Here are a few reasons why:

1. Writing is an art. There is not an easy answer key for the writing teacher.

2. The way writing is taught can often seem esoteric to children. It seems to them that the rules of good writing sure do seem to change a lot. “The teacher liked what I wrote yesterday, but today they say this is not good. I don’t get it.”

3. Staying on top of student writing is hard work for teachers. As such, students have more opportunities to slack off and practice writing the wrong way.

Without a doubt “Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay Writing” has gotten a hold of all of these issues. I will admit, the “Pattern Based Writing” program does not teach every aspect of what good writing is. However, what it completely and absolutely solves is what this video below talks about.

Elementary School Essay Writing vs. High School Essay Writing

What is shocking about this video is that it is from Ashworth University and is designed for high school students. (It’s an excellent video on the 5-paragraph essay. The teacher is very clear and concise.)

As you watch it, imagine an entire class of third graders sitting there watching this video and saying, “Yes, we can do all that. We learned that last month. We can organize and write one of those five-paragraph essays in less than 30-minutes.”

The third graders I am talking about are from the inner city and their teacher had become ill early in the year. This began a long string of substitute teachers. I came in at the end of their school year and took them from unorganized sentences to excellent five-paragraph essay in just 37 days.

“Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay” solves the essay problem. Whether your students are in elementary school or middle school you can revolutionize their writing quickly and easily. This should not be an issue in high school.

Enjoy the video!

P.S. Concerned parents, “Pattern Based Writing” is an easy way for you to bring control to your child’s writing.

Included are writing samples for grade 3, grade 4, grade 5, grade 6, grade 7, grade 8, and high school. Each grade has student sample essays and scoring commentary.

One nice thing about this collection of sample essays is most every grade contains four different types of writing:

1. Expository sample essays
2. Imaginative sample essays
3. Narrative sample essays
4. Persuasive sample essays (Starts in grade 5)

Another great thing about this collection of elementary writing samples and middle school writing examples is that there are five different scoring levels for each type of writing:

1. Low paper
2. Medium low
3. Medium
4. Medium High
5. High

How to Download Them in an Organized Way

You will want to use an organized system for saving the files. Each grade has 40 separate files. It’s worth it! Here is how I would download them:

• 1. When you are at the download page, the table below will make more sense. You will see that this is a nifty little system for downloading and organizing the files.
• 2. First, create a folder on your desktop to save them to.
• 3. Then, for each file, right click and save or “save target as.”
• 4. Rename each file with JUST THE NUMBER. (When saving, just type over the original file name with the number.)
• 5. Go in the order shown below. (All the odd numbers will be student work. All the even numbers will be scoring commentary. For every group of 10, the low numbers will be the low scores and the high numbers will be the high scores.)

Directions: Open up a new browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari etc.) and copy and paste the link into the address bar. (The link starts with at the http://)   I recommend getting samples from the grade you teach, as well as for the grade above it and below it.

• Grade 3 Sample Essays - http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?=528
• Grade 4 Sample Essays – http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?=525
• Grade 5 Sample Essays – http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?=529
• Grade 6 Sample Essays – http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?=530
• Grade 7 Sample Essays – http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?=526
• Grade 8 Sample Essays – http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?=531
• High School Sample Essays - http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?=527

Ideas for Using the Sample Essays with Students and for Teaching Writing

“Habit #2: Start with the end in mind.”
Stephen R. Covey – The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

• Print out the essays and the commentary. Don’t think about it. Just print it.

• Go through the essays. What are your students doing correctly? What are your students not doing and that they need to be doing? Read the commentary and make a list of skills you want to teach your students. Plan out how you are going to teach those skills.

• Use the scoring guide and go over the essays with your students. Teach your students what scorers are looking for. What makes for a high scoring essay and what makes for a low scoring essay?

• Create rubrics and have students score essays using rubrics they created and understand.

• Compare and contrast the genres and modes of writing. This is a great way to show different types of writing and different styles. You can play the game, “Name the Genre.” What are the elements of the writing genre that you see in the sample essay? How can you tell it is a particular type of writing?

• Have students compare and contrast essays that have different scores. Have students compare and contrast essays with the same score from different grades.

• Have students evaluate the progression of writing expectations from grade to grade.

• Use the low scores to show your students how good their writing is. Use the high scores to show your students where they need to improve.

• Have students edit or build upon one of the sample essays. Take one of the low scoring essays and have your students transform it into a high scoring essay. You can do this with each mode of writing and students will notice both the similarities and the differences across different types of writing.

