5 SUPA Writing Spoilers

 Attention upcoming seniors!! This  blog post contains the spoilers to your senior year SUPA Writing course! 

**WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD! Do not read if you want surprises all year long!**

In this year’s SUPA Writing course I’ve learned so much about what makes a good writer, arguer, analyzer and student in general. If you plan on taking SUPA Writing be prepared to learn and grow, and if you’re a little nervous for the year ahead, here are five spoilers to SUPA Writing:

1. You do not have to follow a strict format or outline for your writing pieces.

I know… I’ve already shocked you with just the first spoiler.

One of the very first things I learned in SUPA Writing

was that we can break the formula of a heavily outlined writing piece. Now, don’t get too

excited, this does not mean you cannot have any structure or format in your piece, but you can do so without

following the basic formula that you’ve learned for years and years. Because of the article, “My Five Paragraph Theme-Theme”, I learned that basic structure to an essay, the one that involves an introduction, two or three paragraphs supporting your claim, and a conclusion, has many flaws to it and how we should work to abandon it. That formula leaves little to no room for expansion on ideas or contradicting ideas and puts your thoughts in a box. Although structure and format is great, and necessary, in an essay, expansion and elaboration is also necessary to be sure you are thinking outside the box. A teacher does not want to read essays that are all practically the same, and as a student, you’ll realize you do not want to write those essays either. 

2. Your response doesn’t need to be a definitive “yes or no”

Oftentimes as writers we think we need to be on one side of an argument and one side only, or we think that a definite “yes or no” answer needs to be given. This is far from the truth. We focused on this in our analysis and argument units in which we looked into all sides of a topic and made sure to include multiple viewpoints in our essays. I learned that looking at all sides of a topic will strengthen your piece and make you more knowledgeable overall. And I say “all sides” because oftentimes there isn’t just two sides, this strays away from the basic “yes or no” that we’ve grown accustomed to. In the analysis and argument units we learned and practiced how to expand our argument and how doing so will better our writing. Check out my Unit 2 tab for some extra spoilers on writing pieces you may do... and notice how I began to look at all sides of an argument or topic in my writing (go me!).

3. You will learn the magic of an evolving thesis

Going into this class, I was struggling to understand what a basic thesis was, so when I was introduced to an evolving thesis I was a bit confused. An evolving thesis was showcased perfectly in the article “Does This Purple Mink Make Me Look Gay?” by John Weiner. His piece introduced many different viewpoints on the topic of homosexuality in rap culture, and did so in a way that flowed excellently. I learned through reading that article and other practices in our analysis unit that my thesis does not need to be set in stone, and when I was writing my pieces before I was putting myself in a box by being so focused on sticking to my thesis. Learning what an evolving thesis was and how to use it allowed me to bring different viewpoints into my writing and adjust my thesis as I introduced those new points. 

4. You will use your voice!

I’m not sure if this is something I was taught or just something I had always thought was a “rule”, but this year I learned that adding voice to your piece is what really enhances it and makes it yours. In previous years, I had a lack of voice in my pieces because I always felt like it would be unprofessional or incorrect, but writing my college essay, analysis essay and argumentative essay this year each helped me develop my voice more and more. The biggest thing that helped me use my voice in my writing was this very blog! These blog posts allowed me to show my personality the most while still writing analytically and on important topics. I always thought that writing needed to sound formulaic and robotic to be “good”, but I learned that that form of writing is boring and does not keep the reader's attention. Voice is not a bad thing, it adds depth to your writing and keeps it interesting. 

5. Uh oh… If your struggling to write, the reader will notice

This might be the most shocking thing I learned all year, and I think it will shock you as well. While writing our college essays, we were made aware of the idea that if you are struggling to write something, the reader will be able to notice that when they are reading your piece. For example, if you are struggling to write your introduction to an essay, the reader will notice that it lacks luster and it may be choppy or boring. Learning this made me feel quite exposed, and I thought about how many teachers have noticed this in my writing already… oops. However, when your ideas are flowing and your voice is being used, your writing reads so much easier, just as it is so much easier to write. This idea, which was introduced to us in the beginning of the year, changed the way I began my writing for the rest of the year. I started choosing topics that I knew would fully interest me and I knew I could write passionately about. This led to my writing being more readable and less formulaic and boring.

I am sure you are now waiting so impatiently for summer to be over so you can go into your SUPA Writing class, especially if you have Ms. Schilly. Be prepared to learn a lot about ways to expand your writing and how to stray from the boring, basic writing you’ve grown accustomed to!