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 (you're up Anna F. - do it). 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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First Post:
ReplyDeleteI have learned how to dig deeper into the meaning. there are always hidden meanings in the quotes and we have to dig to find them. we are like archeologists. my understanding of the essay had become a bit clearer. although it has helped me a little, i still hate writing essays.
First post:
ReplyDeleteDear Mrs. Gerber,
A lesson that i have learned is that not to use contractions such as can't and won't. Coming away from this essay I found that two quotes are better than one. Having more of a connection in the paragraph that you are trying to describe. An essay in the future I think will be much harder because I was absent for the process and will have to do more of the s/m/m quotes.
While writing this essay, I was taught and I learned several knew things both about myself and about writing essays. I learned that (not to brag or anything) I am kinda a natural at Say/Mean/Matter. I also learned that I need to open my mind up to more quotes instead of one that I think fits perfectly with my topic sentence. I learned that there is much more to writing an essay than I thought. There are so many steps to go through and so many things you can do to make your essay more structured and all around better.
ReplyDeleteDear Ms Gerber, (happy keri?)
ReplyDeleteI still do not understand say/mean/matter at all! i am not sure what i should write for the mean of the matter. how are they different!?!? help!
would some one like to clarify for me??
Second post: ((yes...hannah:P ))
ReplyDeleteI have so many questions about say, mean, matter. (not looking forward to spending time on it) Doing the essay outline got really confused about what it was referring to with s/m/m. And why do we follow that "MLA" format..?
My Questions:
ReplyDeleteWhy is Say/Mean/Matter so ridiculously helpful?!
Why do I feel like my first essay and second essay are almost completely different pieces of writing?
Why did I have to stay up till 1 in the morning to write my first draft?...It took so long!
In this essay writing i have learned to really analyze what something is and what it is actually saying. For example: on smm day Keith and i spoke about the same quote" i put on the bloody t-shirt and for the next 5 ..." We said completely different things. He said it meant a whole different theme than what i proposed. what i realized is they are both right, it is just how you analyze it. From writing my essay i have learned that i really need to better outline my thoughts because it is so hard for me to put what i'm thinking onto paper
ReplyDeleteI still wonder about how essay writing is going to help us later on in life... Also, i still have no idea how to write a conclusion. Do you restate what you said in the essay prior or kind of talk about stuff not already mentioned that you then need to get down.
ReplyDeleteresponse #1: the writers workshop we did has helped me with essay writing so much! the essay out line form and the s/m/m's were what helped me most. it really showed me what is supposed to go into my paragraphs. while writing my say mean matters, i didnt even know that they were going into my essay, and then i found out that thats all it is! it made essay writing a whole lot easier for me.
ReplyDeleteresponse #2: i still dont know about introductions and conclusions. they are kinda confusing to me. but other than thaat... i just have to say that say mean matters arent my favorite. they just take too long!
ReplyDeleteTo Megan
ReplyDeleteAbout how the essay will help you later in life ... it might not be something that you can put on your resume or that will save you in a dangerous situation ("an essay or your life") but believe it or not, the ability to develop a well constructed, focussed piece of writing is something you will need in a variety of situations. Think most immediately of your essay for college; often times that's a break or break situation. Most jobs require some form of communication between employees. You, as a future boss most likely, and as the future kind of the world, most definitely, will have to construct some articulate, clear, and critical forms of communications to your people.
Words are power; think what it is to draw on a rich and precise aresenal of words to make your points, to paint your verbal pictures, to express your emotions. Essays are just one of many disciplines that would force your words into a logical, coherent format. Don't fear the essay, don't hate it; embrace it. It is your friend.