• Demonstrate how neatness matters. Some of the sample essays are messy. Even a few high scoring ones are messy. It’s easy to illustrate how difficult it can be for a scorer to fairly assess messy writing. (Students will see messy writing and naturally think it is a low scoring paper. Rubrics do help prevent this “snap to judgment” but cannot completely eliminate it.) This also helps illustrate how important rubrics are.

• Demonstrate how all the skills you have been teaching your students can be found in the high scoring writing samples and how all those important skills you have taught them are missing from the low scoring writing samples.

Making it Authentic

There are definitely ways to use these writing samples in ways your students will find engaging. However, sample essays are never as engaging to students as examining their own writing. That being said, it’s one thing to have students read their own writing in front of the class and quite another to place it on the ELMO/projector and have the class use scoring rubrics to evaluate it.

These Oregon writing samples are not a substitute for examining authentic student writing. However, setting the right kind of productive tone for critiquing, analyzing, and evaluating students’ actual writing is a skill unto itself and deserves a separate and complete post.

The short version is… students love to have their writing critiqued and analyzed when:

1. It done in a safe and supportive environment.

2. Students feel they have actually been taught how to write.

3. Students understand how the writing process works and how it’s applying the WRITING SKILLS that makes writing good. Students have learned that good writing is not some “artistic trait” that a person is either born with or without.

When these three conditions are present, students are willing to endure the short-term discomfort of having their writing evaluated because they know it will take them to the next level. They know the evaluation will be objective and based on actual techniques and strategies.

High Scoring Writing Success

The Oregon teacher who sent the links said the number of student scoring high has doubled since using the “Pattern Based Writing: Quick and Easy Essay” program. She also gave me some ideas on how to add sections addressing each of the four modes of writing that Oregon uses.

I’m sure you have lots to do besides tailoring the program to meet Oregon’s needs; nevertheless I think you will find these writing samples to be a valuable asset.

I thank you for creating this program. It’s working wonders! You have truly made teaching writing fun. The program makes sense to both me and my students.

She gave me some great ideas, and if you are interested in doubling your number of high scoring papers, be sure to check out the writing program on the homepage.

Most people don’t really understand what a thesis statement is, and even the people who do know what a thesis statement is don’t really understand why it is important.

Until a few years ago, I didn’t really get them. I didn’t think they were important.

I did get straight A’s when getting my teaching credential and I can honestly say I never thought about the term “thesis statement” while getting them. How important are thesis statements if this is possible? In college, getting good grades was just one of my many interests, but I’m quite sure I cared even less about thesis statements in college than when I got my teaching credential… and I did just fine.

To me, the word thesis statement was simply a term that English majors liked to use.

Thesis Statements in Elementary and Middle School?

The 5th grade California State Writing Standards state:

Grade 5 Writing Strategies 1.0 – Students write clear, coherent, and focused essays.

By definition, an essay has a thesis statement. Okay, so thesis statements may be important. HOWEVER, when elementary and middle school students are struggling with paragraphs and grammar, thesis statements can SEEM unimportant.

In fact, when one considers Piaget’s constructivist learning theory, thesis statements can seem like a waste of time for students still grasping “the simple concepts.” In short, you don’t want to spend a lot of valuable time teaching students concepts that may take them backwards. You don’t want students to get to the point where they think, “Okay… I admit it… I don’t understand writing and I never will.” Thesis statements can have that effect. So don’t teach them?

Wait a Minute!

What I have now come to see is that you can use thesis statements as a tool for achieving many different writing and reading comprehension results.

Thesis statements have become a coat rack on which I hang many concepts. I’ve come to the conclusion that the most important thing about thesis statements is the “THESIS THINKING” that goes along with them.

Here is Why Thesis Statements are Important

Here’s what a great screenwriting teacher said. The way he uses the term “premise” is what I have learned to teach my students about “thesis statements.”

The very first step in creating a good comedy script is to figure out a great premise. Your premise is your story stated in a single line. It’s probably the most important element in any script, because if it’s not a good premise there is very little that you can do to make the overall script work, make the overall script something that people will want to read. So it’s very important that you start with a good core idea.
John Truby (Screenwriter, screenwriting teacher, director)

Thesis is very closely related to premise. Let’s substitute thesis for premise and essay for script and see how it reads.

The very first step in creating a good essay is to figure out a great thesis. Your thesis is your essay stated in a single line. It’s probably the most important element in any essay, because if it’s not a good thesis there is very little that you can do to make the overall essay work, make the overall essay something that people will want to read. So it’s very important that you start with a good core idea.

