What your students write about is one of the most important decisions you make in teaching writing. To a large degree, it defines (1) what you teach about writing, and (2) how you teach writing. Put simply, we can\u2019t leave what our students write about to chance.<\/p>\n
By the way, if you need a system and methodology to teach multi-paragraph writing, be sure to check out Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay<\/a><\/strong><\/span> on the homepage. You will get twice the results in half the time, and you will create smiles on your students\u2019 faces while you do so.<\/p>\n According to most state writing standards, multi-paragraph writing is a fourth-grade standard. In other words, by the end of fourth grade, students should be competent multi-paragraph writers. However, on released samples of student writing from state writing assessments, most of the best third-grade writers use a nice and natural multi-paragraph form. And that is INDEPENDENT writing! That nice and natural multi-paragraph form is what these third graders choose to do when left to their own devices.<\/p>\n Where are your students in their multi-paragraph writing career? Are they just beginning, or are they highly skilled? Here\u2019s a model to help teachers gain their bearings and put things in perspective.<\/p>\n \u2708\u00a0<\/span> Stage 1: Beginning Multi-Paragraph Writers:<\/span> \u2666 Level 1 \u2666 Level 2 \u2666 Level 3 \u2666 Level 4 \u2666 Level 5 Once again, this page is primarily devoted to \u201cBeginning Multi-Paragraph Writers,\u201d but it certainly has relevance for \u201cCompetent Multi-Paragraph Writers.\u201d Additionally, it has relevance for any teacher who is wasting class time by assigning writing tasks that don\u2019t actively improve their students\u2019 on-the-page writing, along with their understanding of writing.<\/p>\n Teachers have two basic ways to assign topics:<\/p>\n 1.<\/span>\u00a0 The teacher chooses what students write about.<\/p>\n 2.<\/span>\u00a0 The students choose what they write about.<\/p>\n Of course, it\u2019s not quite that simple. Let\u2019s say that the teacher assigns one of these topics:<\/p>\n 1.<\/span>\u00a0 Write about something interesting that happened over your weekend.<\/p>\n 2.<\/span>\u00a0 Tell us about your weekend.<\/p>\n Although the teacher has assigned the general topic, the students are still choosing the specific topic. That\u2019s the reality of most topics that students write about, including all topics that students write about on writing assessments.<\/p>\n Here are three released writing prompts from state writing assessments that illustrate different levels of specificity:<\/p>\n \u2708\u00a0 Grade 3: Kentucky:<\/span> You were invited to a sleepover for one of your good friends. You are really excited and cannot wait to go. After showing the invitation to your mother, she reminds you that Grandmother from another state is coming in for an overnight visit the same day. Task: Write a letter to your friend explaining why you cannot attend the sleepover. Describe your feelings and something you and your friend could do together at another time.<\/p>\n \u2708\u00a0 Grade 4: Texas:<\/span> Write a composition about the best thing that has happened to you.<\/p>\n \u2708\u00a0 Grade 4: Tennessee:<\/span> Forgetting can cause problems. Think about a day when you forgot something. Task: Before you begin to write, think about what you forgot and what happened. Now, write a story about what happened the day you forgot something.<\/p>\n These prompts alone contain an enormous amount of information about how to teach beginning multi-paragraph writers, so much that I can\u2019t even cover it all here.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n Early in my teaching career, when I asked teachers how to improve my third and fourth grade ELL students\u2019 writing, many teachers recommended those little tan journals: \u201cKids like to write in them.\u201d I guess these teachers didn\u2019t understand what I meant by improve my students\u2019 writing<\/em>. I wanted clear, concrete, objective, substantial multi-paragraph improvement.<\/p>\n A year is a long time, and if your students struggle with multi-paragraph writing, you can easily transform your students into competent multi-paragraph writers in that year. But to achieve this goal, one must approach teaching writing with a strong purpose and intent.<\/p>\n Teachers must focus this strong purpose and intent on all of these aspects of teaching writing:<\/p>\n 1.<\/span>\u00a0 What they want to teach their students. All of these aspects of teaching writing are important, but we are focused on the last one here.<\/p>\n In \u201cThe Neglected \u2018R\u2019: The Need for a Writing Revolution\u201d (2003), The National Commission on Writing made various recommendations, including these two: 1) \u201cThe amount of time students spend writing should be at least doubled,\u201d and 2) \u201cWriting should be assigned across the curriculum.