Post #1:
ReplyDeleteI have learned many powerful lessons from writing essays the "Gerber" way. :) I didn't think that writing sophisticated essays could be so simple! Though the say-mean-matters really challenged me to dig deep for information on the novel, it was incredibly easy after that. So I now understand the SMM's a better, and they don't seem as 'scary' as they did before we worked with them. Writing comes easily to me, and now I am even more stoked to write essays, just because the format is so straightforward, but makes you really think, too. :)
Post #2:
ReplyDeleteNow for my question-rama.:)
1. How can you use advanced vocabulary in an essay, but not make it seem like a thesaurus spat out random, long words?
2. Will contractions ever be allowed in any essays that we write for you?
3. What other kinds of essays will we be writing besides narratives?
4. Do concluding paragraphs have 'topic sentences' if you will? So how should conclusions be started off?
5. Why are the body paragraphs ONLY say-mean-matters?
6. How can we use more than two quotes per body paragraph without making the essay boring?
That's all I've got right now, but I'll probably have more on Monday. :)
Okay
ReplyDeleteI've taken a nap and eaten a solid dinner and now I am ready to fire off a round to Anna's machine gun questions.
1. Great question on vocabulary - our words will strangely become integrated into your regular vocabulary; you'll find their usage really rather innocuous, not as esoteric as you once believed. But seriously now ... familiarity will make you comfortable. Bet there are a couple that would flow naturally in your present essay. Play with it.
2. Ah the contraction question! It's squirrely and I have to admit I find it a bit forced. Contractions are a regular part of our vocab in every register, still our school frowns on their use. I believe you will find that as you ascend :) through the grades, teachers will find them increasingly benign. For me???? Hmmmm I might be moved by a non-flavored coffee from Peets.
3. Other kinds of papers: personal narratives, how to, definition, research, expository, literary analysis (Whale Talk), reflective ... Each of these types have different rules and registers making life and English just tons o'fun. We're going to take the sting off with poetry writing, short story, vignettes (short narratives) and journaling.
4. Concluding paragraphs don't have topic sentences in the way body paragraphs do. Concluding paragraphs are a whole different beast, and we will focus on those as well. How started? A great way is to call out the thesis claim, revisit it, question it, reframe it. Again, there's a handy Gerber formula.
5. Body paragraphs have the S/M/M because they are typically the place of analysis in the essay, where you present, interpret and analyze the evidence. Deep thoughts, however, can and should run throughout.
6. Remember, we teach the essay in the 5 paragraph structure because it is manageable while we are learning. The goal is to break free from that structure and all its forms. You will use eventually use the amount of quotes that are appropriate for your argument, maybe one in a paragraph, maybe four. You also will become much more tricky at stringing those babies together for meaning. Anna, you can't be boring so get over that idea.
I LOVE QUESTIONS. CAN'T WAIT TILL MONDAY
Writers workshop has showed me how easy an essay can be! The very first essay I wrote had no "mint" as Ms. Gerber said. I can see why we spent so much time in class and easing our way into our final draft. That had made it much more easier. I had everything for my essay, all I needed to do was plug it all in. Even though the say mean matters took a long time, that's what made it even more easier. I felt much more confident with my second essay compared to my first.
ReplyDeleteI'm basically clear with all the aspects of an essay but the only thing I need to improve on is created a thesis. That is probably my weakness. So i hope we do more with that.
ReplyDeleteEven though writing this essay was somewhat time consuming, I learned that writing more than one draft and having our friends edit them is helpful. As you might have noticed, I do not have an innate talent for writing. I am not looking forward to more essays, but I know I will have to get used to them. And the Say Mean Matters? Ahh. Those took FOREVER, but they were surprising worth it.
ReplyDeleteQuestion time!
ReplyDeleteWhy can't we use contractions? I find it hard and annoying to write everything out.
I don't like the MLA format. Why do we always have to write "El Segundo Essays"?
And most importantly, why are we doing this?!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFirst Response:
ReplyDeleteOne important lesson that I took away from our writer's workshop was that an essay revolves around the thesis statement. The thesis statement is what the essay is going to talk about, so you must relate to it. I also learned how to use quotes correctly in an essay, such as: having a lead in, and explaining the quote in detail. Writer's workshop has affected my understanding of the essay, by explaining to me that an essay is more than a piece of writing; it's an argument that persuades the reader towards your side. Writer's workshop deeply affected my feelings for writing essays in the future. I know that I cannot just list facts, but must be opiniative and descriptive as possible to make an essay great.
