Most often, I completely missed the mark, because of the tangents I went off on were more interesting to me than the topic, which made the grade less than what I wanted. The comments read, "very good work", "interesting" and "tell me more" or all this positive mumbo jumbo and yet the grade was still not saying "very good work". That grade would be what it was because the essay was not being graded; its structure was. The substance did not have anything to do with it. Either follow the format or prepare for the consequences.
This system of essay writing that was drilled into my head is not effective nor was it encouraging. I used to always have an incredibly difficult time writing almost anything and began to detest the assignments until my Junior year in high school when for the the first time, a teacher told our class to "forget about the 5 paragraph essay format. Throw it out. I do not want you to use it ever again." I thought he was being sarcastic. As did the rest of my 25 classmates, until we were shown an example.
This system of essay writing that was drilled into my head is not effective nor was it encouraging. I used to always have an incredibly difficult time writing almost anything and began to detest the assignments until my Junior year in high school when for the the first time, a teacher told our class to "forget about the 5 paragraph essay format. Throw it out. I do not want you to use it ever again." I thought he was being sarcastic. As did the rest of my 25 classmates, until we were shown an example.
These new rules are more guidelines that encourage brainstorming then connecting what comes to mind in a way that makes sense, and gets the point across. Introductions could be short or run on for paragraphs, and paragraphs may be short and sweet and to the point, or long and curious and exploring many highways. Conciseness is key for two reasons, teachers do not have the time or energy to read boring fluff that was only written in to fill the negative space and it makes the writing valuable. Valuable because it is clear, and makes the concept easier to grasp. Meeting somewhere in the middle between leading the reader step by step, and making giant leaps leaving the him unable to build the bridge and connect with the text.
My thinking usually began with the thought, "what is my point?" and now it begins with "what do I think, and say about this?" The similarity of all writing is that it draws out a map of how a particular mind gets from point A to point E. All the points in between are checkpoints, ideas or roadblocks that take divergent thinking to get through. I was not taught to think like this, at least for school, until Junior year.
The most significant difference that I realize is that I have conditioned myself to write ideas down whenever they happen. If I have spaced out in a different class and get an idea, I write it down to make it leave my head and get back to class. If I am out shopping and I think of another, I text it to myself. Pretty soon, the essay writes itself, just like that. My outline is a list of all those random thoughts, then connecting them together which brings up more ideas snowballing into a bigger, better piece of writing.
Maybe it's just me, but having to think in order of steps just does not come naturally or easily. It is more of coming up with pieces of a puzzle, and afterwards, fitting them together to make a bigger picture that holds the prompt, an answer to a question, or my opinion on a topic, to a viewer.
That old, overused structure felt like a trap and that trapped mindset did not help me. It actually restrained me in most ways. Now that I think differently about essays, they are more entertaining especially if the topic is interesting to me from the start. A new trick that I have been employing lately is to find some aspect of the subject that amuses me and start there, because that usually leads to a better understanding of the subject making it more enjoyable than before.
I used to be unsure of my writing and even my thoughts, which is why I was not a great sharer, but going over my ideas and noting the ones that have struck me, has encouraged me to speak my mind. Accidental self encouragement happened. Even if my opinion is not the most popular or understandable one it still deserves to be put out there, just like everyone else's. Also, I do not care much about approval anymore because sometimes I myself cannot follow what others are saying, and if I do not understand, I may not approve, In turn, others may not approve of what I am saying because the way they think is not the way I think, and that is what makes conversations fun.
Those conversations, the ones where the partakers are not of one mindset, are the ones that set off a chain reaction. Hearing a controversial opinion sets me off to think and try to understand their thought process, and by doing that, my own thought process changes and expands to add a version of their processing. My own thinking has not only been influenced by school or friends but by complete strangers, family and the world around me, but most of all by me. Reading over what I have written and thinking about how other people will interpret it makes me self conscious. That mindset makes me wonder if my point is clearly stated, if my examples pertain to the situation, if my explanation and ranting even connects to the subject being discussed, but then the clock keeps striking its hands and I know I have to finish so I end the thought and press the publish button.
