In the book, They Say/I Say, authors Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein propose that students should refer to templates when writing. To some degree, I agree that it would help. However, I would imagine the students becoming more preoccupied in inserting words and phrases that could fit in the blank space rather than understanding why the template structure improves the student’s writing style. This will only take longer to understand how to write better. Not only is that an issue, but also the students can at times become too fixated on the same template which can repetitively appear in their writing.
Instead, I think the template method could work in real-time during an active compare and contrast lesson from a mentor. I believe that the saying “monkey sees, monkey do” can be effectively used in improving a beginner’s writing. First, students write how they would normally write. Then, the mentor will write it differently using the template while the students observe simultaneously. Finally, students apply what they learned in their writing if they think it flows nicely in their writing. This is crucial because if a student clumps drastically different templates in the same paragraph, it wouldn’t sound smooth or professional at all. My final issue is the long-term implications of templates. At some point, a person’s writing style needs to change to reach a better state of creativity, uniqueness, and critical analysis. I don’t think a thousand more templates can help reach that but for intermediate and advanced students, perhaps students can learn some new tricks.