-K.J
Second response:
ReplyDeleteI'm still a bit unclear of how to explain the quote in S/M/M. Mostly the "Mean" and "Matter" part. I'm also having trouble with my essay staying on topic according to my thesis statement. Overall, I feel confident towards writing our next essay with the help of S/M/M, MLA format, and the thesis outline.
-K.J
In response to Wajeeh:
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Wajeeh, the Say/Mean/Matter did help out with writing our essays. Like you said, after we completed our writing portions, we eased our way through writing an essay by plugging it in.
-K.J
I learned alot about the essay during this writing worshop. But I think that I learned that will help me later the most is that thesis's have to be universal. I can honestly say that I had never heard of thet before! And I also learned that I do better on essays when I have a prewrite in front of me! :)
ReplyDeleteOK, now for the questions.
ReplyDeleteWell, I pretty much understand everything, but I am still MAJORLY confused of S/M/M. As I am writing them, I can't tell the difference between the mean and the matter, and I have a feeling that could negatively affect my essays. And also, like Anjali stated before, Why 'cannot' we use contractions! My writing 'does not' seem to flow when I write them out!
Writers workshop helped me learned that my topic sentence should always be universal. It also helped me learn that S/M/M helps on writing an essay.
ReplyDeleteI still have questions about the S/M/M . I think I still need help on my matter and on my conclusions.
ReplyDeleteWell, I can say that the essay I wrote in this workshop is the best one I've ever written, which is a little sad when I consider that I could have used a couple more editting sessions. In all my middle school essays, I had never hit on the argument theme. I babbled. I simply wrote vaguely about something in the essay, with nothing but my assurances to back it up. Using quotes in and of itself was new to me. Because of that, I can easily say I learned a lot from S/M/M, lead-ins, and pretty much just writing the essay. However, the idea of making it an argument is what helped me the most. It made me feel like I'd written something with a point rather than just the babble.
ReplyDeleteHa. I needed to edit that post. Editting is a silly misspelling. It's ironic, actually.
ReplyDelete1.) What is the difference between Mean and Matter other than the depth of the digging?
2.) Should a lead-in be a totally different sentence than the quote or can the two be separated by a comma, such as Blah blah blah blah, "Blah blah blah blah blah" (#). Sorry. Not feeling very creative right now.
3.) Why is the essay outline basically the entire essay separated by prompting questions?
4.) Why is passive voice unacceptable? In published works like scientific journals, passive voice is the only verb tense accepted!
On that same note, why are state-of-being verbs disliked? Gerunds are nice, too. Why are they frowned upon?
5.) Why are metaphors and similes and onomatopoeia (is that how it's spelled?)so important? Onomatopoeias are just words that people made up to sound like the action. Moo. Why does that matter to an essay?
This is unrelated, but why does the marine layer have to stick around so long today? It's depressing.
Hannah, I liked your archaeologist comment. That was nice.
ReplyDeletefirst response:
ReplyDeleteFrom writing the whale talk essay, I learned how to create a good lead in for a quote and how to support it with s/m/m. I also learned how deap to dig when it comes to the mean and matter. I'm not usually confident in the essays I write but after weeks of thesis revision and say, mean, matter I have total confidence in the greatness of my essay
Second Response:
ReplyDeleteSome of the main questions I have regard abstract nouns because I never really understood them and just said the abstract noun that Ms. Gerber gave me.
1. What are abstract nouns?
2. What are some abstract nouns related to whale talk
3. Why are abstract nouns needed
4. How many abstract nouns are usually in an essay
5. Say, Mean, Matters are still confusing to me, I don't think I fully understand the mean and matter column
During Writers Workshop Ive learned more about an essay than I have in my entire life. Everything from structure,page numbers,and thesis.Last year I leaned say mean and matter, but we were taught to summarize and conclude which is why I had trouble with s/m/m. Another imprtant aspect of essay writing I learned is thesis. I never knew a thesis was so vital to an essay. These past three weeks have been very long , but I know they will be beneficial to me.