In other words, this kind of “Thesis Thinking” is important in all kinds of writing.

NOW, thesis statements and “Thesis Thinking” help students:

• Find main ideas
• Write with a purpose
• Master different modes of writing
• Summarize
• Narrow down a topic
• Develop clear and concise thinking and writing
• Understanding the purpose behind all the different types of essays
• Write stories which have a premise

By the way, in the next few months I have a new program coming out. The working title is, “Thesis Statements, Vision, Subject and Topic.” It’s exciting and has a lot of deep, deep thinking skills. I’m not sure if I am going to offer it only to current users of PBW, or if I am going to make it a standalone program.

I’m pretty secure in my belief that all students need to understand what is inside “Pattern Based Writing: Quick and Easy Essay” before tackling more complicated concepts. Sure, some students just naturally understand what good writing is. They understand how it is all put together. If your students don’t… check out the homepage.

Piaget, Pattern Based Writing, and Thesis Statements

I think Piaget would have liked Pattern Based Writing. With PBW you can teach your students to construct their writing knowledge correctly the first time around. If it’s too late for that and your students are getting kind of old and still don’t get it, you can use PBW to scaffold the instruction and get them up to speed quickly.

Here’s what one 7th grade teacher said about Pattern Based Writing: Quick and Easy Essay:

I was describing it to a colleague a little while ago as, “the basics made clearer.”  I have taught many of these ideas but not as an organized structure. 5 paragraph essays just make sense, but I had no formal way of getting that idea to be part of their natural writing process. Thank you for this opportunity to enjoy teaching my students writing.

That’s Piaget’s model in a nutshell!

Ready for essay success!

You and your students have worked hard on writing all year… and now it’s time to make sure it gets all the credit it deserves. Sometimes mandated writing rubrics can have harsh consequences… because sometimes fantastic writing misses the mark when it comes to the rubric.

The goal here is to not only to improve overall writing skills but also to hit a bull’s-eye when it comes to the writing rubric. Almost all writing rubrics will contain the basic topics found here.

1. Address the writing prompt and stay on target:
• How on target is the writing? What is being asked for in the prompt?
• Do the titles for your students’ essays contain any words from the writing prompt?
• Are the words used in the writing prompt sprinkled throughout the essay?
• How can the writing be on target if students don’t use any of the words from the writing prompt in either the title or the essay?

2. Make sure students have an understanding of big picture essay structure and organization. Their essay needs to demonstrate a clear beginning, middle and ending. Students need to have an understanding of how paragraphs flow throughout an essay:
• Introduction – Idea 1 – Idea 2 – Idea 3 – Conclusion
• Introduction – First – Then – Finally – Conclusion
• Introduction – Cause – Effect – Conclusion 
• Introduction – Cause/Effect #1 – Cause/Effect #2 – Conclusion 
• Introduction – Cause #1 – Effect #1 – Cause #2 – Effect #2 – Conclusion
• Introduction – Problem – Solution – Conclusion  (See Cause/Effect for more variations)
• Introduction – Similarities – Differences – Conclusion  (See Cause/Effect for more variations)
• Once Upon a Time – Rising Action – Rising Action – Climax – and They (or I) Lived Happily Ever After

3. Plan, Write, and Revise – Students must allow at least a little time for each of these. Cover the concept of breaking up their allowed time. (Plan 15% Write 70% Revise 15%) If students don’t spend at least a little time in each area, it’s unlikely their writing will be as good as it can be.

4. Sentence Varity – A simple way to bring about sentence variety is to focus on how sentences start. It’s amazing how quickly these simple and fun sentence starting patterns can transform student writing. Kids like them. They bring a lot of rhythm, flow, and beauty to language… without a lot of rules. 

Nine Fun Ways to Start Sentences
1. -ly Beginnings - Surprisingly, my parents liked the clubhouse I had built in our backyard.
2.  Prepositional Phrase Beginnings – Beyond the moon, laid infinite possibilities for exploration.
3. Two Adverb Beginnings - Fast and furious, the little mouse scurried towards the cake.
4. Two Adjective Beginnings-  Beautiful and elegant, the princess bride descended the stairs.
5. -ing Beginnings - Falling down the garbage chute, Billy started to wonder if he had made a wise decision.
6. -ing in the Middle - I brought my secret stash of money to the fair, hoping no one would stop me from spending every last cent of it.
7. Balanced Sentence Structure (Items in a series/ Parallel structure) – Eating ice-cream, watching TV, and wrestling tigers may be fun… but they are not healthy activities.
 8. Appositives (Insert information or explanation) – Shark Cove, the place where all the sharks hang out, is not a place I like to go swimming.
9. Dependent Clauses – After the storm had ended, the sun began to break through the cloudy gloom.

