Comments on: The Five Paragraph Essay Considered as Kudzu, a Shoebox, a Crutch, and Training Wheels

By: Stephen

Stephen — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:20:59 +0000

Yeah, and I’m not for abolishing the 5PE in its entirety. Rather, I hope students can master the skills the 5PE helps teach and then move beyond it, just as I hope any musician I listen to has mastered more than scales and arpeggios.

That said, the feedback I’ve gotten since I wrote this has made me realize that there are far more people who are stuck on the “I don’t know how to organize my thoughts” side of the divide than I would have hoped. For them, hammering home the basic lessons of the 5PE is helpful.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:06:35 +0000

When my son began learning the saxophone he learned the note structure over and over again. He even learned some simple songs that helped him learn those notes. It wasn’t until later that he began to experiment with grace notes and other imbellishments and even later still that he began “thinking” about his music and improvising.

For me, the five paragraph essay does that. It gives the students a way to organize so that when they do begin thinking, they have a solid place to put those thoughts.

By: Ms. Smith

Ms. Smith — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 19:12:58 +0000

I teach at a high school in Memphis that is said to be one of the strongest academic high schools in the city. I am teaching 10th grade Langauge Arts.

I have been trying to get my students to come out of the shoe box. Here is an example of what I have gotten so far after two days of intense instruction, negogiation, and frustration……

student example “One astounding fact is 11 out of 50 seneiors in Memphis City Schools fail to recieve diplomas”(Commercial Appeal, 2007). This is the result of students not doing what they need to in oder to obtain thier high school diplomas and successfully graduate. Avoid failing behaviors that would cause one to fail, iso ne way to guarntee success in school.”

I thought that it was a pretty good start and showed it to the 11th grade teacher because I am preparing these students for her class. She said it was very poorly written and asked where is the thesis statement that states the three things the student is going to argue.

Please Could someone tell me is she right? Have I set my students up for failure?
Responde smit9693@hotmail.com

By: Ms. Smith

Ms. Smith — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 19:11:48 +0000

I teach at a high school in Memphis that is said to be one of the strongest academic high schools in the city. I am teaching 10th grade Langauge Arts.

I have been trying to get my students to come out of the shoe box. Here is an example of what I have gotten so far after two days of intense instruction, negogiation, and frustration……

Could someone tell me is she right? Have I set my students up for failure?
Responde smit9693@hotmail.com

By: Geof F. Morris's Indiana Jones School of Management

Geof F. Morris's Indiana Jones School of Management — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 03:28:46 +0000

Getting to the Formulaic Point…

When I saw that Merlin Mann’s 43 Folders had linked on over to Guy Kawasaki’s Ten Things to Learn This School Year to point at Guy’s assertion that business emails should be briefly written—specifically, in five sentences—…

By: Stephen

Stephen — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 12:59:07 +0000

Oh, that was quite deliberate.

By: Su

Su — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 05:48:09 +0000

I like the fact that you wrote 5 paragraphs. So ingrained.

By: Geof F. Morris's Indiana Jones School of Management

Geof F. Morris's Indiana Jones School of Management — Wed, 02 May 2007 18:55:23 +0000

Here’s Hoping Pelosi and Reid Listen to Ted Koppel…

As I listened to Ted Koppel dissect the current Iraq war funding dispute and what it means for Democrats in the future yesterday on NPR’s All Things Considered, I found myself nodding vigorously.
I have been thinking, though, that mass media and …

By: Stephen

Stephen — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 14:12:57 +0000

That’s interesting, and more than a little disheartening. If you’re going for a doctoral degree and especially if it involves writing, you should be able to structure what you write logically.

By: Scott McLeod

Scott McLeod — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 12:17:06 +0000

I actually wish some of my doctoral students had mastered the 5-paragraph essay format a little better way back when. The organizational ideas of a preliminary framework, supporting material, and a conclusion are important, at a much larger and complex scale, in a dissertation literature review and yet I see so many students forgetting basic writing organization concepts when they work on their own lit reviews. Ugh.