\u201d<\/p>\n The reality is that it\u2019s difficult to have even young students write more (as much as needed) if they don\u2019t have at least some skill with multi-paragraph writing. I\u2019ve found that to be true even in second grade.<\/p>\n To be clear, I don\u2019t demand or even encourage formulaic writing. I simply want my students to have a good idea of where to indent. When students have a good feeling of where to indent, they are in control of their writing, and they are in control of what they are saying. If students don\u2019t know where to indent, they are probably creating stream-of-consciousness writing. This kind of writing usually rambles endlessly and doesn\u2019t make its ideas clear.<\/p>\n Naturally effective multi-paragraph writers have internalized two concepts: 1) A paragraph is a whole in itself, but it\u2019s also a part of a whole composition, 2) The word paragraph<\/em> is both a noun and a verb. If students haven\u2019t internalized these two concepts on a kinesthetic level, they don\u2019t understand anything about paragraphs in real writing.<\/p>\n All over this website, I link to systems, routines, resources, and eBooks on how to teach writing. Many of these materials focus on how to teach writing across the curriculum. Of course, Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay<\/a><\/span> is the foundation and framework for everything I do in teaching writing. It truly is the missing piece of the puzzle that makes teaching multi-paragraph writing.<\/p>\n Although I can\u2019t cover everything related to teaching writing here, I will present a few ideas that relate specifically to teaching multi-paragraph writing to beginners. To be clear, my goal is always to get students to internalize multi-paragraph writing so that they become highly effective natural paragraph writers. I want my students to feel when they should indent<\/em> as they write because students who can do this can stay in control of their writing.<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0 Persistency, Consistency, Repetition, and Variety:<\/span> When teaching beginning multi-paragraph writers, use persistency, consistency, repetition, and variety. To be clear, it is a process, and it takes time to get students to internalize natural multi-paragraph writing. Because of this, teachers need to keep things novel and interesting and always moving forward.<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0 Prewriting:<\/span> Teach prewriting consistently if not constantly. Teach students how to grasp the whole before they start writing. Stop thinking that students must directly translate their prewriting into their multi-paragraph writing. If you are teaching prewriting consistently, the main goal is to teach students how to divide a topic into pieces so that they can grasp the whole. As students write, they learn to feel all of the new divisions (paragraphs) as they write. Of course, their prewriting also serves as a guide.<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0 Scaffold Prewriting:<\/span> Initially, scaffold the prewriting as needed to get your entire class writing. Don\u2019t leave half of the class behind. You want to create a classroom full of writers<\/em> so that writing takes on a life of its own. In reality, all beginning multi-paragraph writers need to develop great skill in GETTING IDEAS and ORGANIZING IDEAS. Of course, I am talking about skill in getting LOTS of ideas and organizing them FAST! With Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay<\/a><\/span> as your foundation and framework, you will have a class full of amazing multi-paragraph writers in no time!<\/p>\n 4.\u00a0 Writing Prompt Breakdown:<\/span> Teach prompt breakdown. To be clear, teaching prompt breakdown is a part of teaching prewriting. We want our students to be able to correctly breakdown writing prompts so that they can generate ideas and organize ideas that are related to the prompts. When it\u2019s time for a writing assessment, you will be thrilled that you spent time breaking down some of these Released Writing Assessment Prompts<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n 5.\u00a0 Teach Writing Across the Curriculum:<\/span> Be sure to read Nine Strategies for Teaching Writing Across the Curriculum<\/a><\/span> and combine that knowledge with Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay<\/a><\/span>. You will create the best writers you have ever taught\u2014quickly and easily!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n The more your students are true multi-paragraph beginners, the more you should have your students write about topics that they are experts on. Your students are experts on their personal experiences, their personal opinions, and various common topics. Due to the nature of writing assessments, nearly all of the Released Writing Assessment Prompts<\/a><\/span> are topics that your students are experts on. However, many of these prompts are not easy to break down. You may want to start more simply.<\/p>\n Essays:<\/span> The term essay<\/em> is frequently thrown around as a generic term. Aldous Huxley, a famous essayist, said, \u201cThe essay is a literary device for saying almost everything about almost anything.