5 Paragraph Essay
6 02 2007So the 5 paragraph is bad, the 5 paragraph is good. Wait it has its merits but we need to go beyond it, maybe add a poem in the middle of it! Everyone has their opinions of this fun little essay.
I think of the 5P as the basics. In music you need to learn your scales before you can do Jazz improv. Knowing your scales helps you to site read music better too because you have an idea of the underpinnings of what the piece is written on.
I remember practicing my scales over and over and over, hating every moment of it, but knowing that when it came time to audition or play a 32nd note run in a piece I would be able to do it, because I knew my basics.
In English the 5P is one of those basics. I hate writing it, I hate reading it, but it gives that same necessary foundation that my scale practice did.
I’m not saying that we shouldn’t go beyond the 5P. Writing in only the 5P format would be like an orchestra opting to play scales in a concert instead of Dvorak’s New World Symphony (a beautiful piece if you are not familiar with it). However the 5P has its place just like scales.
I like what you say about the FPF. It’s something that has it’s place in the writing classroom. Students must learn to master this form before they can move onto new things. This is not limiting, rather it gives them an understanding of the basics before they can jump into the tough stuff.
I said just about the same thing in my blog. I feel that the five paragraph essay format can be a good way to start a student with if they haven’t written an essay before. But if we stop at just that we are doing our students a great disservice. It’s like we discussed in last weeks minilesson with the story line diagram. It might be a good way to begin for students who haven’t written a story before but after that we should be encouraging our students to go further.