Reply #240: What grades do you teach? [View All]

[playahata1]

I did not learn how to do this stuff (also called CLUSTERING) until I entered GRADUATE SCHOOL to study creative writing and African American literature. And it has helped me a lot in my own writing. I encourage my freshman composition students to try this to aid them in their writing. Among other things, I feel that the way writing is taught in the (Florida) public school system is ass-backwards. Most English teachers are not writers, and as such do not understand, are not familiar with the writer's craft. The five-paragraph essay is not enough, will not get you over the hump at the college level. Thinking maps, such as that which you use with your kids, take students beyond the five-paragraph framework, forces them to think about what they are trying to express.