5. Don’t Mix First Person and Third Person – The way students begin their writing is the way they will need to finish their writing. It’s best if students make a conscious choice right at the beginning of their essay. However, this is often doesn’t happen.  Late in the essay process, it’s often better if students simply focus on how they began their essay and continue forward using that same point of view.
Example::: 
Student started with third person:
• “More and more people are developing a deep concern for protecting the environment.”
• “The government has started to enforce stricter environmental laws.”
Student wants to switch to first person:
• “I feel it is a person’s duty to help protect the environment.”
• “Everyone in my family recycles.”
Student should continue with third person:
• “Many people feel it is a person’s duty to help protect the environment.”
• “Studies show that more and more families are recycling.”

6. More Random Tips:
• Make sure the introduction contains a clear thesis statement. A thesis statement is a clear, explicit statement defining the purpose of the essay.
• Along with a clear thesis… see if you can also have a clear “hook.” (Curiosity, pose a question, pose a challenge, or pose a problem.)  
• Have specific transitions between paragraphs. It’s best if there is some variety in the transitions.
• Students should demonstrate that they know who their audience is. Language, vocabulary, and tone all reveal who the author is talking to.
• Demonstrate purpose. Using the words “persuade” and “inform” can be a bit obvious, but they are effective. Have students consider all the possible synonyms they can use to be secretly effective. (Convince, facts, knowledge, information, data, report, statistics…) 
• Give relevant supporting details. What’s relevant? Give value with every detail. Eliminate everything that does not give value.
• Details support, prove, clarify, explain, and give information about the topic sentences. If all else fails… focus on “prove it.” For centuries kids have said “prove it.” Having to prove something makes sense to them. “I had fun at the park.” Prove it. “Okay. I went with my best friend. We played soccer. My mom made a great picnic. I REST MY CASE.” 
• Do not make the details sound like a list.
• Have the conclusion readdress the prompt and more explicitly state the thesis.
• Uses Standard English grammar, mechanics, and sentence structure. Use formal language. Students are not talking to their buddy out on the playground.
• Don’t repeat ideas and sentences. Each sentence communicates a unique idea.
• Don’t generalize. Compare “Peace would be good.” Vs. “Elimination of all war, hatred, and intolerance would be fantastic.”
• Have paragraphs end with a conclusion sentence. Beginning, middle ending… beginning, middle…
• Don’t add new information in the conclusion.
• Every sentence should either be “simple and concise” or “a work of art.” Alternate between these two types of sentences.  
• Write neat!

• In High School, I was “taught” to write five-paragraph essays (and when I say “taught,” I mean “forced.”) The five-paragraph essay was the only form allowed in Sophomore English class.
• I hope it’s not taught anymore.
• -my daughter hated it. She would have crying fits each and every time.

Global warming, the budget deficit, budget cuts, taxes, conservatives, liberals, rap music… yes people get very emotional over hot topics. I just was not aware that the five-paragraph essay fell into this category.

Five-Paragraph Essay Advice given… but was it Taken?

When taking the CBEST test to become a teacher, an experienced teacher told me, “Just write a five-paragraph essay. Don’t write about anything you care about. Introduction, three paragraphs, conclusion… that’s it. Nothing more! Remember, don’t write about anything you care about!”

Did I follow that advice? No. I’m not going to write about something I don’t care about. However, half way into the CBEST essay section, those words of… advice… came echoing through my frustration. I was lost. I was in over my head. I was in a heated state of passion… and I was going to prove my point. Hmm, what is my point? Where am I headed? How am I going to finish this? What am I trying to say?

Well, I got out of that jam… and I’m happy to say I received a great grade. My position is that writing about something you care about always pays off. However, that advice stuck in my mind long after that test and influenced how I taught writing once I became a teacher. 

Wikipedia Describes the Five-Paragraph Essay

The five-paragraph essay is a form of written argument. It is a common requisite in assignments in middle school, high school, and university and sometimes elementary school. The format requires an essay to have five paragraphs: one introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs with support and development, and one concluding paragraph. Because of this structure, it is also known as a hamburger essay or a three tier essay. Recently, a simpler version of the five paragraph essay, called the Painted EssayTM, has been designed as a pedagogical tool for elementary school teachers. The Painted EssayTM combines the traditional structure of the five paragraph essay with color, activity and oral practice to teach younger students about the relationship among the components of a well written piece.

