The process of revision and the "hamburger model" of writing essays

Nancy Sommer’s essay “Intentions and Revisions” really was great because it spurred discussion about the nature of  revision: an issue that affects basic writers very much not so much because they commit they are told to revise papers but because teachers emphasize revision as a tool to fix mistakes such as grammar and punctuations. How we approach that matter affects our communication with our students. I think this is especially true of revision and Sommers argues that revision should be used as an important tool in the writer’s toolbox. The difference between an unskilled and a skilled writer, Sommer argues, depends on how well they employ revision. One of the other great points made by Sommer is how students overly use the revision process in a mechanical way without attention to meaning. We are all taught in grade school to use a model of “the five paragraph essay” each paragraph having its own distinct purpose and goal. I remember the hamburger model being used: The two buns were the introduction and conclusion and of course the meat of the essay—the body—was the core of the essay. Although this method was helpful at that time of our lives because of its unchanging permanence—when you are a young an inexperienced writer you need something stable to latch onto! Perhaps this model should be scrapped and updated for the twenty first century?