Formulaic Writing

[Jon Olson <jeo3@psu.edu>]

At 10:29 AM 6/4/98 -0500, Katie Fischer wrote, in reply to Robin Wright,
under the subject line Re: what's in an age or a name?:

[snip]>I remember when our son came home from h.s. one day angry at his
AP>English teacher, "Can you believe this, mom?  Mr. B. gave me a C- on
this>paper and wrote on it 'nice structure, Jason, but this paper needs to
go>so much further.'" [snip]
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"AP" jogged my memory of a conversation this afternoon.  The initial
message in this thread was about how teachers read essays in holistic
grading sessions, right? (I think Wendy Smith brought it up--some of her
colleagues wanted more 5-P essays.)  I chatted with a colleague this
afternoon--let's call him Mr. B.--who will go next week to Daytona to read
AP essays with seven other readers (four HS teachers, four college), as
he's often done in the past.  I asked if they reward formulaic writing and
if they especially like the 5-P essay.  "Never heard of it," said Mr. B.  I
asked if they actually like innovative thinking, even if structurally
unpredictable.  "Yes.  We like it."  If they have their own formulaic
habits of reading, it's to like arguments that are supported and to dislike
argument by mere assertion.  FWIW,  --Jon, Penn State, jeo3@psu.edu