The five-paragraph essay format is also applied to speech making, with some college classes teaching the five-paragraph format, along with an organized system of outlining and pre-writing the speech.  

That’s the five-paragraph essay in a nutshell! That does not seem like it should get anyone hot under the collar. What cause is there to be against teaching the five-paragraph essay? Before you answer that question… ask yourself these questions:

1. Are you also against paragraph form?
2. Are you also against beginning, middles and endings?
3. Are you also against introductions, bodies, and conclusions?
4. Are you in favor of rambling and pointless essays?

Based on what the Wiki says… as well as my personal answers to those four questions, I am taking a stand. THE FIVE-PARAGRAPH ESSAY MUST BE TAUGHT! There… I said it!

Teaching the 5-paragraph essay teaches students that:

1. They must write in paragraph form.
2. They must have a beginning, middle and ending.
3. A beginning, middle and ending is essentially the same thing as an introduction, body, and conclusion.
4. They cannot ramble. They must be headed in a direction and get there.

The five-paragraph essay is the easiest, fastest, and best way to teach all this. It teaches GOOD THINKING. I have to admit, I’m not as much a fan of “five-paragraph essay writing” as I am a fan of “FIVE-PARAGRAPH ESSAY THINKING.”

So the Remaining Issues are:
• When?
• For how long?

1. When must the 5-paragraph essay be taught?
2. For how long must students write in 5-paragraph essay format?

The 5-paragraph essay is “essays for beginners.” All students past a certain age should be able to write a 5-paragraph essay at the drop of a hat. What is that certain age? I think it should be mastered in elementary school, but only because it CAN be mastered in elementary school. It definitely should not be an issue in high school for any student.

Even though the 5-paragraph essay is “essays for beginners” it is okay if there is still a strong emphasis put on it in high school and in college. That’s fine… but in high school and in college it should be the equivalent of knowing your multiplication tables. Students should be able to whip one out in nothing flat.

The five-paragraph essay is a tool. It is not an end in itself. The greatest benefit that comes from being able to write “the five-paragraph essay” is the awareness of “five-paragraph essay thinking.”

 “Five-paragraph essay thinking” provides value for a lifetime. Whether you are giving a speech or…  whatever task one is doing… being aware of how things tie together, where you are headed, and how you will wrap things up… will always be “in style.”

If your students write three paragraphs, seven paragraphs or fifteen paragraphs… with “five paragraph essay thinking” GREAT! If you will only accept five paragraphs, nothing more or less, your students will eventually feel as the people at the top of this page felt.

In short “five paragraph essay THINKING” is always rewarded and in style. Do you know how to teach your students to THINK in five-paragraph essay format? (“Pattern Based Writing” does!)

The term “essay,” can be a little confusing to many students (and teachers.) What exactly is an essay?  There is also a little confusion as to when and how to teach essay writing. The truth is much of what students write in both elementary and middle school can be considered an essay.

Aldous Huxley, a famous essayist said, “The essay is a literary device for saying almost everything about almost anything.”

That’s quite a… vague, yet accurate description. Essay writing is a little easier to understand when you see what it has in common with reports and stories.

Here are Five Common Types of Writing that Students do in School

1.     Essay – From the author’s personal point of view 

2.     Report – Based on research

3.     Fiction story – Story from the imagination

4.     Short answer – Usually gives an answer to a specific question; a short answer can be anywhere from one word to possibly a couple paragraphs

5.     Poetry – Artistic use of language

There are Lots of Different Kinds of Essays

Here are just a few: Narrative essay, personal narrative essay, cause and effect essay, descriptive essay, compare and contrast essay, argumentative essay, definition essay, 5-paragraph essay, expository essay, evaluation essay, persuasive essay. A general guideline for the term “essay” is:

v An essay is written from the author’s personal point of view.

v An essay discusses, explores, describes, or analyzes one subject or topic.

v An essay is a multi-paragraph piece of writing.

Is an Essay a Story? AND Is a Story an Essay?

Let’s Take a Look:

v Personal Narrative Essay – Narrative story from the authors point of view based on the author’s personal experience

v Fiction Story – A narrative story that comes from the author’s imagination

These are both “stories.” One is a true story, one comes from the imagination. Though they are both stories, they are not both essays. Notice that the “Fiction Story” is not an essay.

Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay does teach essay writing. However, when looking at the Aldous Huxley definition of what an essay is, I think you will find that the program greatly improves all writing that elementary and middle school students will do, including both stories and reports.

The essay is a literary device for saying almost everything about almost anything.

Aldous Huxley – Famous essayist