School Writing Exercises

Paper Summary:

This paper revisits two unhappy memories of exercises done while in grade school and/or high school: the diagramming of sentences and the writing of journal entries. The paper then attempts to persuade the reader that these two activities, while not seen as fun or helpful at the time, were in fact very useful in the writer's development and learning. It is then argued that these same two activities are valid and useful with today's students.

From the Paper:

"There are two exercises that I was asked, no forced, to do when I was in grade school and high school that seemed so ridiculous and tawdry at the time that I can still remember my distaste and displeasure whenever they were assigned. I am sure these two activities bring back such unpleasant memories to many people of my age. They are sentence-diagramming and journal-writing. Yet, despite how much I loathed doing either of these while I was a burgeoning student and writer, despite how awful I thought they were, I have come to realize that each activity was quite useful in my development and learning. This essay will argue that sentence-diagramming and journal-writing were both sound steps in this writer's development and could also benefit students of today. The first of these two activities is still mentioned with scorn and even terror from most ex-students' lips even today."

More papers on School Writing Exercises:

• Term Paper # 95446 : "High School Writing Centers"
• Research Paper # 109696 : "Teaching High School Writing"
• Research Paper # 75729 : "Writing Acquisition"

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