ReplyDeleteOkay so questions! Most of the questions I had I asked but I still have a few.I am still unsure about conclusions. I do not understand them. Why are they useful? Another,Why are contractrions so dreadful? We use them in everyday languyage.Lastly, are we allowed more than two quotes in a paragraph?
ReplyDeleteFirst Response: During writer's workshop I learned some realy helpful tips on improving my essays. I learned that having lots of evidence(quotes) in my essays helps prove my point even more. I also learned how to improve my thesis by making it universal and easy to understand. Writer's workshop realy helped me to make my essays better.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSecond Response: I still have some questions about say/mean/matter. I do not realy get the mean part of it. I am not realy clear on how to just dig a little.
ReplyDeleteDuring the time that we have spent learning how to effectively write an essay, I have learned that quotes from the work that you are analyzing have a huge importance in an essay. I knew that quotes had to be used as evidence to prove topic sentences and thesis statements, but I didn't realize how deep of an analysis of these quotes was needed. I know now that the body of your essay is where you really argue hard to prove your point, and that deeply analyzing quotes is the key to making this argument a success.
ReplyDeleteFirst:
ReplyDeleteIt may have been a long and annoying step, but I feel that the lesson on Say/Mean/Matter was a tremendous help to the essay process. I'm mad that none of my previous teachers taught or utilized it. S/M/M not only made it simpler to write the first draft, but in my opinion, made my essay more detailed and overall better than it would have been without it. It allowed me to understand what I am supposed to say after I use a quote. Previously, the breakdown of the quote hurt my essays. I used to summarize instead of analyze, and at times, simply reworded the quote. Although I have only done Say/Mean/Matter once now, I already feel confident that it will help me write better and better essays in the future. I compared my in-class essay to this new and improved one and was shocked by the difference, and I believe that difference was due to the Say/Mean/Matter.
Although I understood the essay format/style we have learned quite well, I still have some lingering questions:
ReplyDelete1. When we start to write essays in tenth grade that are longer, and have a slightly different format than the ones we are writing now, will the body of our essays be divided up into smaller paragrgaphs (I felt like my body paragraphs were too long, and needed to be divided up)? Will one paragraph be used to explain one quote? Will we have more analysis to do than simply say/mean/matter?
2. Do introduction and conclusion paragraphs have to be longer and more detailed than the essay format packet seemed to require them to be? Or are the introduction and conclusion only supposed to be long enough to open and close your argument?
Second:
ReplyDeleteA lot of my previous questions were cleared up when we went through the writer's workshop. However, it also ignited a few more.
1) Can MLA format be spiced up in any way? It may be the El Segundo essay format but it bored me to death.
2) Are gerunds completely forbidden? I found myself using many "ing's" that seemed like the only way to write some of my sentences.
3) How can I tell if my topic sentence has opinion? One of toughest parts of the essay was writing topic sentences because I couldn't tell if there was enough opinion in it or if it was a fact.
I beleive I have learned a great deal about writing essays. Much more than I have in all my years of writing. The point of an essay for example is to read between the lines of the story and answer the prompt in a motivating way. The reader must feel like part of the essay and become interested in even the smallest of details listed. I have also learned that you must use evidence in all of your paragraphs because it is one of the most important ways that you will prove your point/ thesis.
ReplyDeleteThough I have learned many things, there are still questions in my mind about writing essays.
ReplyDeleteFor one, i don't really know how to create an introduction or a conclusion. Or what types of hooks I can use to bring in the reader.
Secondly, I am not sure how many metaphors in an essay are too much and if the metaphors even make sense.
Maybe I just need to keep working on essays and hopefully I will get better through time.
