Connecting to the Future
The 5-paragraph essay...
As a student I never liked the essay. They always seemed like busy work to me. But that was from the perspective of someone who would have rather been doing just about anything else that get the essay done. Now that I am more informed and much wiser then I was in high school, I appreciate the skills that are needed for the essay. There is something to be said for a person that can successfully prove a position on a question with only five paragraphs. It is a skill that is important to all students in and out of the classroom.
Most of my experience with the essay has be the teacher provided question that requires three points to support your position in the topic. This generally translated in to a five paragraph paper. A well organized opening with thesis statement, three well defined paragraphs on the points and a closing that brings all the points together. The ability to write an essay that successfully completes the task in this small amount of space is a skill all students should learn. It allows students to learn how to outline a question in to the topics that they need to cover. This is a skill that will help them organize on typewss of writing assignments no matter what the question or the length is of the assignment. The five paragraph essay forces the student to need to be well organized to cover all the points that they need to in the limits provided to them.
What I do love about the short essay is that it forces students to focus on the facts. With the only a limited amount of space it forces the students to focus on the important issues related to their question. They need to cut out the fluffy and get to the point. It makes students find what they think is the most important items related to their topics. The expansion of technology gives the students the ability to have more information when they are decided what is important enough to be in their essays.
Most of my experience with the essay has be the teacher provided question that requires three points to support your position in the topic. This generally translated in to a five paragraph paper. A well organized opening with thesis statement, three well defined paragraphs on the points and a closing that brings all the points together. The ability to write an essay that successfully completes the task in this small amount of space is a skill all students should learn. It allows students to learn how to outline a question in to the topics that they need to cover. This is a skill that will help them organize on typewss of writing assignments no matter what the question or the length is of the assignment. The five paragraph essay forces the student to need to be well organized to cover all the points that they need to in the limits provided to them.
What I do love about the short essay is that it forces students to focus on the facts. With the only a limited amount of space it forces the students to focus on the important issues related to their question. They need to cut out the fluffy and get to the point. It makes students find what they think is the most important items related to their topics. The expansion of technology gives the students the ability to have more information when they are decided what is important enough to be in their essays.
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