Finding inspiration and assessing your own writing

One of the discussion I have had with my class concerns the five paragraph essay. My students wonder when it is appropriate to use this technique and when it is not. The strength of the five paragraph essay is that it is easy to learn. On the flip side, its critic say that it cannot be used for students who wants to explore themes that are more profound.

Of course there are many pages out there with tips for the avid writer. Should you be interested in expanding your writing abilities, it is well worth the visit to some of them.  Writing short stories. This page provides sample short stories and a prescription on how to write a perfect short story. They claim that everyone can write short stories!

One thing that causes some problems for students, is revision. For me, it is essential to keep in mind that the student's product is what matters. My comments are always related to the devises and how the student applies them. Furthermore, I recommend students to have a look at what they master and what they do not master when it comes to writing. The best way to do this is to  use checklists. Here are some sites that provides checklists:

• Checklist: 7 Things You Have to Do to Write Unforgettable Articles
• Checklist for writing short stories
• Checklist for essays

I have introduced checklists in most of my classes, and I think the use of these has been very helpful for many students. It provides them with structure, and it is also a nifty tool to use when they want to check that they fulfill all the formal criterias for their chosen genre. There are limitations to the use of rubrics. It does not provide the student with information about what knowledge they have gained. I think that this information is best exchanged in a face-to-face conversation between the learner and the learned.