THE Debate

I can see the debate over the teaching of the Five Paragraph Essay (FPE) to be as long standing, but maybe not as provocative, as the teaching of Evolution/Intelligent Design vs. Creationism. As an English teacher with this looming debate, I may have to come to terms with the fact that many teachers may continue to teacher the FPE consistently. This makes me wonder how bad the FPE could really be. Is it that the FPE is bad, or the instruction, implications, and application of the FPE that is bad? In reading and thinking about this issue, I have come to the conclusion, the same conclusion I have come to continually throughout my teacher education, that there is a need of balance.

Teaching the FPE and only the FPE can be a dangerous thing as can never teaching a structured form of writing. I think confining students to the rigid structure of the FPE has its place in the English classroom, as does using a more free form of writing. Essentially, I think students need to be exposed to more than just the FPE due to its constrictive nature and consequence of dull robotic writing.

If a student goes through his entire secondary education only experiencing the form of the five paragraph essay, he will surely develop a distaste for writing, one that may be difficult to reverse. Even though writing in constricted form may have worked, and even been inspirational for Shakespeare, I don't think a student can find what works for them being constricted to one form only (Novick, 12). The FPE has its place in instruction as a basic, primary, and introductory form of writing. I really think the FPE should only be used in the beginning stages of writing as a way to aid students in practicing how to write and essay and learning the qualities of essay writing. Such qualities are: an attention grabbing introduction that defines the topic/problem and puts the reader in perspective, a thesis, a body that supports the thesis not in any set number of points, but enough to convince the reader of the writer's stance, and conclusion to bring everything together and give meaning (Wesley, 60). In order for a student to learn this through the instruction of the FPE, the student must be explicitly shown these qualities of essay writing in the form of the FPE.

When learning and developing something new and difficult, such as writing an essay, it helps to have a lot of structure and organization in order to "get it down". If students, in the early stages of writing development, were told to just write and include aspects of essay writing, I'm sure teachers everywhere would be overwhelmed with the varying and incoherent, pieces of writing they received. Using the FPE to aid students in developing their writing skills will give students a basic idea of how an essay is written, how to organize their thoughts, and what is expected of them in academic papers. On the other hand, using this framework for writing as the one and only framework can be quite dangerous. In only using this frame of writing, students and their writing will become as bland and robotic as the soma induced Beta's of the World State. Not only that, students themselves will become extremely bored with writing, as would anyone confined to one format. Students need the FPE to get started in their development as writers, but they also need to go beyond those restraints to help their writing to grow.

Teachers need to show students how the ideas of the FPE transfer to longer, less restricted essays. Students need to understand their learning of the FPE and see how they can use those acquired skills towards other writing. Students need to understand how certain writing needs a thesis, supporting evidence, and closure in any number of paragraphs needs to develop the ideas. Allowing students to play with essay form and structure will really help their writing to grow and expand. If students are only taught the form and structure of the FPE but not explicitly shown what the FPE means, of course the students won't be able to transfer those skills. When taught in such a way that students see the purpose and value of the form of essay they are learning, and ultimately explicitly told what essays entail, then I see no harm in teaching the FPE.

It seems the main issue with the FPE is students being taught this form with little guidance as to what skills the students learn from it how those skills transfer to other forms of writing. Personally, my distaste for the FPE lies in this aspect. I don't find anything wrong with the FPE if it is used as a way to help students be introduced into essay writing, become comfortable with the qualities of an essay, and are later encouraged and shown other forms of writing. I think having this structure to writing in the beginning stages of writing can be greatly beneficial to students, but teachers everywhere need to realize that too much of one thing is bad. Giving students other forms of writing, and variations/expansions to the FPE will help students to grow as writers and find the style that works best for them.

Site of the Week:

http://www.ttms.org/

This website, Teaching That Makes Sense, is a great resource for teaching writing. There is a link on the side bar that I particularly like called, "What makes Good Writing." The document talks about what writing is good, without saying much of anything about a set number of paragraphs. I think it is a good resource for teachers wanting to show students and other teachers essay writing beyond the five paragraph form.