five paragraph essay – My Life in Paragraphs

I was a whiz at the five-paragraph essay in my day. It made so much sense.

Paragraph one: tell them what you’re going to tell them

Paragraphs two thru four: tell them

Paragraph five: tell them what you told them

At least that’s how it was explained to us by Mr. Mountain, the honors English teacher who let us play Trivial Pursuit on Fridays.

I could knock out an A+ five-paragraph essay after 48 hours with no sleep and WAY too much alcohol (I proved that fact in college composition class more often than I’d care to admit).

But here’s the thing about five-paragraph essays: That’s not how to write fiction, or anything anymore (unless you’re in fourth grade and taking a standardized test).

My youngest son is a good writer.

In fact, all my kids are good writers. (so sayeth their proud mama.) But my youngest son invites me to edit his writing on occasion so I have more opportunity to read what he writes.

Like many high school students schooled in the art of the five-paragraph essay, he’s been trained to – tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them.

And he’s very good at essay – particularly argumentative essay (don’t know where he gets all that passion from….)

I was comfortable with that format when I was a teenager. It made writing a little less subjective. Clear objectives make me happy. I like to know what I’m aiming at.