Post 1:
ReplyDeleteGoing through this writing workshop made Say/Mean/Matters much more bearable. Last year, they were my least favorite thing to do, but now, they have made essay writing easier. Once the S/M/M's were done, I just had to fit it in my essay, and it came out better than it had previously. The in-class essay we wrote on the second week of school was not a persuasive argument, to say the least. I used one quote, and there was no Mean or Matter to analyze and relate it to the thesis. I am so glad that we spent so long fixing our essays because it has helped me to know exactly what to put in an essay, and it has helped to keep everything related to my argument. With all of the worksheets that were tedious beyond belief, I did not see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now though, I am grateful that we took that time because it has all been nailed into me. I will never forget what MLA looks like, how to do a S/M/M chart, how to properly write a thesis and topic sentences, or how to align my topic sentences and evidence with my thesis statement now.
Post 2:
ReplyDeleteAlthough taking the time to do Writers' Workshop improved my essay-writing skills exponentially, I still have questions:
-How do we use rhetorical devices in our Matters if there isn't symbolism or other devices in the quote itself? I wanted to put a simile/metaphor/etc. in, but I wasn't sure how to fit it in.
-Are we going to be using the form of essay that we just learned-the "El Segundo Essay"-in 9th grade only, because you said that we would be getting away from the five paragraphs in later years?
-Why is MLA necessary? It did not seem like it did much to make my essay better, it just took up time!
Post one:
ReplyDeletewhile writing this essay I have leraned that an essay is an argument and we need to dig deep into it to get good, clear evidence. I learned that an essay does not have to be just a bunch of facts but a true meaning to the whole topic. Using the S/M/M really helped me understand what needs to be in an essay. When I typed the essay the S/M/M really helped and it was easier to write the essay. I learned a lot about an essay with all the workshops we did in class.
Post two:
ReplyDeletesome questions that I have are on the "matter" part of the S/M/M/. Sometimes I could not really get what i should write. When people read my essays they said that I did not have a strong matter so it made me wonder how to write a better one. Also, I did not get the point of MLA, i do not really understand why we had to write our essays like that.
First Post:
ReplyDeleteOne powerful lesson I have learned from the writers workshop is how to use an essay for persuading people. I finally realized that an essay is an arguement and not a summary. I still hate essays thought. I know we will be doing plenty of them in the future so I will just get used to it.
Post one:
ReplyDeleteWriting this essay i felt like i was taking a bigger step because I actually knew what I was doing a little bit better. I learned that we need to really not summarize but say why and dig. Like Kelly, I thought that the S/M/M helped a bit too. I think the workshops were good. It was a bit eaisier to write. I haven't always been the greatest writier but I think that I did a little better because of the workshop.
Second Post:
ReplyDeleteWhat bothers me the most out of this whole essay format is the say/mean/matter. It got really hard analyzing the quotes and then saying why they were so important. Getting the hang of the MLA format was easy. Also, the topic sentences were hard at first, but then they got easy.
Post two:
ReplyDeleteSome questions that I have is that, on the Matter it seems I'm not that great at it because I summarize. How do you not summarize? I know that it's a bit hard of a question but I always seem to do that even when I try my hardest not to. Also, how come we cant use contractions? I think i accisently did that...opps.
There are many many many things i have learned so far about the new essay format. The biggest probably being don't ever be absent! It is really hard to edit your own work, and I need to allow myself more time to get others opinions. I feel like i have a much better understanding on the format, i just felt like our prompt was really difficult to write about. You kind of run out of ideas easily.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that i really understand now is what the true meaning of an essay is! I know now that an essay is an argument and it is supposed to be your opinion!
Some questions and things i need help on are not summarizing! I always tend to do that and i don't know why. I have alot of trouble staying on topic because i don't usually have strong opinons about the topics we have to write about. If we had to write an essay on something with more options it would be much easier. I also found it realllllyyyy difficult to not use I or you in the essay because if your starting your opinion how do u not use i?
ReplyDelete