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Should I teach the 5 paragraph essay


5 paragraph essay  

92 members have voted

  1. 1. If you don't plan to have your child take the SAT and only the ACT without the writing portion would you teach it?

    • Absolutely, the 5 paragraph essay is essential.
      53
    • Nope, the 5 paragraph essay is NOT essential.
      23
    • I like cupcakes.
      17


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You should update your OP so you stop getting repetitive updates. :)

 

Or maybe people could take the time to read the posts in the thread.  

 

Because apparently this part of my updated original post isn't getting across to them. 

 

Clarifying again.  I really need to make sure I'm clear in my posts, sorry for any confusion.  I will teach them essay writing, I'm not asking "should I teach essay writing or not teach essay writing"  I'm asking if the 5PE is really that important of a formula or not.  

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We learned the 5 paragraph essay in high school. It was one of many formats we learned. It was an important skill for me because so many of my high school (and then college) exams had essay sections. 

 

I had spent so much time practicing the method that I could write one in less than 5 minutes. I think it is a good format for spewing information quickly on a test. 

 

I was taught the 5 paragraph essay in a 10th grade Expository Writing Class (in 1980) and it was the single most helpful thing I learned in high school (for college).  I could organize an essay that met the requirements (and got a good grade) quickly and easily, even when the topic was boring and I had nothing to say about it. Time was in short supply and the 5P essay was a lifesaver.  It is a great skill.

 

That said, the three middle paragraphs weren't always "3"and I wouldn't recommend it for English classes.  I taught it to my dc, then went on to the other types of rhetorical essays in Classical Writing or Corbett.

 

 

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Or maybe people could take the time to read the posts in the thread.  

 

Because apparently this part of my updated original post isn't getting across to them. 

 

Clarifying again.  I really need to make sure I'm clear in my posts, sorry for any confusion.  I will teach them essay writing, I'm not asking "should I teach essay writing or not teach essay writing"  I'm asking if the 5PE is really that important of a formula or not.  

 

I get the sense that you started this thread looking for specific advice, and that people have taken the topic and run with it, the way they tend to here! And that maybe you aren't happy about that? Or you are thinking that every post references your original question?  I don't think that's the case, I think this thread has taken on a life of its own, and grown into one where people are sharing ideas and experience about essay writing more generally.  Which I think is a good thing! It's a great thread. Please don't feel like people are criticizing you personally.  I think it's a really interesting thread, but I hate to see you getting your feelings hurt . . .  :grouphug:

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I get the sense that you started this thread looking for specific advice, and that people have taken the topic and run with it, the way they tend to here! And that maybe you aren't happy about that? Or you are thinking that every post references your original question?  I don't think that's the case, I think this thread has taken on a life of its own, and grown into one where people are sharing ideas and experience about essay writing more generally.  Which I think is a good thing! It's a great thread. Please don't feel like people are criticizing you personally.  I think it's a really interesting thread, but I hate to see you getting your feelings hurt . . .  :grouphug:

My response that you quoted was only in reference to the post above it that maybe I should update my original thread, which I already had, but that didn't stop people from seeming to post answers which seemed to assume I was asking, "should I teach essay writing at all, or can I just skip it altogether because it's stupid" 

 

Maybe if the time was taken to read the whole post including it's updates that would help.  I have no issue with the thread taking on a life of it's own as long as those off shoots don't seem to take the tone that some of the threads here have.  Some of them were pretty obvious in their criticism of me. 

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I read the original post when it was posted. I don't reread it everytime there is more posted. I assume others are the same.

So sometimes updating an original post doesn't do much good.

 

And I think that this thread has run away from the original question and people have a lot of experience and opinions that they would like to share. I know I learnt a lot from this entire 3 page thread.

 

Personally I would teach the format. But I am me. And I would advise it.

However, you have already made a decision. And you are you, and your know your children best. There is no criticism there. Just a different strokes for, different folks thing.

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I understand that not everyone will read every post or that not everyone will check for updates, but then those people shouldn't be upset/offended/irritated if the OP states those updates within the thread as well.  

 

Apparently it's not just a case of "I'm sorry if you got your feelings hurt" because other posters have also posted things like, "She didn't say... " or "She already said..."  So it's not just me taking certain posts that way. 

 

Sometimes frustration ensues because people answer without taking any time at all to even read the original thread, and sometimes people are just flat out rude. 

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