\u201d While that is true, it\u2019s also a bit more complicated than that. An essay communicates a personal understanding, interpretation, or perspective. As an example, traditionally, most writing assessments have required essays. If the prompt did not require an imaginative story, it required an essay. Think about it: A traditional writing assessment involves four things: 1) a student, 2) a prompt, 3) a blank piece of paper, and 4) a pencil. In short, the student is the source of all the ideas, so unless it\u2019s a story, it requires the student\u2019s personal understanding, interpretation, or perspective.<\/p>\n The Four Main Genres:<\/span> Every whole composition that your students write will primarily be one of these four main genres: 1) expository 2) narrative 3) descriptive, or 4) argument.<\/p>\n Division: The Heart of Multi-Paragraph Writing:<\/span> Students learn to write by (1) prewriting, (2) writing, (3) rewriting, and (4) publishing. However, students learn to create multi-paragraph writing by internalizing how to divide topics into paragraph size chunks. At least, that\u2019s half the battle. Keep that in mind as you create writing assignments for your beginning multi-paragraph writers. Topics that require complex critical thinking are difficult to divide into clear paragraphs size blocks.<\/p>\n As you read over these types of writing, consider how you can help your students divide the topics you assign into paragraph size blocks.<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0 Essays: Opinion, Persuasive, and Argument:<\/span> We all have opinions, and we can all give reasons for why our opinions are correct. That\u2019s argument. Most students can easily write down a few reasons why their lunchtime should not be reduced to make time for silent reading.<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0 Essays: Personal Narrative:<\/span> Personal narrative essays are great for teaching multi-paragraph writing because students are experts on their personal experiences. Initially, these essays will border on being informational narratives, but that\u2019s a great place to start.<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0 Essays: Reflective:<\/span> Back in 1580, when Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) invented essay writing with his book Essais<\/em> (1580), reflection was a core component. These days, most essays that contain a large amount of personal understanding or reflection are classified as \u201cinformal essays.\u201d In the modern classroom, we could classify a large amount of reflective journal writing and learning-log writing as being reflective essays.<\/p>\n Reflective writing isn\u2019t great for teaching multi-paragraph writing. The goal of reflective writing is to explore ones thinking and understanding, and in the process, possibly meander. The goal of reflective writing is at odds with effectively dividing a topic into paragraph size chunks.<\/p>\n 4.\u00a0 Stories: Narrative Stories:<\/span> Great imaginative stories require a natural paragraph style. In fact, one reason that teaching multi-paragraph writing is difficult is that our students spend so much time reading great narrative stories. These stories don\u2019t follow the same rules that we teach. For this reason, formal multi-paragraph structure and great story writing are at odds with each other. Despite that conundrum, we must still teach our students to write multi-paragraph stories. I know that when I teach story writing, I\u2019m also teaching many essential narrative-story concepts and techniques. Initially, the paragraphs are a bit blocky, as they are built around \u201cfirst, next, then, and finally,\u201d but that\u2019s how we teach multi-paragraph story writing.<\/p>\n 5.\u00a0 Informational, Expository, Reports, and Articles:<\/span> These types of writing are great for teaching multi-paragraph writing. Of course, our students must have the required information in their brains or in front of them to write about. Students can write about two basic types of information:<\/p>\n a)\u00a0 Expert Knowledge:<\/span> All students have expert knowledge on many different topics: their family, sports, what schools are, different types of games, etc.<\/p>\n b)\u00a0 Across the Curriculum:<\/span> It\u2019s easy to teach multi-paragraph writing across the curriculum if you scaffold the prewriting on the front board. Of course, if you don\u2019t have an amazing methodology like Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay<\/a><\/span>, it\u2019s going to be far more difficult.<\/p>\n 6.\u00a0 Letters: Business, Friendly, For a Transactional Purpose, etc.:<\/span> Letters work well for teaching multi-paragraph writing because we usually write letters with a message in mind that easily breaks down into paragraph size ideas. Put simply, we don\u2019t write a letter without knowing why we are writing a letter. Most letters are primarily 1) expository, 2) narrative, or 4) persuasive, opinion, argument.<\/p>\n 7.