writing a great deal easier, it gives me a better understanding of what I have to do.
ReplyDeleteOver the last two weeks, I have learned that the essay has many different components that are still to be unveiled. I have learned a new format in which to write my essay. I have also learned that quotes can be used to prove a point, the point that is the whole basis of the essay. Although, facts are not everything. You have to explain and analyze quotes to prove a point. For example, if someone said "Heidi connects with TJ." Although this is a true statement, you would have to prove that statement to persuade the audience/reader.
ReplyDeleteIs it wrong to have more or less than two quotes in a paragraph? How do we know if we picked a good quote? What is the exact heading format???
ReplyDeleteSo far in this class, I have learned so much more than I would have if i were in English 9. I have learned how to use quotes in an essay by using them as evidence. Before I just put them in an essay for filler words. Now they have a purpose. I also now know about say mean matter. It really helps me explain why my quotes prove my point.
ReplyDeleteI would like to better understand matter in say/mean/matter. I also would like to know if we always have to have two quotes in each body paragraph.
ReplyDeleteThrough our several week period of learning how to write an essay, the one thing that stood out to me most was using QUOTES. I always thought that these things were just pieces that helped like.. make your essay "taste" better.. per say, when actually its an idea that you are supposed to write about.. if that makes sense. Several other important ideas that I learned through this experience was the correct structure of a thesis, topic sentence, and the use of explaining your evidence. All of these factors, to me, will make my essays in the future easier to write.
ReplyDeleteHonestly.. I think the S/M/M thingy is just a piece of crapp. It takes FOREVER to fricken write the thing, and its like.. a crazy dish, with no recipe. A better and more explanation of this "chart" would be helpful for later essays. I think that we should also focus on the conclusion paragraph of an essay as well.. because all we talked about these past couple weeks were the introduction/thesis, and the format of the body paragraphs [S/M/M].
ReplyDeleteDuring our two weeks of writers workshop, I have really learned what makes a great essay. A great essay keeps the reader's interest, is argueable, and convinces the reader to your side(persuades). I also learned that quotes are a fantastic way to prove the point you are trying to make. Say, Mean, Matters make up your whole essay, so if you can perfect that process, you will have an essay that puts your point across.
ReplyDeleteI am still a bit shakey on the difference between analyzing and explaining the 'mean'. Also, I still want to know how to add sentences to my introduction and conclusion so that they aren't too short, but still prove my point.
ReplyDeleteI might regret this, but what is the point of an essay? In my point of view, it does not matter whether you get your point across with a neat little structure or in an erratic fashion as long as people get where you are coming from and believe you. I mean, come on, whether you put a gift in dull butcher paper or decorative wrapping with a bow, it is still a gift. That aside, I am still having a little trouble with s/m/m, but I am positive it is something I just need time to understand.
ReplyDeleteWow, so many GREAT questions and so many diverse viewpoints. So I don't wear my fingers to the nubs, let's save these for class. I will dedicate the first half of class on Monday to answering these important questions. Fair?
ReplyDeleteTyler, you are hysterical. And there are worse things than "heck" Try changing a baby's diaper.
ReplyDeleteThe most important peice of advice and skill i took away from this is to use quotes. I had no idea how to write a high school essay until just recently so i have never used a single quote in an essay before. the expreience of writing this essay though i feel has helped me to learn how to do that.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest question I have is WHY DO WE HAVE TO WRITE ESSAYS IN THE FIRST PLACE? There is another great way of showing understanding or making a point that most people already know how to do. I think that speaking can convey a point just as powerfully as any essay. Arent essays meant to be read? And when we read isn't that just talking with ourselves? I guess i just don't like writing as much as talking.
ReplyDeleteIn these past weeks I have learned many lessons that I did not know before. I learned that your thesis is supposed to be universal. I always thought it was supposed to include the title and characters, and I did not even know what universal meant before Ms. Gerber told me. I learned that you can use S/M/M in an essay as proof for your point. I learned that the Matter in S/M/M was supposed to be universal towards the book. I also learned that you are not supposed to use the word you or I in an essay.
ReplyDeleteMy question would be is what is the point of writing the essay? Ms. Gerber wants us to write about our understanding of the book, but what if we did not understand the book? We would have to write an essay when we will not even know what we are talking about. And say if we did understand the book; then okay, we understood it. That is good for the people who understood but there is no reason to write a whole essay about it. We could find another way to let Ms. Gerber know our understanding. My other question is why does the thesis have to be universal? What if you are writing to someone who has not read the book? Then they will not know what I am talking about. I just do not get the point of something being universal.
ReplyDeleteDuring the writer's workshop I learned many new things, but only one really stould out. That one thing was the format of a good essay. Before I really never put that many qoutes in an essay, but know I try to put as many as I can. This new format will help 'beef' up my paragraphs, and give a better base to start from. Say mean matter also is going to help me with my writting.
ReplyDeleteThe bigest question I have is about say mean matter. For the most part I understand the say and mean parts, but I do not understand the matter part. It is hard for my to put down information for this part. I think that once I can fully wrap my head around say mean matter I will be able to exspand on my essay's.
ReplyDeleteDuring Writers Workshop, I learned many new things, such as the S/M/M, but one of the most important parts is to dig deep to find the meaning of the text. It is important not summarize. Also to stay on task and not make an 800 dollar mistake. But one of the most important parts, is to back up your argument with evidence. In our case, it would be quotes. By doing Writers Workshop, I now know what is expected of me in terms of an essay.
ReplyDeleteS/M/M is boring, confusing, and difficult. However, this stupid little chart helped me organize my thoughts onto an organized little chart. I kept me from having every one of my thoughts on different sheets of paper and from having to keep track of them. But what is not clear to me is how explaining the quote, has to do with your thesis statement. I thought we were trying to give evidence for the argument, not for the individual quotes.
ReplyDeleteI have learned many things through writer's workshop. I think the huge part I learned were the s/m/m charts. I remember we had to use them in WAVE, but I never knew we were going to use them as the main points in our essays. I had no idea that most of what is in our body paragraphs came straight from our s/m/m charts. When Ms.Gerber first introduced the s/m/m to us, the idea was opaque to me, but as we went through the essay writing process, it has become more clear to me.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest question I have now is:What exactly goes into our conclusion paragraph? I now we have our thesis in the intro, the evidence in the body, but I am not quite sure what is to go in the conclusion. It is kind of tricky because we have to resate the thesis without repeating it, and we have to show how it ties into society.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I learned that is crucial to essay writing in high school is quotes. And behind those two quotes per paragraph goes two sentence-long explanations, a mean and a matter in other words.
ReplyDeleteThe question I have is how do we make the conclusion a decent-length when we are only supposed to incorporate three ideas? And what type of content would be ideal for the given ideas?
ReplyDeleteIn the writer's workshop I learned much about thesis statement. The workshop taught me how to make it universial, and more importantly answer the prompt.
ReplyDeleteI still do not completely understand the matter in say mean matter. I am not sure how to make it much different from the mean. I also do not understand much about what goes into the conclusion.
ReplyDeleteThe writers workshop helped me learn how to make a better essay. And it helped me make my essays more universal But i need work on learning how to answer the prompt I think. Overall it helped a lot.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with Ciaran becuase I also do not completely understand the matter portion of the say mean matter chart. Plus i agree with Ciaran because i do not understand whats supposed to go into a conclusion either.
ReplyDelete