Essay Writing

"Our essay prompts should not merely be exercises in writing to a particular form, in revealing limited information learned specifically for a test. They should instead be opportunities for our students to create additional original thinking about literature," (Moffett 1983, 171).

I agree completely with this quote. Too often in my high school career, I was told to write an essay with a limited prompt with very strict guidelines to include certain parts of a text; I would feel stifled. I reveled in the ability to create a paper that no one else in my class would create, if only so that my paper would stand out in the sea of papers that the teacher had to read. Often, it was hard to do under the restraints of the essay prompts given because they expected a certain level of regurgitation of information. Many students' essays seemed to be about the same thing.

I enjoyed Romano's adaptation of an essay prompt. To include creative elements in an otherwise rigid structure allows for students to create their own, individual papers that will be unlike what anyone else writes.  I will definitely utilize the creative essay technique for my own classroom. Students will enjoy writing them because of the freedom they will have. If nothing else, this will allow for grading to be more entertaining because I will not have to read the same essay over and over.