\u00a0 Research Papers:<\/span> Research papers are not appropriate for beginning multi-paragraph writers. On the other hand, we do want to introduce students to some of the \u201cpoint patterns\u201d early: e.g., PQE (point, quote, explanation).<\/p>\n All of the above ideas are genre and format related. Here are a few more practical ideas that can help you get your students writing.<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0 Personal Experiences, Personal Opinions, and Common Topics:<\/span> Students are experts on these topics. As an example, students know what they did over their weekend. Teachers can choose the specific topics, or they can let students choose. If I\u2019m letting my students choose, I usually tell them about the writing assignment in advance so that they can have a topic ready.<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0 Released Writing Assessment Prompts:<\/span> Nearly all of these Released Writing Assessment Prompts<\/a><\/span> are personal-experience and personal-opinion prompts. The fact that these prompts were used on a writing assessment adds a layer of legitimacy and importance. Additionally, many of them are excellent writing prompts.<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0 Topics Across the Curriculum:<\/span> Most everything students learn across the curriculum can be divided up in a way that is it is easy to write about. Think: three steps, three reasons, three types of rocks, three of the 6Ws, cause\/effect, compare\/contrast, etc.<\/p>\n 4.\u00a0 Prompts That Use Patterns of Organization:<\/span> Be sure to see Appendix D and E in Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay<\/a><\/span>, along with The Definitive List of Writing and Grammar Skills<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n I encourage all multi-paragraph teachers to introduce their students to the term \u201cwhole composition.\u201d By definition, it communicates to students that their multi-paragraph writing is a whole that is made up of parts. Although I initially did not like the term, I now use it routinely, especially when discussing aspects of writing that apply to most types of multi-paragraph writing. Put simply, I don\u2019t want my students to think what we are discussing applies only to the type of writing we are currently discussing. The term whole composition<\/em> refers to all forms of multi-paragraph writing.<\/p>\n Although I still let my students choose their own topics from time to time, I don\u2019t do it as much as I used to. In short, I\u2019ve learned how to teach writing far more strategically. I largely teach writing while teaching subject content across the curriculum. Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay<\/a><\/span> is the foundation and framework that allows me to do this.<\/p>\n However, I do believe that students should be able to look at writing and the world in a way in which they see that most everything is worth writing about. As an example, I\u2019ve read fascinating student essays about chairs<\/em>. When students view writing this way, they view themselves as true authors. Furthermore, they see writing as an artistic tool for reflecting on and experiencing life, and that writing has intrinsic value.<\/p>\n When Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) reinvented writing with his book Essais<\/em> (1580), this is the kind of writing he was doing. My students weren\u2019t aware of Montaigne when they chose to write about chairs<\/em>, but I can only assume Montaigne would have approved, as he wrote an essay about thumbs<\/em>.<\/p>\n To be clear, most students did not write about chairs. Most students wrote about things that kids tend to write about: their lives, their interests, etc. I still have my students write about that stuff, but I am usually teaching and targeting a genre when they do.<\/p>\nWhat Is a Beginning Multi-Paragraph Writer?<\/h3>\n
\n\u2708\u00a0<\/span> Stage 2: Competent Multi-Paragraph Writers:<\/span> \u2666 Level 6 \u2666 Level 7 \u2666 Level 8 \u2666 Level 9 \u2666 Level 10
\n\u2708\u00a0<\/span> Stage 3: Skilled Multi-Paragraph Writers:<\/span> \u2666 Level 11 \u2666 Level 12 \u2666 Level 13 \u2666 Level 14 \u2666 Level 15<\/p>\nThe Two Basic Ways to Assign Topics<\/span><\/h3>\n
Assigning Writing vs. Teaching Writing<\/h3>\n
\n2.<\/span>\u00a0 What they are required to teach their students.
\n3.<\/span>\u00a0 How they teach writing\u2014i.e., their systems, routines, strategies, curriculums, theories, and methodologies.
\n4.<\/span>\u00a0 How to use their time wisely.
\n5.<\/span>\u00a0 How to meet the needs of their students.
\n6.<\/span>\u00a0 How to monitor and evaluate writing progress.
\n7.<\/span>\u00a0 What their students write about.<\/span><\/p>\nWhy Multi-Paragraph Writing Is Important: The Commission Says that Students Need to Write More<\/h3>\n
How to Teach Multi-Paragraph Writing to Beginners?<\/span><\/h3>\n
What Should My Beginning Multi-Paragraph Writers Write About?<\/h2>\n
More Ideas on What Your Beginning Multi-Paragraph Writers Should Write About<\/h3>\n
Use the Term \u201cWhole Composition\u201d<\/h3>\n
Should I Let My Students Write About Whatever They Want to Write About?<\/span><\/h3>\n