And another thing on writing: concluding sentences on paragraphs. GRRRR!

[FlockOfSillies]

I wish SWB would see this thread and respond...

 

I hated writing concluding sentences for paragraphs when I was a kid, and it seems like most well-written work (i.e., interesting and enjoyable to read) that I encounter as an adult seems to eschew the concluding sentence paradigm.

 

I'm planning to teach paragraph structure this week to my 5th grader. I'll be pointing out some good paragraphs from her science and history books, and have her find the topic sentence and supporting details. When I sat down to go through the books, I found an awful lot of "concluding sentence free" paragraphs. I actually had a hard time finding paragraphs that even contained concluding sentences.

 

How do you handle this sort of thing with your students? Teach it because it will be expected of them at some point, but tell them how lame it is? Tell them not to bother with the concluding sentence, but make sure their paragraphs are unified, concise, and clear?

[8filltheheart]

I teach my kids that final sentences can serve 1 of 3 purposes:

 

1-give a final detail

2-summation

3-transition to new idea of next paragraph

 

By no means do I think every paragraph needs a summation sentence.

[angela in ohio]

I teach it, and then I teach them when to use it. Concluding sentences are very useful for unifying a piece of writing: they can provide a necessary transition from one pararaph to another. On a one paragraph piece of writing, they make it sound like it was written by a kindergartener, though. :)

[Peela]

I like what momof7 wrote.

I find them contrived when they summarise the paragraph. I mean, you just read the paragraph, you're not stupid.

[Mama Lynx]

My oldest is in a writing class right now, and he is being taught concluding sentences for his paragraphs.

 

Ugh. They sound contrived. I told him to do as his teacher says, and when the class is over we'd discuss it.

 

I can see some benefits to learning to do it ... once he learns that kind of structure of a paragraph, and where and why to end a paragraph, it will be easier to teach him different ways to do it. But oh, these summation sentences make me crazy.

[Matryoshka]

I already taught my kids outlining with supporting subtopics and details last year, and am planning to teach them paragraph structure from there. There is no concluding sentence that way.

 

I do want to spend a lot of time with them this year trying to get across the idea of a paper having a thesis, which is stated in the introductory parapgraph and rephrased and summarized in the concluding paragraph. I'm figuring this might take a couple years for them to get good at, as they're only in 5th, but my gut feels like that's a more efficient and natural way to teach that concept than concluding sentences in each paragraph.

[FlockOfSillies]

I like what momof7 wrote.

I find them contrived when they summarise the paragraph. I mean, you just read the paragraph, you're not stupid.

 

This is exactly how I feel!

[FlockOfSillies]

I've seen lots of supporting details and transition sentences used effectively, but summing up a paragraph because you "ought to" makes me tense.

 

I can understand the curriculum writers' idea -- teach the kids about conclusions for using in longer papers later -- but there just HAS to be a better way.

[FlockOfSillies]

On a one paragraph piece of writing, they make it sound like it was written by a kindergartener, though. :)

 

LOL!

[Ellie]

That's one of the reasons I like Writing Strands and Understanding Writing so much--they don't teach those.

 

Not every paragraph needs a "closing sentence." Only when you're writing a formal essay does there need to be one, and that's the last sentence of the piece.